Hero's Bane

Chapter 29: To Escape

(Art by Spindelle DA)

Steve's eyes fluttered open with the soft sound of chirping near the edge of the window, the darkness faded with actual light now shining down on his face from the morning sun. 'Light.' He thought happily with a weak smile, it almost seemed like a privilege and not a luxury and he was thanking Notch that he survived the night, the dark fortress, and Herobrine.

The miner slowly lifted up from under the cover and immediately winced and gasped in pain as he lifted his wielding arm, it was very sore and ached more with each movement. He moved his other hand to message the pain away from his aching shoulder and that was when he realized that the enchanted blade wasn't no longer in his grasp. He gaped after seeing the weapon still at his side but not in his hand, he then moved his aching fingers over his torso. His chest wasn't seizing up and he could breathe normally, though he still felt so drained of energy as if he just finished running a marathon. His hand, neck and arm felt as though they were crushed by stone blocks and pricked with needles, but other than that he seemed fine. But the sword though? He almost immediately lost interest in the weapon after hearing more chirps.

Steve looked out the window above his bed and saw the early morning sun gracing him with it's radiant warming waves, piercing the dense fog that hung low around the fortress. Even if there was a cold chill to the air, he could still feel the slight warmth on his cheeks and it was really nice. Steve never thought how much he appreciated the sun until now. A few birds flew around the window then out into the distance, disappearing out into the horizon and light blue sky. There wasn't any live mobs below him in the courtyard anymore, just a small pile of bones and a rotting sizzling corpse of a zombie.

The man suddenly heard a rumbling noise and moved a hand down to his stomach, he was hungry, very hungry. Steve moved his tired legs over the bedside after seeing his bags on the floor. Herobrine brought them to him? He wondered in silence, as mad as he was with the monster of the man holding him captive; he was thankful to at least have access to the rest of his possessions and even food.

He reached down and plucked his own chest pack and rummaged through it for anything to eat. He found a couple slices of cooked pork chops folded in paper but they reeked with a sour odor to his distress, he felt his stomach flip after peeling back the paper wrapping and staring at the now molding pieces of meat. He reached his left arm back and slid the rotting chops between the iron bars and pressed them off of the window ceil, he was desperate to eat food but he wasn't about to poison himself on spoiled meat no matter how much he needed the proteins and minerals for strength. He looked back down in his bag and noticed that he had no more food rations left, just crumbs of bread left from his last meal.

He tossed the bag down with a sigh of disappointment and then reached for the smaller one Warren gave him, he unzipped it and smiled widely after seeing two loaves of bread within it. He grabbed onto one loaf and placed the bag down and then he greedily chewed and swallowed down the stale roll, not caring if it was tough and chewy nor if it even had a weird outdated taste to it. He gnawed it down and then searched through the small sack that Nigel had given him once he finished. He heard clinking noises as he pulled the small bag onto his lap and he pulled out a few bottles. A few were recognizable, the sickly green and deep red ones were familiar and labeled properly.

One vial had a grayish fluid that wasn't labeled though. The miner had no clue as to what it was but placed it back into the sack along with all but one small concoction of the green stuff labeled Potion of Regeneration. He didn't like the taste but he was thirsty and tired, at least it should help him recover some strength and energy. He popped the cork out and reluctantly held the bottle up as he swallowed the foul tasting liquid. He instantly stopped after taking one big gulp and moved the bottle away with his tongue sticking out at the nasty drink. Maybe he wasn't as thirsty as he thought. "Gross." He muttered.