Hero's Bane

Chapter 34: Body And Soul

Steve ambled through the door and stood at the doorway until the pig moseyed it's way in, moving like it had not a care in the word. The miner closed it behind the swine and dropped the wooden blocks that he collected onto the crafting table next to the wheat, he then made his way over to the bed. He fell face-forward onto the mattress and his pillow and sighed into the fabric. He was now fairly exhausted, feeling as though his limbs had been overworked and even worn out from the vision. Chopping wood alone made his arms stiffen up but everything he just went through in a dream pushed him more than he thought. His mind was also worn-out, he had seen so much and he didn't even know how to process everything he just witnessed. It felt and seemed so real, like a living nightmare.

He forced himself to turn onto his back and stare at up the ceiling, though he was chilled by the freezing air lowing through his window; he wasn't feeling so cold. Just imaging the intense heat he felt made him burn, remembering the molten rock and fire definitely didn't help the fire that figuratively burned inside of him. The sound of the fire's crackle from the Netherrack in the fireplace made him burn from the inside out, he didn't like the feeling and he guessed that the old hero probably didn't either since he was literally sealed in that awful place, quite possibly for years and fell into the flaming liquid only to stay in it for Notch knows how long.

The hooded men and their bizarrely chanted words made the miner realize that they were sealing away Herobrine in the Netherworld, just as Nigel and Warren exclaimed in their history lessons. If what he had saw is what truly happened to Herobrine, then it was no wonder that the being hated humans so much; Nigel even said that they killed his only friend Lionel before his very eyes. All of this punishment for the death of a royal child? It was horrible, the hero didn't deserve such punishment, Lionel greatly defended Herobrine's case so why was the retribution taken so far?

The Ruler of the fortress must have been senseless and so cold to do what he did, he let a great hero that had protected the fortress to suffer for so long for a small calamity that Herobrine probably felt great guilt for. And to think that he could put himself into other's perspectives after watching the being fall and then have several of his bones along with his arm splintering from the impact, right before taking incinerating balls of fire; just to top it off with drowning in lava? Well this would be the second most vivid time he would see through another's eyes, but not necessarily through Herobrine's eyes; only with his own and being right there to watch him in the dangerous realm. Feeling the extreme heat was a startling standpoint alone.

A small grunt and nudge at his arm made Steve tilt his head to see the pig looking up at him. It poked it's snout at the miner, prodding for the man's attention. Steve moved his hand over and petted the pig and it stood perfectly still to receive the soothing head massage.

"I don't know what to do anymore Pork Chop." He began with his eyes half-lidded, sadness marking his lapis blue irises; a deep frown on his face. "I want to save Nigel, but now I want to help Herobrine even more than ever. If I leave to return to the fortress then Nigel will die for sure, ... and I would as well. If I die fighting for Nigel then Herobrine will be left here in this maddened and murderous state forever. I've already promised to save the old man so I can't go to the shrine now, plus there's no way I can convince the hero that I'm just trying to help him. What should I do?" He raised a brow as the pig continued to move it's head around underneath the miner's palm, keeping it's eyes closed with the nice attention it was getting and completely ignoring the question with it's simple mind.

"Uh, never mind then. ... ... But come to think of it?" Steve said as he tapped a finger on his chin in thought. "I never did try to tell Herobrine personally that I wanted to help him, so maybe I still have a shot at making everything right and getting Nigel out of this alive as well?" He said more loudly, now gazing through the broken window at his bedside. The light was nearly gone now and the snow only continued to fall, shrouding his vision with a powdery grayish-white cloak and making trees several feet away fade out. "I can try to persuade him that I only have good intentions in asking Notch for power to help him, that's about all I can do now. I doubt it'll work since it obviously involves Notch; but that doesn't mean I can't try."