Hero's Bane

Chapter 47: It Doesn't Break You

Herobrine stepped out of the dissipating mists, feeling the cool air of the night now brushing against his heated skin. He tilted his head towards his left and saw a small lit village out in the middle of some grasslands with the ocean only a short distance from it. He could also see two living and hulking masses of iron trudging along the outside while keeping attentive small black eyes on the lookout for any hostile mobs close by. Herobrine could tell by the sight of the vast body of water that he was pretty far from his land, which was nowhere near an ocean.

He could have just struck the village outside of the valley and collected all of the souls there, but he had that place 'reserved'. Those people living there were the descendants of the ones who accused him, tortured him, and the great grandchildren of the ones who sealed him. He wasn't going to put them out of their misery no, he was going to ensure that they suffer forever. Even their offspring. He hadn't kept tabs on them in a while now, not since the arrival of Steve.

-Maybe I should check on that village sometime and make sure they know their place?- He folded his arms at the thought of the dammed village, if any of those mortals were to do something that they shouldn't; even one such thing as lighting a single torch then he'd make sure they'd paid. Just as it would for those who intentionally defy him, the humans that did; they that had to die. A certain mortal had been defying him for quite a while now but he wasn't native to the people or the land, or so he thought. That man could be related to the sentinel but still, he was being punished at the moment and was already on the list to die.

The white-eyed man started to wonder if that particular human would try to escape or had done so already, the likelihood was very high. The Nether is too hot for humans, it drains them of their strength and renders them incapacitated from overheating and dehydration. He had seen humans in deserts and the conditions were nearly the same as the Nether's, except there was absolutely no water, no sunlight, and the temperature was almost high enough to boil blood. The deadly mobs and unstable landscapes were also something he considered.

He had turned some humans loose there before and occasional still does, he watches them as they either fell off of a cliff by accident or falling through holes by ghast bombs; into the liquid fire ocean while others were picked off by various mobs. Some of his most unfortunate victims were dragged there, he wanted to see how the humans felt being trapped in a world so cruel and unforgiving like how he was. It was unfortunate that they wouldn't survive so many years alone in the wretched place, let alone more than a day. They didn't last long. Brutus, he didn't last long. Herobrine felt his lips curl into a nasty grin from that thought of those ghasts bombarding the lead sentinel as he ran as fast as his little human legs could carry him. His revenge to the tormentor, the betrayer, the conspirator, and his brother's murderer. He paid dearly with fatal injuries and burns but the being made sure to kill the man himself before the wounds, mobs, and exhaustion did.

The miner was fortunate enough to be in a stronghold, otherwise the heat would get to him faster since the Nertherbrick absorbed a lot of it. Mobs would be the mortal's next issue, but the more deadly ones remained outside of the fortress except for a couple that managed to find a way a way in. If Steve somehow got out of his cell then he could reach the gateway and then the shrine, but that the hero really doubted. There was no way he'd make it that far, and even if he did there was eyes just on the outside of that portal, ready to alert him.

Steve wasn't going to be able to anyway, not in his condition; especially not without a weapon or water. If the mortal did get out then he would probably get lost within the maze of the corridors. Besides, the blazes would probably get him if he actually got close to the last chamber. Those mobs always seemed to horde around the last hallway for some reason. Perhaps it was because they were territorial? He let the thought of the miner escaping pass his mind, he had other things that he needed to worry about now.