Hero's Bane

Chapter 64: Of Troubles To Come

Steve groaned as he moved an arm forward and slowly lifted his head, that counter kick had him temporarily nailed to the tree and he fell so gracelessly to the ground after he peeled off the bark. He forced himself to take in air with heavy and slow breaths, the wind was literally kicked out of him. 'Nothing new.' He told himself as he slowly pushed his weary body off of the ground, everything seemed to moved to the side a bit when he looked down at his hands that were pressed flat against the ground. He even felt himself swaying with his trembling arms, he was definitely in no condition to fight and yet he had to go and make such a bold and reckless move and ram Herobrine to get him to shut up. 'Herobrine?'

The miner quickly shot his eyes in the direction of the crazed being and he quickly rose onto his aching legs after seeing the powerful man make slow and steady steps towards him. "What have I got myself into?" He said aloud as bright eyes and the man that had them came towards him, a feral growl came up from his throat. "Please Herobrine, snap out of it!" Steve shouted aloud, but the being just kept walking in his direction with a scowl clearly indicating anger. Steve was way too exhausted to fight, he couldn't deal with the powerful immortal in his current condition. It was hard enough to stand already and that last charge took a lot of energy to do, he still had his sword but after glancing down at it in it's sheath; there was no way he could use it. In fact, whipping the thing out would probably escalate the situation and feed Herobrine's eagerness to fight.

He definitely didn't want that.

'Come on Steve, think!' The miner shook with each footfall getting closer and closer, it wouldn't be many more seconds before the white-eyed man would close the distance and probably kill him. 'Think!' He mentally slapped himself, trying to come up with any idea to get the more passive side of Herobrine to reemerge before the man's need of revenge gets to him.

'What would Lionel do. ... He'd-... fight? No. He wouldn't, not Herobrine. But what then? Maybe he'd-' It was too late to finish that thought as he was immediately grabbed by the collar of his shirt and flung through the air towards another tree, his back smacked against it pretty hard and slid down onto his rear end in defeat. Every part of his body was aching and he definitely didn't have the strength to stay up on his shaking legs. Finding the willpower to stand; he actually rose back onto his feet. Then in the blink of an eye; Herobrine was standing in front of him, Steve was caught by a sudden and an unexpected uppercut to the jaw from the swift appearance and movement. He clasped his hands around the bottom of his cheek from having his teeth painfully gnashed together in the strike. However, before he could recover his stance he was pulled by the shirt collar again and was slung through the woods. He slammed into the ground and tumbled from the forceful throw, slowly rolling to a stop in a small clearing of trees.

The miner winced and forced himself to roll onto his stomach after finally coming to a stop on his back. "It can't end like this." The man said with anger bubbling up, he was spared and sent back here so he wasn't going to waste that life he was allowed to keep. Growling, Steve picked himself off of the ground and lightly stumbled as he regained balance on his feet; he wasn't going to quit. "Herobrine stop!" He shouted after finding the immortal leisurely walking in his direction with that wicked grin. The powerful demi-god however; continued his flouncing pace.

"I am your friend remember? You risked a lot to keep me out of Ender's eye and you took punishment because of me. You wanted me to leave, so now I'm leaving now okay. You said you'd let me live."

The being's expression didn't change, there even seemed to be a hint of malice on the old hero's face.

Steve shook his head back and forth as he took steps back, he was physically drained so there wasn't going to be a fight. All he had now was words and the knowledge of powerful man's history, maybe not all of it; but he had plenty enough to hopefully dissuade him. Now all he could do was talk his way out if Herobrine was listening, so far it didn't seem that way but words was his last line of defense. The miner straightened up his posture and narrowed his eyes slightly, he still took steps backwards to keep his distance. The clearing of trees he was in wasn't too open so if he was going to speak he'd have to make it quick and effective, otherwise; he'd be cornered by the dense woodlands and not be able to finish his piece without stumbling into a tree.