Hero's Bane

Chapter 77: For The Greater Good

"Are you still friends with him? I know that would seem like a tough ordeal to go through and still hold onto a bond like that; especially after he what he did to you, taking your- was it- father and brother?" He asked placing his free hand on his chin in thought for a brief moment before nodding to himself. "Then the ugly truth he gave so maliciously; not listening to your pleas, only wanting you to watch what he did."

Steve rubbed the back of his hand over his tired eyes and huffed. "Right, there was proof too. My old lucky blade that once belonged to my father; it was cracked when my dad struggled in his dying breath to survive and fend off Herobrine, seeing it nearly break in his futile strike made sense of it's condition."

There was a long pause of silence.

"Herobrine just had to force that memory and make me watch it and I couldn't stop it no matter how hard I tried. No amount of begging would have stopped him, it's like he didn't care if I wanted it to end; some friend he is. So that is the question isn't it?" Steve said more lightly as he brushed the man's hand off of his shoulder. "I honestly don't know if I should even consider it. I plead for him to stop but he didn't listen, what kind of friend would do that to another? I think we know the answer now, we don't have to say it."

"That's very... unfortunate." The traveler said with a heavy sigh and soft sway of his head. "Well knowing the legend of Herobrine that I've heard of; he's not the most 'sane' guy out there, even with powers that would put the most strong and enduring people like you to shame. Since you seem to believe that he is a 'victim' of the fortress and not a perpetrator, then I can't really blame him for being the way he is. Tortured and punished unjustly? If he had to make a deal with something so monstrous and vile to get revenge and compensation for his suffering then it sounds pretty believable, I guess. ...

I bet anyone would want to deliver their own justice or revenge for going through punishment from someone as great as... 'Notch'. Yeah, someone so 'great and flawless'. 'All knowing'." His voice dripped with sarcasm as he avoided the miner's gaze. "Someone who abandoned his world and left the inhabitants to stir wrong without his help and guidance." He said more sadly with his shoulders slumped. "Someone who left them unprotected to face his faults because he felt as though he was done with his world and wanted to move onto bigger and better things. What kind of a god is that? He pretty much abandoned them." The man with the black beard finished ever softly with his head hanging low, his face displayed a deep expression of remorse.

"Yeah, it's his fault for this. I suppose." The miner said with hesitance; looking away he massaged his temples in self-frustration, that was hard to admit aloud because he never wanted to believe Herobrine when he said the same thing about being deserted by Notch. "The people made him this way; but what the god did was make everything worse by helping those people deliver injustice, helping them to carry out a sentence that really should have never happened. Where was Notch when the accident happened? Did he not know or see what Herobrine was trying to do that night? What the hero did to those people around him wasn't truly his fault. It's not like he could control himself, there was something wrong with him and he couldn't contain himself in a fit of rage.

So he killed some people out of his hysterical temper? Notch could have done something about the whole mess if he had known right? He could have intervened and saved many lives at that horrific time, he could have prevented so much death. Did he know is the question? And if he did then why would he punish Herobrine and not the true traitor and murderer? ... But where was he? Why didn't he stop the killings sooner and saved many lives and souls from destruction and torment? ... Does he even have his eyes on our world anymore?" That was the most painful question, to even conceive the notion that Notch had truly abandoned them forever was just dispiriting. Steve shook his head from the pressure building up in his chest. "This is what makes my belief in him so- so... weak lately. I grew up with the belief that Notch was a fair creator that watched over us all of the time, but what happened in that land makes me think otherwise.