Destruction: The Hacker and the Spirit

12: Bajan gets insulted about his cooking and I eat a sandwhich

I woke up early the next morning, as I had been doing for the past month. I pulled on some clothes, brushed my hair and grabbed my sword, ready to head down to the training area. This was my way of trying to get better, trying to find my gift. I walked quietly out of my room, down the corridor, past the rooms of my friends and down the steps to the training room. I took my position in front of the dummy and started practising. I practiced for 20 minutes then took a break, leaning against the wall.

"That's good."

I jumped, startled, my gaze snapping up towards the sound of the voice. Herobrine was sitting in the branches of one of the trees, smiling at me from across the room. I stopped leaning on the wall, tilting my head slightly.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked.

Herobrine chuckled. "Not much happens here that I don't know about. And I don't sleep too well," he answered, shrugging. "Neither do you from the looks of it."

I sighed. "I've been trying to find my gift," I told him, gesturing to the torn dummy with my sword.

He dropped down from the tree and came towards me. "If you ask me, I think you're trying too hard."

"But this is how Sub did it."

"True. And Sky found his by accident, Bajan developed his and Jerome's natural ability turned out to be more than what he thought. You're so urgent to be like the others that you're pushing yourself. This way, it's unlikely that you will find it."

I sighed again. "I guess. But I feel like I'm useless. I don't want to be the reason someone is hurt."

Herobrine put his hand on my shoulder and I looked at his face. "You won't be," he said.

I nodded, unconvinced. Herobrine saw this and tilted his head slightly. He took my sword, put it against the wall, then stepped back and held out his hand, palm facing me.

"Punch my hand."

"Why?"

"You're only focusing on your sword fighting, but what happens if you don't have a sword? Now punch my hand."

I hesitantly punched his hand with my right.

"Harder!"

I punched again, harder this time.

"Use your entire body, not just your arm. Step into the punch."

I did as he said and felt my arm shake with the force. But Herobrine didn't even waver.

"Again!"

I punched his hand over and over. My muscles were hardened from a month of sword training, but even my hardest punches didn't shake Herobrine. I kept punching until he told me to stop. My knuckles were red and sore.

"That's better," he complimented. I shook my head.

"You didn't move at all, not even when I did my hardest punch," I told him, retrieving my sword.

"Well, remember that I've been training and fighting for longer than you've been alive."

"How old are you anyway? If you don't mind me asking," I said as we walked up the stairs.

"Oh, hard one. Um... I don't know exactly how old I am, but I would say... 1000 years maybe?"

"1000 years?" I asked disbelievingly. "How? Minecraft only came out a few years ago!"

"Remember that time passes differently here. One day in this world is only, what, 10 minutes in yours?"

"20 minutes for day and night," I said. Then a thought struck me. "Wait. When we've been here, time has still been going in our world?" Herobrine nodded. "So we've been away from our world for..." I tried to do maths in my head. "Ten hours? More?"