The Withered Rose

Chapter 7 - The Final Vengeance

 "Mmph...how long was I..."

Steve suddenly woke up, realizing that the dark of night had fallen once more upon the previously-glowing forest. He could not imagine why he had thought this spot to be safe- for now, as he darted his gaze around him, the trees and fog seemed to depict danger lurking around every corner. The frightened man immediately jumped to his feet, reaching for the sword that was his sole protection....and found nothing. He searched frantically, checking the sheith, checking the ground where he had slept, growing more and more panicked as the seconds passed.

"Where is it?! Dear Notch, where is it?!!"

Just as he thought nothing could get worse, a low, ominous chuckle slithered out from the quiet forest. Steve shot back up, immediately alert, his heart already starting to pound like a jackrabbit's.

"Wh-who's there?!"

Movement, to the right. Immediately, Steve whipped around to face the sound- nothing but more darkness.

"Kind of a stupid question, don't you think?" the voice echoed, seeming to come from all directions.

Steve swallowed, his eyes darting as he sought to see where his terrifying pursuer lay in wait. His heart jumped as he saw a thick treebranch quiver- he kept his eyes focused on it as his hunter spoke again.

"You know you're going to die tonight, don't you, Steven...?"

"Please, Herobrine!" Steve cried, wishing he knew where to run, "I...I'm sorry! I regret what I did! I regret everything!"

Herobrine nearly hissed, his anger getting the best of him.

"'Sorry'. You think saying 'sorry', is going to make any difference in the fact that you killed my wife...?"

"P-please, please...." Steve began to cry, "It was all Notch's fault! He crafted the sword, he put it in my hands-"

"But it was you, who used it..."

Steve slowly began to back away, assuming he knew where Herobrine was hiding.

"And your precious master is gone now, Steve....I already killed him."

"Wh...what?!"

His eyes widened, realizing that his greatest fear really had come true.

"No....no, its, its not possible..."

"Oh yes. It was," Herobrine continued, his tone dark and menacing, "If it weren't for the knowledge of my dear Queen in terrible danger, I would have far more enjoyed slicing him up and tearing his bleeding heart from his chest..."

Steve began to tremble, stepping away more quickly- without another word he began to run, so terrified and weak-kneed he could barely bring himself to do so. But the darkness proved to be much more than simply nightfall- the fog shifted and grew thicker, making it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of him. Eyes appeared in the fog- white eyes, glowing bright from beyond where he could see, like two smoking stars flaming with ghostly indignation. Steve immediately stopped, frozen with fear- the eyes were slowly coming closer. Just as he found the sense in him to try to turn and run back the other way, tangled tree roots sprang from the ground and latched onto his ankles, wrapping around and knocking him on his back. At once he began to struggle, panicking more than ever, yanking on the terrible bonds with all his strength.

Herobrine still approached at the same steady pace, letting his victim squirm and grow more terrified as the seconds passed. A bitter smile crossed his lips as he walked, dark pleasure seeping into his heart- he knew that this was the last victim, the final execution he would carry out, before he could finally find some small comfort concerning Yazmyne's death.

"Yazmyne suffered a great deal in her lifetime," he stated in a clear voice, stopping at the edge of the fog.

The fog rolled away, giving in to a crawling darkness just as thick. It surrounded them both until nothing could be seen except a circle of faint white light illuminating Steve, about a foot-wide on all sides of him.

"She underwent an unfathomable deal of pain and sorrow, much due to you and Notch...and for you to be the one to end her life, just as things were about to get better....Well, Stevie boy...."

The eyes, now surrounded by darkness, suddenly glowed brighter. Herobrine stepped from the shadows, yet still covered in them- they enshrouded him and moved as if they were alive, tendrils of dark smoke and slight electric currents merging into a living cloak of pure, nightmarish power.

"You've got yourself a death wish."

Steve could do nothing, could not speak, could not even scream. He was frozen completely with fear, wide eyes glued to the horrid fate looming over him. Herobrine's form began to shift- a dark secret that he had always hidden within his two elements. The shadows crawled and curled, creating four wickedly sharp, three-foot-long claws- then, with the most unsettling cross between a scream and a hiss, the claws struck down one by one into the helpless victim lying on the ground.

One claw dove into Steve's arm, just down from his shoulder- he shrieked as the blood oozed crimson, only to scream again as the strike was repeated on his other arm, with a different claw. Then another, then another, equally timed- until finally, Herobrine's victim had been literally pinned to the earth four times in each of his limbs. Now, sixteen bladelike extensions were embedded in his flesh- Steve gasped and sobbed, watching in horror, pleading for his life as the glowing eyes came ever closer to him.

"Please let me go! Let me live....let me live....I don't want to die!"

"Neither did she," Herobrine snarled, his voice echoing with darkness, "Maybe you should have thought of that, before you sank a sword into her back!"

He stretched out his hands and let his electricity form, until it had sparked a flame- slowly, his hands turned orange from the living heat burning within them, and he pressed them hard into Steve's torso. Howls of agony swirled into the dark, the heat increasing, the skin beginning to literally melt, turn to ash, and reveal bones- and at just the right moment, Herobrine ceased burning him, so he would still remain alive and conscious.

"Do you see now, Steven?" he ominously whispered, watching Steve's contorted throes of agony, "I have made you bleed, just as you made her bleed. I have burned part of you to ash, just as you made her disintegrate to nothing. And now, Steven...."

The tendrils of darkness began to wrap around Steve- thicker and thicker, tighter and stronger, until he was completely wrapped from the shoulders down.

"I will crush you....just as you have crushed what would have been our future."

Steven was beyond tears, beyond begging...suffering unimaginably as the black ropes began to grow tighter. Bones began to crunch and snap and grind, eliciting bloodcurdling wails from the tortured victim- Herobrine stared at him with his burning eyes, watching with satisfaction as the grisly scene played out. Blood spurted and poured from between the coils, unnaturally bent limbs and splintered bone beginning to stick out, until finally....finally....the screaming ceased. Herobrine allowed the darkness to drop Steve's mangled corpse to the forest floor; only then did the nightmare-cloak flee from his figure, and returned to the darkness surrounding him.

Then, Herobrine closed his eyes. He opened them again, and the forest was bathed in the bright sunlight of noonday. He was crouching near Steve's mangled body, bloody and lifeless, yet still in the same position it had been when he had fallen asleep- indeed, Herobrine had swept him into the Nightmare Realm just as he had sank into the depths of wearied sleep. The unique properties of both the Realm and Herobrine's elements had inflicted real pain and real damage within Steve's body, though his mind were in the Nightmare- if anyone else had seen the sight, it would have seemed as though bones were snapping and flesh ripping from the body on its own. Meanwhile, the ultimate sword had been near Steve the entire time, still lying on the ground where it had fallen before.

"Notch is dead. Desmond is dead. And now....Steve, is dead," Herobrine spoke quietly, "You are avenged, my Queen. May you rest in peace, now that our enemies are conquered."