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And at last, we have...


Part 4:


“Hey, has anyone seen Lance?”
My head was turning side to side like a periscope, scanning the surroundings. There was no sign of him.
“You last saw him in the End not even ten minutes ago,” said Herobrine. “It is outstanding how bothersome humans can be. They lose their way so easily.”
Amnesha thought for a moment before speaking. “If that’s where he was last seen, then that means…” She paused.
But before she could continue, we heard the sound of teleportation. At first, there was nothing else. We didn’t see any Endermen. But a second later, we found something watching us. It was sitting in front of the church doors with its square purple eyes.
I knelt down to get a closer look because it was only the size of my foot. “What is that?” I asked quietly. The thing looked like a black square with the eyes of an Enderman, yet it looked nothing like one. We stared at each other, the thing’s eyes unblinking.
Suddenly, the thing sprang onto my face, latching on without letting go. I jumped with shock, trying to pry the creature off my face. I wanted to yell for help, but it covered my face tightly enough to not let me form words; or more importantly, breathe.
My eyes were also covered, limiting my vision to a black blur. So without the ability to speak, breathe or see, all I could do was continue trying to feebly pull this thing off me, and my strength was leaving. This small being possessed strength beyond my imagination.
I could hear gasps of terror from a few different people, and the barking of Rhino. This was followed by the sound of Herobrine saying something along the lines of “This may hurt.”
Not a second after he said this, my blackening vision was suddenly a blazing orange as Herobrine singed the creature off my face, leaving a slight burn on my skin. But the thing was off, now a pile of smoldering black goo on the ground.
I took a huge breath, gladly letting new oxygen into my lungs. When I caught my breath, I asked again, “What is that?”
But Rhino was already sniffing this creature’s remains. Then he faced up at me and back down again, motioning for me to inspect further. I did, scooping the remains into my hand. It was hot to the touch, and the substance was very sticky, yet tightly held together by itself by a gelatinous property. I hadn’t seen something like this before.
“Let me see.” Amnesha took the gel from my hands and studied it as well. She even held it to the rising sun. After a moment of observation she said “I know exactly what it is.”
“What?” I asked.
A couple of early-bird villagers were already gathering by since the creature had attacked me. They listened closely as Amnesha explained. “If this is really what it is, then things are going to hit the fan. This was a slime. And there’s only one place that slimes come from; where… where the bomb went off. A slime like this could have had the abilities of an Enderman by only one means; if it became infected by the Eye of Ender.”
“How would that work?” I asked. “Eyes of Ender helped me out; they gave me the powers I have now.”
“True, but you only harnessed its positive energy. Remember, all the Eyes you created were made with the Ender Pearls of Endermen. Because those Endermen were created when I was, well… mad… they’re far more engulfed with negative energy. So when a purely negative Eye of Ender’s powers are harnessed… one thing leads to the next, and, well, you get this.” She looked again at the gel.
The church doors creaked open as Lance began to walk out of them. Before we even had time to turn and face him, Herobrine had already pinned him against the stone walls with incredible speed and strength. “Look at what you have done, human,” he spat. “Not even two days and you have already stirred up trouble. You should be ashamed of being from such a foolish race.”
“Ahem,” I mumbled. Herobrine turned his head and faced me. Then he promptly dropped Lance, who stumbled and fell as Herobrine took a few steps closer to me.
“I am not afraid of you, human,” he said sternly, lightly jabbing my chest with his right fist. “Accidental or not, I feel no sympathy for humans. They are not worth my time.”
“If they’re not, then don’t waste your time,” I said. “I’m sure he must have an explanation for this.”
We patiently waited for Lance to recover so he could tell his story; except for Herobrine, who had a tense aura around him. When he stood up, he took a deep breath.
“Okay,” he said. “First, I’m really, really sorry. But I guess you could say I got curious. I wanted to know more about the new dimension. So when I started looking, I found a gaping hole in the side of the island. I found these bomb pieces, and a bunch of slime cubes hopping around. And then I saw this pretty gem that looked like an Eye of Ender, and a slime got hold of it, and suddenly it started getting infected or something. Then it infected all its friends and they all disappeared. Again, I’m really sorry.”
“Words cannot describe how cross I am,” said Amnesha. “But seriously, with the negative powers of Endermen, and the properties of uranium slime, those things could do some really bad things. If they can infect each other, who knows what else they could do?”
From behind us, we heard a villager. “So we know two things for sure; they can teleport, and they can infect others of its kind.” The villager stepped closer to us. He looked very out of the ordinary, but not in a bad way. He was wearing a thick brown vest, and his green eyes showed deep knowledge. “If you don’t mind, I would like to study its remains in my laboratory. If I can find out more about it, I may use the new information to help you.”
I looked at him for a short moment, then said “I would like this issue solved before it gets out of hand. So sure, I would appreciate your help.”
“Thank you,” he said, as we gave him the specimen. “I’m Zenith. I take an interest in scientific discovery. I feel it is my job to study the unknown and find answers to things we have yet to look into. I will find out more about this interesting specimen. Trust me.”
“Hey. Hey guys,” said Lance. “I want to study the slime too.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah. If I caused the problem, I’d be valuable in solving it. What do you say?”
I looked over at Herobrine, who nodded to me. “If you’re going to help by studying it, that would also be appreciated,” I said. “I’m going to look for the rest of those things and take them out before they do any more harm. You can stay with Zenith and find out more about this… Ender Slime.”
“Excellent,” said Zenith, who motioned to Lance as he began to carry the slime back to his house. “Come, my apprentice. We have much work to do.” Lance eagerly followed him without a word.
“I’m going to go back to my house,” I said to whoever else was listening. “I need to gather a few things before we head out to hunt for slimes.”
Before I could turn and start walking, Amnesha said “We don’t have any time to waste. Hold onto my arm.”
She held my arm, and without hesitating, she teleported in a swirl of purple snowflakes. I was engulfed in it and the sound of wind, and within seconds I found myself standing in the living room of my house.
“Hurry up and do what you need to do,” said Amnesha. “I don’t want anything bad happening to this world. See, this is why humans caused so much destruction. Even long after they’re gone, the things they leave behind still manage to cause damage.”
In a split-second, Herobrine was also beside us. Without saying anything, I looked in my chests for anything I’ll need for slime hunting. I noticed how quickly that little one withered away when Herobrine burned it. So, that means I’d need something that would burn them. The Soul Bond already had the fire aspect, bestowed upon it by Herobrine. In my utilities chest I found a single iron ingot and a piece of flint, which I remembered starting a small fire with down in the Butte’s ravine. I picked up the flint and steel. I knew that it wouldn’t be long until I would need it again.
“Okay, ready? Let’s go,” Amnesha said after looking at the flint and steel.
We headed out of the house as I put the flint and steel in my pocket, but stopped only a few paces later. “Um,” I began. “Where exactly are we supposed to look?”
“Don’t worry,” Amnesha answered. “I got this covered. I can tell where any of my Endermen are because of the aura they radiate. I think I could look for Ender Slimes the same way.” She closed her eyes and put her hands to the sides of her head. After a few seconds, she said “I can feel something coming from the swamp area.”
“Okay then,” I said. As I began to walk towards there, Herobrine said “Wait.”
I stopped and turned to face him. He said “I can feel the presence too. It is very strong. We may need additional assistance.”
Herobrine lifted his arms as his eyes glowed a bit brighter than usual. Then, in front of him was a rush of fire, and from it, a Blaze rose from the flames. Blazes always looked rather fearsome, so I stepped back.
“Proceed,” said Herobrine.
The Blaze seemed to know what was going on, so it followed us as we began to trudge into the swamp.
As I proceeded further, Amnesha levitated past me. “There’s no way I’m putting my feet in this dirty marsh.”
Now that she mentioned it, I noticed that she had two legs, instead of one leg and a tentacle.
After a minute or so, I saw a large rock formation between the swamp and a river. “Is there something in there?” I asked.
“Yes,” Amnesha answered. I honestly wasn’t expecting a flat-out yes for an answer, but it’s fine by me.
In no time, we were inside an opening within the rock formation. I noticed, with the decreased sunlight, that my Soul Bond was glowing blue and purple just enough to light up the cave for a small distance. But it was nothing compared to the strong yellow light that the Blaze emitted.
“There is a strong energy here. Perhaps it is a large amount of Ender Slimes. Stay on your feet,” Herobrine stated.
The floor of the cave was relatively flat, yet slippery as it began to descend in a single direction. With each step downward, the cave became damper; a suitable environment for living slime.
I began to hear the sound of dripping water. I stopped and looked to the right. There was a small opening in the stone walls, just large enough to pass through. I motioned for my teammates to follow me inside. As the Blaze entered, I could see the chamber more clearly. It wasn’t large, but there was something here I’d never seen before.
It was an underground pond, complete with mud and dirt on the outer edges, which was growing grass. Not too far away, a stretch of moss grew over the rocks.
“I don’t understand,” said Amnesha. “Grass needs sunlight to grow, right? What’s it doing down here?”
“I think I know,” I said. “Maybe there’s another organic compound in the dirt or the water that could be giving it supplements.”
It wouldn’t be long before we figured it out. The water started to create miniature waves in itself without the help of wind. I stepped closer, wondering what could be causing it. Then, I noticed something about it as the Blaze moved closer as well, making it more visible. The water was a thick, groggy shade of green. As if the water was dirty or contaminated. I could also see three black shapes within it.
Unexpectedly, the water began to make forms of itself as a large portion of it reached for the rocks beyond the mud. When it was there, it took shape into a large green cube. Finally, the dark shapes moved to the front, forming two eyes and a mouth.
“Oh my,” I said in surprise. “Is this one of the original slimes?”
“It doesn’t appear to be,” Amnesha replied. “This one doesn’t appear to be made of uranium, but something a lot more natural. Maybe it was made from the humid conditions combined with the other compounds here.”
“But this isn’t what your readings detected, was it?” I asked.
“No, but they’re supposed to be right here. Where are they?”
I watched the slime’s eyes as they slowly moved upward, as if trying to see something above it. I copied its movements and looked up.
Hidden in the shadows of the cave ceiling was a huge crowd of purple eyes.
A black haze shot down from the ceiling and landed inside the green slime. The slime shook, struggling to get the Ender Slime out of its body. The Ender Slime did jump out, but not without leaving a black smudge inside its victim. In seconds the poor green slime shook some more as its entire body turned black, and its eyes grew purple.
In no time the Blaze fired itself up and blasted three fireballs in quick succession at the first Ender Slime. Two of them hit, with the third hitting the wall, throwing a huge light that washed over the ceiling. All the Ender Slimes scattered like a swarm of beetles in an Egyptian pyramid. They all moved with astounding speed, as they were quickly sliding to the edge of the ceiling and down the walls like it was nothing.
By the time the first Ender Slime had burned down, the others swept over its remains, absorbing them. As they did, the ones that slid over them grew just a fraction larger. The one that was just previously a green slime followed them as they all regrouped by the piece of moss beside the moist ditch that was once a pond. They all began to disappear beneath a tiny crack in the rocks. I swiped down with the Soul Bond as quickly as I could, but it only hit a chunk of stone as the last slime had seeped beneath the tiny opening.
“How do you suppose we get through there?” I asked with anticipation.
“Step aside, weakling,” Herobrine demanded. He pushed me out of his way and knelt down by the rocks. Then, with the most baffling strength I’ve ever seen, Herobrine ripped out an enormous chunk of stone with his bare hands and threw it to the side of the chamber, causing the cave to tremor with a loud boom as it landed.
“After them,” Herobrine commanded.
Without looking down, I jumped into the opening, landing about a second later. As my feet hit the ground, my knees shook with pain, but that was not important now. Amnesha, Herobrine and the Blaze followed after.
The Blaze lit up the room. It was a basic-looking, square cobblestone room that was covered in moss. Suddenly though, what my eyes caught made me feel sick inside. A line of dead skeletons tied up in metal shackles along the walls; some still standing since their arms were being held up by wrist cuffs. Others were in pieces on the floor. At the far end of the chamber was a huge cage that went further inside the wall. Inside it were even more skeletons, but these were moving. Their bony hands were twitching as they lied down on the rough mossy floor. I looked around for bows and arrows, which were a trademark to skeletons, but there were none.
In the center of the dungeon, facing us, was the group of Ender Slimes of all different sizes. I recognized the one that was only a green slime moments ago by its height. No other Ender Slime was the same size as this one. Its eyes peered at me like all the others, but this one’s were barely moving slightly inside its gelatinous body. All the others’ eyes stayed still.
I wasted no more time and lunged at the group directly. They all scattered in the blink of an eye, causing my attack to miss. I watched them as they rammed into the wall as one, crushing it with extreme force and busting a large hole in the wall, revealing a smaller room behind it. We followed them in a hurry, and stopped as we got to the forced-open entrance. The room was a kind of armory, but there was no armor, only weapons. However, there were only swords lining the walls. All of them appeared to be the same kind, and they looked as if they were made of silver.
With the Ender Slimes cornered in this room, the Blaze lit itself on fire again and launched another volley of fireballs. They hit a few of the Ender Slimes, one of which burned down completely. The rest engulfed a few of the swords and rushed out of the room, knocking us over as they went. I got up as quickly as I could, watching the Ender Slimes slide over the skeletons in the cage, leaving a sword in the hand of each. Others dissolved the shackles holding the other skeletons to the wall, causing them to fall to the floor. And again, the Ender Slimes slid over every skeleton and left a sword in their path.
When they were done, the Ender Slimes wasted no time, and each of them teleported out of the dungeon without any trace other than the purple snowflakes, which dissolved soon after.
I stepped closer to the skeletons. The Ender Slimes had left a black smudge on every one of them. This worried me. I watched as the smudges grew to cover each entire skeleton, not missing a single rib or joint. The next thing I know, all the skeletons’ bones were black.
“Uh oh,” I whispered.
Suddenly, the eye sockets of every skeleton flashed a beaming white, lighting up the dungeon more than ever. All at once, they took hold of the swords given to them, and they stood up in unison. Only the broken skeletons remained motionless on the floor.
The skeletons in the cage broke through the bars with their swords. I realized they were as tall as Endermen now.
The Blaze fired up and launched a volley at the skeletons. They hit, but did next to nothing to their thick, armored bones. The skeletons marched toward us in retaliation.
In a panic, I said “Let’s warp to the surface, maybe the sun will hurt them like the normal ones.”
“May as well try it,” Amnesha said.
I felt her take my arm again, and just before the skeletons were upon us, we were right outside the cave. Herobrine was still with us, but I noticed the Blaze was missing.
“That’s right,” I said, putting my palm to my forehead. “Blazes can’t teleport.”
“Do not ever lose your mind if you are panicked,” said Herobrine. “You may regret thoughtless actions.”
“Thoughtless?” I asked in surprise. “I’m just trying to keep us safe.”
“You seem to have forgotten who I am, human. I am Lord Herobrine, ruler of the Nether.”
“Then explain to me why you warped back here with us,” I retorted.
Herobrine was silent. Finally he said “I knew who those skeletons used to be. During the punishment for the solidifying of my lava ocean, I captured a few of the human warriors who also tried to stand up to me. I locked them away in a dungeon, never to be seen again. Do you remember the spider-jockey who I tried to make peace with?”
“Yes.”
“I want to prove those who think I am evil wrong. I could sense the remembrance in their eyes, and with their new power they could be far stronger than before. However, I wanted to prove I am not evil, and I do not wish to hurt them again.”
“But look,” I said back. “These skeletons were practically remade by the Ender Slimes. They are likely under their control, so we probably don’t have a choice but to defeat them.”
“Guys.” We turned around to see Amnesha looking into the cave. “I see something,” she said.
We saw a faint yellow light from deep within the cave. As it got closer, we saw that it was the Blaze, flying upwards as fast as it could to get out; and not too far behind it, the skeletons.
We sidestepped as the Blaze flew outside the entrance, slowing down and finally stopping to stay close to Herobrine. Then we backed away as the skeletons were beginning to emerge from the depths of the earth at last. I could already imagine them happily reaching the sunlight they missed for so long, only to burn down and wither away.
Then, all the skeletons- fourteen I counted- sprinted into the sunlight, and as I thought, they all were set ablaze by the sun. I bent down and started to laugh; the Ender Slimes’ plan worked so miserably.
But out of nowhere, I was shoved hard by a flaming arm, landing in the moist grass. A skeleton is what pushed me, but it didn’t seem to react to the sun burning it.
Then I figured it out; these skeletons are immune to fire.
The skeleton flung its blazing sword downward, and without thinking I blocked with the Soul Bond. The skeleton, its anger growing, kicked it out of my hands a few feet away. I couldn’t reach for the Homing Bow because I was on my back, blocking the bow from my reach.
I watched as the skeleton raised its gleaming silver sword, and swung it again. I put my arms in front of me, as if that would do anything to protect me from the attack.
Then a massive object, a hand made entirely of shadows, reaches the skeleton from behind and grabs it, preventing it from moving. I was awestruck. But I knew, only Amnesha could’ve done that. I traced the arm of the shadow hand back to her own arm. The shadow hand lifted the skeleton in the air and then forcefully slammed it into the ground, shattering it to bits.
The sky began to turn gray. All of a sudden, it began to rain. The rain put out the fires of the skeletons, which weren’t even effective towards them. But as the rain continued, I heard a sound that could only be described as something ramming into a chunk of metal. I turned around, and saw that the Blaze was being hurt by the rain. Each drop that landed on it sounded like the metal clashing that I heard. I watched as the Blaze let out a metallic-sounding sigh as its fires vanished, and the Blaze died out into a pile of golden ash.
Our attention was then immediately focused on the skeletons, which were running out of the swamp together and toward my house. At first I thought they were going to wreck my house, but they were all heading to something else; my Nether portal.
Two by two, the skeletons jumped into the portal until the last one was through it and gone. I picked up the Soul Bond, and I was about to follow them in, but Herobrine stopped me.
“They have now dared to toy with my kingdom,” he said. “Stay here, I must take matters into my own hands. Leave this to me.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Absolutely. You must go and tell the villager and the human of your findings. I will stop the skeletons; they shall not get far in my territory,” Herobrine replied. He then vanished without the use of a portal.
“Well then,” I said, turning to Amnesha. “No time to waste.”
“Right,” she said. My arm was taken again, and as expected, I was clouded by purple snowflakes. Then of course, the village was right there in front of us. I could already see Rhino and the creeper waiting patiently on the gravel walkways. I pet both of them, but I hurried along to the entrance to Zenith’s house.
But then I stopped. What if Herobrine was in danger? Something gave me the sense that he was. But, I mean, he’s Herobrine. He’s capable of burning entire villages to below ground level. A few tall skeletons couldn’t stand a chance, right?
But what if the Ender Slimes were waiting; setting a trap?
“Amnesha,” I called out, turning to see her beside me. “Can you detect any more Ender Slimes?”
She put her hands to her head again. Then she let go and said “I don’t feel their presence.”
Then there’s only one way to say it; the Ender Slimes are in the Nether as well. They couldn’t be back in the End. There was nothing they could do there.
At the same time, something even more shocking entered my mind. The Ender Slimes can infect both regular slimes and skeletons. But I remember one of them stuck to my face and I was never infected. Maybe it only infects the bones if they have direct contact with them?
But what do the Ender Slimes have business in the Nether for? There’s nothing but lava, red rock, Zombie Pigmen…
That’s when it hit me. Zombie Pigmen sometimes have exposed bones. And they’re the heart of Herobrine’s army.
Perhaps the Ender Slimes will infect Herobrine’s own loyal servants.
Perhaps they already have.

All righty, I somehow managed to squeeze in enough time to get this done. I'm terribly sorry to keep you guys waiting, but here's the next chapter at last.

Part 5:


The door to Zenith’s house creaked open as Amnesha and I stepped inside and shut the door behind us. We looked around, but nobody was home. The torches were left unlit, making the house gloomy, allowing only the gray light from the rainy clouds outside. “Zenith?” I called out. “Lance?” The only reply was the peaceful pitter-patter of rain. It forced me to drop my guard despite the situation. I always loved rain. Back on earth, I always thought that in a world of chaos, at least there will always be rain.

I walked around the house, looking for any sign of them. That’s when I found, at the side of the house, there was a trap door that was closed on the floor. I crouched and opened it, revealing a ladder that lead down, below the ground. I climbed down, Amnesha following, until my feet found a floor, making a dull clang as they did. The floor was made of steel, and so were the walls, giving this place a high-tech feeling. There were bright lights on the ceilings, which were actually powered by electricity. I never thought Zenith had this kind of technology.

At the end of the short hall was an opening to a fair-sized square laboratory; this had to be the one Zenith was talking about. Sure enough, he and Lance were standing in front of a metal table, observing the black slime which was contained in a heated box of glass and metal. Without looking backwards, Zenith said “Welcome. Have you discovered anything?”

“Yeah,” I said. “The slimes have a really strange reaction to the substance bones are made of.”

“Uh-oh,” Zenith said with concern. “This is what I feared.” He finally turned to face us. “Throughout my experiments, I have tried putting our specimen into contact with different subjects. The only reaction that seemed to stand out was with a skeleton bone.”

Zenith moved to the side to allow us to see into the container. Beside the singed pile of goo was a bone, only this bone had slowly turned a deep, dark gray. “I am guessing you figured out your observation because the slimes have already gotten hold of a skeleton?”

“They did,” I answered. “They got into a dungeon full of them. And when the skeletons transformed, they became immune to sunlight. Now, Herobrine is chasing them because they got into the Nether. But Herobrine doesn’t want us to help him. What should we do?”

“What do you think you should do? You must go and help him!” Zenith said in a slightly raised voice. “I’ve seen Pigmen before, and I know they could very well be prone to infection by the slimes. Did you also say these skeletons are unharmed by sunlight?”

“They are,” I replied. “Fire doesn’t seem to affect these new skeletons. But how would that work if both the slimes and the skeletons are weak to fire?”

Zenith took a deep breath and stated “Sometimes, nature gives us information we simply can’t explain. That’s what makes science amazing; so we can figure out which things we can explain.

“Of course, as we know, these new skeletons could easily become a major threat if they are not eliminated immediately. We need to think of something we can call them by, because they sure aren’t like other skeletons.”

“Wither skeletons?” asked Lance. We looked at him, and he looked back at us with a seemingly oblivious smile.

“Why Wither skeletons?” I asked him. “They don’t look withered at all.”

“I know,” Lance replied. “I like making things ironic. Oh, the irony.”

I couldn’t think of anything to say to that. Zenith took a step forward and said “You must go to the Nether and help your friend; not even he realizes the danger he’s in. If the slimes and the… Wither skeletons take the advantage, there’s no telling what they could do in such large numbers.”

“Okay then, we’ll be on our way,” I said. I turned to Amnesha and said “I think I’m getting used to this teleport business.”

“Okay, let’s hurry,” she replied.

As Amnesha took hold of my arm, Zenith said “I will be hoping for your safe return. Good luck.” Then, he disappeared as a purple flurry surrounded us. In no time, the flurry cleared as my Nether portal appeared in front of me. I didn’t hesitate and said “Come on” as I rushed into the purple light flowing from the portal frame. The loud noise blasting through my ears rang out as we traveled between dimensions.

We weren’t surprised to find the Nether ablaze. However, there was far more fire covering the ground than normal. Quite instantly, we were faced with a group of Wither skeletons. They weren’t bothering with us, though, as they were fighting off a similar group of Zombie Pigmen. The Pigmen were fearlessly striking with their golden swords, determined to hold back the invading skeletons. Soon more Pigmen were rushing to join the fight, overpowering the skeletons with their numbers. It didn’t take too long for the skeletons to fall as the Pigmen split them to pieces. When the last one was finished, one of the Pigmen looked up at us and said “Help, hurry! We need reinforcements!”

It wasn’t until I looked over the landscape that I saw the scale of the invasion. There were perhaps a hundred skeletons and just as many Pigmen, using the entire Nether as a battleground.

“How did they multiply so fast?” I asked. Amnesha pointed to a specific skeleton. I watched, observing as the skeleton shoved a lone Pigman to the floor, then it raised its sword for a finishing attack. I didn’t want to watch, but I did, wincing as the skeleton plunged its sword into the Pigman’s bare chest. At first it was motionless, until the dark slime material spread over its body, dissolving all of its innards and forcing its skeletal structure to grow almost a meter higher. Then, one of its hands grew into a stone-like blade. The newborn skeleton got up and rushed into battle with its new comrades. It was a horrid sight to behold.

“Quick, we need to find Herobrine,” Amnesha said to me. I followed her to the right, in the direction of his castle. There was no time to stop and fight, but I did slash my way through whatever skeletons were in my way. Soon it came time to cross a large lake of magma. When we were halfway across the red rock bridge, I looked behind me due to hearing a stampede of feet. A much larger group of skeletons were coming after us, likely trying to beat us to the castle. I caught something at the corner of my eye and looked down into the lava. A magma cube reached out of the lake and latched onto the bridge, pulling itself up and creating a thick blockade covering the width of the bridge, preventing the skeletons from progressing. We continued without another thought, crossing the remainder of the bridge. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too long for the horde of skeletons to overpower a single magma cube, sending it retreating back into the lake.

We hurried up the hill that lead to Herobrine’s castle. I dared to look back, seeing that the skeletons were also on their way up. Suddenly, I jumped as a massive projectile fell from the sky, exploding part of the ground and sending a mix of black bones and red rock into the air. We looked up, to see a Ghast with its blood red eyes locked on the skeletons. It yelled at them as it spat another flaming explosive, buying us additional time.

Finally we made it to the doorsteps of the castle and rushed in. Within the hallways were lines of Blazes guarding the paths. Each of them let us go by. “We should get to the roof for a better view,” I suggested. We continued up the stairs, passing by more Blazes and even a Nether wart farm growing in a patch of soul sand.

As we ascended the stairs, we could almost hear a faint scream. But it didn’t sound like anything we’ve ever heard before; not even a Ghast. I could almost detect it getting louder as we neared the peak of the castle. Finally, I could see the red hue of the sky above as we reached the roof of the castle. Over the castle wall, we could see the massive battle raging on far below us; the Pigmen, magma cubes, Ghasts and Blazes were all heavily engaged in a full-on war against the Wither skeletons. Sounds of explosions, swords clashing, fire raging and pig squealing were rupturing my ears. And the Pigmen were slowly decreasing in number. Time was running out.

“Where the heck is Herobrine?!” I shouted, my heart racing with fear.

“Let’s check behind the fortress,” said Amnesha.

I was willing to take any option. I ran across the numerous purple fortress walls, making my way to the back of the castle. When we got there, I scanned the lava ocean for any signs of Herobrine. There were none. As a matter of fact, nothing was here. No life forms. I looked out across the red shore, to see something rather suspicious. Three Wither skeletons were standing on the shore, staring out at the sea. Their fresh silver swords indicated they were some of the originals. All of a sudden, the black slimes that had possessed them let loose, escaping their bodies and leaving three bare lifeless skeletons rattling to the ground.

As we looked on, the slimes disassembled the skeletons piece by piece, and reassembled them in a very odd shape. It started with a serpent’s tail, then going up the spine was a massive ribcage. The neck portion split into three, but ended in nothing. The figure had no arms or legs. But the slimes weren’t finished. They were scooping large piles of a material that was hard to identify from up here, and covered the skeletal figure in it, leaving no part of the skeleton visible except for the three necks. As I looked closer, I could tell that the material was soul sand. However, there were indeed souls being held inside its gray texture. All of them had dismal expressions on their many faces, and they were raising the choir of screams that we’ve been hearing.

Then, from a narrow passage, Herobrine comes marching onto the shore, all by himself; no Blaze bodyguards of any kind. I found it very bold of him that he had no means of combat gear; no armor or weapons.

Without a hint of fear in his eyes, Herobrine stated “Unlucky and unwise is he who risks entering my domain.” Then with telekinetic powers, he picked up two of the silver swords that were lying on the ground beside the sculpture. “Let us give him a warm welcome.”

The slimes scooped the three Wither skeletons heads into their bodies and placed them atop the three necks. But the slimes then morphed into one giant one. And I could tell by the glow in its purple eyes that this was the leader of the Ender Slimes. Then the slime soaked into the Soul Sand, dissolving it with its composition and soaking into the newly-created body.

Suddenly, all three of the heads’ eyes lit up a bright white just like Herobrine’s, indicating that this new abomination had been awoken. A blue surge of electricity began to develop around the navy blue bones of the creature. “It looks like this hydra-like thing is charging power,” said Amnesha. “I feel a powerful aura of extreme darkness radiating from it. Best to take it out now.”

Taking her advice, I leaned over the wall and shouted “Herobrine! We’re here to help!”

Without needing to look in our direction, Herobrine said “Do not interfere. I shall punish this being myself.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Amnesha said. “That monster is more powerful than it looks. He will need help.”

She teleported to the ground floor, and so did I using the Ender Pearl within the Soul Bond, where I could get a better view at this creature. It appeared to be floating as it stared down at all of us with its three heads. Then, all at once, the three heads let out a piercing roar that sliced the very air around us, and suddenly it released its full power. It was like an explosion, only there were no bursts of fire. All of us were forced back by the sheer force of the explosion. The power of the creature itself left a massive crater in the rock, and in no time it began its attack.

Each of the heads of this creature released a projective copy of its head, using it as a projectile. I dodged one, but it wasn’t of any use because the projectile detonated upon impact with the Nether brick wall, pushing me to the ground. Herobrine wasted no time and lunged at the creature with his two swords burning in flame. He hacked and slashed at it in mid-air, giving almost no room for the hydra to strike. As the heads launched its skull projectiles, Herobrine teleported immediately behind the creature and continued his relentless assault. Eventually he was repeating this teleport-and-attack pattern so fast my eyes couldn’t keep up with him. Not even the monster could make any sense of his position, Herobrine’s pattern confusing it greatly. His dual blades were glowing with a fierce flame, and at the speed Herobrine was attacking, it almost looked like he was performing a sort of beam dance.

Finally the monster had enough of this, and swung its tail just as Herobrine teleported right into its path. Herobrine got knocked back by the tail’s swing and staggered through the air for a second. To help combat the creature, I aimed the Homing Bow at the creature and fired. The arrow struck the side of the bulky ribcage, but it didn’t seem to do much more than anger the monster. One of its heads turned toward me and fired a black skull-shaped projectile, swiftly launching me back with its small detonation. After being tossed around by three explosions by now, I was starting to get bruised beneath my armor.

“Enough,” said Amnesha sternly. She held out both of her arms and clenched her fists, holding a strong grip on the monster with her mind. The monster shook, almost paralyzed. Then Amnesha swung her arms in a circle and flung them forward again, forcing the creature to fly in the same pattern and ram itself into the wall of the fortress. It stayed there, its three heads embedded inside the wall. At first I thought it was trapped, but all of a sudden it must have launched a projectile from all three of its heads at once, blasting a gaping hole in the wall and setting itself free. Behind the wall a fortress hallway was revealed, where two Blazes were observing what was going on. Immediately they attempted to shoot fireballs at the hydra, but their flames did next to nothing to it.

At last, the hydra had had enough. It triple-roared at all of us as loud as it could, and as it did so its body became cloaked in yellow and blue electricity. Now I could tell the monster was surging with power. It launched a blue projection of its skull instead of a black one. This was much easier for me to dodge because it was slower, but the impact destroyed a large amount of red rock and Nether bricks. I jumped up with another arrow on my bow’s string and fired it. But as it hit the monster square in the head, it just bounced right off. It didn’t damage it at all. Instead I took out the Soul Bond and ran over to the creature despite its many attacks. I swung at it, and all of a sudden, I knew I had made a dire mistake. The electricity covering its body surged through the Soul Bond and shocked my arms. I stood there for a second, trying to regain my muscle movements, before finally being able to back away just before it swung its tail. Then the hydra began to spew its projectiles in every direction, rocking the ground and forcing us to watch our step. Suddenly a portion of the ground cracked open, allowing the lava from the ocean to seep in, separating Amnesha and I from Herobrine and the hydra.

“That does it. I shall end this now,” said Herobrine. He dropped the swords and lit one of his fists on fire, while surging the other with lightning. He flew up with tremendous speed and threw a flaming punch, sending the creature flying out above the lava ocean. However, the fire didn’t seem to burn it. Herobrine pursued the creature above the lava and launched his right electrified fist. The punch came into contact with the center head. As it did, I heard the loud sizzling sound of electricity frying the air around it. Blue and yellow sparks were flailing wildly around Herobrine and the creature as Herobrine kept his fist embedded into the creature’s center skull. My guess was that Herobrine was trying to make the creature implode from an overdose of his raw power. All I could hear now was the sound of the creature’s roar along with the boom of thunder. It was almost like I was seeing living statues, because neither Herobrine nor the monster were moving as Herobrine continued his everlasting thunder punch.

Suddenly, Herobrine released his fist and just floated there. As I looked more closely, I saw that there were white electricity sparks fusing between Herobrine’s eyes and all three of the creature’s heads. I couldn’t tell; was the creature trying to do something to him by exchanging literally paralyzing glares, or vise versa?

Herobrine then turned around. He stared at me with his glowing white eyes. A few white sparks were flaring out of his eyes, making be believe something might have happened to him. Then, the left and right heads of the hydra send lines of electricity zapping through the air and connecting with Herobrine’s eyes, creating a sparking thread between them. At the same time though, it looked almost like the skulls were holding electrified puppet strings that held onto Herobrine’s eyes. I wasn’t sure what to make of the situation.

Finally, Herobrine spoke one word. “Destroy.” I instantly knew something was wrong. Herobrine dropped down on the shore, steadily stomping toward me. Each step sent pulses of electricity across the ground.

“That thing must have known Herobrine was stronger, so it’s using him as a vessel,” said Amnesha. This terrified me. If Herobrine were to attack me, there would be no contest.

Unfortunately, he did.

Herobrine jumped high into the air and landed in front of me. As he did, the ground shook and a large portion of the rock we were standing on separated from the mainland, sending us adrift into the ocean of lava. Without hesitating Herobrine slugged a punch at me, making a loud clang as it hit me square in the chestplate. I staggered back. The chestplate may have blocked it, but it nearly knocked the wind out of me.

“Herobrine, please!” I shouted in despair. “Stop this!” Herobrine did the exact opposite and began a barrage of punches at the most rapid speed I’ve ever seen. I held the Soul Bond out in front of me as a shield as Herobrine wailed on it at the speed of light. I had to place my foot back to keep myself from being pushed off the platform by Herobrine’s force. When he finally stopped, the Soul Bond was glowing partially red from friction. I had no choice, so I broke the ice and finally stood up to him for the first time by swinging the Soul Bond at him with all my might. However, as it hit his shoulder, I heard another clang sound. The strike did not damage him whatsoever. That’s when I realized how stupid I was. Herobrine is nearly invincible. He’s the king of an entire dimension. Now I had made a huge mistake. Nobody’s ever stood up to Herobrine and lived.

Except for Amnesha.

Instinctively I turned to face her, and shouted “Help!”

Without a second’s notice she disappeared. Then as I turned back, I saw that she was holding Herobrine by the back while floating, bringing him into the air. Herobrine attempted to amplify his electricity to shake her off, but Amnesha was more resilient. She then simply let go of him, dropping him into the molten rock below. Herobrine plunged down as the lava swallowed him whole, creating a huge bursting bubble of lava as Herobrine immediately rose up from the ocean. He was partially coated in lava, but this did not seem to affect him at all. Now, sparks as big as lightning bolts were dancing madly around him in an explosion of power.

“That only made him stronger!” I said to Amnesha. “How did you defeat him last time?”

“Exactly that,” she replied. “I had to overload his power limits. No matter how strong you think you are, your power always has a limit.”

I nodded and turned, and my eyes widened as Herobrine sent a molten ball of fire my way. I sidestepped, but the shot landed on the ground and partially melted the rock, reducing my footing. Herobrine began to whip up a tornado of spinning magma around him, further empowering him but making him more unstable. The great combination of lava and lightning was starting to overgrow, rattling the entire Nether and causing rocks to fall from the ceiling high up. The heat was starting to make my skin boil.

“I’m not sure how much longer I can stand this!” I yelled.

“Then end this yourself!” Amnesha replied.

Then it clicked in my head. I knew what to do.

I looked behind Herobrine to see the three-headed monster’s electricity keeping a strong hold on him. I did the math; this creature’s power, plus Herobrine’s own electricity and fire powers are already making him unstable as it is. Now I had to throw a final wrench in the variety to completely spin it out of control.

I held the Homing Bow and pointed it at Herobrine with no arrows in the string. I tried to concentrate, but another projectile of lava forced me to get out of the way, losing my focus. I tried again. I closed my eyes and focused once more. When I opened my eyes, there it was; between my fingers and the silver bow string, was a diamond-dipped lightning arrow.

I steadily aimed this glimmering thunder breaker at Herobrine, the diamond sparking with electricity, eager to be launched. But suddenly I thought, what would happen to Herobrine after I finished him off? I couldn't tell. But I had no choice; I must end this now or get eradicated in a blazing inferno. I looked Herobrine in the eye, his head twitching from the overgrowth of power. Then he began to advance, his burning vortex coming right for me. I released the arrow, the projectile turning into a moving lightning bolt of its own.

It struck dead-center.

A massive blue lightning bolt crashed down from the ceiling, striking Herobrine with extreme force and creating a loud blast of thunder. That did it; Herobrine froze, completely overcome by his own power. Suddenly he began to flash a blinding white, until he turned into a giant living light. It made a shrieking shimmering sound as it continued to brighten.

The explosion came before I could hear anything. Silently, the fiery vortex, the sparks flying around, and even Herobrine himself, let out a gigantic ring of light that spread out further than possible, and then came a massive sphere of light that expanded ever so greatly. It looked like I was watching a star die. And just like that, the sound of an apocalyptic supernova obliterated my hearing into nothing but a ringing tune, the devastation caused by the massive force launching me and everything around me high into the air as if gravity itself had stopped. All my thoughts went away, and so did all of my senses except for my sight. And all I could see was a supernova, which I fail to describe. But immediately after, my vision blanked out.

Everything went white.



Edit: I just saw that new rule and freaked out because I don't want my story deleted. So, here it is; Herobrine isn't real. Please don't hurt me.

Hey guys, look what I found.

Part 7:


I didn’t know how long I stared at the burnt piece of bread. Maybe a second, maybe a minute. I was completely speechless. My knees suddenly shook, a sign of giving way, so I wasted no time and mounted the horse by the stirrups. When the horse started to move again, I leaned forward on the back of the horse’s neck, still clutching the toast. With my adrenaline gone, only now did I realize just how weak I was now. Without this horse, I wouldn’t have made it more than a few miles.
I wonder how far I’ve travelled, or how long it’s been. It can’t have been terribly long. The night was still here, so perhaps not more than a specific number of hours?
I noticed that I never loosened my grip on the toast, which was still warm from being baked in that last explosion by the creeper. I know this piece of bread all too well. I remember feeding it to the creeper that always followed me around. I hardly knew it, but it was like a friend to me. Giving it that hug gave me a significant feeling of warmth. Not only that, but it spewed babies at me… that creeper was a mother. Was this mutation caused by the explosion in the Nether? Or was it simply a part of a creeper’s life cycle? Either way, I was horrified at what I had done. I killed a mother.
First Herobrine, now this creeper.
Why was I having sentimental feelings for a creeper? She wasn’t human, so why should I? Though, I consider Rhino family, so why not the creeper? Maybe, since I’m the ruler of this dimension, I share some kind of special connection with all the organic beings here?
Now my mind was starting to drift into craziness. My head found the most remotely comfortable spot on the horse’s bony spine and I closed my eyes. All I could hear was the horse’s hooves stamping into the thick dirt below. I had to stay awake though; I didn’t want to end up falling off the horse. That would hurt, a lot.
I tried to concentrate on staying awake, so I paid more attention to the footsteps of the horse. It would be no use opening my eyes anyway, as it was too dark and I was too worn out to use the Soul Bond as a light source. There was nothing to do besides listen to the crinkle of grass under the horse’s feet.
Wait, grass?
I sat upright, making a few crackling sounds in my spine as I did, and I removed the Soul Bond from its sheath and lit it up, turning it into the sun’s replacement. When I looked down, I couldn’t believe it; there was really grass here. As small as a thing that it is, the sight of grass made me relieved. I turned around, seeing that the wasteland was starting to inch away from us. I began to examine this new field. It looked like there were trees in the distance and what looked like a body of water. The grass itself was a rather dark green.
I figured that if I found grass and trees, I shouldn’t be far from my village. But who knows how huge this place is? It’s likely that my village will never be found now. As we continued into this new place, our vision was starting to be clouded by fog with the Soul Bond our only way of seeing. After that, some of the grass was thick with murky water. It was almost like the swamp back home, but my swamp was nowhere near as dark looking.
My vision was very limited now, but the horse listened to my mind and pressed onwards. Keep going, I thought to it. Through my decreased vision, the bog was starting to look more bizarre. The roots of trees, which were starting to look like mangroves, were twisting around each other like a wild knot. And the more we continued, the less dry land there was. Eventually there was nothing but thick, shallow water with the occasional tall grass spiking out of it.
I looked forward. Ahead of us was a silhouette of something large, and it didn’t shape like a tree. But there was no telling what it was exactly until we approached closer. Once we were almost close enough to tell what it was, the figure took a square shape, with thick legs going into the water. The shape didn’t make any sense to me.
Finally, the Soul Bond’s glow cut through the rest of the obstruction. This thing looked like a hut or a shed, made of wood and with natural, unrefined wooden logs holding it up out of the water. There was a worn-looking wood plank stairway going from the water into the elevated opening. The structure, minus its stilts, was about two meters both high and wide. There was an opening on the side that looked like a window.
Curious, I stepped off the saddle, plunging my legs halfway into the gray water. I allowed the Soul Bond to faintly glow without its flames. This marsh water had a very odd stench to it. Hopefully this shack would provide a place to rest up so I can regain my strength. I wasn’t in all that much of a rush anymore; home could be lightyears away for all I know. I slowly waded through the water and reached the rickety stairs. I took one foot out of the water and placed it on the first step, making the board creak as I did. Careful not to lose my footing, I cautiously climbed the steps, reaching the open doorway of the shack. I peered inside, and to my surprise, there was somebody in here. The figure seemed to be tending to something on an old looking wood shelf by the window.
Then the figure turned around to face me. “Ooh! Look at this!” said an oddly-pitched voice. The person approached me, allowing the Soul Bond’s glow to reveal more features. The person was wearing a black pointy hat and a dark violet robe. Plus the face looked somewhat female, giving this person the appearance of a witch. “Who might you be?” she asked.
Not sure where to begin, I said “I’m looking for my village.” I wasn’t sure why I said that since I wasn’t expecting her to know what I’m talking about.
“Village?” asked the witch. “You mean Giant’s Village?”
“Giant?” I asked, remembering the giant zombie I fought earlier. “I’m not sure if-“
“Hold that thought,” the witch interrupted. “Let me burn a candle.” As she said, she snapped her long fingers, causing a candle on a tiny center table to light up. I could see her more clearly, noticing her unusually large nose. She didn’t seem to be of any harm, yet she frightened me a little.
“Oh my, look at you,” said the witch. “You hardly look alive. Come, sit here, I’ll brew you something. You can leave your belongings in the corner.” She motioned to the chair as she made her way to a cauldron in front of the window. As I sat down, I noticed that the window opening had a little clay pot with a red mushroom sitting in it. Beside the cauldron was a wood platform with a brewing stand on it. The witch opened a small chest that was full of glass bottles, took one out, and placed it in the brewing stand after filling it with water from the cauldron.
I set the Soul Bond and Homing Bow by the wall, along with my bloody armor, leaving a battered me with a very worn out shirt and pants. I looked at the toast piece, and put it in the pocket of my pants. I felt so flimsy without my armor, yet so glad I didn’t have to wear it. The weight of pure diamonds can really leave you exhausted. I looked behind me, and saw that there was a very dainty old bed lying against the wall.
When the witch was done brewing the potion, she set it on the table in front of me and sat down on the opposite side. “You don’t look so good. This should make you feel much better.” The witch glanced at my arsenal on the other side of the room. “You seem to like wearing blue.”
Hesitantly, I said “They’re made of diamonds.”
“Ooh, very interesting indeed. How did you get all that?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” I said. “But I got the diamond armor from the Nether, to put it simply.”
“I see,” said the witch. “Now, drink up. You don’t want the wounds to be serious.”
I always know that I should never accept things but strangers, but I accepted a diamond sword from a bunch of villagers and look how that turned out. The liquid looked like a potion of regeneration. Yet, the liquid was purple instead of pink, but that was probably the dim candle light throwing me off. I took a sip, letting an odd flavor tingle my taste buds. I haven’t drank anything in a while, so I considered this potion refreshing.
“What about your bow?” asked the witch. “Is that Herobrine’s bow?”
I sat upright. “You know Herobrine?”
“You could say that,” the witch replied. “I remember he ruined a little town using that bow of his. How would such a weapon fall into your hands?”
“Well… he gave it to me,” I admitted.
“Interesting…”
“I have a question though,” I said. “Do you know what happened to him?”
“Recently?” asked the witch. “Has something happened?”
I told her “Yes. There was a really bad accident in the Nether and a huge explosion went off. It knocked me out. When I woke up, I was in a dirt wasteland. I found the ruins of a village full of zombies, one of which was gigantic.”
“Sounds like Giant’s Village to me. You see, this village was set up far, far away from the danger zone, where Herobrine could not find us. They were even blessed by the protection of a mighty giant, should any danger arise. Some say it was sent by a power high above to prevent Herobrine’s disasters,” the witch explained. “However, I know nothing of this accident of which you speak. Likely though, the wasteland that supposedly wiped out Giant’s Village was caused by an inter-dimensional explosion. An explosion like that can potentially affect two words instead of one. Not only that, but an extreme source of power would have had to trigger the effect.”
I was rather interested in this information. “Herobrine was the center of the blast. What could that mean?”
“Well,” said the witch, “It appears to be that Herobrine finally blew up.”
I was shocked. “Oh no. I feel terrible now.”
“Why is that?”
“Because Herobrine was driven mad by a creature with puppeteer capabilities. I had no choice but to stop him by force.”
The witch watched as I sipped through the potion. “Well congratulations, sonny boy. You just did the whole world a favor.”
“No,” I said. “Herobrine changed for the better. It’s not like him to suddenly turn on me like that.”
“Well I have no knowledge of any puppeteer creatures, so unfortunately I can’t help you there. But Herobrine, knowing the power he has, must be the only explanation for such a large-scale disaster to go through two worlds. But for a human such as yourself to best Herobrine, I must admit I’m impressed.”
“Thanks,” I said, “But is there any way I can find Herobrine, maybe return him to normal?”
“I’m afraid not,” said the witch. “For an explosion like that, nobody could have survived. Though I’m not certain as to how you ended up in the Overworld afterwards. But don’t be so down. I’m rather glad he’s gone, and I’m certain those zombies can peacefully be put to rest now.”
Finishing my potion, I looked down, distraught. “Well… do you perhaps remember when Herobrine burned down that village way back then?” I asked.
“Like it was yesterday,” the witch replied.
“Do you perhaps know where you guys came from when you ended up here?”
The witch pointed in the direction behind her. “We travelled in a straight direction eastward to get here, I believe. I haven’t seen the sun in a while because of all this fog.”
Suddenly my vision started to get blurry. I was losing focus on the witch. “What’s happening?” I asked, having trouble even sitting up. I was starting to lose my balance. Was this some kind of side effect of the potion?
“Nothing,” said the witch. “Just the potion of weakness.”
That’s the last thing I heard before I blacked out.
I could hardly remember where I was when I eventually woke up. But once I did, I shook my head to clear my blurry vision again. I tried to sit up, but couldn’t. When I turned my head, I noticed that I was lying on a thick white cloth, with my arms bound to my sides and my legs bound together. I knew that potion looked funny. That witch tried to poison me.
I saw the witch studying my armor and weapons, as if she could see every atom of diamond embedded in them. She turned to face me and said “So sorry, but I appear to have run out of Ghast tears long ago. I couldn’t make anything to heal you with. Plus, why would I let such priceless items like yours get away? Diamonds would be an excellent ingredient in brewing the most excellent elixirs.”
It was a potion of weakness, right? I remember reading about them in the potion recipe list back home. Oh no… I remember the key ingredient.
I just drank a liquefied fermented spider eye.
Okay.
I am so done with this witch.
“So explain why you have me in ropes?” I asked.
“Since my ingredient supply is so exhausted, I’ve resorted to using whatever I find as an ingredient. Unfortunately for you, you’re no exception. I’ll have to dissect you.”
“You’re crazy,” I said. “What’s the point of making potions for a living anyway?”
“I seek the power elixir of everlasting life,” the witch explained. “Then I can never die.”
“There’s no such thing,” I said with a scowl. “Now let me go please, or this could get ugly.”
The witch said “I apologize. You and your items are just too good to pass up.” She picked up the Soul Bond and brought it over to the bed I was laying on. “This thing looks sharp. I wonder how it would feel to cut you with your own blade.”
“Does it really have to be like this?” I asked.
“Why else do you think I live here alone, yet traveled with the people who built Giant’s Village? You didn’t care to think that I was perhaps banished for my experiments? You’re such a fool.”
I sighed. I really didn’t want to have to use force on a woman. Well, evil is evil. The witch was about to bring the Soul Bond up to slash, but suddenly a large purple wave emitted from the entire body of the sword, causing the witch to let go and pushing her away, leaving the Soul Bond to drop on its flat side on my torso.
A chorus of voices all spoke in unison. “The souls occupying this blade shall never be wielded against its swordmeister.”
That made me smile. It reminded me that I’m not entirely alone here.
“What a peculiar albeit stubborn blade,” said the witch. “Good thing I have my own set of sharp materials.”
I knew this was going to hurt, but it was my only chance. I boldly stated “Fire Aspect,” causing the Soul Bond to burst into flames, burning my defenseless body and the ropes that held me down. I yelled in pain, but I figured this was the most painless way of escape. I snapped my wrists and ankles free, swiping the Soul Bond up before it could do any more damage. My chest and stomach felt like they had lain down on a hot stove, causing me to wince.
I faced forward, seeing the witch on the other side of the room, holding your average stainless-steel knife. I pointed the Soul Bond to her. “You are outmatched. Surrender or I will have to use force.”
“Such a silly human,” said the witch with a chuckle. She reached underneath a workbench beside her cauldron, pulling out a round bottle. Without having time to react, she threw the bottle at me, peppering my skin with glass shards and yet another mysterious liquid. Immediately my vision started to fail me yet again. Everything I could see was zooming in and out dramatically, in a motion-sick kind of way. It was like a visual feeling of nausea, and it did not feel good.
I fell to the ground, causing some of the glass on the floor to sink into my arm. One moment the floor was right up in my face, and the next, it was moving further away.
I could not stay like this for long. I’ve braved many battles, but in my current state, I can’t fight. I’m too weak. I wanted to run, but in the confined space of this hut there was nowhere to go. I had to make a path out.
All I could do was thrust the Soul Bond into the wall in front of me, activating Fire Aspect. The flames licked their way through the old wood wall rather quickly. Like a breathless fish, I squirmed out through the hole I burned in the wall. I had totally forgotten about the elevation, and I plummeted seven feet into the foul gray water below. Needless to say, the water turned a thick crimson seconds after I made the splash.
“You can’t escape from me. Hee hee,” the witch called out from inside the hut. I knew she would be down here to cut me to pieces any second. This was rather unusual, but without my nearly unbreakable armor, for the first time in a long time, I am feeling fear. But does my fear-inducing opponent really have to be a female?
Well, now that I think about it, she’s not the only female that utterly terrified me at some point.
Due to the thickness of the water, my body was partially floating, just enough for me to breathe at the surface. It was starting to rain moderately too. While I was still conscious I had to think of something. Through the sound of the rain I could hear the steps of her hut creaking one by one. She’s almost here.
The rain eased my nerves a bit. I closed my eyes, thinking as fast as I could. I can’t use the Soul Bond much. Not only will the flame die out in the water, but the witch has splash potions which she can throw from a distance. Darn; I left the Homing Bow in her hut. There had to be something.
That’s it. The horse. As useless as it is in combat, I could only hope that he could hear my thoughts. Hear me out, horse, I thought. Please help me.
It didn’t seem like it, but it was one of the most powerful thoughts I’ve ever emitted trying to communicate with another being. I heard the final creak of the wood plank, and finally a step into the water. Then the sound of water steps became increasing in volume. I didn’t want to look back. That wouldn’t make things much better.
The water steps stopped, followed by the witch’s voice. “Thought you could get away?” It was mere feet away from me. I just floated there, not like playing dead would get me out of anything.
Then I heard it; it sounded like an aqua jet, something charging through the water. Both the witch and I looked behind us. There was the horse, stampeding our way. But I had no idea what it was trying to do, until it did it.
The horse was galloping at full speed through the water. Then, it jumped high up, slamming its head into the base of the stilted hut. I could both hear and feel the logs uprooting from the ground, causing the hut to tilt heavily on the side we were on. Its shadow loomed over us. And then, with a deep, loud creak, the shed toppled onto us. I curled up and braced myself. All I felt was the impact of the shed against the water and ground, along with a huge splash of water. But, I wasn’t crushed.
When I dared to look up, I saw that I was inside the hut, only it was tilted ninety degrees entirely, and partially filled with swamp water. At first I questioned how I was in here, then I looked down below me to see the hole I had burnt in the wall. Wow. The shed had collapsed, but I wasn’t squashed because there was a hole in the wall that I went right through as it fell.
Answering the witch’s final question, I said “Yes.”
Through the Soul Bond’s faint glow, I saw that there were countless bottles floating around in the water now, some of which were filled with poisonous liquid. There had to be a potion of healing or regeneration here somewhere. But try as I might, to my disappointment there was nothing but malicious witchcraft in here.
Wait. There was no way I could leave without my gear. Like a searchlight, I dipped the Soul Bond in the water, illuminating the murky shallows at my knees. There was my helmet, fairly close by. I picked that up and emptied most of the water out of it, and put it on my head. A stream of water went down my nose as I did.
I located my chestplate easily, as it’s the biggest piece of my armor set. I had trouble putting it on, knowing that there were still shards of glass in my skin. It was growing into a very sore pain. I unearthed my leggings shortly after, and slowly put those on as well. Then, after some more searching, I uncovered one of my boots, which I happily put on. But I could not for the life of me find the other boot. It took a few minutes but I finally rediscovered it hiding in the corner with the rest of the witch’s sunken junk. I later found the Homing Bow underneath the flipped table.
It took some work, but I climbed my way out of the hut through the doorway, which was now on the ceiling. Once I was outside, it was still raining. I looked around intently for the witch. Sure enough, the witch’s feet were sticking out from underneath the fallen structure. It couldn’t be more perfect.
I slowly limped over to the horse and climbed aboard. I blandly said “Head west,” knowing darn well the horse could hear me. I remembered that these people came here from the east. That’s where home is. The horse obeyed and started making its way across the bog once more. I almost forgot to thank it. I pat the horse’s snout and said “Thank you.”
At first I thought that I should’ve never stopped by the witch’s house, as I was in a bad enough state already. But when I think about it, I’m almost glad I was there. The witch told me a great deal of information. I know the origin of Giant’s Village, and how they were people who migrated from where Herobrine went on a rampage; my desert. So now I know where to go home.
Not only that, but she explained the possible phenomena behind the inter-dimensional explosion. Only Herobrine himself is a power source large enough to cause something that large. So, most likely, Herobrine is indeed gone. But I’ll have to confirm this by returning to the Nether at some point.
What else did the witch say? “For an explosion like that, nobody could have survived.” But when I awoke in the Overworld, I was alive and well. I need to assess what could’ve happened. Though, something was blocking my thought process. There was something painful on my elbow. I turned to look; it was a shard of glass. Without thinking too much, I plucked the shard out of my elbow, causing it to bleed a little more. Then I tossed it out into the water.
Okay, where was I? Nobody could have survived? Then how did I end up both surviving, and travelling across worlds? I can’t have that kind of capability without using a portal. So what could’ve happened? I wish Amnesha would’ve found me by now so that she could tell me everything. Then I start to think; why hasn’t she contacted me by now? What could be the cause behind that?
Oh wait, I think I see what it is. Amnesha can travel across worlds, and so can Herobrine. But Herobrine was too busy being blown up, leaving only Amnesha when I landed the final hit on Herobrine. Is it possible that, at the last second, she might have sent me somewhere safe using some of her power, taking the full force of the blast in the process?
Great, now Amnesha’s probably dead too. I am on such a roll today.
What else have I messed up? I was gone for about a full day away from home. At the rate the black slimes are spreading with the Wither skeletons and all, I wouldn’t be surprised if I returned home to a Wither-run world. I wanted to clap for myself, but I was in too much pain to do so.
At least I’ve learned something very important. I might complain about my armor being too heavy and dragging me down sometimes, but after this, I don’t think I’ll take my armor off again. Not for a very long time. I have it off for a few minutes and I almost die. This armor is like a tortoise shell. Without it, I truly see just how dangerous this world is, and how truly fragile I am.
Something moved from the corner of my eye. I turned around, noticing a pale green slime huddling under the roots of a mangrove. I thought that was pretty cute.
I slowly leaned forward on the horse again, only it was much more painful doing so since my torso was burnt. Once I found a resting spot though, I didn’t move for a long time. I simply stared at the water and tall grass below as the horse strolled by it all.
I must have dozed off, because suddenly the rain was gone, and there was no more bog. There was only pure grass and normal trees. As the horse continued, I noticed that the trees were steadily increasing in number. Soon it was a fairly wooded area. The horse had to move around some of the trees in order to navigate.
There was a tiny glow behind me. I looked backwards, and my eyes were nearly blinded. The sun was finally starting to rise. The sun itself wasn’t visible yet, but it made things all that much easier to see. I was rather happy too despite that I was almost dead. The water was drying up a little bit, allowing me to be a little bit more flexible. Although there was hardly any flexibility while riding atop a skeletal horse.
The trees began to clear out. And then, I looked straight ahead. I couldn’t believe my eyes; I had to rub them to make sure it wasn’t a mirage. The sun was casting its beaming light upon my beloved village.
The villagers, being the early birds they are, saw us coming as soon as we stepped out of the forest. All I could hear were gasps of both surprise and terror. Most likely, because I was very badly beat up.
The horse stopped in front of some houses. Immediately, I dropped straight off the horse and onto the gravel road. My body had finally given in now that I’m safe at home. All of that tension and pressure was finally eased.
I was lying on my back, watching as everyone circled me and look down to where I was lying. I could see just about everyone here; Rhino, Zane, Zenith, Lance, the librarian, everyone. I could hear a commotion stirring up, even some shouting, like there was something going on. Oh yeah, that’s right. Their leader disappears and shows up half-dead at their doorstep from gosh knows where.
I closed my eyes again, but whether or not I would wake up alive, I would find out soon enough.
For now, my mission is complete.