The Broken Flame

Those words instantly had Herobrine freezing in place, eyes looking straight ahead as his brows knitted. His teeth slowly clenched and he tightened his grip on his swords. He slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder, feeling his blood beginning to boil from rage. “...What did you just say to me?”

“You heard me,” the queen boldly stated. “You’re afraid of me. An Aetherian Warrior never backs down from a battle, so if you do so, that can only mean you’re afraid of me.”

Herobrine fully turned to face her and sneered darkly. “You think I’m afraid of you, girl?! I could break your neck and stomp you into this stone floor right now if I wished to! You obviously don’t know what kind of strength I can unleash on you!”

The queen took a deep breath and kept her unyielding glare. She had to keep a brave face, she had to, not only for her sake, but the sake of her figurative brother, and perhaps her whole kingdom. For the sake of everyone she knew, she had to stop this monster’s rampage.

The human girl knitted her brows just a bit more. “If you’re not afraid of me, you’ll accept my challenge, Lord Herobrine. You’ve been known to show flawless skill in battle, and if you really want to take Steve’s soul, you’ll have to go through me.”

The Demi-God teleported to stand only feet away from the girl. “And just what happened to all your fear, mortal? You were begging for your life only moments ago. What happened to that?”

Celina pursed her lips together. Although a bit of fear still rested in the back of her mind, she knew she couldn’t show it now. She had to push past it if she wanted to save her friend. So Celina pushed down every ounce of terror in her mind. Besides, she came from a family of Overworld Warriors, she couldn’t back down now.

Pushing those thoughts aside, the queen frowned. “You truly are the embodiment of fear in Minecraftia, Herobrine. But I know what I’m fighting for. Who I’m fighting for. And I won’t let you take that away from me.” She looked over his shoulder.

Herobrine caught her look and turned his head over his shoulder. The miner still lay in his bed, his features peaceful and soft. “That miner,” the being questioned. “You’re really challenging me over that weak excuse for a Minecrafter?”

“He’s not weak!” Celina barked. “He’s like a brother to me, and I promised him that I would always protect him! I’m not just going to stand by while you take his soul! I won’t be afraid anymore if it means I can save him!”

Herobrine was a little surprised. All the humans he had ever slain or haunted were greedy, liars and traitors to their own kind. They all deserved punishment for their ways, but something about this girl was different. Something about her valor was… familiar. It was also annoying, but he admired her courage to fight for someone else and not her own life. It showed that, even if she was human, she had a sense of honor.

Unlike most humans…

Filing that thought into the back of his mind, Herobrine shook his head and put on his signature grin. He then looked at the girl and chuckled darkly. “You have some nerve to challenge me, human. But you’ve got courage. I admire that. It’s been quite some time since someone actually put up a fight against me. I’ve been aching for a good battle for many years now.” He held up his swords, letting them crumble and fade. “I will accept your challenge and engage in combat with you. But know this girl…”

Herobrine stood with the same stance as Celina, back straight with shoulders squared, as though two generals of opposing armies were staring each other down. He chuckled again. “Once I have you down and at my mercy, not even Jeb will be able to save you.”

The Demi-God teleported once more and Celina raised a brow. Man, this guy really liked teleporting. She heard a noise to her left and she saw Herobrine standing near the opposite wall of the castle, an equal distance from her and the wall behind him. He put one hand behind his back and held up the other, a devious grin on his face. “So, what will the stipulations of this little battle be, human girl?”

Celina turned to face him with her hands balled and a serious expression. She knew what she was going to say, and yet, she was terrified to say it. She knew it was the only way he’d accept this. She took a deep breath. “We will engage in hand-to-hand combat. We cannot use weapons like swords, only what strength we have and any powers we possess. I will fight you to the best of my abilities and expect you to honor this as well. If I win the battle, you must help me care for Steve and help in nursing him back to health.”

Herobrine chuckled. As if he would ever lose to her. “And when I win?”

Celina noticed his use of the word, “when” and not, “if.” His confidence was really starting to bug her. But, she had to remember that he was a Demi-God and had unmatched skills in battle. The queen sighed and closed her eyes. “If you win… I will allow you to take my soul with no struggle. I will not beg and let you claim it, so long as you spare the souls of Steve, the people of my kingdom, and my husband, Cenlar, when he returns. Should you win, my soul will belong to you.”

Herobrine’s eyes widened. No mortal had ever willingly given up their soul to him. And she was doing it for her people, the miner, and her spouse? How noble… but also, how foolish. She had some care for her people and those close to her, Herobrine had to admit that. He narrowed his eyes and his grin got a little wider. “I accept those terms, girl. But don’t get your hopes up. I’ll soon have you down on your knees and begging me to take your soul.” He then curled his hands into fists and got into a fighting stance.

Celina noticed this and did the same, taking a moment to crack her knuckles.

“Well, human,” Herobrine said to her from across the room. “Show me what you can do.”

Celina looked at him angrily, a sparkle of determination in her eyes, she was doing to beat this man at his own game. She’d probably come out with plenty of injuries, considering his strength. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was giving her people a chance to live. 

And so, the girl reeled back, ready to fight, before making a run towards the being. There was no going back now. She had to win. 

Even at the cost of her own life.

Celina sprinted towards the being and could see him reel back to do the same. The two began to run, run towards each other, before stopping before they could crash. Celina quickly threw her fist out but the being was quick to catch her wrist before she could make contact. He pulled her close by the wrist, before lifting his leg to kick her in the stomach. The queen cried out and stumbled back, before a punch landed on her cheek. She almost fell over as she backed away, holding her face with one hand and stomach with the other.

She grunted as she opened her eyes, her vision a little blurry. Celina was slightly dizzy from the punch, but tried to recover because she could see Herobrine running towards her again. She took a defensive stance and saw him quickly reel his hand back. To her own surprise, she quickly ducked into a crouch, one hand on the ground. How she managed to avoid his lightning reflexes was beyond her but she knew this could leave him open.

Herobrine’s eyes went wide when his punch failed to hit her and he pulled back. The girl was now on the ground and she swept a leg out to try and knock him over. However, the Demi-God jumped over it with grace .

“Damn it!” Celina thought. The guy has seen her plan and now it had failed. She quickly moved back to her feet and stepped back as the man attempted to send another kick into her face. She took a step back before reeling her arm back to try and hit him again. This time, the queen aimed for his chest and almost connected.

Almost.

Celina miscalculated her punch and instead stumbled forward and nearly fell. Herobrine took the chance to grab a hold of her arms and practically throw her to the ground by her arm. Celina landed face first and groaned as she tried to push herself up with her arms. Blood was now dripping from the corner of her lips and she tried to spit it out. She blinked a couple of times, before her eyes snapped open.

He has disappeared.

“What the…” she whispered. “Where did he--”

CRACK!

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Celina screamed at the top of her lungs as two boots came down upon her back with great force, making her back pop and making a loud sound that she could have sworn was bones, though it sounded also like stone breaking.

Herobrine looked down as the human screamed, his dark smile widening. He took a foot and dug the heel of his boot into her back.

Celina could feel that and she felt rage bubbling up alongside the pain in her back. She looked over her shoulder at him, before snarling out, “GEEETTT OOFFFF OF MEEEEEE!”

“Beg all you want girl,” Herobrine’s mocking tone came. “You’re just--”

She wasn’t even going to let him finish that sentence. Celina quickly pulled off her other glove and reached back, letting her claws come out and digging them through his jeans and into his ankle. She dragged them and let the skin tear under them

Herobrine felt a sudden stinging sensation on his ankle. Pain was a very unfamiliar thing to him, it rarely ever happened and he was surprised that he felt it now. His body flinched as the girl’s nails left his ankle, and he instinctively lifted his leg up. He hissed. “Get your filthy hands off--”

Now was her chance. Celina pushed up with her arms as hard as she could, before moving up onto her knees and making the man topple over.

Herobrine flailed his arms in surprise when she managed to knock him over and he fell to his knees. He quickly turned his head to look at the human. “How did you--”

The queen cut him off by letting out a shout and grabbing two handfuls of his hair and pulling on them. It was a dirty move she wouldn’t have used under any other circumstances, but this guy wasn’t playing fair. 

Herobrine growled from pain as she pulled, and he managed to put a fist back to slam it into her chest.

Celina immediately felt the wind leave her lungs and she tried to scoot away as the Demi-God got up. She managed to get her breath back and saw him raise his foot . The queen immediately forced herself into a roll, hearing the crack of stone behind her as she pushed herself up from the floor and stood.

Herobrine growled and threw his hand out again and the queen managed to dive out of the way, rolling again and moving to stand once more. “Hold still, you damn brat!” he shouted in rage.

Celina saw a chance, so she ran towards Herobrine with her arms out. Rather than tackling him like he thought she would, she ran behind him, turned, and wrapped her arms around his torso.

Herobrine suddenly felt himself being lifted up into the air a few inches and how she was able to lift him was baffling. He shouted, “Get your hands off of me, whelp!”

Celina snarled and turned on her heels, taking the being with her and throwing him into the air. She shouted as she did, expecting him to fall to the ground as she had when he had thrown her.

Herobrine opened his eyes and quickly held up a hand, summoning something and making the human’s eyes go wide. He suddenly stood upon a cloud with the same colors as the purple and violet in a Nether Portal.

Celina gasped aloud. “He can float?!”

It was then that Herobrine jumped down. This girl has some fight in her, and he wasn’t going to just let her slip out of his grasp like that. He was going to fight her, and it would be the last thing she would do!