The Broken Flame

Herobrine’s eyes never moved from the human in front of him as she pointed her blade at him. She stood with the stance of a general, back straight, shoulders squared, with those gray eyes never moving from him. A heavy silence hung in the air, until the Demi-God broke it. “No…” he said quietly. “You…”

Celina kept her furrowed brows and frown, doing her best to hide her surprise. She couldn’t believe it. She had just defeated Herobrine, the Nether Prince, the Lord of the Mobs, probably the most powerful being in the Overworld… in hand-to-hand combat. How she had done it was beyond her, but all the human really knew right now is that she had somehow won. And now, she had to keep the man from just murdering her in rage on the spot.

Herobrine felt anger rising inside him. “No, you couldn’t have beaten me! You couldn’t have! There must have been some kind of ploy here!”

“There was no ploy, Lord Herobrine,” Celina responded. “I beat you fair and square, and now you must fulfill your end of the bargain we made before our battle.”

The Nether Prince growled and pushed himself to stand on his feet. “You’re wrong, girl! You did not win fairly! You tricked me! You cheated somehow! And you’ll pay for what you did!”

Celina sighed, using everything in her willpower not to roll her eyes at the man in front of her. Seemed like his pride was bigger than she thought. Crossing her arms across her chest, the queen narrowed her eyes. “Well then, Lord Herobrine, tell me this: if I cheated or fought unfairly, then tell me how I did it.” She waved a hand towards him. “Go on, tell me.”

“Well, you… you…” That was when the Demi-God looked over the queen. There were no bubbles that would indicate she had used a potion coming from her form. He couldn’t smell one either. And her energy signature wasn’t raised in any way that would indicate some kind of powers or energy shift in her. No, this human, this mortal being… hadn’t cheated. She had used only her bare hands and the strength in her frail body.

Herobrine folded his arms and found himself huffing in rage. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t have! No mortal could have bested him with his perfectly performed skills of battle! Steven hadn’t beaten him, so how could this human girl have? He narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.

Celina put her hands on her hips. “That’s what I thought.” She saw him lightly bare his sharp canines, but she ignored this and raised a hand up. “Well, Lord Herobrine, seeing as how you lost, you must now hold up your end of our wager. You are to help me take care of Steve until he is fully healed from the wounds you inflicted upon him in battle. This includes helping me in feeding him, helping him move around, and treating his injuries. No matter how long it takes, I expect you to help me until he is healed and able to move with perfect vitality once again.”

The queen lightly paced back and forth in front of the Nether Prince, gauging his response. “And this also includes not hurting him in any way. If I should find you physically or mentally harming him, there will be consequences. Do I make myself clear?”

Herobrine rolled his white eyes. It sounded so corny, but it seems like she was sure about everything she wanted him to do. He really didn’t want to do this, but he had made a deal. And the thing about that?

Herobrine never broke his promises.

Ever.

“Fine, human,” he finally answered, gritting his teeth. “I will help you…. In… caring for... Steven.”

Celina’s brows rose and she felt herself gape in surprise. Excuse her? Did he really just agree to help her? And how had he not killed her on the spot already? She was shocked. How had this prideful being just agreed to her terms so easily? Especially to a human? The queen didn’t know what was going through his mind right now, but she knew something must have changed. She wanted to question him, but she had a feeling that that would end up with his hands around her neck if she did.

The human shook her head softly, before going back to her more serious face. “Well… thank you, Lord Herobrine. Oh, and one more thing?”

Herobrine furrowed his brows.

“You will be staying here at the castle while you help me.”

Herobrine’s arms flew down at his sides in an instant. “What?! There is no way in the Nether that you can force me to stay here, mortal! You can’t make me!”

Celina puffed up her chest and frowned. “Lord Herobrine, if you want to uphold your end of the deal, you will stay here. It’s just so my citizens don’t panic if they see you. Plus, I want to make sure you won’t just leave and then stab me in the back if I let you out of the castle.” She looked at him with a glint of seriousness and determination in her eyes. “I’m putting my trust in you. Don’t go and break it.”

Something about her words… about that trust… it struck a nerve in Herobrine, and he felt his chest hurt. He didn’t show it, but something about how she placed trust in him?

It was familiar. And he knew exactly why.

Shaking his head and filing that thought away, Herobrine closed his eyes. “Fine.”

Celina blinked again, but didn’t let her expression fall just yet. “Well, good.” She winced suddenly, holding up an arm to look at her wounds. Her adrenaline flow was just about up and all the pain from her wounds was coming to her now. “If you’ll… excuse me,” she said. “I need to go make some potions and treat my wounds.” She looked up at the being, looking into those white eyes. “I’ll set up a bed for you once I’m done.”

*****

Celina pulled one of her Healing-Regen Potions from her brewing stand, seeing the concoction bubbling as she did so. She felt herself trembling the slightest bit as she looked down at the large wound on her right arm. She had already poured one bottle out into several wounds on her legs and chests, and gotten a good portion on the ones on her arms. There was just one more on her arms, but it was pretty big.

 The queen closed her eyes. “Alright, her we go,” she whispered to herself. She tilted the bottle and a bit of the liquid fell in. She instantly wailed and set the bottle down, before grabbing onto her arm to try and stifle some of the pain. It burned, like her muscles were being sheared and burned from the inside. She knew that was the opposite of what was happening, but it still hurt like the Nether.

Celina shook and used her other hand to hold herself up on one of her cauldrons. “Son--of a… glitch…” she murmured through gritted teeth.

“Hmph. Can’t handle a little pain from such a small wound, girl? You humans are weaker than I thought.”

Her eyes flew open and Celina instantly turned her head. “Wha…” She searched for the source of the voice, and sure enough, there was Herobrine. He was sitting atop the large obsidian pyramid built in the center of the room, watching her like a dog watching a sheep. He was sitting with one knee near his chest, a hand on that knee. His white eyes stayed on her as she turned to fully face him.

Celina blinked and found herself asking him, “Herobrine? What are you doing in here?”

The Lord of the Mobs half-lidded his eyes. What a stupid question to ask. However, he might as well answer. “Well, I was bored just waiting for you.” He curled his finger on one hand, looking at his nails. “You know, you humans are quite weak. I’ve never seen someone succumb to such pain so easily.” He chuckled softly, a sly smile now on his features. “You really can’t take such pain like an immortal can.”

Celina frowned, her eyes narrowing. “Did you come in here just to insult me and my species, or did you actually want something?”

The being looked up from his hand at her. Well, it seems like someone was feeling sassy. He let out a small, “tch” before answering her. “No, it’s more like I came here to… observe you. Though I don’t care for humans, their strange nature has always made me curious.”

Celina’s expression softened. “Well… I don’t really like to be watched. If you could not do that, that would be nice.”

Her words didn’t seem to move Herobrine. He simply looked at her with his head tilted to one side. Celina slightly shifted on her feet. She didn’t like to be stared at, but that’s what he seemed to be doing. It was really… unnerving, to say the least.

A thought struck the girl. “Oh! I almost forgot something!” She made her way to a nearby chest, leaning down and pulling a small bed out from it. She then walked a few blocks away, throwing it to the ground. The small item turned into a full-sized bed, complete with pillows and a blanket. She smiled and turned to look at the immortal. “Alright, Herobrine--”

He wasn’t there.

“What in the Aether? Where did he--”

“Boo.”

“EEEP!” Celina yelped and turned on her heels, seeing the white eyed man standing on the other side of the bed behind her. She took a deep breath, before sighing and putting a hand to her chest. “Jeez, don’t do that. You’re gonna scare me out of my skin.”

Herobrine chuckled. “I can scare whoever I want, whenever I want, human. Don’t think you are any different.”

Celina frowned, but shook it off. She gestured to the bed. “Well, here.”

The Nether Prince looked at the bed, then the queen, then the bed. He moved his gaze up to the girl with his arms folded across his chest. “What is this?”

“It’s a bed. It’s for you.”

He squinted. “Why?”

Celina blinked in surprise. Did he not understand? “Well, you’re technically a guest in my castle, so it’s in my nature to set up a place for my visitors to sleep. You don’t have to use it, but I wanted to make a nice gesture for you and not show offense.”

Herobrine looked at the girl with his mouth slightly agape. No human had ever done something like this for him. Then again, no human had shown him such kindness in millennia. It had been some time, but he didn’t know what to think. He had tried to kill this girl only a short while ago, and now she was showing him kindness? It made no sense. This human was confusing, confusing and yet… interesting.

Celina almost felt like Herobrine was staring through her head and into her soul with those white eyes that glowed ever so gently. She was almost mesmerized by them. She would have been if she didn’t feel a sudden fear from his stare. The queen shifted again, before looking at the stairs behind her, then turning back to Herobrine. “Well… I’m--I’m going to… head to bed.”

The being didn’t really respond, just tilted his head. 

Celina shook a little bit as she turned away from him. “Good… good night, Lord Herobrine,” she bid him, before making her way up the staircase.

*****

After dressing into her nightgown and patching up that last wound with bandages, Celina sat in her bed, a book in her hands as she read the lines of words inside. She turned a couple of pages as she continued, then she placed her bookmark inside. She then set her book on her nightstand block and looked down at her lap.

A small sigh escaped the girl’s lips. “Man… how on earth did I even beat him in a fight,” she asked herself. “He’s super strong, probably the strongest being in the Overworld, and I… I beat him in combat. I mean… I saved Steve and probably the rest of the kingdom, but… he’s probably going to slit my throat when I least expect it.”

She shook her head. “Even if he helps me take care of Steve, nothing is stopping him from killing me once Steve is healed. I didn’t even think that far ahead.” She sighed again, then moved to lie down on her mattress, head sinking into the pillows. She closed her eyes. “I just hope I’m not in over my head.”