The Broken Flame

Celina stepped into her wheat farm and lifted her skirt as she made her way inside. She began to pluck some of the wheat from the ground, seeing seeds pop up as she did so. She gathered them into her inventory, pulled out some string, then tied the wheat into small bundles. She did this a few times as Herobrine watched her. 

After a minute, she looked at the Nether Prince. “Here, Herobrine. Hold onto these, and I’ll replant some of the seeds.” 

Herobrine looked at the wheat bundles as she held them out to him. He then slowly took them into his hands, reluctance very clear on his face. He seemed like he didn’t want to do this, but he did anyway. This was strange to Celina, he clearly didn’t like her, but he did as she asked anyways. Maybe there was some sense of honor he had that he was talking about.

Celina turned back to her farm, pulling her iron hoe from her inventory. She began to work with the dirt from the places she had taken wheat from, before popping some seeds into the ground. She then put her hoe back, smiling at her work. “There we go, those should grow back in a week or so.”

The smell of smoke suddenly caught her attention and Celina quickly turned to look and see Herobrine, with some of the wheat in his hands set alight. She gasped. “Herobrine, no! Put that out!”

Herobrine let out a dark chuckle. “And why should I, girl? You didn’t say I couldn’t do anything to your wheat once I held it. You only said I had to hold it.”

The queen growled in frustration and stepped closer to him. “That doesn’t mean you can just set it on fire! Why would you do that?!”

“I was bored.”

Celina made a small angry sputtering sound before shouting. “I don’t care how bored you were! Put it out now!”

Herobrine just looked at her with narrowed eyes, but before she could say anything else, he waved a hand and the flames disappeared. Celina sighed and nodded. “Thank you. Now, can I see those bundles?”

Herobrine scoffed and handed them to her, folding his arms again once she held them.

Celina smiled. “There. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

“Don’t,” Herobrine growled to her, his eyes slanted in and a deep scowl on his face.

Celina’s eyes widened for a second.

THUMP

Celina shook her head. “What in the End?”

“AHHHHHHH!”

Celina gasped and looked to the throne room. “That was Steve!” She quickly stowed the wheat into her inventory and began to run back towards the large room of the castle. “C’mon, he could be in trouble!”

Herobrine watched her run back towards where the miner was. He shrugged. There was really no reason not to follow her. And so he did, albeit at a much slower pace.

*****

The doors to the throne room flew open as Celina ran inside. Her gaze flew to where Steve’s bed was and gasped. Steve was lying on the floor on his side, trying to push himself up and failing as he cried out in pain.

“Steve!” Celina ran to the miner, her long skirt flowing behind her as she did. She got onto her knees next to him. “Steve, what happened?!”

The miner let out a loud whine as the queen tried to help him up. “I… I was… I was thirsty--so I tried… to get up. I… I didn’t… I couldn’t stand up and fell.” 

Celina carefully put an arm behind the miner and helped him to his feet, hearing him whimper as she helped him back onto the bed. “Steve, you’re not in any shape to move around, sweetheart,” the queen told him. “If you needed water, you could have called me.” She saw the pained gaze her friend gave her and she carefully put a hand on his shoulder. “Stevie, if you need anything--and I mean anything--please, let me know. I’ll get you what you need. Just please let me know, okay?”

Steve sighed, but let out a smile and nodded. “Okay, thank you, Celina. I’m sorry, I’m just not used to people doing things for me.” He chuckled. “I like to do everything myself.”

Celina smiled. “I know, Steve, I know. But that’s okay. Here, let me get the bread started, then I’ll get you some water.”

The miner nodded, so the queen made her way to one of her crafting tables. She noticed Herobrine was standing in the doorway, watching her, but she shrugged it off, telling him, “You can come in, you know.” 

Herobrine rolled his eyes, before walking in a little further, closing the door behind him.

Celina pulled out her wheat as she got to the crafting table, untying the string and placing it on the table. She then reached into a nearby chest, pulled out an apple, and pulled her axe from her inventory. The queen chopped the apple up with her axe, kneaded the wheat into dough, and placed the slices into the dough. She then walked to a small furnace and placed it inside, lighting the coal with a torch from her inventory.

“There we go, that should be done here pretty soon.” She then got a bottle filled with water and walked over to Steve. “Here you go, Steve.”

“Thank you, Celina,” replied the miner before popping the cork and taking a drink.

Celina watched him for a moment, before a noise got her attention. She turned to where Irona lay, seeing that her hands were moving a little bit. She had almost forgotten about the iron golem last night. But then again, she had fought Herobrine after Irona had been knocked out. Maybe she was waking up now?

Celina carefully walked over to the golem, reaching up and putting a hand on her arm. “Irona… Irona, can you hear me? Irona?”

The golem made a small creaking noise, before her eyes fluttered open. Red orbs slowly revealed themselves.

Irona let out a silent groan as she came to, not remembering anything in her weakness. She was awfully sore from whatever knocked her out. Her whole body ached like someone had slammed her into the ground. Irona pushed herself up with shaking arms, finding that she could definitely still feel her limbs. They hurt like the Nether, but she could still feel them. That was a good sign. What in Creaturae happened last night?

“Irona?”

A familiar voice had her lifting her head slowly and looking to her left. She looked down to see a short girl wearing a crown looking up at her with a gentle smile.

“Hey, Irona,” Celina spoke after seeing Irona’s eyes go wide. “How do you feel, dear?”

Irona’s mouth curved into a wide grin and she suddenly wrapped her arms around Celina from her spot on the floor and pulled her into a tight hug. Celina made a little cheep from surprise when she was embraced, and she could feel Irona lightly nuzzling her head against her. “Yes, Irona, I’m okay! I’m okay, silly!”

The iron golem couldn’t help but hold the queen close after seeing her. Her memories from last night flooded back the moment she spoke and she was just so grateful that her master hadn’t just been slaughtered on the spot. She couldn’t describe the joy she felt in that moment.

Celina could see how happy Irona was that she was alive, and so spoke to her, “I’m glad you’re awake, Irona. We’re okay. We’re all okay.”

At those words, Irona opened her eyes and looked to see Steve on his bed. He stopped drinking his water for a second to give her a small wave and say, “Hey, Irona!”

The golem’s smile got just a little wider. Everyone was okay, and there wasn’t more she could ask for. 

“Well, it’s about time you woke up, Lady Golem.”

A sudden voice coming from the front of the room made her face fall, she knew that voice. She knew it well. Irona snapped her head forward to see the white eyed man, the Nether Prince, the most powerful being in all of the Overworld. Herobrine was standing right there and he looked up at her with such a mocking gaze. Irona immediately felt anger surging through her veins. “What the hell are you still doing here?!” came her thoughts. She knew very well he could hear her, considering he stole her voice and still had it somewhere. 

Celina realized what the sudden look of anger on Irona’s face was about and she watched the golem carefully. She seemed to hold the queen just a little bit closer in her embrace, as if to protect her. “Irona,” she spoke up.

The iron golem didn’t answer her, she just simply gave Herobrine an unmoving glare, not wanting to take her eyes off of him should he try something. He had done who knows what to her queen while she had been out. She wasn’t going to let him hurt anyone else she knew again. Never again!

She carefully set Celina down and found herself trying to stand up. It took a moment but Irona was once again on her feet. She stared Herobrine down and stood back, getting ready to run towards him again. She had a new idea on how to take him down--

“Irona, no! He’s not here to hurt you again, I beat him in a fight and now he has to help me take care of Steve!”

Irona froze. Excuse her? She whipped her head down to look at her queen and made a few confused squeaks. 

Celina shook her head. “No, Irona, I’m not joking. I beat him in a hand-to-hand match last night after he knocked you out. I wasn’t going to let him try to take Steve’s soul like he said he would, and so I challenged him to a fight. He lost, so now he’s going to help us take care of Steve. It was part of our deal that we made before our match.”

Irona looked at Celina. Then Herobrine. Then Celina. Herobrine. Celina. 

“Look, I know it sounds hard to believe, Irona,” Celina started. “But you need to trust me. He made a deal that he’s not going to hurt Steve and is going to help me take care of him.”

Irona made several loud creaking and clicking sounds with a hand pointing to Herobrine.

“I know Irona, I know,” Celina responded.

Irona made several more angry clicks and squeaks.

“I know, Irona! I KNOW!” Celina shouted, frustration starting to bubble under her skin.

Irona looked at her in shock and backed up a bit. 

Celina realized that she surprised Irona and her expression of anger fell and was replaced with a more apologetic one. “Sorry, Irona, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. I’m just really… frustrated.” She clasped her hands behind her back. “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I beat him fair and square. And he made a deal. So I’m going to have him stay here. I just don’t want you to try and fight him again since he’s kinda a guest here. Just… let him help me. You don’t have to talk to him or be nice to him or anything. Just don’t try to fight him again, okay?”

Irona looked down at her with a passive face, before smiling and ruffling the human’s hair. She nodded and made a few squeaks. 

Celina nodded. “Thank you.”

“Are you ladies done with your little drama fest already?”

The two turned to look at Herobrine, who was still standing by the doors with his arms folded and a look of boredom on his face. Celina sighed softly. “Yes, Herobrine, we’re done.”

Irona quickly took two fingers, pointed at herself, then at Herobrine, as if to say, “I’m watching you.”

Herobrine made a small noise and shrugged her off. It’s not like she would actually try to touch him.

No one could. No one.