The Broken Flame

Celina heard a small creak and she could see the door open to Herobrine’s dwelling. The young Demi-God emerged, yawning as he stretched his arms over his head. “Mmm… time for a new day,” he spoke softly. He began his usual routine of checking his crops, watering his flowers, and tidying up his house. However, something caught his ear after this was done.

It was another person’s voice.

And it sounded not too far away. 

Herobrine turned away from his house, seeing a hill that was a good ways away from his home. He quirked a brow. In the nine years he had been living on this world, he had never encountered another humanoid being. Maybe one of the other Demi-Deities had found their way down here too? Herobrine didn’t know why, but he found himself heading towards that hill. It took some time, but when Herobrine got to the base, he could hear not just one person. He could hear chattering and shouts among other noises, like that of people building and crafting. 

This was unusual. But then again, Herobrine had never been over this hill before. So imagine his surprise when he climbed to the top and moved past a few trees to see something new.

A small kingdom and village.

Herobrine watched as the people below moved across gravel streets and between small wooden houses. Some of them weren’t complete, and he could see ladders and scaffolding leading up and down the houses. He could also see some knights walking along the streets.

The Demi-God furrowed his brows. “When did this kingdom go up? I don’t remember seeing any of this, nor hearing any humans.” He watched the people closely. Those buildings… did not look very stable. And.. were they using wooden tools? Oh, oh dear. That was not good.

He had to help these people.

Herobrine didn’t know why he felt the need to help them. Maybe he had some natural sense of duty, or a sense that these people were not going to survive very long with wooden tools, flimsy buildings, and only a few knights on the village streets. Whatever it was, something told the Demi-God that he needed to help them.

Celina could see the young one climbing over the hill, sliding down an incline and heading down towards the village. She could see determination on his face, like that of a storybook hero ready to take down the bad guy. She smiled. He looked so happy, so full of life, so… innocent. And truly, the Demi-God had been. He only wanted to help people, and that warmed her heart.

Herobrine made his way down the path into the village, looking around as he did so. Most of the people were too busy with their houses and crafting to notice him. A few looked up, but didn’t seem to think much of him. They simply watched as he walked by.

Herobrine watched a young man struggle to get a wooden block up on a cobblestone tower, grunting in frustration. The Demi-God tilted his head. “Do you need some help?”

“Well, unless you can fly, I don’t think ya can help me.”

Herobrine took a moment to think. “...Do you have any bamboo?”

“What?”

“Do you have any bamboo?”

“Um… you know what?” The young man walked over to a nearby chest, pulling a green stick-like item from it. “I got these not that long ago. I wasn’t sure what I could use them for.”

“Do you have some string as well?”

Some spider’s string was pulled from the chest as well and given to Herobrine. He walked to a nearby crafting table, putting the strings in a weaved pattern and wrapping them around the bamboo when he put it together. He then handed this stack of blocks to the young man. “Try this. You place it like a tower, and you can put it on the sides of each other as well.”

The human placed the new block on the sides of his building, climbing up and placing the blocks he needed to. “Wow… that works like a charm. Thank you!”

Herobrine smiled softly. “It’s no trouble.”

“No seriously,” the man spoke as he climbed back down to see Herobrine’s face. “How can I ever…” His expression suddenly fell to horror. “MONSTER!”

Before Herobrine could say a word, the man took off down the street, not looking back for an instant.

Herobrine blinked in surprise. He didn’t know what had happened. He had only helped the man, and it was far too early in the daytime for there to be any monsters. Maybe the human had seen something he didn’t? “Hmm… strange,” he mused. 

The sound of another person in frustration caught his ears, and the Demi-God turned to look towards it. Maybe he could help someone else?

*****

Celina watched as Herobrine went from person to person, human to human, and helped fix their problems. He made new blocks, new items, taught them new concepts, and they seemed thankful for this. However, whenever they would go to thank him, they would seem to run away in fear. She couldn’t understand why. “Herobrine… why are they running away?”

“You’ll see here in a moment.”

The young Demi-God huffed in frustration. He couldn’t understand this! Why were they running away?! All he was doing was helping them! And what did they do? “Maybe I should just cut my losses,” he hissed out. “They don’t seem to want my help anyways.” He turned on his heels to walk away.

“Halt, monster!”

The sudden shout had him swiftly turning to see a group of knights, dressed in iron armor with swords of the same ore in their hands. A crest was on their armor, a crest of an oak tree. Herobrine eyed them closely as another knight stepped from the group, wearing armor of gold. He stood his ground and watched the golden knight come forward. She pointed her sword towards the being.

“So it’s true. The strange eyed monster has been terrorizing the village.”

That was when it hit Celina. “They were afraid of your eyes? But… they’re… not… wait.” That was when she remembered: Herobrine’s eyes may not have been white, but they were two different shades of green. “You had heterochromia… they didn’t know what it was.”

“Correct, and everyone ran away because of that. Humans have a tendency to be afraid of what they don’t know. And my eyes were something that had never been recorded before. It’s fairly common in the Aether… not in the Overworld.”

“What are you talking about,” Herobrine questioned. “I am no monster. I’m nothing like the mobs of this world’s night.”

“Silence!” The knight’s sword edged a little closer to him and Herobrine’s anger began to rise. He really didn’t want to fight anyone right here, but if these people were going to pick a fight with him--

“Sandra?”

A child’s voice made all of the knights turn to the source, and Herobrine looked as well. Coming down the path in the village was a girl, a human girl. She had to be at least five years old, with fair skin, brown hair in two braids, and bright purple eyes. She wore a purple and lavender gown, purple on top, lavender gloves, pink bows in her braids, a yellow crown with a pink jewel, and little pink shoes. She also had pink makeup on her cheeks. She seemed so happy as she walked down the street, walking towards the guards who parted as she did. The girl made her way to the golden knight. “Sandra, what are you doing?”

The knight gave Herobrine one last look before turning to face the girl. “Tulip, please go back inside. This is none of your concern.”

“What do you--” The girl’s eyes locked with Herobrine’s and her face seemed to light up. “A visitor!” She pushed past the knight and ran to this new person.

Herobrine was surprised that she ran towards him, not fleeing like all the others did at the sight of him. Maybe she has yet to notice whatever it was that was frightening the other people. Whatever the reason, she didn’t seem afraid.

The girl looked up at this new person, bowing and curtsying. “Tulip Oakdred! I live here! And what’s your name?”

Herobrine couldn’t help but smile. She very much had the manner of royalty, and it was adorable coming from a child. He bowed and did the same. “My name is Herobrinious Hunter Jacob Diamond Alstrom. But you can call me Herobrine.”

“That’s a loooong name. But I like it!” Tulip seemed very chipper despite the guards behind her showing great concern for the human girl. She tilted her head. “What’s going on down here. I saw people running away.”

“Well…” Herobrine tried to think how to word this for a child. “I was… helping people. I was helping them build and make things. But… they keep running from me when they try to thank me. I don’t know why.”

Tulip’s gaze never moved from him, nor did her smile. She suddenly lit up, like she realized something. “Wait, can you help me with something?”

Herobrine could hear some of the guards shift behind her, the one in gold known as Sandra giving him a death look. He shrugged it off, got onto one knee in front of Tulip, and responded with, “Of course, young one. What do you need?”

She pulled two wooden pieces of a dull oak sword from her inventory. “I have this sword, it’s my toy! But I broke it! Can you fix it?”

Herobrine nodded. “That’s an easy fix.” He then took the pieces into his hands, summoning something into one of his palms. This made the guards jump back in surprise, but Tulip only watched with intrigue. He had called upon his powers to get some slime, which he put onto the two halves where the sword’s blade met. He then conjured a small flame to dry the slime, making the two halves adhere together. 

Herobrine chuckled. “Here, try it now.”

Tulip took the toy back into her hands, giving it a few swings. She tapped it on the ground as well, before squealing in delight. “It’s fixed! Thank you so much!” She suddenly grabbed a hold of one of the Demi-God’s hands with her free one. “You have to see Mommy and Daddy! They need to see how much you helped me! They’ll like you! C’mon!”

Herobrine could feel the young girl pulling him behind her, past the knights who only gawked in surprise. He closely followed the human girl, keeping his hand in hers.

*****

The path to her home wasn’t short, but when they reached the top of a large hill, Herobrine gaped in surprise.

“This is my home! C’mon, Mommy and Daddy should be inside!”

It wasn’t the fact that she was leading him to her home that surprised Herobrine. And Celina found herself looking in shock beside him.

Tulip’s home… was a castle.