The Broken Flame

Celina watched as the young Herobrine followed Tulip up the path and the stone brick stairs to her home, a grand castle decorated in yellow and red banners. The windows were made of purple and green stained glass and flowers and high towers stood proudly around the main hall. Purple and green flags seemed to float on the breeze, showing the beauty of this place.

Herobrine didn’t realize he spent so long looking at the castle that Tulip had noticed him stop.

“Herobrine?”

He looked back at her and shook his head. “Sorry, I was just… observing how… lovely this place is.”

“Oh, yeah! It’s really, really nice, huh? Mommy and Daddy had it built by some really nice people in our village, and they helped out too!”

“Tulip? Are you out there?”

“Oh, that’s Mommy!” She grabbed onto his hand again. “She’s inside, c’mon!” 

Herobrine watched Tulip run inside, before following her with quick steps. The kid could actually run pretty fast.

As he entered the throne room, the Demi-God could feel everyone in the room turn their gaze to him, mostly the knights of the crown. He ignored their stares and his eyes landed on Tulip, who was now standing before the thrones. In the high chairs sat two people, a man and a woman from what he could tell.

The woman had curly grayish brownish hair, fair skin, and bright purple eyes. She wore an intricate purple and gold dress dotted with red, lipstick, and a crown with red gems. The man had tan skin, gray eyes, and short black hair matching his beard. He wore a green robe with white fur on the ends, black shoes, and dark gray pants. His head was topped with a crown with green gems.

The man looked down and asked, “Tulip, dear, what’s all this fuss about?”

“Mommy, Daddy, we have a visitor!”

The woman’s brows rose in intrigue. “A visitor? What do you mean?”

The girl walked back and gently took a hold of Herobrine’s hand. “Mommy and Daddy want to meet you! C’mon!”

He hesitated for a moment, a sudden anxiety taking him. The being was almost afraid these people would be afraid of him like all the others had been, but he knew Tulip meant well. If nothing else, he could just return to his home. He nodded and followed the girl, making his way in front of the thrones.

As soon as Herobrine stepped before them, the king and queen sat up with more alert postures. They looked over the being as he stood before them, Tulip standing next to him and bouncing in excitement.

The woman was the first to speak after a few moments of silence. “Tulip, is this your visitor?”

“Yeah! His name is Herobrinious Hunter Jacob Diamond Alstrom! He was helping people down in the village! He even fixed my toy sword!”

The man before the girl and Demi-God seemed to change his posture. Celina took notice of this as he stood from the throne. “Wait, so, Tulip was royalty? She was the daughter of the king and queen?”

Herobrine began to speak from the outside. “Yes, she was. She was only five years old at the time we met, so she really wasn’t scared of much. She loved to meet new people, and she didn’t find my eyes to be scary at all. Actually, as you’ll see, she adored my eyes.”

Celina nodded and watched the king approach Herobrine. He has a very commanding stance, and this made the Demi-God’s expression fall a bit. Was he about to be punished for scaring this family’s people? 

“Daddy, look at his eyes! They’re really pretty!”

The king looked at his daughter, before doing as she said and raising his brows. “His eyes… they’re not the same shade. They’re… different.”

The woman stood from her seat. “Robert, what do you mean?”

“Rita… one of his eyes is the same shade as an emerald. But the other… it’s the same color as the Creepers of the night.”

Rita gasped in surprise as she slowly approached Herobrine, seeing her husband’s words to be true. She looked at him before asking, “Well, it seems you’re not from this village. Where do you hail from, Herobrinious?”

“Please, call me Herobrine,” the Demi-God responded. “Well… I live in a small house over a hill overlooking the village, but I… I hail from the Aether.”

At the name of his home, Rita and Robert shared a surprised glance. Celina could practically hear the gears in their heads turning as they thought about what he had said. Robert was the one who broke the silence. “And why are you here in the Overworld? I thought that Deities usually stay within the Aether so as not to interfere with humans.”

“I am a Demi-God, but I’ve… I’ve always been curious about this world and its inhabitants. And… after seeing the people in your village struggle to survive, I felt the strong need to help them. They needed someone to show them some new things to build and create in this world.”

Robert and Rita thought about what he said, before the two reached out and hugged Herobrine tightly. The being stiffened in the hold, not expecting such contact from complete strangers.

“Finally, a sign from Iruara that we’re fated to survive!” Rita exclaimed. 

Herobrine let out a small grunt, and the queen and king realized he was uncomfortable. “Apologies,” Robert said. “We’re just so happy! For so long, our kingdom’s people have struggled to survive and craft and find resources. Sometimes, even with resources, we had no idea what to do with them. We’ve tried to help them with what we have in our records, but even then, we still struggled.

“We surely thought we were forsaken by the gods,” Rita added. “And we looked for something to tell us that this wasn’t true. We looked for some kind of sign and something or someone to help us and our people. And you, Herobrine…” She smiled so kindly. “You may just be that sign we were looking for. Some guards came and told us that you were helping others in the village with new blocks and concepts?”

Herobrine nodded. “Yes, but when they went to thank me, they called me a monster and ran from me. I think it was… because of my eyes.” Celina noticed how dejected he sounded when he said this. She honestly thought his heterochromia was beautiful and she couldn’t help but feel a pang in her chest at his words.

“Oh, don’t mind that,” Robert said with a laugh. “They’ve never seen such a thing before, but I’m sure if given a chance, they won’t fear you for that.” He laughed and gave the Demi-God a pat on the shoulder. “How about we find you some new clothes and a room? We would like to welcome you as a guest here, and… if you’d like, you may stay as long as you wish.”

Herobrine seemed unsure at first, but nodded in agreement. “Alright.”

“That’s the spirit! Now come, we have some things to do!”

*****

The memory jumped ahead again, this time seeming like only a bit after Herobrine’s meeting with the king and queen. He pushed open the door to a room in one of the castle’s hallways and now, his attire was different. Though he still wore his flower crown, he now had on a cyan long sleeve with a white oak tree decorating it, surrounded by magenta flowers. He also had one black gloves, black pants, white ruffles on his neck and waist, and his same shoes.

Celina smiled. “Aww, you look adorable!”

She heard a chuckle from outside the memory. “Why, thank you. I would’ve thought so too.”

Herobrine closed the door behind him, before beginning to make his way down the hall. He was so busy looking around, he didn’t even notice a form coming down the hallway and heading for him.

Herobrine almost ran into the other person and found himself stepping back. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do that.”

A huff came from this figure. “Well, you should be more careful.”

“My apologies, I…” That was when Herobrine took a good look at this figure. She was tall, taller than him, with long black hair, light skin, two moles on her cheeks, and gray eyes. Her nose was in a strange shape, like it had been broken. She wore a red dress with a yellow belt and yellow ribbons on her chest, a black cape, and a golden crown with red gems. 

Herobrine remembered the king and queen telling him that they had three children, all daughters. He realized who this must have been. “Are you… Princess Rose?”

The woman seemed taken aback, but kept her brows furrowed in anger. “Why do you want to know?”

“Your parents told me all about you and your sisters.” He saw her squint in confusion. “My name is Herobrine. I come from the Aether and came to this kingdom after seeing that your subjects needed help. Tulip brought me here and your parents seem to believe I was sent to them to help this kingdom survive.” He smiled brightly. 

“Oh… oh, you’re that strange-eyed freak that was scaring everyone in the village. Mom and Dad were telling me about this… little Demi-God who came from the Aether and is a ‘sign’ that we’re not forsaken.” She seemed very angry about this, her expression never shifting. “Mom and Dad haven’t stopped talking about you since you came yesterday.”

“Oh.” Herobrine seemed flattered by this, but Rose never lost that stare of pure rage.

“Yes, they’ve just kept droning on about their ‘gift from the gods.’ It’s quite infuriating.”

Celina saw how much this woman seemed to hate Brine, even though she barely knew him. “Geez, what’s her issue with you?”

“She was the eldest daughter of Robert and Rita. If she had found a spouse, she would have taken the throne upon her parents’ deaths. However… she wasn’t a nice woman.”

Celina looked up. “What do you mean?”

“She was very vain, very self-centered and selfish, and not exactly the most beautiful woman in the land. So she had never had a suitor. In the Oakdred family, the first to be married upon Rita and Robert’s deaths was to take the throne. And Rose wanted that throne. But with how… vile she was, she didn’t attract the attention of many men.”

Celina could see how the princess hated this Demi-God from the moment they met. She saw him walking away after wishing her well, and then she remembered something. “So, wait… they had three daughters, right? I’m guessing Rose was the oldest and Tulip the youngest. So… where’s the middle daughter?”

A door being knocked on had Celina turning back to see Herobrine at a large spruce door. She could hear singing, beautiful singing from inside the room. It seemed like whoever was inside was too focused on their voice, because Herobrine carefully pushed open the door. Inside was a lovely bedroom with purple and pink carpets, a magenta stained glass window, flower banners and flowers decorating the walls, and several paintings of various biomes on one wall. A beautiful canopy bed and some chests also lined the walls.

Herobrine’s eyes drifted from the room to a human form that was singing, a white gloved hand held up as they did so. He didn’t want to interrupt, but he needed to see who this was. “...Hello,” he called out.

The form stopped their singing… and slowly turned on their heels. The very appearance of this woman made Celina gasp and nearly jump back in surprise.

She was taller than the short Demi-God, with tan skin, black hair to the floor, and gray eyes. She wore a golden crown with a rectangular magenta gem, a magenta shirt with purple sleeves, white elbow length gloves, yellow ribbons crossing her chest, a yellow belt, pink ballet flats, and a long indigo skirt with one leg revealed. She had a necklace with a diamond hanging from her neck, pink makeup on her cheeks, and long eyelashes. 

Celina couldn’t remove her shocked gaze away. This woman… she had the same figure, same clothing colors, same eyes, same facial features; everything about her looked the same as Celina. It was unbelievable! She literally looked like a splitting image! Though there were some differences, the resemblance was uncanny. “What--what in--huh?!” Celina sputtered out

“She looks like you, doesn’t she?” she heard Herobrine ask.

“Well, yeah! But… who is…” 

*****

“For Aether’s sake, you usually don’t complain this much, Cebrina.”

*****

Then it hit Celina like an arrow.

“...That’s Cebrina.”