The Broken Flame

Rose stepped forward among the crying knights, walking past her parents and to Herobrine. She shook her head as she looked down at him. “So, you’re saying you slayed a royal family member? You slayed your own family?”

Herobrine looked up at her with shock. “No… no, I didn’t do it with malicious intent, Rose! She had a curse placed on her! One that couldn’t be removed without killing her!”

“So you admit you killed her,” she said with a devious grin.

“You don’t understand, Rose!” he stood straight up and looked at his sister-in-law. “That curse couldn’t have been removed in any other way! If it had been on Tulip any longer, it would have torn her body apart and spread on its own to find a new host! Someone else could have been cursed by it!”

“But you did strike down Tulip… did you not?”

Herobrine found himself feeling very small as the royals all looked to him, as did the knights. He snarled in anger. “I did, but there was no other choice! The curse--”

“What is this so-called ‘curse’ you keep talking about? What is it called, Herobrine,” came the snide voice of Rose as she continued to speak. 

“It’s called the Calling of Death and I’ve seen it myself, Rose!” He was now shouting at Rose as Rita and Robert looked in horror. “Only the most powerful beings in the land can cast this curse, but I don’t know who would dare cast this on Tulip!”

“Oh… I’ve never heard of such a curse before. I’ve seen no record of it in our books.” She tilted her head to one side, arms folded across her chest. “Are you sure there is no cure for it?”

“YES!” Herobrine stomped a foot down. “I’ve seen it myself, Rose! Any creature with this curse cannot be saved by normal means! I don’t know if there’s any way to reverse it!”

“Oh, so you don’t know if there’s a cure for it that could have been researched by us? You couldn’t have simply knocked out Tulip and brought her here to be studied by the priests?”

Herobrine growled again. “ROSE! LISTEN TO ME!”

“Herobrine… you couldn’t have done that?”

Herobrine’s head snapped to Robert. He was now standing, looking at the Demi-God with shock. “Robert, you must believe me. There’s no known cure for this curse. And if we had brought Tulip back, the curse could have torn apart her body and spread to someone else near the remains!”

“Herobrine… you couldn’t have just subdued her,” Robert asked.

“No, Robert!”

“Papa, you have to believe him!” Cebrina stated to her father. “You don’t understand, Herobrine would never lie to us! He’s seen so many things in Minecraftia firsthand! He knows these things, he’s so smart and cares about us!”

“Oh, are you sure about that, dear sister,” Rose butted in. “Do you not remember how he scared our citizens on his very first day in this village?”

“He didn’t do it on purpose, Rose!” Cebrina snapped. “People are afraid of what they don’t know! We don’t yet have records of anyone with eyes like his!”

“Are you sure he didn’t have malicious intent? If you ask me, he’s been trying to gain our trust to get onto the throne of our kingdom from the moment he arrived here. And this was the first phase of his little plan!”

Herobrine couldn’t stand by on that statement. He swung out an arm, landing it on Rose’s cheek. The woman stumbled back and looked at Herobrine with contempt. Herobrine immediately felt guilt when all eyes turned to him. “Rose… I--I’m… I’m sorry. I--”

Rita stood, rushing to her daughter and holding her close. “How dare you lay your hand on my daughter, you freak!”

Herobrine could feel eyes of anger turning in on him and he knew he shouldn’t have done what he did. “I’m--I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, I was just--”

“SILENCE, MONSTER!” Robert shouted, standing by Rose and Rita.

Herobrine looked at him in disbelief. 

“Herobrinious, it’s obvious that you have fallen from the grace of the Aether. You could have knocked out Tulip and brought her back, but no, you chose to slice down our youngest daughter!” Robert held Rose close. “You have murdered a member of your family in cold blood, and therefore, must be arrested and punished for what you have done! Guards, take him to the dungeon!”

Herobrine could see several of the knights walking closer, and Cebrina held out her sword as some of them threatened to get too close.

“Stay away from my husband!” she shouted. “He has done nothing wrong! He did what he did because he had no choice! He didn’t want to kill Tulip! He had to! And I…” Cebrina’s eyes watered again. “I took part in it! I didn’t want to kill my own sister! But Herobrine would never lie to me!”

“Cebrina!” Rita put a hand to her chest in shock. “You’re defending this monster?!”

“Yes, I am, mother,” she responded. “He’s my husband. He has never lied to me, and he wouldn’t start now. I love him, and I will defend him with my life! If you want to take him, you’ll have to take me too!”

“Then so be it!” Rose shouted. “You have committed treason against your own family! You shall suffer the same fate as your husband!”

Cebrina stood with no fear on her face. “Fine.”

“Cebrina, what are you doing?!” Herobrine asked, turning her to face him.

“I won’t let them just take you without giving you a chance, Brine,” she told him. “I love you, and I know you wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Take them away!” Robert shouted.

Celina could only watch in horror as Herobrine and Cebrina let themselves be taken away to the dungeons. She couldn’t believe it. Rose had seen a chance to ruin Herobrine’s life and she took it. She took it and turned his own family against him. “That bitch!” she shouted. “You didn’t deserve that! She twisted your words and used her own to convince them that you did that out of spite! But… but you had no choice! IT’S NOT FAIR! SHE’S A LYING WITCH AND SHE DESERVED TO BE IN THE DUNGEON!”

*****

The memories shifted again and Celina found herself standing outside the kingdom, on a wooden platform with two columns of white Nether quartz. She could see the kingdom before the platform, all gathered as if to watch some kind of bloodsport. They all looked so angry, and Celina realized this could only mean one thing. 

“This… this is when you were given your sentence. They didn’t even give you a trial! They just put you in your punishment! THEY DIDN’T EVEN GIVE YOU A TRIAL!”

“I know. This was about a week after the last memory. Robert and Rita told the kingdom of my, ‘actions,’ and they all turned on me in an instant.”

The sounds of shackles had Celina turning to see knights escorting Herobrine and Cebrina to the platform, their hands behind their backs. The Demi-God looked so tired as did his wife. They must have been kept awake in their time in the dungeon. It seemed too cruel to her. The king and queen turned on their own child and her husband because of their other daughter’s lies. She couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t believe Herobrine had gone through this. Angry tears began to stream down her face. This wasn’t fair.

Cebrina and Herobrine were turned to face the crowd. Cebrina looked at her husband as the crowd shouted curses and angry words at them. “Herobrine… I’m so sorry,” she whispered. 

The Demi-God looked at her in surprise. “For what, my darling?”

“For not fighting harder for you. We wouldn’t be in this mess if I had fought harder.”

He shook his head. “This is my fault, Cebrina,” he whispered. “If I had just explained myself, I could have gotten us out of this. I didn’t mean to pull you into my mess. Now… now you suffer for my actions.”

“Its okay, Herobrine. I wasn’t going to just let them take you.”

He smiled at her.

“Silence, prisoners!” 

The two turned their attention to one of the priests as she spoke. “Herobrinious Alstrom, you have committed the crime of murdering a member of the royal family. You have obviously fallen from the grace of the Aether, and must be put to death! You shall be publicly executed!”

“I would like to see you try,” Herobrine muttered.

“Herobrine,” Cebrina spoke.

“Princess Cebrina of the Oakdred family! You have committed treason for defending this monster, and will be put to death in the dungeons!”

Cebrina said nothing, glaring at the crowd of her own people.

The sounds of crying children came from their left and the husband and wife gasped at seeing their children being pushed onto the platform by two guards. They looked terribly frightened and seemed confused and scared. “Say goodbye to your children, peasants,” one of the guards sneered. 

Robert Jr. immediately ran to his mother and hugged her legs, crying out to her. Juliana, on the other hand, looked at her father with tears streaming down her face. Herobrine sighed. His children, his own flesh and blood, were being punished for his own actions, and there was truly nothing he could do. He brought this upon his family.

It was his fault.

“Papa?”

He looked at his daughter. “Julie… I’m so sorry.”

“Papa, I’m so scared, what are they going to do to you and Mama?”

He turned his gaze away. “I don’t know yet, Julie. I… I don’t know.” He shook his head slowly. “I’m so sorry for whatever they’ve done to you and your brother. I didn’t want this to happen.” His eyes flooded again and he could only watch as his daughter looked at him with sorrow. “Julie?”

“Yes, Papa?”

“I need you to promise me something.” She nodded and he looked down at her. “I need you to promise me that, no matter what they do, you’ll be brave for me. Don’t let them scare you. Don’t let them try to make you feel like this is your fault. Be brave, okay?”

The girl took in his words, before nodding ever so softly. 

Celina couldn’t help but sob out and fall to her knees again. The Demi-God let his child hug him as tightly as she could, and Robert Jr. was doing the same to his mother as she spoke soft words to him. It was taking everything in her power not to just break down. She had no words for her despair, nothing to say. It’s not like she would be able to choke anything out anyways with her crying.

She was helpless to watch the guards take the children away, saying that they were to spend the rest of their days in the dungeons. “I… I…” She tried to speak, but nothing else came out. Celina felt herself holding onto her chest. She never would have known Herobrine lost everything he held dear to him over something that should have never happened. Whoever had cursed Tulip had to have been sick in the head to do such a thing to an innocent child.

And she had a feeling things were only going to get worse.

Because only a moment later, she heard the priest shout, “Guards, take the princess to the dungeons!”