The Broken Flame

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!” Herobrine suddenly shouted, making the cave walls shake with his shout.

Glistenia, despite the mobs around her cowering in fear, remained very calm with her arms folded over her chest. “I did nothing but restore your powers and give you new ones, my master,” she answered him.

Herobrine let out a snarl of rage. “SHUT UP! I’M NOT YOUR MASTER AND I WILL NEVER SIDE WITH THE MOBS!” He found himself beginning to float a few inches into the air without control, and fury began to boil in his veins. He put hands to his chest and made loud animalistic snarls and growls. He was losing control of his anger. He couldn’t breath, couldn’t see, couldn’t stop himself.

Glistenia moved closer to the being as he closed his eyes and clutched his head. “Herobri--”

A loud bang followed a powerful release of energy that suddenly flooded the room, knocking down the towers of bookshelves and blasting away blocks all around the Demi-God. A loud scream of rage followed it and every mob in the vicinity, including Glistenia, was knocked off their feet. Herobrine fell back to the ground and stumbled for a few moments, clutching onto his temples. “Urgh…” He opened his eyes to see all the mobs on the floor, all the stacked blocks scattered across the ground… and a large hold in the wall he had been facing, leading to a familiar room that was covered in mushrooms, vines, and crimson stains.

It was the room where they had confronted Tulip.

Herobrine gasped. Before he could think, he was already running past the mobs and into the cavern, knowing that if he could make his way out through there, he could get to the kingdom. His children could still be saved.

He didn’t even hear Glistenia get up and shout, “Don’t just stand there, you freaks! Follow him!” 

Herobrine could hear footsteps trying to catch up to him, so he decided to test out his new ‘powers,’ as the Ender had said.

He teleported out of the cavern.

*****

The memory shifted again as Herobrine plopped onto the ground, having teleported out of the cave and to the outskirts of the village surrounding the castle. He leaned against the tree that he had landed near and took a few breaths. That was… strange. He didn’t have teleporting abilities before, so that was a new experience. It felt really weird, but he had to shrug that off. He had landed exactly where he wanted to be.

Herobrine peeked from behind the tree he was behind, seeing some guards wandering the streets. He really didn’t want to hurt anyone, so it might be best if he just…

Celina could feel the energy shift every time Herobrine teleported. Seems like he was still getting used to it, as he only teleported small distances while staying hidden behind houses and buildings. Eventually, he teleported to the entrance of the throne room and peeked inside.

No one but a couple of knights stood by, and the guards seemed to be half asleep.

“Tch,” he muttered. Herobrine summoned a small fireball, before throwing it over behind the guards, making them turn to look to see what had made the noise. He slipped past them, running down the hallway to the left. 

****

When the memory shifted again, Celina could see Herobrine at the entrance of what she guessed were the dungeons, as she could see rows and rows of rooms with bars on either side of the being. He slowly walked down the dark corridors, his newly white eyes giving some light to see what was around them. He looked into each room, but there were still no signs of his children. Celina could feel something, a sense of dread as her friend’s memory continued. It was… too quiet.

Dead silent.

Oh no.

Did that mean…?

Herobrine went up a set of long steps and let out a small gasp as he saw two figures, lit by the moonlight coming through their window as they lay on the cold stone floor. “Julie! Robert!” He smiled widely as he ran towards them… only for that face to fall into horror. 

They weren’t moving. 

Herobrine quickened his pace and he saw it.

Blood.

Blood lit up by the glow of his eyes. 

And it pooled around the bodies of his children, an intricately decorated diamond blade laying between them. 

“...No,” Herobrine whispered as he looked down. He began to shudder, he felt utterly sick to his stomach and the sheer realization of what had happened hit him like an arrow. No, this couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be! “...Julie? Ro--Robert?”

But it was true. Herobrine’s children were dead by Rose’s blade.

Herobrine dropped to his knees and shouted as loud as he could, throwing his head back with hands over his heart. His cry was like that of both a human and Ender in pain and sorrow and it echoed as the walls of the whole castle shook. Herobrine put his hands to the ground as tears streamed down his face again, sobbing as loud as he could. 

Celina fell with him and she couldn’t help but sob. “No… she… she couldn’t have been that cruel. She.. She… she didn’t really… no…”

“She did, Celina. She took away everything I had. She took away my family and the kingdom that once adored me, and she ruined my life. At this moment, I felt a hate like nothing else in my entire life. I had never known rage so strong until this moment. And if every string of sanity I had was a string… the last one would have snapped.”

She looked to see the younger Herobrine stand, clenched fists shaking as his face changed to pure anger. He teleported out of the dungeon as footsteps came down the hall he had taken.

The next few minutes of Herobrine’s memories were just of pure destruction. Herobrine had left the kingdom, before coming back with rage in his heart and destroying the kingdom. Buildings went up in smoke and explosions, blood splattered across the streets as bodies flew, and Herobrine cackled wildly as he slaughtered and ripped through every single person who had betrayed him. 

When he had made it to the castle, Herobrine blew it apart and set it aflame, and every single guard who tried to run or get in his way were destroyed. She could only watch in horror when the king and queen died by his hands…

But Rose? Oh, her death was brutal.

Herobrine chased her through the burning village like some sick game of Cat and Creeper and she even got thrown through a Nether portal, where Herobrine gave her a slow painful death. She was dragged over Netherrack, thrown into walls of bedrock, and just tossed around like a ragdoll. Eventually, Herobrine threw her into the lava of one of the oceans in the hellish world, the being smiley wickedly as he watched her burn and sink into the molten rock… her own sword through her chest.

*****

When the last memory came, Celina was crying hard, sobbing and sniffling. She couldn’t help but feel sheer hatred towards Rose. She had taken everything away from Herobrine and only deserved what she got. She looked up to see Herobrine on the hill… the same hill where he and Cebrina had had their first picnic. He stood facing the large oak that they always sat under together. Standing in front of him were four headstones. As Celina got closer to them, she could read each of the names on them, clear as day. 

“Cebrina Connoray Oakdread-Alstrom”

“Juliana Oakdred-Alstrom”

Robert Oakdred-Alstrom”

“Tulip Jenny Oakdred”

Herobrine placed a rose on the grave with Cebrina’s headstone, an orchid on Robert Jr.’s, a daisy on Juliana’s… and a pink tulip on Tulip’s grave. He placed the flowers so delicately, with such care that only someone who had loved someone all their life could. He then stood there, the soft breeze brushing against his cheeks and through his ragged hair.

A familiar voice suddenly found its way to her ears, and though Celina turned to see, Herobrine didn’t move. 

“Pitiful that she didn’t even try to fight back, wasn’t it?”

Glistenia made her way up the hill to where Herobrine stood. She had her hands clasped behind her back. The being didn’t speak to her. 

“Ahh. I see.” She chuckled darkly. “You should come with us, Herobrine. You took your revenge on these people. The ones who betrayed you. But I can sense that you still want more. If you truly want to let people see your fury, your rage, your hatred; the mobs are more than willing to serve you.” She held out a hand. “You have no place among humans anymore, my friend. Come with us, and we will never betray you as these people had. We will stand by you in all your commands, and we will serve you.”

There was a beat of silence… then a dark, low laugh from Herobrine. He turned with a wicked smile on his face, his eyes glowing brightly. Celina recognized that grin. It was the same one he had when he had come to her castle to take Steve’s soul.

Herobrine took Glistenia’s hand, and that was when everything went white.

*****

Celina opened her eyes as the white faded to black, and she found herself back in her castle, her home, with Herobrine’s hands slowly leaving her head. She found a small headache stirring, but that pain didn’t compare to the pain of her broken heart.

Herobrine sat in front of her, sniffling and biting his lip, as if to try and keep himself from crying. Celina put a hand to her chest as she looked at him.

Herobrine… had lost everything. He had a wonderful wife, two beautiful children, people who adored him… he had everything and his life was perfect. And what had happened? One person, one person who was bitter and enraged at his happiness… tore his life apart and caused him to crumble. And he had lost everything because of Rose. It was something she had to wrap her head around. Herobrine had once been someone more meek, more gentle, more… human.

Herobrine let out a loud sob and tried to stifle his cries by clapping a hand over his mouth. Celina looked at the being, seeing the cyan droplets in his eyes falling down his face. He seemed to be trying to not cry.

Celina shook her head. She held out her arms to him and told him, “If you need to cry, I am here for you to cry to. I won’t hold it against you, I won’t judge you. It’s not weak, and if you need to talk, I’m here.” 

Herobrine couldn’t help himself. He fell onto Celina, embracing her, and he wept.