The Broken Flame

Steve’s eyes slowly fluttered open as the morning came, the sun’s early rays shining down through the window and warming him up. He let a soft smile form on his face, it was nice to just wake up to his own internal clock. He moved to sit up, stretching his arms above his head as he did so.

A small shifting noise caught his attention and the miner turned to see a figure at one of the crafting tables, one he almost didn’t recognize. But then the humanoid turned on their heels and Steve blinked in surprise.

Brine was there, but he was wearing some different clothes. He was now wearing an orange sweater, black jeans, and a pair of gray ballet flats. He looked very comfortable.

Brine seemed to notice that he was awake, because he turned his head to look at him. “Good morning, Steve,” he said in a soft voice. 

Steve flashed him a smile. “Morning, Brine. You look comfy.”

“I am,” he responded with a chuckle. 

“Where did you get those clothes?”

“I’ve had them for a while. I was given them by one of the knights when I lived in the Oakdred kingdom, but I never wore them. I always kept them because it was a nice reminder of… the place where I once belonged.” He didn’t seem solemn as he said this, his grin read more nostalgic than anything. “It feels good to finally make a change in my appearance. I feel much more comfortable in my own skin now.”

Steve couldn’t help but chuckle as Herobrine did a little spin on his heels. He was really happy and that made him happy too. His good mood seemed to be contagious. And that was something he had noticed over the past few days since Brine told Steve his story.

It had been only four days, but the miner had noticed how much Brine had changed. He was so calm, so happy, and he didn’t truly get angry like he would before. His temper had calmed considerably and he seemed so content in his days with him and the queen. Brine was someone more meek now, more mellow, more… human. It was so nice to see. Steve really felt a strong friendship with the Demi-God now, and it was nice.

A creak from a nearby door had Steve looking to see Celina coming into the throne room. She was wearing a dress that she had made, a pink dress made of such fluffy sheep’s wool that it looked like her skirt was made of clouds. Steve smiled at her. “Morning, Celina.”

“Good morning, Steve!” She turned her head when some movement caught her eye and she saw Brine working on breakfast. “Hi, Brine! You look nice!”

A small chuckle. “Thank you, Celina.”

She walked over to the being and gave him a small hug. “You seem chipper this morning.”

“I am. I feel much more comfortable in these clothes. I just… I feel good today.”

Celina smiled widely. “It’s so nice to see you so happy, Brine. You seem so content lately, and that makes me smile.”

Brine hummed. He returned to the food he was making for a moment, before looking over his shoulder at the two humans. “Do you two like mushroom stew?”

Steve’s eyes seemed to light up. “Dude, I freakin’ love mushroom stew! That’s one of my favorite things ever!”

Celina giggled. “Yeah, I like it too.”

“That’s what I figured. I’ll make us some of the stew the chefs at the castle taught me how to make.” Brine then turned back to his work, pulling various things from his inventory. The stew was done within a short time and Celina helped Steve to the table to eat. As the three ate their meals, Steve looked up to Brine. “Brine?”

The Demi-God looked up. “Yes?”

“If you don’t mind me asking… I know this seems kinda strange, but… why did you haunt me all those years? You could have killed me at any time. And… you did take my parents from me. Why didn’t you kill me?”

Brine’s face fell and he carefully put down his silverware. He seemed to think about what he was going to say, because he stayed silent for a few moments, hands clasped. He finally let out a heavy sigh and answered with, “To be honest? I don’t know. There was something that had drawn me to you, ever since you were old enough to know the legends about me. I don’t know why I put you through such torment, Steve. And… I feel terrible about it.”

The Nether Prince’s tone shifted to a more somber one. “Now that we’ve become friends, I just want to take back everything I ever did to hurt you. Even though I know I can’t, I still want to. You… you didn’t deserve all the things I put you through, Steve.” Tears formed in his eyes and he felt them run down his face when he blinked. “I’m so sorry. I should have never…” He let out a soft whimper.

Celina leaned over almost immediately and wrapped her arms around Brine, trying to keep him from crying again. She didn’t want her friend to be upset again and so she held tightly to him.

Steve realized how upset this had made Brine and reached a hand out to him. “Brine, it’s okay. Look… anyone else who went through the things I did while we had our rivalry would have stayed angry at you until their dying breath. But me? I see you only did what you did out of your hatred. I don’t know if I exactly forgive you for all the things you did to me… but I do know that I can’t hate you forever. I truly consider you a friend and I… I don’t want there to be any bad blood between us.” He smiled. “Can we agree to never hurt each other again?”

Brine blinked slowly, before smiling and nodding. “I can certainly do that.”

“Good. I promise you: I’ll always have your back, Brine.”

“And I’ll do the same for you, Steve.”

A nod was given to Brine from Steve. He then looked to Celina, who had retracted her arms. “Hey, Celina?”

“Yes, Steve?”

“What are we going to do about the kingdom?”

Celina tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

Steve folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t know if we can really keep our friendship with Brine a secret forever. We’re lucky he’s been able to hide in the times the guards have come. But I have a feeling one of them is bound to notice at some point.”

Celina put ah and to her chin in thought. She had been thinking about that a lot lately, especially since they had had a couple of close calls with Brine nearly being seen by a few of the kingdom’s knights. There was the chance one of them could see Brine and storm the castle with the kingdom’s other citizens and the other guards. That wouldn’t be very good.

Celina sighed heavily. “Personally? I don’t really think there’s any other option than to introduce the citizens to him and try to explain that he’s changed.”

Steve just about choked on the water he was drinking at her words and he coughed a few times. “What?!” he asked in disbelief. 

“Steve, think about it. We can’t just have Brine hide himself every time one of the guards comes in. They’re gonna get suspicious at some point and I feel bad hiding Brine from them. This is someone we consider a friend now, and I don’t want him to have to hide himself every time someone walks into the castle.” She straightened up and looked to her friends. “I say that sometime today, we should gather my subjects and introduce them to Brine. I know they might not be quick to trust him at first, but I have a feeling that if we just implore them to give him a chance, they won’t just run in fear.” 

Celina could see Brine’s face looking very unsure, but she took a hold of one of his hands. “Brine, I know that idea doesn’t seem very safe, but I promise you: I will get them to trust you, one way or another.”

Brine pursed his lips together, before sighing and smiling. “Okay. Thank you, Celina.”

*****

“Irona?”

The lady golem turned on her heels as she heard a voice call her name. She was surprised to see Steve up and walking, coming out of the castle’s doors. She stopped her movement down the gravel streets and looked down at the man.

Steve walked up to Irona, a slight limp in his step as he moved down the path to reach her. He was very nervous about their plan, but he needed Irona to gather the guards if the whole kingdom was going to hear what he and Celina had to say. It was a risky plan, the people and guards could just simply draw their weapons and attack on sight, but they had to give it a chance. 

Steve shook his head. They could do this. He looked up to the golem. “Irona, Celina and I need you to gather all of the knights into the town square for a town meeting. We’ve got something we need to talk about and the knights need to be there too.”

Irona furrowed her brows and found herself holding up a hand in question. 

“It’s… important, but we can’t really say why yet. Can you please gather up the guards? Please?”

Irona could see that whatever this was about was important to the miner. She shouldn’t deny his request. She nodded and gave him a small smile.

“Sweet! Thanks, Irona! We’ll need you there, too, so head to the town square with the guards.” 

*****

The town square of the Creatoria kingdom was bustling with movement and chatter as the kingdom’s subjects stood and waited for their queen. There seemed to be a slight uneasiness among them as they waited. The knights all stood on the outer edges of the crowd, mostly humans with a few mobs and other iron golems. They all waited, until their queen’s voice rang over their chatter and stopped it all at once. 

“Hello, my subjects of Creatoria!” Celina stepped out from behind a nearby building and walked to the front of the crown, climbing onto a nearby fountain to be able to see everyone and have everyone see her. “Thank you all for gathering today, we have an important matter to discuss today.”

The crowd began to murmur as Steve walked to stand next to the fountain, looking up at her as she stood on part of the fountain. She held her hands up to stop the chatter. “Now, my people, I need you to understand something. Something important.” She could see some of them look at her with confusion. “In this kingdom, unless someone has truly malicious intentions, we welcome them with open arms. People aren’t always shades of black and white, and we don’t always know what someone has been through. We need to understand that some people have been through great strife and seem closed off or hateful because of how people treated them. I… I’ve learned this first hand thanks to a new friend, someone who didn’t deserve the strife he went through. He was betrayed by humans who once adored him. As I’ve come to learn, humans are often blinded by their quick judgement. But this person, one I’ve come to understand, knows this all too well.”

One of the knights stepped forward and looked at Celina. “Your Highness, who is this person you speak about? Surely, they must be important to you if you called a meeting to introduce them to us.”

“They are, Lucy.” She smiled and looked back to see a form move back behind the building she had come from behind. “Brine, do you want to meet the kingdom?”

A nervous sigh came from the figure, and many who heard it and the name the queen said began to make panicked chatter. All eyes turned to a figure who came from behind the same building. They kept their eyes closed as they walked, making their way towards the side of their queen. All was unbearably silent as he walked, and when he finally tilted his head up and opened his eyes, all Nether broke loose.