The Broken Flame

Steve’s eyes fluttered open to darkness, nothing but a pure black world that let no light through. He realized he was somehow standing? And he could see himself clearly in the darkness? He held up his hands and looked over them. Nothing about himself was different. But then again, this wasn’t in the waking world.

A dark laugh had the miner turning on his heels as he searched for the source. “What… He--Herobri--brine? Is that you?”

“Aww, what’s the matter, Steven? You don’t want to play with me?”

Steve was terribly afraid, feeling his whole body quiver badly. He didn’t know what Herobrine was planning to do, but he didn’t want to find out. Looking around, the miner shouted out into the darkness, “Please, Herobrine! I don’t want to do this! I don’t know what I did to earn your wrath, but please let me fix it! I just want to go home! Please, don’t do this!”

Herobrine chuckled again. “Oh, Steven. There’s no need to apologize. Your fate was sealed the moment you walked into those woods. Now... how about we invite some friends?”

Steve whimpered softly. “What… what’s that supposed to mean?”

There was no response. Steve felt himself taking a few steps back in the endless black plain Herobrine had pulled him into. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

A small screech made his eyes go wide. A few more screeches echoed from the darkness. A tiny pair of white eyes flashed from the black and Steve jumped back in shock. A few more pairs opened and showed themselves and those ones multiplied even more. “No…” the human whispered, knowing exactly what those were. 

The eyes began to move, and the creatures showed themselves. Silverfish. White-eyed silverfish. They wriggled around with what seemed to be anticipation as they stared the miner down. Steve shouted and jumped back again. He was terrified of silverfish. They may not be very big in size, but in groups, they were more than a nuisance. That, and enough of their poison from a large group could kill a man. Steve knew this all too well.

He had only been thirteen when he and his father had accidentally destroyed a silverfish nest in a mining trip and they had attacked him. His father was barely able to get them off of him, and the young boy had spent three weeks in bed recovering.

Steve saw one creature begin to move towards him. Another followed, then another, then another, until they all began to move in unison towards him. He turned on his heels and began to run, run away from those vile things. He ran as fast as his legs could push him and he turned to look over his shoulder. The silverfish were only blocks away. “NO!” shouted the miner, trying his damnedest to escape.

But it wouldn’t be enough.

The laces on one of his boots came undone, making him trip over his own feet. Steve couldn’t stop himself from falling and he smacked face first into the ground he couldn’t see. He tried to push himself up with a pained groan. “Ooowwww… damn it…”

A hiss caught his attention, and that was when he turned and remembered why he was running in the first place. “SHIT!” Steve shouted. He tried to push onto his feet, but just as he readied to stand, a sharp pain erupted from his lower left side. 

“AHHH!” Steve stopped in his place and looked down. One of the little bugs has jumped in his struggle and was now sinking its teeth into his side. He tried to reach for it, but another sting came from the back of his left leg. He cried out again and tried again to reach. Another silverfish in the back of his ankle, another in his arm, and they didn’t stop.

Steve was now shrieking in agony, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he tried to take the pain. It wasn’t working, it felt like fire was running through his veins and the miner couldn’t even move. He was trembling violently, his body felt like it was shutting down. His vision was blurring in and out. Oh, Gods… it hurt. It hurt so badly. And every bit of it felt so real.

In an act of desperation, the man shouted into the darkness. “AHHH! HEROBRINE! PLE--PLEASE, STOP! PLEASE! I CAN’T TAKE ANYMORE! PLEASE!”

His cries fell on deaf ears. He went ignored.

Steve’s body couldn’t keep him standing anymore. He fell to the ground, breathing shallow and quick. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t. Was this where it ended?

*****

Herobrine looked down at the miner on the ground in front of him. The man was curled into a tight ball with his knees close to his chest and hands clutching onto his head. The human’s eyes were sealed tightly, yet tears flowed from their corners. He was lying on his side, whimpering and sobbing loudly. 

The Nether Prince chuckled and got onto one knee near the mortal. He couldn’t help but smile like a madman. He was addicted to this fear, this pain, seeing this man at his mercy like this. “How amusing,” Herobrine thought aloud as he tilted his head to the side with that vile smile. “He thinks it’s real. He thinks he truly is on the edge of death… how adorable.” The last word of that sentence had a sinister sound to it, a venom that would sting even physically.

The King of the Mobs stood and pulled out one of his swords, having sheathed them both earlier. “Alright, Steven. That’s enough dreaming for you. Time to get this show started.” He snapped the fingers of his free hand. “Awaken, Miner.”

All was quiet for no more than a minute. Then, Steve’s eyes snapped open. He gasped sharply and clutched his shirt as his hands flew to his chest. He began to take rapid breaths and scrambled to sit up in his place. Steve sat up and looked around as his vision began to focus. “Wh.. wha… what…” He couldn’t even speak. That was horrifying. He thought he really was dying. He thought that he was being eaten alive. Where in the world--

“Well, good morning, sleepyhead.”

Steve’s head snapped to in front of him and that was when he felt panic set in. “Oh, dear Dinnerbone.” He forgot where he was and who had put him into that trance in the first place.

Herobrine smiled and brandished his blade once more. “You know, Steven, I thought you were tougher than that. You’ve yet again proven to me how weak you truly are. You can’t even fight a simple nightmare.”

Steve shook his head. “Herobrine, please, don’t do this! I’ve said already I will fix whatever had angered you! Please, just leave me be! Please!” He was begging at this point, desperate to escape in one piece. However, another dark laugh from the ancient man made him realize that pleading was futile. 

“Oh, dear Steven… you’re pathetic. You think words will sway me? You’re so foolish.” Herobrine raised his blade above his head, holding tightly to the handle with both hands. He whispered something in the tongue of the Gods, and suddenly his sword’s blade was engulfed in flames. 

“Whoa!” Steve jumped back and watched the man raise the blade high over his head. Time seemed to slow as he prepared to bring it down. Steve could only watch in terror, frozen in place, before something shining caught his attention. He looked down to see his diamond blade, right next to him where he had dropped it. 

The blade came down…

And the sounds of sword meeting sword rang through the air. 

Herobrine looked down to see Steve baring his teeth as he used all of his strength to try and hold back the Demi-God’s blade with his own weapon. The miner grunted, before pushing and moving Herobrine the smallest bit. Herobrine pulled his blade away and stepped back. To his surprise, the human moved up onto his feet, sword’s handle tight in his grasp and a look of anger written on his face.

“What’s this,” the Nether Prince asked with face curiosity. “The miner decides to stand and fight instead of cowering away? How interesting.”

Steve ignored every part of his brain screaming to run away and instead took a defensive stance, sword held in front of him. He really didn’t want to fight Herobrine, he had nearly lost his life to several fights against this being. But he knew he really didn’t have a choice at this point. He was going to fight a good fight, even if it would be until the very end. 

Steve looked into those white eyes. “You’ve made it very clear, Herobrine,” his voice rang out, strong and determined. “You will not be letting me escape. So, I suppose there’s no say in the matter. I will fight you, as I always have. I know you’re a warrior, so I will fight you as one.” He tightened his grip and narrowed his eyes at seeing the man pull his other blade from his back. “I won’t let myself fall so easily, Herobrine.”

A sinister chuckle. “So be it, Steven. But just know this one thing…” He readied his own two blade and got into his stance. “Not even the Gods can save you now.”