Hero's Bane

Chapter 17: His Rage

(Art by Spoopyvlat DA)

Herobrine watched as the men walked further and further over the small hills at an intolerable pace, the miner practically had to carry the old man. He was furious, irritated that his little 'push' had only slowed them down even more and he clinched his fists tightly from his own foolish mistake.

Perhaps he should kill the old and weak one? He thought. It could speed up the process of the miner's travel and then he'll finally get down to the bottom of the human's reason of being here in the first place, or it could slow the man down even more considering that he somewhat cared for the elder and would probably waste time in grieving like most human's did. The fortress though- was the man's primary target and that he found out last night after listening in on part of the human's conversation. The hero couldn't be certain of why the miner wanted to get there in such a hurry, it also made him wonder if he- himself was a reason but he was going to find out and soon enough.

The powerful being descended the hillside with ease and made his way to where the miner had collapsed; the gravesite of Lionel. The young man had stared at the grave and Herobrine just couldn't stop that painful memory from bubbling up after gazing at the resting place of Lionel, especially since said human looked just like his friend and even himself. So it had seemed as though his very friend; figurative brother even, kneel at his own grave. So many decades alone had made the memories grow stale and distant, but that all seemed to change when 'that' human entered this land. Only when that man came here did old memories... refresh, return, and renew. The mortal was lucky to even get a glimpse of the hero in such a weak position from the powerful memory, it was however; the time he felt most useless and pathetic, being completely powerless to stop... Herobrine quickly pushed the thought away and folded his arms. He's seen Lionel's death already and he didn't need to imagine that wretched human take that man's life again.

It had been a while since he had seen his own reflection, a very long time. It had seem as though he had forgotten about the human that he had saved, his friend. Lionel was the one who found him, gave him a home, taught him the ways of being a human, found him a purpose when he had none coming into this world, and of course taught the painful lesson of sacrifice.

That human, Steve though? His purpose here or even existing made the immortal think deeply, but he couldn't think of any true reason for their mirroring image. There was more to this miner then he had ever thought before and maybe it was good that he hadn't killed the mortal just yet, something about the guy continued to pique his interest despite the insurmountable rage the miner continually generated. It seems as though he'll find out one way or another for his reason of being, even if he had to choke it out of the miner's fragile throat and get his answers.

...

"Steve, is there something wrong?" Nigel quietly asked as they walked up a large hill. He had noticed that the miner hadn't said a word since being at the gravesite and perhaps it had something to do with passing out on the grave that had his last name written upon it, but that had been a couple hours ago and they were nearing the small settlements that surrounded the fortress. It was also getting darker and the only light they had was from the fading sunlight, apparently they had taken much longer to traverse the hilly valley to get to the fortress with Nigel's setback and he felt guilt though it wasn't his fault.

"You don't have to tell me what's bothering you but just saying anything would be better than this silent spell that you've seemed to fall into, it's far too quiet out here and the setting sun is putting a damper on the mood to explore. I apologize. I feel as though I'm making this trip difficult and exhausting, I can say that practically packing me halfway isn't an easy task." He admitted with a guilty look.

Steve glanced at the man to right and blinked. It wasn't the small task of helping the adventurer that kept him in silence, it was everything he's recently learned just continuously stirring in his head and he spent the last few hours trying to make sense of it. He did feel bad though, he was too busy in his own little world to give the old man some friendly company despite literally being at his side, it's been hours now. "No, no no. I'm not upset or anything like that and it's nothing you did or partially carrying you over these hills that's making me quiet." He briefly closed his eyes and exhaled softly. "Honestly, it was something I saw. It was never anything bad from you if that is what you think. I was just thinking too much to myself is all, there's a reason but I don't know if I'm ready to say anything about it yet."