Hero's Bane

Chapter 37: And Fight

Steve swallowed more fear as he placed a shaking hand on Herobrine's arm, it wasn't the smartest thing to do but after that memory; he had to snap the guy out of his uncontrollable state. As he touched Herobrine, pressure in the air suddenly shifted and made him feel heavy and the oxygen was thinning out to make the situation even more perilous. The large oak that the being clung to was crumbling into burning debris and several large branches cracked from the heat and fell all around, all except for one large beam of wood that was crackling rather loudly above Herobrine; threatening to snap right off and land on top of him. The miner held tightly as he yanked the powerful man away from the tree, making them both stumble off to the side before the branch snapped and collapsed to the ground in a blazing heap.

The mad being quickly tensed in his grasp, the movement had him abruptly tilt his head towards the clinging miner. It was too fast for Steve to even process what had just happened next, he didn't even get to react. The immortal jerked his elbow out and then drove the angled appendage into the man's torso and heaved away, making the miner fly off of his feet and up into the air. Steve went flying out and onto the ground several yards away, painfully smacking onto the dirt and tumbling in smaller bounces as he now rolled. He felt himself finally stop on his aching stomach, the wind was literally knocked out of him and he was having a tough time trying to inhale the smoke filled air. He coughed a couple times to breathe a little better than spat more blood out, there was no telling what internal injuries he had now. Even worse; he started to feel drained and tired though he was to begin with when he first stumbled into the hero, the heat and smoke from the fire around also made him feel weak. It was then when he realized he was missing something.

He moved his arms under his torso then pushed against the ground with a pained grunt and one eye closed, he lifted himself until he was on his hands and knees and that was when he froze. Heavy footsteps from his right made him turn his head to see Herobrine steadily approaching him with raging blinding eyes, a deep frown on his face.

"Herobrine? Stop!" He shouted, hoping that he could persuade the nearing dangerous man to cease, unfortunately that only made the ancient hero move faster.

The Hero held out his hand, summoning his blade. The enchanted sword that Steve had been using began to slowly dissolved on the ground several yards away, it then reformed in Herobrine's palm as he grew closer to the miner. Steve fell backwards onto his rear-end when Herobrine got too close with that weapon, he tried to crawl backwards to escape the imminent attack as Herobrine lifted the blade upright. "Herobrine wait!"

He didn't see anything after Herobrine suddenly bolted forwards with the blade pointed at him, but he heard a loud scream and it was his own; and yet of someone else's as the diamond blade pierced his unprotected flesh. Like a searing hot knife through butter; it cut through his skin with ease and left an intense gnawing pain, it almost felt more like a severe burn than a stabbing but the pain was all the same. He felt the burning sensation recede from his shoulder and that was when he leaned back on the grass and wrapped his hand over the new wound, it stung greatly as he placed his fingers over it to slow the bleeding. Warm fluid seeped from between his fingers and trailed down his arm, he was almost too scared to look but he pried his eyes to see Herobrine taking a step back. The being's widened surprised eyes lost a lot of it's bright glow, he reached a hand out before immediately retracting it and making a low snarl before backing away again.

Herobrine took his empty hand and rubbed his temples, agitation and confusion now lined his expression. It lasted for a minute or so but Steve watched as the old hero finally shook his head and blinked, making those glowing eyes dim out even more. The powerful being then gazed down at him before moving his attention to the sword in hand, he seemed not as angry but rather confused and tired. Herobrine seeming tired at all was bizarre enough for the miner, but then again they just went through some pretty intense memories. Herobrine had more to relive, so he must have been mentally drained.