Hero's Bane

Chapter 43: Of A Monster

(Art by Pallepathos no link)

The miner raised his head in confusion. First, he was stabbed and then blinded by Herobrine only to have Lionel visiting him again after the attack in his mind or dream. It was strange but he was glad to have a more friendlier face looking up at him, however; the sentinel's expression wasn't so welcoming.

"Why? I just don't get it?" Lionel shook his head back and forth and turned his attention away from the miner as he approached. "All this time you were only- ... only tending to m- his wound and-?" He finally faced the injured miner after taking a few steps closer to the pinned human. "I don't understand you." He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. All he could remember feeling in his sleep was pain, but it was only the human cleaning the injury; not intentionally intensifying it.

Steve took a deep breath which only resulted in a rough cough as he tried to speak.

"I thought you wanted to get rid of him, maybe even get back at him but how if-?"

"I-" Steve deeply inhaled. "I wanted to st-stop him- from creating the pain, the torture. Not just for innocent people, but for him too." Steve coughed again. "I wanted to help."

"Help?!" Lionel immediately interrupted with his blue eyes narrowing. "See this is why I can't understand you mortal!" His tone darkened. "I know you had intentions to remove him from the start so do not lie about that!" He finished by swinging an arm out to show his enraged posture.

"I wanted to at first, that's no lie." The miner started quietly. "I was willing to do just about anything to stop Herobrine, even if it meant fighting him or calling Notch to get rid of him in some way; anything to save my new friends and the many that suffer from the being." The miner lowered his head and looked at the ground from the guilt, but he then lifted his head with a more sincere apologetic expression across his features. "He was a monster back then, when I- saw him different-..." Steve coughed loudly again and spat out some blood and wiped away a warm dribble from his mouth with his weak arm. "Differently. That was before I knew the real Herobrine, the one that suffered greatly and went mad from betrayal and pain. I was told old stories long ago about a wicked monster that hunted people down and slaughter them for game, then I learned it was because he grew bored of them after helping them for a while and so he slaughtered an innocent child for a public reaction to change things up a bit. Herobrine eventually came back and killed for revenge, but that wasn't the same story from what I've seen and experienced here."

"You don't know the real Herobrine. Besides, those stories are nothing but lies!" Lionel hissed.

"Yeah, I know that now."

"Then why do you continue to do this- this pointless quest of yours? Why not run away? Why didn't you take the opportunities to escape when I gave them to you?! Now you are here dying for nothing, nothing at all! Was really helping your enemy worth it?"

Steve winced as he tried to relax but the sword's presence was making it very difficult, hanging in the air was also proving to be very discomforting. "He's still alive so yes, I must have done something right. At least that part was worth it... but my promises will go unfulfilled, I will fail everyone... including him." He whispered and his head hung low as did his eyelids from the combination of his waning life and the realization of his failure, his failure was a great one and nothing good but saving Herobrine at the end came out of it. The super being was still going to deliver his wrath and many more innocent people will suffer, but he did at least give it his all during the final fight and won surprisingly though it was by accident and bad luck; so there was some sort of closure. Steve blinked as the armored man begin to speak again, he noticed that the land around him was becoming dark like night but there wasn't no moon or stars, just a pitch black cloak eating away the land and sky out in the distance and it spread across the horizon.