Hero's Bane

Chapter 46: So Imprisonment You Choose

'Steve's thoughts' (' ')

-Herobrine's thoughts- (- -)

Steve's head lightly swayed from side to side as he returned to consciousness, his lips let out a low groan as the feeling of disorientation welcomed him. He wanted to stay in the peaceful black void a little longer, but with the temperature rising he was getting hot; too hot. He could feel beads of sweat on his head but they didn't stay there for long, it was like he was being cooked in a furnace and the moisture just evaporated as quickly as it was formed. He reached one arm up and gently rubbed his aching and slightly moist forehead, it still hurt but at least it wasn't as bad as it was before.

His eyes fluttered open to a dark red ceiling, it was at least five blocks above him and made out of the Nether-ish brick. Now that he realized it; his back also hurt along with the back of his limbs, the surface he was lying on was nothing but hot, hard, and pointy lumps, it also reeked like sulfur and smoke. He moved his head to his right side and saw that he was laying on the Nether bricks, the other thing he noticed was a wall, a large barred window, and two corners. His eyes widened as he realized what had happened before he passed out and where he could possibly be. His breathing picked up from the memory and he swung his head to his left to find a large wall of red bars and a copy of him with pupil-less eyes standing on the other side of it. Steve deeply inhaled and held his breath as Herobrine moved closer to the prison cell, Steve was too afraid to even move.

"I thought you said you weren't afraid of me mortal?" Came that loud powerful voice in the miner's head followed by a low dark chuckle.

Steve instantly grasped the side of his cranium from a piercing ache and hissed.

The voice wasn't a natural tone, it was dark, deep, resonant, and intrepid sounding, yet silky, smooth, and majestic at the same time. But most of all; it was familiar. He could remember it from some of Herobrine's memories he'd seen, but it sounded a little off and more sinister than before. The voice echoed, it sounded as if the same person was speaking twice which would be the reason for the echo effect. That was different. But then that meant that the voice in his head was coming from-?

"The voice you hear is mine."

"Herobrine?" The miner cautiously asked while having a little doubt that the hero was in fact speaking to him somehow.

"What is it human?"

Steve's eyes widened and he immediately sat upright and crawled backwards a few feet. Now there was no doubt that it was Herobrine speaking and in his thoughts at that. Regardless of how unbelievable it may of seemed; he still chose to ask a certain question that was plaguing his mind. "Then why did you bring me here and throw me to the- ...the soulsand?"! His heart raced as that terrible event played back in his mind, he could feel the chills all over again from the creeping souls. "My soul? You- ...Weren't you trying t-" Steve became stiff as his eyes met the white ones adjacent from him. The hero's lips remained sealed as Herobrine spoke to him.

"I didn't take your soul if that is what you believe." Herobrine interrupted and folded his arms. "I know that is what you thought was happening back on the small island, but taking it was not my intention; at least not at the time. What happened with the souls was beyond my control, I didn't ever have this problem before. Ever. Only when I dropped you did the trapped spirits become unsettled and clung to you desperately, they latched onto me as well and tried to drag me down."

Steve blinked in confusion. "Then y-you weren't torturing me to death or letting them take my soul?"

"No. It was their reaction to a human body from their greediness, they desire what they've lost and so they will try to take what they can and escape with any means. This is why mortals belong in this place, they only care about themselves and if they could; they'd probably would have taken your body but there would be nothing they could do with it. You probably would have died if they succeeded in entering your body, if you didn't suffocate first. Humans bodies are weak and cannot endure such distress to their forms. Though it would be pointless for them for they cannot mesh with your body or any living form anymore, once a soul is removed it is permanently cut off from the physical realm except from that sand. When they took you they also tried to take me in thinking I was the same as you. Big mistake. I wasn't about to torture you, though I could if I wished to do so and I can at any time." He narrowed his eyes. "You may had been out for only a few hours but I can make it permanent, so don't try and press your luck with me."