Hero's Bane

Chapter 48: Why

(Art by Spindelle DA)

Herobrine screamed aloud as bolts of pain shot through his upper torso and into his arms, the sword felt like it weighed a ton from the force of his power rushing to his hands and into the gleaming diamond blade. The souls he had collected were fighting back the force that the hero used to channel them from the blade, then into wavelengths of energy that he could then transfer into the sands but they weren't going in without a fight. He could hear the wails of the mourning and frightened spirits in his head and it really annoyed him, it wasn't as much as the loud sounds that they made; but their eagerness to cling on to the very blade that killed them. He wasn't sure if they could see the place they were in now, or if the processing transfer into beams of power that probably hurt them; had them grasping to the weapon to avoid the pain on their fragile forms.

He hadn't collected as many souls as he should have, but it didn't matter the amount, the pain to move them was always the same. It was always excruciating to do this transfer but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Besides, he didn't mind the pain; not when humans were suffering more than him and they definitely had it worse. There should have been many more suffering at the moment but he cut his hunt short. That irritated him. He had went out and spent too long only to gain little to nothing in his gathering, there was just one frustrating ...distraction. The iron golems were nothing but nuisances that he didn't waste too much time and effort in bringing them down, but the humans? It took him longer than it should have.

The mists started to thicken around his feet and it rose past his face, clouding his vision a little. The being felt beads of sweat on his forehead and he huffed as beams of white shot from the sword and struck the sand pit around his feet in bolts of lightning. It was hard to keep focus on his task at hand, his arms wobbled a little from his derail of focus. His mind kept going back over and over his recent kills, he had never had such a low count in his collection before. Hesitation was present as he killed some of those humans, especially the first he encountered. It was disgraceful, pathetic, and it was... unlike him. -I've never had so much trouble in killing mortals until today, why is that?! Had it been too long without claiming a life that caused this?- Herobrine asked himself before screaming again from the intense heat building up in his chest, the Nether's fuming temperature only intensified the burning sensation.

-No, it couldn't have been the time. Two weeks isn't that long! Then what was it? Why? Why did I hesitate?! Why was it difficult now when it never has been before? Why did I nearly lose control while making the first victim suffer, or why did I come close to losing it with a few others from the village? That shouldn't have happened, only memories of my dark past did that; not doing the one thing that I enjoyed doing the most.- Herobrine's eyes narrowed sharply. -That mortal. He had to of done something one way or another.- The hero hissed. He didn't know how 'that' miner distracted him, he shouldn't have any trouble at all with his executions, yet he saw that man's face on a young miner that didn't have any connections to him. That young man just reminded him of Steve, especially the way he plead for mercy.

-I should have went for more, if only I were in the mood.- The hero sighed and growled as another wave of his energy left his body, he was getting tired, almost regretting using too much of his power to read the miner's mind earlier. He was thankful that the island was still under his feet, the mass was small but with this little refill it should be enough to supply the next drawl from the pit; which meant that the beast should be satisfied. It 'should' be enough. He was going to have to harvest twice as much in his next hunt to keep up with the pace of the dwindling supply.

-Before that annoying miner showed up; I had massive islands and now I'm doing last minute pickings to keep up? Impossible.-

"Rahhhhhhhaaaaa!" Herobrine threw his head back and wailed once more from a more painful drawl on his drained body, expelling the last of the souls with a few more bolts of energy to guide the essences into the sands. He hated transferring the souls but at least his job would done for a little while. There was no telling when that beast would take it's collection. He just had to make sure that he had enough, that was part of the deal. He always had to have enough, the deal also favored his retribution against human beings so he never thought he'd ever have trouble in having a good amount, but the miner Steve had diverted him from his work and now he might not have the sufficient supply to satisfy the powerful creature.