Hero's Bane

Chapter 55: Does Not Change

(Art by Spindelle DA)

Herobrine gnashed his teeth in frustration, the brick in his hand was cracked along the edges and now completely useless. He carelessly chucked the useless thing over the side of his shoulder which landed in a pile of cracked and broken bricks. The being sighed as he plucked another from a neat stack and placed it upon the wall of bricks, covering over the rough and grainy texture of Netherrack. After placing that brick he scooped up another and it broke in two as he moved it closer to the wall, he then angrily tightened his grasp and crushed the broken pieces into smaller bits.

"Having some trouble there?"

-That voice?- The old hero swung his head to his side and looked down the new corridor he recently created to find a man in silver armor with identical looks walking towards him. "Lionel?" Herobrine quickly softened his annoyed features.

"You must have got the bricks too hot while smelting, looks like you sort of over-cooked them and made them too fragile. You do know how to make good bricks don't you?" The man asked. "I know you made a lot of them out of stone back at the fortress but this stuff looks very different." The human double said with a small smile as he approached Herobrine. He stopped within two blocks of the immortal and crossed his arms with a playful grin, he lightly moved a chunk of a broken brick with the tip of his boot from the discard pile. "Yeah, these dark red bricks definitely look crumbly."

"Lionel, why are you here?" Herobrine asked from his crouched position as he looked down the other end of the hall, the only exit of the new corridor he was making in the Nether fortress was to his right, but here is his long deceased friend from his left. It didn't make sense of how he was there in the first place, the side was a dead end that he carved out of the Netherrack mountain. The most strangest part was Lionel showing up in the Nether of all places in the flesh, he had been dead and gone for centuries now.

"It's been a very long time brother, just thought I would come up and check on ya." Lionel stepped closer to Herobrine and placed a hand down on the being's shoulder.

Herobrine looked at the hand on his shoulder quizzically and there it was; fleshed and small pulses flowed through it indicating a heartbeat, life. There was no denying that he could feel it, the sentinel's hand was actually cold. It was strange. It was like his brother was still alive and had just came from the Overworld.

"Something wrong Herobrine?" Lionel's smile faded a bit as he tilted his head with a concerned expression developing on his face. "Something is bothering you brother, I can see it on your face."

"I am fine. There is no need to worry. So why are you here?"

Lionel removed his hand. "You look angry and confused."

The being sighed before turning his attention back to his pile of Nether-ish bricks and placed them over top of each other to continue creating the wall. If there was one thing that Lionel often did to annoy him, then it would be to ignore his questions and ask some of his own or change the subject completely; he usually did that when something would trouble the old hero in hopes of either getting the being's mind off of his problems or to make him feel better. Many times it didn't help, only annoy. Herobrine wasn't as annoyed as he used to be; now seeing his greatly missed friend was something nice for a change, but the sentinel wasn't giving him a direct answer and it aggravated him a little. "I'm not angry, just frustrated. Confused? Yes, I have been having a lot of confusion lately." He placed another brick perfectly on the stack and glanced over to his side as another suddenly came down to the side of his. Herobrine saw the sentinel down on his knees searching through good bricks from a different pile nearby and plucking out some good ones before placing them down carefully. Herobrine didn't need the help, but he didn't mind it.