by Ryan Johnson
Finally he thought, for in the distance he could see the massive bridges spanned over a lake of magma that made up the Nether Fortress. Not much longer now and he would be…
A fireball slammed into his back, forcing Herobrine out of the air as he slammed with great force onto the rock below. Pain seared his back as he rolled uncontrollably for a great distance, nearly falling off a cliff and into the lava below before he finally stopped.
War of Fireballs
Herobrine got himself to his feet, looking around for his sword but seeing it nowhere. A screeching sound caught his attention as he looked up above him. Two massive white creatures floated above him, one of them had shot him down and now both were moving right towards him. Several fireballs were already on their way towards him. Herobrine dove out of the way. Each of the projectiles missed him but not by much. The explosions when they hit the ground covered him in obliterated nether rock. Running for his sword Herobrine scooped it from the ground as he rolled. Coming back to his feet he swung just in time to bat another fireball back at the massive white Ghast.
The fireball hit its mark, exploding in the face of its creator. The ghast screeched in the throes of death and fell to the ground below. Taking flight again Herobrine dodged the second creature’s fireball and flew underneath it. Raising his sword with a war cry Herobrine rent the ghast completely in two as it also screamed.
“There will be more. I have to hurry.”
Herobrine picked up as much speed as he could, heading towards the nether fortress. He was not interrupted again until he found the bridges and the first of the blaze creatures. It was unlike anything he had seen before. Long rods floated in a pillar of fire, circling one another under a skull of flames. The creature took notice of Herobrine as he approached and opened its mouth, emitting a scream as it let out a gout of flame.
Herobrine launched his diamond sword at the creature, veering out of the flames path just in time. The diamond blade connected with the skull of the creature, but did not kill it.
“Wonderful” he said as he circled around the creature coming up behind it. The thing turned to scream at him again. When it did Herobrine grabbed the hilt of his sword, yanking it upwards as hard as he could and slitting the fire skull. It merely reformed as the creature screamed.
Herobrine flew off the bridge just as fire spilled over the place he had just been standing. He needed to try something else. He flew up to the thing at high speed; swinging his sword like a bat and knocking one of the rods form its body. This caused it to scream, this time in pain.
“Ha! Now I have you” he exclaimed as he circled it. He began to knock the rods away from its core one by one until finally the Blaze exploded with one last screaming ball of fire.
Burned and tired but victorious Herobrine gathered the rods from the creature and hurried through the fortress to find more of them.
Nearly three days had passed since Herobrine had entered the portal to the Nether. The old skeleton stood watch over it, waiting for the adventurer to emerge once more. He had all but given up hope when out of the purple portal emerged Herobrine, burned and bloody but very much alive.
“You made it back from the Nether. Well done, not many of us can say that. But did you get the blaze rods?”
Herobrine walked to the large wooden table and took out the rods from his inventory, dropping them down onto the table. “Enough to activate the portal and summon the dragon…you had better be right about all of this.”
The skeleton nodded but pointed to the forge in the corner of the room. “Go, eat something and regain your strength, we have no time to waste. Next you must hunt down the Endermen, and we will do that, on the way to the hidden stronghold!”
Destroy Mind
When the two adventurers of the past emerged from the mines it was night time outside. Creepers roamed the land; zombies fumbled their way through the darkness and skeletons kept watch for anyone near enough to shoot.
“Where do we begin?” Herobrine asked as he looked over at his new partner.
“The Endermen travel in groups of three or four, they stick to the darkness so night is the best time to hunt them. We must find the first group ourselves, once we have enough Ender Pearls to create the first Eye, it will lead us to more of them on our way to the stronghold.”
“Then let’s find them quickly, I want to end this.” Herobrine began walking away from the cave they had emerged from and into the darkness of night. The moon was still high in the sky casting down a subtle light onto Overworld.
The old adventurer followed after him as best he could, his old bones rattling as he tried to keep pace. “You need to learn some patience boy! Stow your anger and save it for a later time. If you rush into this, into a conflict with the new hero then you will fail again. How many times has he already defeated you hmm?”
“Too many times.”
“Then heed my warnings, time is on your side, so take it, make it your weapon and ally.”
Herobrine tried hard to push his anger down as they walked. The night stretched on and the moon fell lower and lowers into the horizon. Just as the first rays of sunshine filtered over the mountains Herobrine spotted a group of them.
A few hundred blocks in front of them down in a valley were four Endermen, each of them carrying around a random block of dirt or rock. Their tall black bodies shuddered as they moved in unnatural ways.
“There boy…our prize at last. They will attempt to vanish if you make yourself known. This fight you must be quick, accurate and silent. Pick them off one at a time. Do this, and we will be one step closer!” The skeleton whispered.
Herobrine nodded, summoned his diamond sword from his inventory and lifted from the ground slowly. Sticking close to the surface he floated through the darkness and into the valley. The tall Endermen moved so sporadically it would be hard for him to sneak up on one without the others knowing.
He moved himself into position under a grouping of trees and waited for the first to come too close. It didn’t take long as one of the Endermen moved to the trees and Herobrine lashed out. Striking quickly and silently he lopped the head off of the Endermen and it fell lifeless to the ground. Its dark body lay motionless for a moment before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving behind its pearl.
Herobrine pocketed the pearl before moving on to the next creature. Before the sun had risen fully into the sky Herobrine had killed all four Endermen and gathered their pearls.
“Well done indeed” the skeleton told him as they reunited. “You now have enough pearls to create your first Eye of Ender, do this now.”
Herobrine gathered the Pearls and Blaze Rods form his inventory, combining them created one Eye of Ender. Holding the glowing orb in his hands Herobrine smiled, turning it over to inspect it. “This is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it”
“It is an item from the old world, when I was adventurer. Its darkness is tied to the End. Throw it, and it will guide us to the Stronghold.”
Herobrine nodded after a silent moment and hefted the orb, tossing it into the air. When he did it hooked west and flew on its own path for a few hundred blocks before dropping back down.
“Let’s go”
Transforming Journey
The journey took the adventurers another week to complete. Along the way they had killed many Endermen, sending them back to their home land, or so the old bones said. They had gathered enough Eyes of Ender to open the portal and to summon the Dragon.
Now, Herobrine was standing in the center of the very fortress that hid the Ender Portal from him. He and the first adventurer had found the fortress, dug deep down to its entrance and searched the place for days. The eyes of ender no longer guided them; it was up to them to find their way through the never ending maze of the fortress to find the portal.
“Herobrine!” The skeleton’s voice came echoing through the fortress. “Hurry boy!”
Herobrine followed the sound as best he could, torch in hand lighting his way. “Where a
re you old man?” he shouted angrily, this was taking far too long for his liking, he wanted it to be over.
“Here you daft idiot” The skeleton said as Herobrine finally found him in a hallway.
“What is it? What have you found?” Herobrine was impatient.
“Patience, as I said boy. Look here” The skeleton pointed its boney finger at the wall and Herobrine held his torch near the stone. “All this time we have been looking for a room with a door. Perhaps the door was hidden from us.”
On the wall was a sphere like recess. Herobrine knew exactly what his friend was thinking. He took out one of the eyes and placed it in the hole. As he did there was a loud crack like thunder and dust fell from the ceiling as the wall split open and moved to the sides, revealing to them a small room. Soft light spilled from within and Herobrine wasted no time hurrying in to investigate.
“This is it…finally we found it!” Herobrine felt elated for the first time since he had found the Book of the End. “Come and look! It is the End Portal!” Herobrine turned to look at his new friend.
The skeleton had made it just through the door. For a moment he stood there staring with a faint smile before his bones began to shake violently. He fell to the floor in a heap. Herobrine hurried to him, dropping to his knees he tried to pick up the old man but the bones were no longer held together by the old spell. The faint glow of magic was barely still in its old eyes.
“You did well boy” the skull said, barely audible. “My time has run out and I must leave Overworld for good. But I know…I am leaving it to my worthy successor. Go now…fulfill your destiny, release the dragon and end it!” The light of magic left the skull’s eyes and Herobrine knew his friend was forever gone.
“You were my ally old man, and you did help me. You will not be forgotten this time, I swear it.” Pain wracked his chest as Herobrine had just lost the only person he had considered a true friend since he could remember. He stood, turning towards the portal and began to prepare.
Taking the bucket of lava he had gathered from the Nether he poured it into the floor below the unfinished portal. Light and heat filled the small room as it boiled beneath him. Tossing the bucket aside Herobrine placed a few Silverfish blocks before the steps leading up to the portal. He wanted to make sure that if anyone followed him they would not make it through alive.
It was time. Herobrine placed the Eyes of Ender, one in each of the waiting blocks. Once he did, a dark portal opened in the floor below him. Light, sound, hope, joy, everything felt like it was sucked into the End Portal. Herobrine set up one last thing. According to the book of the end the portal itself could not be destroyed, but the eyes could. He set up a block of TNT on a corner of the portal and lit its fuse.
“Now, is my time” Herobrine jumped through the portal and vanished into the abyss. The TNT exploded and several of the eyes were destroyed, closing the portal.
Lord of the Ender Dragon
The End was worse than Herobrine could have imagined. Darkness was too kind a word. In there hope, joy, happiness, light, none of that existed. Herobrine looked around himself and saw thousands upon thousands of Endermen, all roaming around, emitting the high pitch shriek he had come to hate. He wasted no time.
He rushed past the Endermen, making sure not to look into their eyes lest they attack him for it. Finding the nearest pillar he tried to fly up to the top. But nothing happened. “My power…” he couldn’t fly, his senses seemed dulled and his strength was back to normal. In the End, Herobrine was just a regular adventurer again.
This pushed him to want out even faster. Grabbing hold of the pillar he began to climb the old fashioned way, one block at a time. It took him every bit of an hour to climb to the very top of the pillar but finally he made it.
From the tall view he could see everything, and he wished he hadn’t. Every second he spent in this place made him long for death, any means of escaping this wretched place. But the only thought keeping him going, was the ruination of Steve, of forcing him in here to battle the Dragon and remain for eternity.
This thought spurred him on. Herobrine dug through his inventory and found a full stack of the Eyes of Ender. Sixty-four of them in total held in his hands and he threw them off the pillar as the book had instructed.
He waited as the Eyes disappeared into the darkness. Hope drained from him and left him week, causing Herobrine to drop down to one knee. Each breath became harder to bring in; his mind went in circles thinking how he could have been betrayed. Had he been led here only to be left to suffer in the End forever?
The pillar beneath him rumbled. Everything grew darker still, but only in one area in front of him. A deep purple circle like a bruise in the air formed before him, spinning, casting flecks of light all over. A roar came from the circle so powerful it nearly knocked Herobrine off the pillar. As he watched, a mighty black dragon flew from the portal and circled the pillar around Herobrine, letting out fierce howls and growls as its massive wings kept the beast in the air.
Herobrine could hardly believe what he was seeing. The Ender Dragon was real! The old man had not been lying to him after all.
“Who has summoned me? Who has released me from my prison?” The dragon’s voice was like an earthquake, rumbling Herobrine down to his core.
“I have oh great and mighty Ender Dragon!”
The beast stopped in front of Herobrine and hovered there, massive wings forcing down tons of air at once to keep him up. “And who are you?”
“I am Herobrine, I have set you free as I seek a powerful ally to assist me in taking back my world.”
The dragon laughed, a demonic and evil sound that made even Herobrine quiver.
“And why would I do anything for you?”
Herobrine bowed, staying on one knee and lowering his head. “I have journeyed very far to find you, to release you from your prison. Help me to destroy the one known as Steve and the End will be your throne room, Overworld, your kingdom. No one is a match for you, and no one will imprison you away again.”
For a long moment the dragon was silent, staring down at the tiny adventurer. There was a deep pull of breath from the beast before it spoke. “I accept…return now to your world. You have found your ally Herobrine.” The dragon raised its massive head and suddenly Herobrine was gone.
He had done it. It had taken months of preparation and trials, even the help of the very first adventurer of Overworld, but Herobrine had found an ally so powerful that Steve stood no chance in the end. It was done, and now all that was left, was for Herobrine to wait. Overworld was quiet that night, the white eyed adventurer took in the sight of his world one more time before he turned and walked into a deep cave system.
“Come and find us Steve, we, will be waiting.”
Herobrine walked deep into the mines, disappearing into the darkness and depth of the world to wait.
Waiting, for THE END.
Book 2: Quest To Kill The Ender Dragon
Core Sky
“Just a few more and it’s done,” Steve said as he stood on the roof of his new home. He had just enough wooden blocks left to complete the angled roof. He had spent the last week trying to put this place together and make it look nice.
Down below on the ground were a few people from the nearby village. Stephanie and Carl had fast become Steve’s friends when he found the small town a month ago.
“Looks good Steve! Hurry up already so we can go eat, I’m starving to death here!” They all laughed at Carl who was always hungry and never patient when it came to lunch.
“There.” Steve climbed down from the roof and walked over to his friends. They all admired the house from a distance and Steve felt himself well up with pride.
“Now I finally have a home of my own,” he says before looking at the others.
Carl and Stephanie agree that it looks gorgeous and that he did a fantastic job. Carl however rubs his stomach and stares at them both with wide eyes.
“Ok ok don’t get all worked up.” Steph
anie says with a chuckle. She kisses his cheek then looks to Steve. “Let’s get something to eat before Carl disappears.”
Steve can’t help but to laugh as he follows his two best friends away from his new home and back towards the village.
The Haunted Mind
Overworld’s adventurer walked with his friends towards the village but his mind was elsewhere. His memory felt fuzzy and if he tried to think too far back all he could remember was a fight; a fight between him and a strange man with blank white eyes. Every time he thought about this it hurt his head and made his vision blurry as if he wasn’t supposed to remember it at all. He tried to push past the pain this time, tried to force himself to remember what had happened. His vision began to shake, the world around him looked as if it was spinning and his head was splitting open.
