Hero's Bane Chapter 1: Hiding In The Dark

Hero's Bane

Chapter 1: Hiding in the Dark

A/N: My first Minecraft fanfic, it's got a lifelike kind of touch to it, less game mechanics but it's still the same old Minecraft style.

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A light breeze of cool mountain air blew across the face of a skilled miner, the wind gently flowed over his features and made his loose fabric dance with the current. He was dressed in a teal blue t-shirt and plain old blue jeans, not your average attire for mining but this guy preferred it that way. He sucked in the crystal crisp mountain air and a smile formed on his face, it widened from the beautiful sight of a forbidden looking land mysteriously encased in a mountainous cradle. He looked down from the cliffface and his gaze followed the plains below to a vast and open land, land that was seemed to untouched by humankind. It was an untamed beauty like no other. It was a sight he couldn't help but feel a sense of power flow through him, as if the land it's self was emitting some strange force from it's shear splendor alone. Oh how he wanted to see more to see what was beyond a few low mountain ridges in the distance, perhaps more wondrous sights for his eyes to feast and possibly a place for his perfect home. What could be better than fresh undisturbed land for any experienced miner? This was surely his newest pursuit and he needed to head back down the great dirt and rock heap to rest and stock up at the village below for the evening.

Steve made his way through the large town looking for any kind of vendor or blacksmith, but all he seemed to have noticed was the lack of villagers, stores, and any street lamps, or any light source for that matter. In fact, part of the village was hidden in shadow by a cliff jutting out of the mountain high above. It was strange. What's a village without people? Why was it so dark? So many more questions began stirring in the miner's head. The unnerving silence that seemed to plague the community here was definitely abnormal, there wasn't even a cluck from a chicken.

A woman and her two children gasped when Steve walked past them on the street, they made no sound as they quickly fled into their home after seeing the newcomer. A few other villagers swiftly retreated as well when Steve turned to look at them. They were scared of him? Their faces were filled with what looked like tormented horror, fear for the most part. It was weird but he decided it was best to shrug it off and headed inside of a nearby pub, to see if there was a way into the great valley that was well guarded by the perfectly cut cliffs.

There was three villagers he took notice of as he walked through the door; two seated in the furthest corner drinking in silence and the other was an aged bartender with frosted gray hair. He was blankly staring through a window behind the counter. The man quickly averted his attention to the noise maker and let out a small sigh of relief as it was just another passerby.

"Um hello?" Steve decided to speak, almost wishing that he didn't after he heard his voice echo loudly through the small building. The people in that village were just freaking him out. There could be some quiet killers or something vile living here and it scared him a bit. This could prove the lack of people and why everybody was so lost in a sense of misery and fear. To him it was a complete mystery as to why people living so close to a beautiful place was living in it's shadows, they were so easily disturbed too. It was a mystery as to why they weren't living in the wondrous land but in a village hiding halfway under a cliff.

Steve walked up and took a seat at the bar counter and the bartender promptly moved over to him while looking through the window behind him and back to the drifter. "Oh, welcome, may I get you something?" The old man said, twisting his head again and watching as the sun began to slowly descend in the sky.

The miner had definitely noticed the man's paranoia, he seemed rugged and like age has weathered him down; but the scars this guy had were deep and they covered the bartenders exposed hands all across his forearms. Steve tried to not let that little observation distract him from the question. "Oh, no thanks. I'm here for some supplies and food." He rubbed the back of his head in a sudden wave of apprehension, the room was oddly dark and the quiet guys in the corner were shooting odd glances at him and whispering something between themselves. "…But it seems that there's no traders or blacksmiths here." He finished nervously.

"That is because there is none, there hasn't been any here in years!" The bartender was quick to speak. "In fact our village will not allow such people to come and stay here and nor should any newcomer. You need to take your rest and leave as soon as possible! This place doesn't need anymore trouble than it already has."

"What?" Steve shot out of his chair with disbelief of such abrupt disrespect. "What's wrong with you people? Doesn't trading and selling goods help the village grow? And why is everyone here acting like Skeletons hiding in the dark? Why isn't there any torches or light for that matter?" Steve took a quick look around and noticed that there was nothing to light, the only light was from the dimming sun that was creeping over the horizon; it's weakening waves of light painted the skies in a purplish red hue. "Why is everybody acting like this?"

The old coot calmed and began to wipe down the counter with a rag. "Sorry for my disrespect, I've lost patience over the years." The Bartender stopped after finishing and moved back to the window and stared.

"Patience?"

"Yes, I keep forgetting about those who come and go and those who come to tread were no man should ever step foot. So many had… had been foolish. But I hope that you aren't one of them."

"One of them?" Steve raised a brow and stared out the window too, hoping not to see any monsters creeping about yet.

"Yes. The valley beyond the shear cliff that protects us holds a land that so many want to tame, a place were no mortal has stepped in and ever came out alive. The tainted land of the North."

"Wait? What are you talking about? Is everyone here insane? That place is perfect!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

The bartender sighed and turned back towards the eager man. "So I take it that you want to go there and live there, am I right?"

"Yeah. Well mine some too." He added.

"What a fool you are then. The name is Warren Willis by the way. I think you should at least know the last man you'll ever meet before your un-timed demise."

" Fool? Un-timed demise? You guys are crazy, and it's getting dark! Why isn't there any lights? Do you want to lure in the Creepers?" Steve pulled out a torch from his backpack and a lit it with some flint and steel that he fished from his pocket. The tip of the wooden pole lightly illuminated the room, Steve softly blew air towards the flames and the fire grew bigger and the bar was now five times brighter.

Warren began to visibly fret as the room filled with the warm glow. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? PUT THAT OUT!" He jumped over counter and ripped the flaming wood from Steve's grasp then dropped it before stomping on it with such ferocity. He snuffed out the flames before proceeding to kick the smoking stick into the corner. "ARE YOU INSANE!" He shouted in a low voice. The other two villagers shot out of the pub in a panicking fashion, not caring if they were knocking over chairs and tables in the process.

"No, that is what I was asking you!"

"Ughhh." Warren rubbed his temples and made a quick and low prayer to Notch, hoping that their village would not be struck by the Demon of the tainted valley for the town's sinful incident. "I should of told you sooner, now 'He' might be very upset with us."

"He? What's going on in this loony town?"

"You don not know of the tale of 'Him'?"

Steve sat on the edge of a table end and crossed his arms. "You're losing me." He sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Herobrine." Warren whispered. He glanced around the room, making sure that name didn't somehow summon the cursed fiend.

Steve looked up in sudden curiosity. "Herobrine? I think I've heard of that name before. I think mom used to read ghost stories of some guy with that name or something like that. … I was never scared- just to let you know." His voice obviously cracked on the last part of his sentence but he tightened his pose to cover it. It was those old stories that actually used to scare him to death as a kid and he always would hide under the covers until the dawn broke. "But that was just a stupid scary story to get me to stay in bed, nothing but an old fake annoying tale. Oh and look!" Steve pointed out the window. "That's great! It's practically night, now I have to fight Zombies to get into a nice comfy bed, thanks." He sarcastically added.

"No, he's real and he's the one who plagues our people and the valley beyond this mountain. In fact, any torches lit in our town will surely incur his wrath upon our town and he'll likely take another's life, as he has for years since this town was built here.

"Sorry, I'm having trouble believing this."

"But it's true! Haven't you noticed the small number of villagers we have? Why we constantly live in the dark? Why everyone here hides in fear everyday? Herobrine has numerously come to us in many different ways with his severe tides of punishment, from destroying pieces of our town to setting it on fire. He has the occasional hordes of mobs he unleashes and/or he'll invade our dreams and strike us with horrid nightmares of pain and suffering. He has even gone as far as to take one of our own villagers for a day's time and then they were found dead in the central square of our town the next morning. All because we lit a single torch here!"

"Okay, now it's getting too hard to believe. I'm sorry, but this ghost story isn't going to stop me from going to that paradise." Steve was very determined, there wasn't no place he couldn't mine.

"You'll die!"

"You know what?" Steve leaned up from the table and raised a brow. "I think I know what you're doing here. Yeah, I know exactly what you're doing cause I've been tricked out of a good mining spot before and this is starting to sound like the same situation."

"No. That's just foolish to assume-"

"Oh- I think it's a sick joke." He stood up and made his way to the door, squeezing his fist tight from a bad memory bubbling up. "An 'old' friend of mine has indeed fooled me out of a rumored cavern loaded in diamond ore by saying there was three mob spawners just inside the entrance of this cave. I- being the nice and trusting type had assumed that those rumors were true and our mining group 'split' to go mine in our own little areas, or so I thought. I believed that it was too dangerous to explore so I mined in a hallowed out stone heap alone miles from the that cavern. But- my 'friend' was instantly rich after his excavation in that 'dangerous' spot, word had spread quicker than a forest fire. So it was a lie and he has avoided me since. Him and his 'real friends' had mined all of it and left me out in the blue, empty-handed. It was devastating from my perspective, I barely found enough coal to make a torch from my mount. Therefore, I'm not falling for that little trick ever again. I bet there's tons of gold and diamonds in that valley and this little act your town puts on- and that stupid little kid's story is just run off miners. Well I'm not falling for it!"

"Wait, don't!" The old man reached out to him.

"I'm going. My mother and my little sister depend on me now." He pulled the door open but lingered for a moment after a flash of his family popped up in his mind. "They're struggling to make ends meet without dad and I can barely mine enough to keep up the rent for them back at my village. I want to help them out, to get them a safe home for themselves. Dad would of wanted it that way, my brother too. We don't have much."

"Okay!" The old bartender finally gave in to another sad sack story of a brave adventurer hopelessly perusing wealth for the right reasons. The guy however; was bound for doom. There had been many like this one who had gone through and never returned. He would just end up like the rest; the guy wasn't going to bee seen or heard from again, whether he had found the passage or made one. But still- Warren felt bad for the man and decided to show him the way, that and the fact that an open hole from the village to that damned land was unsettling. He grabbed an Iron axe from a chest behind the counter. "But at least allow me to show you the way. The last thing our village needs is an open door for that walking curse to come strolling through." Warren then leapt over the counter and stood in front of Steve with a bit of a daunting stance.

Steve could tell that this old gizzer must have had plenty of experience with fighting the mobs considering the man had quite the muscle and not to forget the many scars on his arms. That alone was evident enough, but of course the town had to of had some form of protection. The stupid settlement had no lights to keep the mobs at bay, so there's bound to be a horde just waiting on them. Steve almost started to believe the story considering how serious and how rough Warren's condition was, but he let it slip his mind. There was nothing going to stop him from exploring the wild land and mining some riches.

As they stepped out there were pairs of purple glowing eyes everywhere, Steve quickly averted his gaze away from the tall black and lanky humanoid figures to stone road. Warren stiffened his stance and looked right at the eyes of the Endermen ready to kill everything that treaded their village, especially the agents of that Demon.

Three of the Endermen suddenly howled and disappeared, Steve then looked to his side to see Warren swinging the ax into one of the loud screeching creatures. One of the other purple-eyed fiends had rammed into the old man and he went crashing to the gravel street. Steve reacted quickly and pulled his stone sword from a scabbard hanging off his belt and pierced the Endermen through the back, making the mob scream before exploding into a pile of black dust. "Not too smart on strategy are you?" He reached out and grasped the old man's forearm then pulled him back on his feet. "I'd suggest not picking any unnecessary fights when there's plenty from other mobs that aren't as easily avoided."

"I've had far more experience with these beasts 'sonny', way longer than you have. My approach though- is a little different." The old fighter joked, slashing an Ender in half before turning his attention to a Zombie stumbling from around the curb of a house. He ran at the creature and hacked away at the limbs of the mob while Steve tried to keep his back and blocked an attack from another charging Enderman. He swung his sword and slashed the Endermen's stomach, a black fluid-like substance seeped out of the wound. The black mob flashed away to escape and a Zombie came stumbling in his direction to take it's place.

"So, about this passageway to the valley?" He jumped forward and brought his blade between the Zombie's shoulder and neck, causing the monster to moan loudly and fall limp.

"It's-" Warren stumbled backwards then tried to run but instead bumped into Steve.

"Hey!"

"CREEPER!" He shouted and Steve spun to see the armless creature quickly coming upon them.

Both of the guys looked at each other with a bit of hesitation, there's was little time to think with a seriously deadly mob approaching. But after a quick glance back at the green monster; Steve nodded in approval after sort of predicting what Warren had in mind. Both of the boys reared their weapons up into the air and charged straight at the four legged beast and swung their weapons down, together in unison; trying to kill the creature before it had the chance to explode. As they sliced through the side of the Creeper's quaking form; a loud hissing noise overlapped it's pained wail and a sudden white blinding light consumed their vision along with a powerful fiery pulse.

…

…

"Uggghhh…." Steve painfully moaned, his entire body ached and he even felt the core of his bones throb from the intense force. He laid flat on his back as his vision blurred in and out and his head spun to add to the agony. He sealed his eyes shut as another wave of pain flowed down his spine, but he was sort of okay; his limbs seemed to be intact since he could still feel the magnifying pain in them perfectly. He forced his eyes open to the dark of the night after remembering that there were plenty more mobs that could suddenly be upon him and he saw someone or something just standing at his side. It looked like a shadowed figure of a man with white glowing eyes, quietly towering above him. At first he thought it might have been Warren, but that couldn't be, not with glowing eyes. "Glowing eyes?" Perhaps it was an Endermen? An unusual Endermen at that. Steve blinked in disbelief and the figure was suddenly gone. All that was left was the outline of the trees, the starry sky, and a bright moon to complete the scene. Steve sat up and looked around to find himself on a few blocks of fresh dirt, Warren was belly flat several feet from him. "Warren?" He crawled over to the unmoving body and shook the elder's shoulder which was wet, blood was his first thought. "Warren!"

The old man pushed himself out of the dirt and dust and patted himself off, huffing from his injuries he stood up without any struggle.

"Wow, if that didn't shake you then what does?" The man was as tough as an iron golem.

The Bartender sheepishly smiled despite an open wound on his shoulder. "I think we should find another strategy for fighting Creepers huh?"

Steve laughed then struggled to pull himself up until a hand came down for him. He grabbed Warren's hand and fully stood up, staggering as he did. "Okay, how about showing me the passage way tomorrow? I think I can be patient for now."

"Yeah. Come with me to the Inn. I think I've had enough of fighting tonight." Warren plucked his axe from the ground as they walked, he suddenly stopped after getting an uncomfortable feeling that something just wasn't right. "That's interesting."

"What?"

"Hear that?" He brought his palm to his ear, but heard nothing.

Steve tried to listen in but he didn't hear anything either. No moans or groans that Zombies usually produced, not even the eerie sound of bones clacking together from Skeletons. "You're right. I don't hear anymore monsters."

"That's very strange, I don' see or hear any of them."

"Where did they go? The last I remember; there was like a ton of mobs everywhere, we only killed like five but I know this place was surrounded by them when we came out."

"Yeah, we should be getting while the getting is good then."

"Definitely!" Steve happily agreed. He followed Warren and kept his eyes wide open, should any mob decide to ruin this moment of peace. A sudden cold chill crawled down his back and he snapped his head around to an empty plot of land, he couldn't help but feel as though he was being watched; as if someone was behind him and staring him down. It was a very unsettling feeling that crept over him but he continued to follow the bartender. This mystery could wait until later; in the protective morning sun.