Ashes

I finally pushed the villager down to the ground. I don't really know-how. I was almost down, dead, a gonner, and then suddenly I felt a jolt of energy rush through me and in one swift movement, I knocked the villager off his feet and grabbed his iron sword as it flew out of his hands. He looked up at me in horror as he saw that I now had his weapon. I felt sad for him, so, I did something that even surprised me.

I tossed my wooden sword to him and said; "Go!.. Get out of here and find a way to kill Herobrine." The villager looked at me in shock as he grabbed the wooden sword.

"What about you?" He asked. "What if he finds out you helped me?" It was my turn to be surprised by his generosity.

"I'll be okay. He won't hurt me, at least much." I said comfortingly. "..So, I guess I'll be seeing you on the battlefield?"

"Hopefully you'll find a way to escape by then." The villager said understandingly.

"Yeah!" I said with a chuckle.

"The name's Henry by the way." The villager said right before he turned and ran back into the village. A few minutes later, I saw him helping and few coughing and weak villagers out of the burning village and far away into the meadow. They finally vanished into the trees.

I slowly turned towards the village and saw the large setting sun behind it. The sky was blood red, which matched the burning flames, which were still ripping apart the houses in front of me. I sighed at the destruction. It hurt me but at the same time, it was, pretty.

"Isn't it beautiful?.." Herobrine asked from beside me as he stared at the burning houses right in front of the red sunset. I jumped back at his sudden appearance but turned back to the smoke and fire. We both just stood there for a surprising amount of time until the sun was finally down and the bright moon shined down on the ashes of the village. The moon was so bright it was almost like another sun. I could see for miles in it's light. "Come on. We better get your wounds cleaned up." Herobrine said, breaking the peaceful silence. I looked down and noticed I had a bloody arm and a painful cut on my side. He handed me some bandages and I wrapped my arm and side so they would stop bleeding.

"Did you see me fight?!" I asked excitedly like a toddler showing their dad a picture they just drew and are really proud of.

"Yeah, I saw you fight like a noob. Good thing that villager didn't really want to hurt you." Herobrine sighed. "You're definitely going to need some practice.." We then walked to the top of the hill we had first run down from, which was just behind us, and Herobrine quickly pulled out a large map. He laid the map on the ground in front of him and my attention was immediately drawn to the red exes drawn all over it. They were dotted around, I could see villages under them.

"What's this?" I asked as I looked closer at the map.

"63 down, zero to go." Herobrine said pridefully as he marked over a small village in the center of a big meadow off with red ink. He let the ink dry before sliding it back into his inventory. "Come on." Herobrine said as he grabbed my uninjured arm. Purple particles began to swirl around us and soon I was in a completely different place.

First! Lemme just say how much my head hurt after that sudden warp through space or something. I almost felt like fainting as I fell on my knees and grabbed my head. Herobrine didn't seem to notice, no wait, he noticed. He just didn't care.

"Hmm... Almost forgot that it hurts the first time someone teleports." He said with an exaggerated emotionless voice, which I am not even sure if it's even possible for anyone but him to do. The word, "Almost" rung in my head and I grunted in anger.

I opened my eyes properly and saw Netherack all around. The bricks were icy cold and absorbed any heat around it. Like a built-in air conditioner, which was good if you lived in the Nether. Yeah, I knew where I was. I had read enough to know how much Herobrine loved the deadly realm.

"Come on! You need to train. I don't want a wimpy niece." I heard Herobrine say as he passed me. I stood up quickly and was glad that my head didn't hurt anymore. I trailed behind him, looking around at the three by three Netherack halls that every now and then had a window showing the lava outside. The place was pretty quiet. It was both terrifying and calming at the same time.

"You sure are interesting." Herobrine interrupted the silence again.

"Huh?" I asked him curiously. He only smirked and answered, still looking down the hall as we walked.

"I have met many people before. Fought many, killed many, even turned a few. But there is something about you that is, different.. I can tell you don't want to be bad in some ways, but once the door is opened you rush right through without hesitation and just accept reality... Unlike a certain someone I once knew..." Herobrine mumbled the last sentence more to himself than to me.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had thought about that earlier but just guesses everyone felt that way sometimes.

"Of course, you did just, well.. die. So I guess you might still be recovering from that." Herobrine said, pointing out the obvious. I just shrunk inside. The memories that replayed in my head were certainly not pleasant. But I pushed the urge to cry away as soon as it showed up and I walked through the halls almost as emotionless as Herobrine himself...