It took him round about thirty minutes, but eventually the devil - whose claw your were still clinging to - got bored of poking you and slowly sat you back down on the ground.

Glad that you could finally stop squirming around like a fish on land, you rubbed your sides and slightly glared up at him. "Well, kind of you to consider stopping to poke me..." You mumbled, sarcasm dripping from your voice.

As a response, he slapped you with his tail. Not to hard though, just enough to make clear, who the stronger being of you two was.

"Ouch!" You rubbed the back of your head, sending another light glare into his direction. "Okay, okay, I get it. No being cheeky infront of a god, huh?"

He gave you a look that said: 'Exactly'.

You held back from rolling your eyes at him, not wanting to get slapped again. "Just remember that I am the one knowing the way back to the portal." You told him, emphazising the word "I".

He grumbled after you said that. You figured he was annoyed by the fact, that he had to rely on your guideance cosidering that part.

But... What would he do then, after you brought him to the overworld? Well, maybe exiting the Nether will allow him to shift back into his more humane form. Then you could part ways again and you could carry on with your life normally. Hopefully. You weren't sure.

If he didn't change back however... You had no clue what you were to do then... Oh, why did you promise to help him break that curse?? You'd be probably as useful as a Creeper on a cat hunt!

You sighed. "Shall we go then?"

He nodded.

So you  lead the way back to the portal. First you had to arduously climb back out of the basalt delta.
But your hands were sweaty from the immense heat and your arms tired from mining. No wonder you kept slipping and sliding back down the slope.

Herobrine sat behind you all the while, watching you calmly with a slight hint of amusement in his blank, whit eyes.

Needless to say, he didn't even consider helping you climb out of the ditch you two were in. Not even after your third fruitless attempt.

You didn't know yourself, why you even bothered with waiting for him to help you. You ended up throwing him an annoyed glance over your shoulder anyway.

"You know.... I think we really need to work on our teamwork here..." You muttered.

He just rose an eyebrow at your remark, completey oblivious to the problem at hand. At least it seemed so.

You rolled your eyes and pointed at the terrain, you were trying to climb up.

"I can't climb this on my own. Aren't you gonna help me?"

He just tilted his head, as if asking 'Why?'.

You pressed your mouth shut, until it looked like a thin, straight line. Returning his neutral gaze with your own, slightly dissapproving one, you put both your hands on your hips and waited for a while before answering.

"Because.... I can't get up this wall by myself! And if I can't get up there, I can't help you out of this dimension!"

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. At least you guessed, that he did. It was hard to tell with his pupil-lacking glow orbs for eyes.

Herobrine moved his huge hand closer to you and you almost feared he would poke you again. But he didn't. Instead he used his claw to poke your backpack. The basalt blocks inside it clattered slightly.

Then he retracted his extremety.

"What? You want me to tower up?" You huffed.

Herobrine nodded before turning his attention to the landscape, as if there was something much more interesting.

You pouted like a little kid, cosidering this option.

Well... You had 10 blocks. And the priest only needed two. Theoretically, you had some to spare.

With a heavy sigh you did what your... uh... partner ... suggested and towered up.

In no time you were out of the ditch and wondered why the hell you didn't consider towering yourself. Wasn't it like the ultimate Minecrafter solution to get out of holes...?

Anyway... Moving on. Literally.

You began to walk back to the portal the way you came. Not paying attention to the deadly beast somewhere behind you, you kept moving forward stoicly through the unbearable heat of the Nether.

Only about twenty blocks away, when you felt the odd sensation of a presence suddenly missing, you stopped in your tracks and turned around to look for the god, you were supposed to guide.

When you saw him, you drew in an incensed breath and put both your hands on your hips.

There he was, still sitting in the same spot he chose, after not helping you, still watching the landscape - or rather hellscape - with the greatest interest he's shown ever since you met.

You cleared your throat, gaining his attention. When he looked at you however, his expression immediately changed to bored, forcing you to restrain yourself from rolling your eyes again in annoyance.

"Are you coming, or...?" You asked, your hands still placed on your hips, returning his gaze with the same boredom his own eyes held.

Herobrine let out a thoughtful grumble, as if he was contemplating if he still wanted to come with you or not.

"I mean, if you want to keep sitting around there, no problem! Then stay in this dimension and don't have the curse broken forever. I'm fine with that..." You teased him a little, trailing off at the end.

He huffed, a bit annoyed now himself and got up to follow you.

You turned around to walk again. You couldn't help but let a smirk tug at your lips. That was fun!

The fun quickly ended however. As you were walking, you felt Herobrine's intimidating, looming presence following right behind you.

You swallowed and tried your best, not to show your uneasiness, but ended up walking a tiny bit faster nontheless. Just- Just a tiny bit though!

Not daring to look back you didn't stop until you reached the portal, which was still opened. Thank god. Doesn't matter which one-

Herobrine's looming presence was still taunting you from behind, so you decided to throw a glance over your shoulder... And met his amused one.

"Hold up- You were teasing me with your aura the entire way-?!" You glared at him.

And your glare only intensified, when he nodded, still clearly amused.

You huffed. "Oh well, whatever.... Let's just get out of this damned dimension..."

You turned your attention back to the portal. Now that you had an almost direct size comparison, you began to worry, if the god of destrucion, death and taunting you would even fit through the obsidian frame you made.

He seemed to have the same worries, because he eyed it just as doubtful as you.

"You're also worried if you'd fit, huh?"

As a response, he nodded.

"Welp, only one way to find out..." You shrugged.

He did so too, before nudging you towards the portal first though.

"Want me to go first?"

A nod.

"And potentially check if your counterpart is there or what?" You meant this halfway as a joke, but now that you knew, that these old legends were true after all, you figured that it was more likely than expected.

Another nod confirmed your last question.

You sighed and shook your head. "Alright, alright. But there's no way I can let you know, if the coast is clear or not..."

Without another word you stepped into the purple, swirling mist and waited for the tingly sensation accompanied by dizziness and nausea, to take you back to your home dimension...