“I don’t think I know who you are.”

The man immediately paused and took a step back. “What do you mean?” He asked. “How could you forget? Clearly isolation has taken its toll.”

I shook my head. “I’m serious. I don’t know you.” And I really didn’t. He looked nearly exactly like me(minus the eyes, because I was the only one who has that as far as I know), but past that I had no relation to him.

“I’m Steve,” he said, pointing to himself desperately. “Your brother. Remember? The accident two years ago? Every thinks that you’re dead.”

“Steve...” I said, testing the word. It felt wrong to say, as if it was not a word meant to be spoken.

His face fell. He was clearly crestfallen, though I didn’t quite understand why. “You have to remember! We were both born fifteen years ago on August 14. Twins. Twins don’t just forget...” His voice faltered.

“So I’m fifteen?” I asked, never really having known or cared. It’s not something you commonly know in Minecraftia, as everyone looks the same except for young children, who are smaller. “If what you’re saying is true?”

He nodded. “How do you not know these things? It must be amnesia. It has to be.” He started pacing, muttering things to himself. It must have been five minutes before I finally spoke again.

I taped his shoulder. “So... what now? Can we leave?”

Steve recoiled, as if insulted. “Well-”

“No,” Interrupted Kristie. “We don’t know what else to do, where else to go, or who else to trust. Would it be alright if we stayed?”

I shot her a glare, which she returned.

Steve nodded. “O-Of course. I think that there’s a vacant house near the left turret that you could use. It’s large, so there should be room for you and your friends.”

Right! I forgot to ask where Jared and the rest were. “By the way, do you know where my friends actually are? I haven’t seen them, and-”

“Of course,” Steve said, eyes solemn. “Jared is sparring in the fighter’s hall, Hazel is helping out in the bakery, and August is helping with the patrols. Kristie knows where they are.”

Gareth dropped his wool-stick.

“Oh!” Steve said suddenly. “Here, so you don’t have to carry that thing everywhere.” He went to a chest in the corner of the room, digging around for a bit and then pulling out a leather cap. He tossed to to Gareth, who caught it with one hand.

He put it on his head. “Thanks! Wait, got any dye?” He asked.

I sighed. “Gareth-”

“What?’

Steve returned to the chest and searched around for a few moments before finding an ink sack and tossing it to Gareth. “Here, is this good? I also have lots of blue and I can make yellow or red-”

“This is fine,” I said before Gareth could answer.

Gareth nodded. “Thank you. Black seems to be my color now, I suppose.” He laughed and started dying his helmet black. “Anyway, if he remembers anything we’ll let you know.”

“Hold on,” Said Steve. “I’d like to talk to Herobrine along for a minute. Is that alright?”
Kristie nodded and Gareth shrugged before leaving. “We’ll wait at the gate,” Said Kristie.

“That rhymes,” Pointed out Gareth before the door shut behind them.

That left me and Steve alone in the throne room.

“Look,” I said. “I don’t remember anything, and I’m really sorry about that. But I doubt that it’s going to change anytime soon.”

Steve looked forlorn. “That’s not... what I wanted to tell you.”

“...Oh.”

Steve approached me and sighed. “I think I might need to explain what happened from the beginning for you to understand.”

“Okay, then. Fire away.” I said.

He took a deep breath before beginning his story. “You and I were brothers once. Twins, in fact. We were extremely close, and did everything together.”
“Who were our parents?” I randomly asked.

“We don’t have any. Not many do.” Steve replied. “I thought you would know that; it’s common knowledge.”
“I’ve been in hiding for all of my life. I don’t get outside too much.” I said, forcing myself not to roll my eyes.

“Makes sense.” He said. “Minecraftians are not born, they are spawned as children. If they are lucky enough to find a home, they are adopted and raised. Most of them, however, are either killed off by the mobs. There are some who learn to survive, which would be you and me.”

“Understood so far,” I muttered.

Steve ignored me. “We learned to survive in a jungle biome a long ways away. I don’t think you would remember. We had a treehouse that we built, and there we not many mobs. We eventually expanded the treehouse into a small village with a farm, so we would never have to leave except for mining expeditions. We hardly ever left the canopy, or saw the world below behind. That is, until there was an accident.” His face became grim.

“What happened?”

“It was our birthday. Our thirteenth. We were going to have a party, and we had a cake and everything. I was going to surprise you with the diamond sword that you had wanted, and I had been trying to make for a long time. You left to go and get more eggs for another cake, and since it was nighttime I thought that it would be nice to start a campfire to roast chicken on or something, and for awhile it was fine. I lined everything in cobblestone and even used a separate tree and made a bridge. But I forgot to add iron bars...” His voice faltered and his eyes teared up. “The tree village and everything we had worked so hard for burned to ashes before my eyes. We were sitting on the longest bridge, watching the sunset or something when I smelled burning. The bridge caught fire and I was scared and ran. Before you could cross it, it crumbled to the ground below, taking you with it.

“I sat in the ruins for the longest time, staring at the lower layers of the canopy that the bridge had fallen into. I just sat there and cried as our home was destroyed. I salvaged what I could and went to look for you, but all that was left was ashes. I thought you were dead.” His voice faltered and he looked away. “I knew that your death was my fault, and I couldn’t live with myself. I ran off and ended up here, constructing this village in these woods. Many people came, and I tried to offer them the safety that I could not provide for you.”

I didn’t know what to say. Was what he said all true? Why didn’t I remember anything? “I-I’m sorry,” I stammered.

“Don’t say that,” He said sternly. “You didn’t do anything. It was me.”

“Okay... I won’t. It was an accident, though. You didn’t know.” I tried to be comforting. “But that doesn’t explain anything else. Why can’t I remember you?”

“That was a question that I can answer,” He said. “Since the first denizens of the village arrived, I told them your story. There was one guy who called himself a sorcerer that passed through here. I have him some supplies and told him the story that I tell everyone. He was surprised that we were twins, and said that that doesn’t happen. Here’s what he told me: In Minecraftia, twins are impossible normally. The second twin, in this case you, would be a glitch. According to him, sentient glitches have three stages. Their first stage is a relatively normal life in Minecraftia. The second occurs after they die. It’s similar to the first one, but they have issues. They start over, losing all memory of their existence prior to death. Sort of like a zombie, I guess. During this stage they have less control over themselves, glitching about and bearing coding issues. I think that would be your eyes.

“The third occurs shortly afterwards. The second stage can only last so long, and eventually the glitch completely loses control and goes insane. They warp Minecraftia’s codes and can do basically anything until Notch... Well... Kills them.”

“Who’s Notch?” I asked.

“He’s the King of Minecraftia, the only glitch that didn’t go insane. He’s a kind man, but controls the coding. He doesn’t like to meddle in the affairs of Minecraftians, but if there’s a glitch, he... Eliminates it.” Steve concluded with a breath.

“So... I’m a glitch and on my second stage.” I said, shaking slightly. “I’m going to go insane eventually and die, right?”
Steve shrugged as carelessly as he could manage. “Well, I dunno. Eventually. Some last longer than others. But as long as nothing bad’s happening and you haven’t warped any codes, you should be fine.”

My mind flashed back to the night at the cave and the burning village. I lost control and warped the code. Kungen, whoever he was, claimed to have caused this, but was he just taking credit for something that I accidentally did?

“Actually... I think I might have.” I said slowly.

Steve’s face was aghast. “What?! You did? When?”

“A few days ago,” I replied. “I lost control and flew into the air, sending red ripples and breaking everything.”

“‘Ripples...’ You were recoding the gravity...” Steve stammered. “You’re going into your third stage, Herobrine!”

“So I’m going to die?” I said abruptly.

“According to the sorcerer, a glitch is noticed by Notch after the first recoding and he keeps an eye on it. After the second one, he starts trying to restrain the glitch, and after the third... It’s game over, man.” Steve said fearfully. “I can’t lose you again. It’s my job to keep you safe and make sure that you keep in control at least while you’re here. In the meantime I’ll tell everyone that you’re alive and we’ll have a party. I’ll watch the bonfire this time.” He managed a strained smile. “I’ll do whatever I can.”

I nodded. “O-okay. Where’s this sorcerer guy? He might know more. Can I talk to him?:

Steve shook his head. “No, he left about a month ago along with a warrior named Scythian. I think you’ll be fine for now. Just... try to keep calm for now. If what the sorcerer said is true, then there’s nothing we can do right now. So let’s be happy while we can, right?”

I nodded, trying to smile. “Right.”

I turned to leave, but Steve stopped me. “And Herobrine?”
“Yeah?”
He hugged me. “It’s good to have you back.”
“I’m glad that I’m not dead yet too,” I said. “I’m going to go make sure Gareth didn’t set anything on fire.”

“Good plan. I’ll see you later.” Steve said, turning around and leaving to room.

I did the same. I walked down the hall towards the door, the guards glaring at me as I did so. I guess they had a reason.

The last thought that went through my head before I walked outside to meet Kristie and Gareth was that however this turned out, there was going to be one less person leaving the village.

Yaay I wrote more! :D

Man, the feels in this chapter. D':
I felt bad that I had been updating This isn't a Game Anymore a lot and kind of left this book in the dust, especially with that semi-cliffhanger last chapter. I explained a lot in this chapter, and I'm sorry if it's a bi hard to swallow. XD

So yeah, Kungen returns! I have a plan for this guy, and here's a hint: His name is a translation. It used to be Exitus, but I changed it to fit in with the story. You'll understand soon... *wink wink*

So yeah! Thanks for reading!