Evening my pretties

Pls enjoy suffering

<3

ALSO LOOP MUSIC ABOVE please please I think it really fits

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RECAP

HEROBRINE'S POV

     The man's deep voice caught my gaze again, "I wantchya outta here by morn, don't want ye seen. I'll have breakfast out 'afore sunup, then I'll send you on yer way. Y'can keep the clothes."

     I wondered once again if he intended to stab me in my sleep, why he hadn't attacked again. But... his words made sense. He stood between his people and danger, using wit and words to come to solutions. He was smart enough to know nothing he did could ever harm me...

     Grudgingly, I found I quite respected his heroism, even if it could do little to resist my own power.

     "My... thanks, human."

     "Name's Ragnar."

     I blinked as he extended a massive hand towards me, waiting.

     Oh... a customary human greeting.

     With hesitation, I obliged him, offering my good arm. He grasped my wrist firmly, giving it a squeeze.

     "My name... is Herobrine."

END RECAP

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First Blood

HEROBRINE'S POV

     I left the town as silent as I had found it.

     The dawn was icy and silver, with barely a note of warmth from the sun. Clouds had begun to fill the sky, threatening snow and far more misery. The branches of barren trees loomed over me like blackened claws, harsh against the silver sky, and they scraped and rattled like bones of the forgotten.

     However, despite hiding my power, I was far less affected by the cold. The new clothes were quite well-insulated, and it helped that they were larger, trapping more heat.

     So... this was what it must be like being human. Worrying over cold and food and shelter, over where the next rest would be.

     ...perhaps I had been too harsh in my judgment. They were weak, yes, incredibly so. However... they had found ways to defeat many of those weaknesses.

     I shook off my thoughts. Well... if this was what a mortal dealt with, I needed to think like a mortal. Thankfully, I'd eaten quite a lot at Ragnar's house... it would be a few days until I'd need to eat again. I had new things, and my wounds were beginning to ache far less, though they likely were in terrible need of a bandage change and a cleaning.

     That could come later. I needed a destination in mind, one that would be impossible to track me through, and one that I could be sustained in for a lengthy amount of time. From there, I'd... I could...

     Ava's words came rushing back to me at that moment, causing me to pause in my relentless trudge through the barren woods.

     'It's HIS world, he MADE everything we stand on, the air we breathe, right? You're trying to hide in something he CREATED.'

     I pushed on, the words haunting me like the whispers in the fortress. Hiding, without goal or purpose, one primal sense driving me to run.

     Fear.

     Fear of death, of things worse than death. Fear... I had no right to have.

     Killer.

     Murderer.

     Demon.

     Merciless.

     Run.

     I shuddered, stumbling on through the ice, feet now falling numb. Curse those whispers, those reminders!

     You deserve the death you so freely gave.

     Suffer as you made him suffer.

     Cry as he did, for mercy.

     Unforgivable!

     Imposter!

     Wretched!!

     Unworthy!!

     "SHUT UP!"

     The hissing laughter of guilt and shame retreated, but only a little. It lurked always in the shadows of my mind, reminding me of my worthlessness... my sins.

     My irreversible, unforgivable sin.

     Only these few days I had been given mercy, too focused on survival to think of the guilt.

     Now... it seemed to be back to stay again until it one day drove me mad again.

     Vile.

      Cursed.

     Shameful.

     Abomination.

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DAMON RIVERS' POV

     The town was only just waking as we passed through it.

     People moved about and shouted greetings to one another as the daily toil began. Farmers woke to feed their livestock, boys rushed about to do their chores as the young girls began to chatter amongst themselves while they helped prepare the morning meal. Most of the lively noise dimmed and became whispers as we passed through, and even some cried out in shock at the sight of winged beings. We tried to pay them little heed, simply scanning the ground and the buildings with narrowed eyes, searching endlessly for signs of our quarry.

     Odd... no buildings or people seemed to be harmed.

     "Lookin' for a myth?"

     The rough voice pulled us up short, and my gaze flicked from a set of footprints to grim, gray eyes.

     I signaled for my group to pause, "You could certainly say that."

     "Passed this way last night, ye nearly managed t' get my town set aflame, drivin' him to such desp'ration like that."

     "We don't intend to drive him towards civilization, he's led us on a merry chase."

     Ravon urged his mount forward, adding, "If you know anything that will help us, I bid you to inform us in the name of the Creator."

     A low gasp and several murmurs echoed in the crowd slowly forming around us. Blast... I'd hoped to avoid any crushing crowds and the like.

     "No need for biddin', little eagle. He passed straight southeast not an hour ago." The giant hand lifted, pointing, "...but I have one thing t' ask of ye."

     My eyes lit up as the large man's directions aligned with the compass. Not an hour before, we were so close!

     "Talk t' him. Ask him about what's got him lookin' so haunted."

     The man's rough voice drew me up short, and I again glanced his way, "...what?"

     "Ye heard me. Ask him, he didn't open up t' me, but 'm sure he'd be a lot more talkative with them weapons you have," he gestured with his calloused hand.

     "Somethin's wrong with 'im. I can tell when an animal's frightened t' death, an' I can d#mn well tell he's bein' chased by somethin' far scarier than bird men an' a soldier boy."

     Ravon's sour look at being called a bird nearly upset the grave tone of the moment. However, to appease the tall stranger, I nodded.

     "Believe me when I say... he will have many things to answer for, things I do not intend on being avoided and covered up."

     The man's eyes were still hard, cold like steel. But he nodded, shifting to again point us towards our prey.

     "Go, then."

     We didn't need another invitation, thundering away on eager horses.

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HEROBRINE'S POV

     It was too quiet.

     I didn't notice it at first, as my dimmed senses only allowed me to hear the snow crunching underfoot, and the wind teasing sound from the branches above. Even my breaths, huffing and warm, distracted me from the pressing silence.

     Was it merely the quiet of winter? Animals... fled from the snows or slept through them, right?

     But... how long had it been this silent?

     I slipped around a towering, dark oak, moving across a barren place of dark rocks. The stones jutted up rather sharply, exposing their black, sharp tips to the pale sky. The ragged scar of stones was on a tilt, running into a thick patch of pine and dark oak. Snow lay in patches all about the sharp boulders, reminding me of the pattern on a wild pony I'd once seen.

     Perhaps... this place was simply barren and rocky... thus there were no animals?

     Dare I... increase my hearing?

     I pressed my hand against an ice-slicked rock, leaning as I narrowed my eyes, scanning the trees that surrounded me. Chills spread over my body.

     Too open... this place was too open.

     I huffed, the warm breath turning to warm mist before my face. Just one, short listening session, then I could depart again.

     My eyes closed, a frown creasing my forehead as my hearing began to spread. Slow, slowly. Too fast, and I'd knock myself out, and likely send up a flare to which my creator could rush to.

     My heartbeat, slow, thumping. Wind brushing bark and rock, hollow and ambient. The rustles of little birds as they fled, their wings beating quickly and fading...

     ...no, now there were new wing-beats. Large ones, getting closer. And rustles, warm breaths, and a crunch of boot upon snow–

     I jolted, head whipping back to look over my shoulder. Humans, those were human!

     A sudden, piercing sound rammed into me, and I recoiled, jerking back against the rock I had braced a hand on, hands grasping at my head, covering my ears as I cried out. Hurriedly, I toned down my senses once again, pushing myself off the rock to begin a race downhill.

     So soon, how had they gotten to me so soon??

     Had I been too careless? Too brazen as I summoned things for Ava??

     How had they tracked me so perfectly??

     My running was in vain, as shouts emitting from all sides of the forest left me to realize I was surrounded, caged.

     Trapped.

     Run.

     I skidded, trying to slow down on the ragged rocks, ice leaving me with almost no grip. My feet would surely have been torn all to shreds, had I not been gifted such a tough exterior. Surrounded, they were all around. How many?? They were too loud, I couldn't isolate their individual cries without exposing myself more–

     A whistling noise pierced the air, and cord shot around my body.

     I shouted, barely given a moment to realize what had happened before a blade flashed before me.

     These ropes had knives.

     Sharp pressure ripped into my thigh, the other blade gashing open an ankle, and I was down, gasping, struggling. It... it had cut me so easily, why was it cutting into me so easily?? Why did the pain feel ten times worse?

     I reached down, fingers grasping onto rope as abrupt weakness flowed over me, dizzying in power. Gritting my teeth, I tore at the ropes, barely managing to kick off some of the tough cords before three more were spinning my way.

     No... no, please–

     One missed, and the other two coiled about my torso, leaving only my left arm free. These weapons had heavy weights that cracked mercilessly into my ribs, my arm. Stark fear allowed me to stagger upright, hardly even realizing I could no longer lift my right arm.

     I had to teleport, I couldn't risk capture!

     My eyes lifted to the sky, my view of the clouds blocked by descending pairs of great wings.

     Oh... perhaps that was how they found me.

     My wounds had begun to ache fiercely, though terror drove me to ignore it. I released a pulse of energy, calling myself into the pull of the void, trying to rip myself away–

     I teleported, slammed into a tree, and I was down.

     Everything blurred around me, my limbs... so heavy.

     Even my senses seemed to dull, muffle. My hearing came and went, fading in and out just as my sight. The only thing I could acutely sense was the horrid pain in my legs, my ribs, and arm, and the cold, harsh stone pressing into my cheek.

     Not yet... not yet.

     I'm not ready...

     Forms emerged above me, blocking my view of the clouds.

     Run.

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DAMON RIVERS' POV

     Good Notch above... it was over.

     It was over...

     The legend, Herobrine himself, once again lay at my feet. His head was tilted back, mouth open in shock and pain, breaths huffing shallowly. He'd succumbed to the potions of weakness far quicker than I had ever anticipated, hardly even able to put up a fight once the knifed bola had struck him.

     Small words of congratulations and pats on the back were being handed out among the others, but I knelt beside the powerful form's head, placing my gloved hand on his brow to tilt his face away from the snow pressed against it. He blinked slowly, blank face slowly filling with dazed confusion.

     So easy... so simple.

     "Ravon, help me get him cleaned up and bound properly."

     "Of course."

     This had been the simple part... the hard part would be to transport him back... alive.

     Other hands assisted us as we took the strong cords from Herobrine's body, finding several old wounds he'd tried to - very poorly - wrap on his own. I ended up commanding a camp to be set up, a fire built. Snow was heated and warmed, and Herobrine was dosed heavily again with the weakness, for the sake of caution, as Ravon and I took care of each wound, one by one. Each was cleaned, slathered with a little balm, and wrapped securely, including the fresh cuts on his legs. However, as we handled him back into his clothes, still limp from the overdose of weakness, Ravon paused, frowning.

     "His arm is broken."

     I paused as I tried to fit Herobrine's other arm back into a sleeve, "What?"

     "His arm," Ravon repeated, "it's broken."

     "I heard you the first time... but I don't understand. His bones can break?"

     Ravon simply reached for the bandages, and instructed a passing Valkyrie to find sturdy branches, "Perhaps there is more to this potion than we anticipated. I, for one, simply thought it clouded the mind and made limbs too heavy to lift."

     I hummed, leaning back on my heels as Ravon calmly began to set and bind the break, bracing the forearm. Soon enough, Herobrine was completely bandaged and clothed, wrists chained behind him as he was laid on a spare bedroll.

     "Let's move out at next light... For now, we can enjoy this victory."

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(writerly noises)

Howzzat

This fight went off the rails and I,,, how did it end up like this fr. I had THINGS I wanted to happen but. Good grief.

At least Even Damon is absolutely stoked lol

....for now

Vote and komment and stuff uwu show me u want more