Although he didn’t know where he was walking to, or why he was walking, Herobrine let his legs carry him over the country. Somehow he knew that this time, it wasn’t just a simple walk. He was leaving for good.

He felt no regret, no loss. It didn’t even feel real; perhaps that had something to do with the carefreeness that Herobrine felt. It felt more like he was in a dream. However, there was one thing that Herobrine was absolutely certain about.

Herobrine no longer felt sorry for his brother. He only wanted vengeance, to undo what Notch had done. He would keep walking until he found a way to stop him. Even if he spent all his life wandering aimlessly, he would never give up.

As the biome changed, something in Herobrine had changed as well.

~o~O~o~

Steve felt empty. When Notch had disappeared, Steve had held strong, not letting on his true feelings. He hadn’t told anyone about the real things he did during his long working hours. In reality, patrolling the village only took up a tiny fraction of his job. The rest was spent exploring the world, finding a nice place to rest – and cry.

At first, he had diligently worked to try and keep the village safe. But when nothing bad had happened, he had strayed from his original aim, and had decided to explore instead.

Steve wasn’t the outspoken type. He was terrified about talking to Core, and hadn’t expressed his own opinion. His dream was to roam Minecraftia, searching with Runnel for the mushroom biome. Yet he had been too shy to tell Core his true feelings, and let him decide instead.

So when Notch had left, Steve had put on a mask of happiness, pretending everything was okay. He kept steering his boat through the stormy sea, even though the waves threw him every which way, even though his brother had let his boat sink under the ocean’s might. Steve couldn’t let everyone see his suffering. He had to carry on sailing.

But now that Herobrine was gone, the sea was too rough for Steve to handle. His boat had capsized, taking him into the dark, murky depths with it. And there was no-one to help him.

The crowd started to disperse, but Steve still stood there, frozen in time. His world rested on two people, and without those people, there was no world. Nothing held any meaning anymore.

Eventually, there were only two people left – Steve and Khet. While Steve still stood there, motionless, Khet was shifting awkwardly.

“Steve, I saw you getting… distracted from your job.”

Steve snapped out of his trance. “What?”

“You explored the area instead of patrolling–”

“I’m sorry.”

“–and I think you’re a natural explorer.”

“Wait, really?”

Khet stopped moving about. “I know how you feel. I only became a fighter because there was no-one else to protect the village. I wanted to explore, too, but because of all my armour, Core instantly assumed I was a warrior. I didn’t want to tell him he was wrong, so I just accepted it and fought for the village.”

Steve looked doubtful, but Khet carried on. “Steve, I can’t tell you what it’s like to lose the only people you can depend on. But I can tell you what it’s like to be misunderstood.”

“Let’s go,” Steve said suddenly. “I’m sick of this. Let’s go explore, and look for Herobrine. Then maybe, just maybe, our dreams will become reality.”

And although Steve couldn’t see it, Khet was smiling.

~o~O~o~

Herobrine awoke with a start. How long had he slept for? He wasn’t sure. He had been travelling for five days straight with little rest, and had intended to have a short nap. However, judging by the fact that the sun was already high up in the sky and Herobrine had gone to sleep in the evening, he had gotten way more rest than he had intended to.

Brushing dirt off his back, Herobrine realised that he wasn’t where he was before. Something was moving him. Looking down, Herobrine noticed he was, for some reason, riding on a pig. Startled, he fell off the pig, which trotted on for a little before realising its rider had dismounted, abruptly stopping.

“Weird…” Herobrine muttered, before checking his surroundings. The dirty water and vines hanging from the trees told him that he was in a swamp. He had to get moving.

Before he got up, though, he noticed a small wooden hut. He had never heard of anything like it before. It had to be something important. Herobrine started making his way towards it.

As he got closer, Herobrine felt increasingly scared. A strange air of foreboding surrounded the house, making him feel fearful for some reason. He was about to turn away when he heard a grunt coming from his feet.

The pig nudged him gently. Herobrine smiled. It must have taken him here for a reason. Lightly pushing away the pig, Herobrine walked up the steps leading into the hut.

~o~O~o~

“We were so close,” Steve murmured, disappointed. After days of running this way and that, Steve and Khet had finally spotted Herobrine napping… on a pig. Although initially taken aback by the absurd sight, Steve had dared to try and carry away the sleeping Herobrine. He had woken up at the worst possible time, though, and Steve had only just about darted out of sight in time.

“He won’t bite!” Khet hissed. “Go ahead and talk to him!”

“I just… can’t,” Steve said eventually.

“Well, even if you wanted to, you wouldn’t be able to, because he’s gone into that weird house over there!”

Steve looked towards where Khet was facing, and managed to glimpse Herobrine talking to someone. “Oh no,” Khet breathed.

“What?” Steve said, panicked.

“There’s a witch in there.”

“A witch!?”

“Yup. They use potions and things to destroy their enemy. And in this case, that would be Herobrine.”

Steve was about to speak, when a glaring white light burst from the hut. He had to shield his eyes in order not to be blinded, and even after it had gone, the negative image still made everything distort. And just before he recovered, another quick flash of white temporarily blinded him.

He didn’t see Herobrine stagger out of the house, his hands crackling with electricity, eyes tightly shut.

He didn’t see Herobrine open his eyes.

He didn’t see Herobrine’s colourless eyes, glowing white.

By the time he could see again, Herobrine was long gone.