Alex's POV

Fire everywhere. A lava sea far below. Red mountains, red ground, red walls. Hot, stinking air. Ash that went down my throat and made it hard for me to breath. No sky. No sun. No animals. No trees. No grass. So far, the only not-bad thing about the Nether was that there wasn't a mob in sight.

"Lovely view isn't it?" Luke commented, reflecting my earlier thoughts.

"I'm going to say that's sarcasm," Zip said.

Luke winked at her.

"Dude, glowstone!" Tim grinned, running up to the glowstone and smashing it with his axe.

"Good job Tim. Put it in the potion," Zip said.

I took out the potion and uncapped it, holding it out to Tim. He carefully poured in the glowstone and I re-capped the bottle and put it away.

"Uh guys, you might want to see this." Jade had climbed up to get a better view of the terrain and he was pointing at something in the distance.

I scrambled up to him, cursing slightly as the ground burned my hands. However, I fell silent when I saw what Jade had seen.

A dark Nether brick castle stood proudly in the centre of a lava lake. An iron gate was at the front, and the towers rose up into the dark ash clouds that hung in the air.

'Something's wrong,' I thought. And as I looked closer, I realised that something was definitely wrong. The iron gate was open, the bridge that spanned across the lava was down and no mobs patrolled the castle walls. 

"Where are the mobs?" Jade asked.

"Maybe this isn't the right place. Do you know where we're supposed to go Alex?" Zip questioned.

"Um, well, Herobrine's supposed to have a castle here in the Nether," I said. "That would be the most logical place the source of the curse would be right?"

"And this is a strange castle in the middle of nowhere. It's probably Herobrine's," Tim reasoned.

"Should we go in?" Luke asked.

I had a really bad feeling about that castle. Something told me that the castle was actually Herobrine's castle, but I wasn't sure how I knew it. 

"I think we should," I said.

'Wait, what? I didn't mean to say that,' I thought.

"I don't know Alex. That castle gives me a bad feeling," Zip warned.

"Zip, it'll be fine. We can take on anything right?" I answered.

Inside, I had started to freak out. I wasn't saying these things. I mean, I was, but I wasn't consciously saying them. 

"Alex is right. What can stand against the five of us?" Tim said, hefting his axe. 

'Nononono, guys, this isn't a good idea!' I yelled at them in my head.

"I don't know," Zip said, still unsure. She had taken out her dad's letter and was studying it, as if it could give her the answers.

"Zip, we've come this far. We might as well go in," Luke said, agreeing with me.

"Okay. Let's go," Zip said, giving in. She carefully put down the letter on the ground, as if she was leaving it for someone.

"Follow me, I know where to go," I said.

I moved forward, all the while screaming at myself.

'No, no! Not a good idea! Stop moving forward me. Stop it! Zip, don't listen to me!'

"Oh shut up boy," a voice spoke back.

I started quaking, trapped in my own head. Something about the voice terrified me, and it was familiar too.

'Who...who are you?' I asked, my voice quivering.

"You know who I am boy. Now stay quiet while I lead your friends to their death."

I whimpered, but didn't talk. The voice had control of my body and my voice. He lead my friends across the bridge and to the castle gate. Memories suddenly popped up in my head, images of this castle.

'Wait, I recognise this place. I saw it... in a dream?'

The voice laughed evilly. "That's right Alex. I let you see this place in your dream. In fact, I have visited you several times in your dreams. Now hush boy."

"Just here guys. We need to go through that obsidian door," the voice made me say.

"How do you know where you're going Alex?" Tim questioned.

"Uh...I read it in a book," the voice lied smoothly. "Besides, it's the middle of the castle, so the source has got to be here."

"Well, you're right about that," Luke muttered.

I walked up to the doors and pushed them open. I heard everyone gasp, but the voice had seen it before and so didn't make a sound. The large entrance hall decorated with skulls, swords and flaming black torches hanging of the walls. Yet again, I felt that something was missing. Weren't skeletons and pigmen supposed to be wandering around here? 

At the end of the hall was something I hadn't seen before. A small podium stood against the wall, with a stone resting on top. The stone glowed and changed colours as I watched: going from green to white, to black and back to green.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Luke exclaimed. 

"Is that stone the source of the curse?" Zip asked, walking up to the stone. "I had expected something... actually, I don't know what I expected."

"Yes, that's the source of the curse," the voice said.

"So all we need to do is splash that potion on it and the curse is no more?" Jade asked.

"That is correct Jade Eldet. Unfortunately, you will not live long enough to do that. None of you will live long enough to leave this place," I said.

"What do you mean Alex?" Luke asked, dread in his voice. Zip came back from the stone and stood next to Luke.

I laughed, a cruel, evil laugh that definitely wasn't me. I was still trapped in my head. "Don't you know? No one leave my castle alive."

Zip took a step away from me and took out her sword. "You're not Alex are you?"

The voice laughed again. "Very perspective girl. I have temporary control over Alex."

"How?" Jade whispered.

"Because I am HEROBRINE!" the voice yelled. But this time, he didn't talk from my mouth.

We all gasped as we saw Herobrine, the real Herobrine, appear next to the stone. His trademark white eyes glowed with power, and he held two enchanted diamond swords in his hands. His smile was wide and showed all of his perfect teeth. He bowed mockingly as he spoke.

"Welcome to my castle. Now stay still while I kill you."

You thought that was the end of the chapter.

Nope!

Fury's POV    (Didn't think you'd see her again did you?)

I wandered across the landscape, slowly eating an apple as I walked. I had started on my journey to the ender portal, but had stopped halfway. Inside, I knew that Wolf wouldn't be there, and that knowledge had left me feeling lost and empty. I knew that I should apologise to Zip for hurting her, and to the whole group for being... well... a jerk. 

And the best place to find them would be in the Centre of Minecraftia.

In fact, I was almost there now, and I touched open the doors.

"Zip? Luke? Alex? Jade and Tim?" I called as I stepped inside. No one answered me.

'Where are they?' I thought, looking around. An Ender Crystal stood in the central column, so they must have visited at some point. 

The familiar sound of a Nether portal reached my ears, and I instantly took out my swords. Following the sound, I found the portal and hesitantly went through. Luckily, no mobs greeted me on the other side, but neither did my ex-friends. I sighed and lowered my swords.

"What am I even doing?" I muttered to myself, kicking the ground.

I took a glance around the barren, red landscape and saw something white, completely out of place. I picked it up and saw that it was the letter that Zip's dad had left her. I sighed again, and turned it over, as if it could give me the answer I was looking for. And it did, but not in the way I was hoping.

On the back of Zip's letter it read: Have fun. -Herobrine.

It was a big, elaborate trap.