Zip's POV

I was frozen, paralysed. Before me stood Herobrine: source of nightmares, ruler of the mobs, King of the Nether. His white eyes glowed and lit up the room with a harsh light. The diamonds swords that he held were enchanted, but he wouldn't need to use them if the legends about him were true. His smile was evil and he eyed us hungrily. When he laughed, it was full of evil humour and it echoed throughout the castle.

"Honestly, I'm surprised that you made it this far. I expected you to fail long ago," he laughed.

"What do you mean?' Luke asked softly.

"This may surprise you boy, but I am not your average human. When I made the curse, I saw that you five would try to reverse it, to undo all my hard work. I tried to kill you first by attacking your village."

"That was you?" Time growled, gripping his axe. "You sent the mobs to attack our village?"

"Yes, pay attention boy. When you survived, I decided to take a different tack. Instead of killing you, I wanted to see if you could possibly make it to my castle. At first, I was just curious, but then I really wanted you to make it here, so I could tell you how much you failed."

Alex gasped. "The guy at the Zombie castle. Was that you?"

Herobrine smiled. "Correct. I didn't want you to die then, so I gave you a bit of help: killing the zombies, giving you the map, digging the tunnel. And you were also instrumental to my plan, as you have probably figured out by now."

Alex growled and took out his bow.

"What about the Silk Touch II enchantment book, the anvil and the pickaxe I found in the forest?" Luke blurted. "You couldn't have done that. Only Hcton and Enirboreh have a Silk Touch II enchantment."

Herobrine snarled. "Foolish boy. I am Enirboreh."

"No you're not," Tim retorted.

I gasped as it clicked in my mind. "Tim, Enirboreh spelt backwards is Herobrine."

"And Hcton spelt backwards is Notch!" Alex exclaimed.

Herobrine huffed. "Wow, you only just realised that?"

"But why?" I asked. "Why would you give us that?"

"I knew that if you made it to the End, one of you would break. And I couldn't have her here. She could have ruined my plans," Herobrine explained.

'Fury,'  I thought.

"Okay, so you helped Alex at the zombie's castle and gave us an enchanted book. But why did you send the Nether mobs to attack the library village?" Tim asked.

"I sent them to get rid of any clue of what I researched when I was there. They were supposed to attack after you left. I punished them for their mistake." Herobrine smiled evilly again.

I had a feeling that whatever Herobrine's punishment was, it wasn't very healthy.

"Any more questions?" he asked.

"Sure. Where are all the mobs?" I asked, hoping to stall for time. I didn't particularly want to fight Herobrine.

He waved his hand. "I sent them all to the surface. I didn't want them to interrupt this. Next."

"Did you place the Ender Eyes at the End portal?" Luke questioned.

"Duh. Anyone else?"

"Yes," Alex said. "Has Fury ever come here? To the Nether?"

"She did, many years ago. After falling into a portal built by my mobs, she and her brother thought it would be a good idea to come to my castle. It didn't end well," Herobrine said smugly.

"You killed her brother didn't you?" Alex whispered.

Somehow, Herobrine heard from the other side of the room. "No Alex, I didn't kill him. But I did try out my newest mobs on him, my elite skeletons. They were the ones who killed him."

"That's how Fury knew what that skeleton was when she first met us. Remember, in the village?" Alex reminded us.

I did remember. After all, she had saved me from being killed by that skeleton. That's not something you forget.

"Well, I think that's enough chatting," Herobrine said, raising his swords.

"Wait wait! Aren't you going to use your cool powers or something?" Luke stuttered.

"I could, but I find it much more fun to use swords."

With that, Herobrine charged.