Chapter Text
“I still think you’re insane for wanting to do this.”
Steve scoffed, stepping back from his project and admiring the gleaming structure of obsidian with triumph. It had taken him a week to both find diamonds for a pickaxe and mine the obsidian, but he’d done it. After convincing himself to go to the Nether, no amount of naysaying was going to change his mind.
Alex had humored him when he’d pitched the idea to her, but had she’d known he was actually going to do it, she would have put effort into trying to convince him that it was a bad idea. For whatever reason, she despised the Nether, shooting down his offers for her to join him before he was fully finished speaking. She refused to even think about going, and Steve wasn’t going to push the subject if she felt so strongly about it. He was surprised that an adventurer such as Alex would shy away from the chance to explore something as notorious as the Nether, but she was adamant in her refusal.
It didn’t bother Steve too much, considering he was going to go either way. While he would have liked to have Alex with him to both watch his back and offer her company, he was comfortable with the idea of going alone.
And now finally the portal was ready. All he had to do was light it.
“Of the two of us, you’re the one who’s acting crazy. I mean, how could you not want to explore the Nether? It’s the Nether.”
Alex just gave him an unimpressed stare. “Exactly.”
Steve shook his head, walking to the side where he’d set down a chest. Inside was a beat up set of iron armor, well-worn and scuffed to hell and back. It had served him well for the last several months, and depending on how this trip went, might be due for an upgrade soon.
He slid on each piece and completed the look with an iron sword at his hip. The bundle on his opposite hip had some bread and apples, some torches, one potion of healing, and two potions of fire resistance, which Alex had surprised him with and which had cost her a small fortune. Potions using ingredients from the Nether tended to be more expensive for the simple fact that no one wanted to go to the Nether to retrieve said ingredients when stock was low. Alex had practically forced the potions onto him, threatening to sabotage his portal if he wasn’t prepared properly.
For someone who seemingly hated the Nether, she was awfully knowledgable about it.
The last thing in the chest was a flint and steel. Feeling confident, he picked them up and walked back over to Alex.
“Are you suuuuure you don’t want to come with?” He offered one last time. She shook her head.
“No thanks. If you die, someone has to remember you.”
“Ha ha.”
“Though, if I can’t convince you to back out, I do have some requests—items that would really help the village if you can find them.”
Steve repressed a sigh. He didn’t care much for the village that Alex frequented, simply because they didn’t care much for him, but he did care about Alex, who was his first and only friend. She had apologized on their behalf numerous times but Steve had told her it wasn’t a big deal. Having come to terms with villagers’ aversion to him long ago, it no longer bothered him. If anything, he preferred it this way now. He didn’t want to be around people, and people didn’t want to be around him. A win-win.
“I’ll try to remember, granted I’m not too busy running for my life. What are they?”
Instead of telling him, Alex handed him a list. Huh. She must have made the list after realizing her attempts to dissuade him were useless.
The list contained potion ingredients, just like he’d expected, with nether wart circled and highlighted. He stashed the note in the bundle.
He stepped up to the portal and before he could think too much about it, struck the flint and steel together at the base. The second the sparks made contact with the obsidian, a shimmering purple film materialized. It was mesmerizing, and more than a little intimidating. The sounds alone were sometimes enough to make adventurers change their mind.
Steve took a deep breath as he shoved the flint and steel into the bundle. He looked back at Alex and gave her a reassuring smile.
“I’ll be back soon.”
“You better be. Good luck.”
With a final nod, he turned and jumped into the portal.
The next thing he knew, his head was swimming and it was hot.
Like, really hot.
Eyes closed and taking deep breaths, he waited for the dizziness to recede before standing and taking in his surroundings. The first thought that immediately came to mind was that there was a lot of red. Like, an absurd amount. It made judging distance almost impossible, made his visible surroundings appear barren. But, as he discovered by walking forward a little, that was not the case. Because in front of him was a cliff, at the bottom of which was an ocean of lava.
He felt lightheaded from the scale of it. There was more lava down there than he’d ever seen in his life. It was mind-boggling, that something like this could exist.
Backing away from the cliff, he took in his surroundings again, this time with a more critical eye. The portal was in what Steve could only relate to a Nether version of a plains biome, given the lack of anything at all. Though, way above him was a layer of netherrack, so perhaps he was in a cave?
On the other side of the lava ocean was more ground, but he had no way of crossing to it, so he turned around. He couldn’t quite make sense of what the geometry was doing—it seemed like he was in an open area, but on one side there was an outcrop, and beyond that, more open space.
He decided to just ignore it. If he couldn’t understand, he wouldn’t try to. He wasn’t there to investigate the impossible geometry, after all.
While he didn’t technically have a purpose in the Nether, he would use Alex’s list as a to-do list. He was secretly grateful for it—beyond just being in the Nether, he hadn’t thought ahead of what he’d actually do. So having direction definitely made it worth it.
After walking the edge of the area he’d appeared in, he discovered he was on an island of sorts. Completely surrounded by lava on all sides save for one, which had a narrow bridge he was able to cross with much trepidation. Nothing had happened yet, and it was putting him on edge.
The only thing he’d actively researched about the Nether were the mobs, and how prevalent they were. Unlike the Overworld, in the Nether mobs were always everywhere, as there was no perceivable day and night cycle.
But as he passed over the bridge and walked farther away from his portal, there still was nothing to meet him. No ghasts flying around, no magma cubes, no zombie pigmen. If he didn’t know better, he’d say the Nether was abandoned.
Well, better not look a gift horse in the mouth. He took out a torch to start marking a path from the portal, but as he crested a small hill, he found he didn’t need it. Because there, placed innocently in that huge ocean of lava, was a Nether fortress.
He stared at it in dumbfounded amazement, wondering about his luck. Nether wart was the only thing that Alex really wanted him to bring back—if the note was anything to go on—and it could only be found in a fortress. And here one was, not even 100 feet from his portal.
Well. Gift horses and all that.
The area he was on now connected conveniently with one of the many narrow walkways that extended from the fortress. His instincts told him it was manmade—the way the netherrack was formed, as if reaching for the nether brick, was too unnatural, even for the Nether—but he had no better ideas of getting into the fortress, so he proceeded with caution.
As he walked he half expected the ground to give out any second, but he made it unhindered to the fortress proper. It was still eerily silent, so much so that he almost turned back.
He’d thought the Nether would be full of life and motion and action, and though the mobs were dangerous, he thought he might prefer if that were the case, instead of this dead, empty wasteland. Either reports of the Nether had been greatly exaggerated, or something was going on, because this was simply not right.
Since he’d managed to find a fortress so easily, he resolved to getting some nether wart and getting out. His curiosity had been satisfied—for the moment—and now he wanted to return to the Overworld and actually do his own research, and ask Alex if what he was experiencing was normal. But, nether wart first.
According to Alex’s note, nether wart was found in a specific room in a fortress, one with a staircase.
Looking around, there was one small structure directly in front of him. More pathways lead away from it, all of them except the one behind him seemingly leading to a sheer drop into lava. Having no other options, he entered the building.
Which turned out to be nothing much, simply an empty room with a steep staircase leading down. Taking a deep breath, he drew his sword just in case and descended.
It wasn’t as long as he’d thought, just one story down, though the inside of the fortress looked incredibly different than what he’d been expecting. The topside more closely resembled his expectations, the inside looked...lived in.
There were lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and a red rug in the middle of the hallway. Paintings lined the walls. It was like he’d walked into someone’s house.
This...well, he didn’t think a fortress was supposed to look like this, but having never been to one before, he couldn’t know for sure. So although his instincts were telling him something was definitely wrong, he proceeded with caution anyways.
The hallway turned and split and he ran into several deadends, but it remained the same. Same red carpet, same lanterns, same painting placements. After about ten minutes of wandering he felt thoroughly lost, and was sure he wouldn’t be able to find the same place he’d entered from.
“What the fuck is going on?” He muttered to himself. Of course, just as he said that, and as soon as he fully rounded the next corner, he stopped dead in his tracks, eyes going wide.
The skeleton standing in the middle of the hallway was the biggest one he’d ever seen, towering over him by at least three feet. It’s bones were blackened, as if it’d been burnt, and it was carrying a stone sword, which had never looked more dangerous than it did in that thing’s grasp. It was staring straight at one of the paintings, of which depicted a dark figure with three heads. Almost at the same time, Steve looked at it’s face and it looked away from the painting, right at him.
Steve held his breath, not daring to move a muscle. As much research as he’d done about the mobs, he didn’t remember the best course of action when dealing with a wither skeleton. Did he run immediately? Was it okay to turn his back or did it not matter? Should he attack first?
Fortunately, the decision was made for him. Unfortunately, it was because the wither skeleton bolted towards him without preamble. They were a lot closer than they probably should have been, and it was a lot faster than Steve expected it to be, so he was only able to stumble back in a blind panic as it rapidly closed the distance and swung it’s sword at him. The attack was haphazard and Steve was able to prevent a fatal or incapacitating blow, but the sword still managed to hit him, hard enough that it felt like his bones rattled. His poor, overused iron chestplate cracked at the point of impact, right down the front. The blow knocked him into the wall behind him and his head banged uncomfortably against his helmet, but he shoved the pain aside and pushed away from the wall, barely dodging a follow-up strike as he started running.
He could hear the wither skeleton give chase, and so he made several random turns and got himself even more thoroughly lost, until the sound of the bones rattling faded away. Slowing to a stop, he used the opportunity to take deep breaths. His heart was racing and each breath sent a sharp pain through his chest, but he was out of danger for the time being.
After he caught his breath, he examined his chestplate. It was like a vest now, exposing his chest and fitting awkwardly to his body. It was more of a hinderance now that it didn’t fit properly. He couldn’t even lift his arms fully. With a sigh he started taking it off. Halfway through, the sound of approaching footsteps and rattling made his head snap up, heart instantly beating double time. He was only partially out of the chestplate when the wither skeleton rounded the corner and beelined for him. He let out a yell of fear and struggled to reach for his sword, managing to pull it out at the last moment to block the skeleton’s attack.
Only, the strength behind the blow was again stronger than he expected, so the skeleton’s sword slid against his briefly before sliding off entirely and slashing across his opposite arm. He hissed in pain and stepped back on instinct, accidentally allowing the skeleton the opportunity to take a jab at him. He tried to dodge, but the blade tore through his shirt and side, slicing a jagged wound along his waist.
He yelled out in pain and, fueled by a self-preservation induced fear, found the strength to jab his sword right into the skeleton’s shoulder joint and twist, popping the arm holding the sword clean off. The arm and sword clambered to the ground and the skeleton froze, staring down at it’s own arm. Steve was staring too, surprised he’d managed to do it, but when the skeleton started to lean down, he hastily discarded the chestplate and started down the hall, gritting his teeth as his movements pulled at the cut. It didn’t feel deep but it stung like a bitch and was bleeding into his shirt and jeans, making them feel tacky.
If he didn’t find this nether wart in the next couple of turns he was going to cut his losses and find his way out of here. He could come back with better armor and maybe a bow, and definitely with a map.
He was so preoccupied thinking of a better way to go about exploring the Nether that he didn’t notice the other until it was too late. He collided with something hard and would have fallen backwards on his ass if not for the strong grip to his upper arms. He immediately made a sound of pain when the grip squeezed over the slice there, and then the hands fell away as he looked up to see what he’d ran into.
And—
Oh no.
“Why are you here?”
Steve could only stare wide-eyed and opened mouth. The clear irritation in the voice was reflected on the face of the man he’d collided with, who was staring at him and looked as unhappy as someone could. Steve was sure he looked ridiculously stupid as he gaped unabashedly, but he knew this man, even if he never believed him to be real.
Maybe the wither skeleton had actually killed him and he was dead, because that was the only possible explanation for why Herobrine was standing in front of him, staring at him like he was a particularly disgusting piece of trash.
“You’re—Y-You’re—!”
Herobrine’s expression of disdain deepened. “Why. Are. You. Here?”
Before Steve could answer, the wither skeleton caught up to him. Its arm was still missing, the sword clasped in its other hand. But it stopped a number of feet away, going from a dead sprint to completely motionless. Steve stared wearily at it, wincing when Herobrine pushed past him to put himself somewhat between Steve and the wither skeleton.
Nothing happened for several moments wherein Steve looked back and forth between the two of them, then startled when the skeleton abruptly turned and marched away. Steve watched it disappear around a corner, and when he looked back to his present situation, Herobrine was already staring at him.
“Am I going to need to repeat myself?” He said, and Steve’s mind was still trying to get past the fact that Herobrine was apparently real and standing right in front of him.
Holy shit!
“Uh...” He was drawing a blank, but at the growing anger on Herobrine’s face, his brain finally caught up with him. “I’m looking for Nether wart?”
Herobrine frowned. “Is that a question?” Then he stepped back and looked Steve up and down. “You should be looking for a new set of armor—yours is horrendous.”
Steve felt his face grow hot in embarrassment, suddenly self-conscious. He didn’t know why, since he was still pretty sure he was dead or at the very least knocked out and dreaming.
He opened his mouth to defend himself, but Herobrine held up a hand to stop him. “You know what? I don’t care. If I give you some nether wart will you leave?”
It was definitely what he wanted, but now that this was a thing, he found himself curious again. Knowing him, he would be back. But he did need new armor, that much was true, so he nodded. “Yeah. But I’m supposed to get some for a village so...”
Herobrine sighed with a sneer. “Do you not grow the nether wart in this village of yours?” Herobrine abruptly started walking, forcing Steve to scramble to keep up with him. He grimaced as the movement pulled at the cut on his side, but it didn’t feel like it was bleeding anymore. As soon as they got to...wherever they were going, he’d have to try to remember to drink the healing potion.
Herobrine’s question came as a surprise to him. “I didn’t know nether wart could grow in the Overworld. And it’s not my village, I’ve only been there two or three times, though I don’t remember seeing any nether wart growing there.”
Herobrine muttered something that sounded rude, but Steve couldn’t quite make out what it was. He narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything. They lapsed into a silence as Herobrine lead him through the hallways.
He was starting to think this was real, and it was almost too much for him to wrap his head around. Herobrine, the villain of practically every child’s tale parents used to keep their kids in line, was in front of him, living and breathing and...kind of an asshole, to be honest. He didn’t have to help Steve, not if the whole thing was so damn inconvenient for him. Although Steve supposed he was lucky—if those child’s tales had a lick of truth, Herobrine should have already killed him and eaten his eyes, or something equally horrible. But he seemed civil enough, if not rude as all hell, so Steve would keep an open mind about him.
(But he was still half convinced he was hallucinating the whole experience.)
After not too long they came upon a set of double doors. Herobrine stopped right outside them and gave him a hard look. “Stay here and don’t move.” He walked through the doors before giving Steve a chance to respond.
Huffing, Steve decided now was as good a time as any to take that healing potion. He dug it out of the bundle and downed the whole thing in one go. It had a pleasant watermelon taste and he felt a lot better afterwards. The cut on his arm healed entirely and the cut on his waist was little more than a deep paper cut. His shirt was utterly ruined and he felt weird wearing everything but a chestplate, but there was little he could do about it now.
Herobrine returned after a bit, shoving another bundle into his arms. “Here, some nether wart and a lot of soul sand.”
Steve opened the bundle to look inside. The nether wart was resting on a dark sand, the patterns of which looked more and more like tormented faces the longer he looked. Ill at ease, he closed the bundle and affixed it next to his other one.
“Er—thanks. But how—“
“Just plant the nether wart on the sand like you would any crop on dirt. So easy even you could figure it out.”
Herobrine started walking again, this time back the way they’d come, and Steve glared at his back the whole way but said nothing. Don’t get him wrong, he was glad Herobrine wasn’t actually some sort of murderous psychopath, but the guy could use a few lessons on how not to be a total dickhead.
After what seemed like much too short a walk, Herobrine lead him into the room he’d entered the maze-like hallways from. The fortress was a lot bigger than he’d made it out to be, as he only remembered taking one or two turns from the double doors to here, but he’d been lost in the winding corridors for a while before encountering anything.
Herobrine didn’t pause in the room, instead he climbed the sheer staircase and was waiting at the top for Steve.
“Where’s your portal?”
The walkway in front of them was the one leading back to netherrack, making the portal that direction as well. It wasn’t visible but Steve pointed anyway. “Over that hill.”
Herobrine grabbed his arm and then—
The greatest wave of vertigo he’d ever experienced crashed into him. For a moment the ground dropped out from under him and his lungs felt like they were being squeezed by an iron fist, then everything righted itself in a snap. He gasped and fell to his hands and knees, grimacing as he was nearly sick.
Luckily the feeling of his insides doing somersaults passed quickly, and he stood on shaky legs. Herobrine was glaring at him, arms crossed. “You’re welcome. Don’t come back.”
Between one blink and the next he was gone. Steve startled, looking around, but he was alone.
If not for the obvious signs that everything that had just happened had actually just happened—his missing chestplate, tattered shirt, and extra bundle—he might have been inclined to write the entire experience off as a vivid hallucination. But everything had happened, and that meant...
As he stood in the portal to be transported back to the Overworld, he looked in the direction he knew the fortress to be.
Oh, he was definitely coming back.