Gateway

The flickering flames of the torches warmed the cheeks that had once been wet with freshly fallen tears, and the magically charged chanting ceased upon the chanters coming to the realization that he had awoken. He hesitantly pushed himself off of the raised block of stone inscribed with magical runes. He scanned the sea of faces for ones that he recognized, but all were foreign.

Tears threatened to fall over as he watched them. Laughter is the best medicine, his father had often told him. He managed to make a broken, hollow-sounding laugh that didn't sound like his own as he swung his feet over to one side of the bed. His fingers, which tightly grasped the edges, were shaking as he tried to recall the warm voices of his parents. He felt like he had seen them only moments before, but was unable to clearly remember what their voices had sounded like.

He continued to fight back the tears.

Slowly, the group all got to their knees and bowed down before them. Only one dared to raise their head; the others kept their eyes glued on the uneven stone floor. “Lord Herobrine,” the enderwoman said. She was nervous yet hopeful, her desperation mixing with an eagerness that was impossible to mix. “You have awoken.”

He didn't understand who these people were, and why they were regarding him so highly. He hesitantly stood up. Wobbling slightly at first, he quickly regained his balance and looked at them all. There was at least thirty people gathered in the small cavern. Why?

He finally found his voice. “Who are you?” The voice that left his voice was deeper than he remembered, and had a certain maturity that it had once lacked. To his shock, he realized that he sounded like an adult.

Memories resurfaced of his mother informing him of what was to happen as his father began to speak the spell; his aging would be slowed as he slept in a deep sleep that only a similar spell could awaken him from. His mother had made it sound like it take a very long time for him to age.

How long had it been?

“We are the Revivers, my lord,” the woman informed him. When he remained silent, she added in a voice laced with fear, “We are your most dedicated worshipers, believing that you have the power to vanish the foe that has ravaged the land.”

He opened a mouth to protest and say that he was only a kid, but then he realized that wasn't true and promptly closed his mouth. He had aged; he no longer had the protection of his childhood. He wasn't sure how many years had passed, but he knew his voice now sounded similar to the Seran males in their early twenties. And, when he thought about it, he suddenly noticed that he now had facial hair.

She nervously watched him. “Do you need a sacrifice, my lord? Any of us would happily-”

“No,” he interrupted.

Horror filled her eyes. “Are you sure? We honestly wouldn't mind, as long as it satisfies your needs.”

He frantically shook his head. “I, uh, don't need sacrifices.”

“Then,” she slowly began, her voice quiet with fear, “what do you need?”

He thought for a second. It was awfully cold in the cavern, and his stomach growled with hunger. “Could I please have a warm meal, a mirror and something to shave with?”

Trying to ignore the pain from the small nicks now littering the lower half of his face, he lifted the spoon to his lips and drank the warm broth. It tasted good, but not as good as his mother's. Across the table from him, the woman watched him with violet eyes as he eagerly finished the soup. Her cloak was still draped over her shoulders and her eyes still had a hardened look to them, but the more normal setting made her seem less threatening. He could almost convince himself that she wasn't the leader of some strange cult that appeared to worship him.

“If you have any questions, my lord, please feel free to ask them. It would be my greatest honor to answer them.”

He put the spoon in the now empty bowl. “How long have I been asleep?” he quietly asked. He had never had any close friends, but some of his classmates might possibly be alive-

“The legends suggest that you have been asleep for at least five thousand years, though I suspect it has been more.” His hands clenched the fabric of his pants as the words set in. It was highly unlikely that any of them had lived that long with the war; if they had, he knew they probably would have tried to awaken him instead of the woman before him.

He blew a strand of hair out of his face, not willing to remove his hands from his legs. “...Earlier you mentioned that you thought I could defeat something...what is it?”

She closed her eyes, and he was surprised to see a tear sliding down her black, scaly cheek. “The Heartless.”

“The Heartless?” he repeated. “Who's the Heartless?”

She shook her head. “Not who. What.”

She proceeded to tell him of the emotionless beings who cruelly murdered the people of Seraphinaty. Their ability to escape death terrified Herobrine, and the thought of the lives lost at their hands made his stomach lurch. He was young and weak. How could he possibly stand a chance against them? Though he had magic on his side, he was only one person.

“Will you help us? We'll do anything. Just name your price and we'll gladly obey, my lord.”

There was a tense moment of silence.

He didn't know these people, and the ones he cared about were long dead. In theory, the Heartless shouldn't have affected him.

But then he saw the desperation on her face, and recalled the hope filling her voice as she had spoken to him. He was the world's only chance.

He would have to play the hero.

“I'll help you.”

Now if only he knew how he would go about doing so.

End Experiment 325

The world was a vast expanse of darkness, filled with hysterical laughter- the origin of which I could not divine. My arms felt like they were filled with static, and they were confined in something tight and uncomfortable. My face also felt squished, and I knew without trying that I couldn't open my mouth more than maybe a centimeter. My legs were curled up in front of me, so that no one could touch them without getting close enough to me for me to do some damage. I heard a door open and close, and then the darkness began to materialize as someone removed the blindfold.

The room around me was white, cushioned with wool to prevent me from harming myself by throwing myself against the iron walls. There was a reason that was in place- I'd done it several times. The janitors were having a hard time cleaning up the bloodstains. I realized that the hysterical laughter was coming from me, and silenced myself to preserve my vocal chords. One of the Heartbroken that had been entrusted with my care stood over me, holding a tray of food- to say that it was deserving of an animal was a long shot. He turned the tray upside-down so it's contents spilled on the floor in front of me, before removing my muzzle. I glanced up into his grey-blue eyes, briefly recalling the first time I'd met them.

I'd wanted to kill him then too.

He left the room before I started eating, I made a show of acting like an animal. I knocked the 'food' everywhere as I ate it, getting it all over my face intentionally. If they thought that I was an animal- they wouldn't begin to suspect that I was planning my escape. My food-bringer had hinted that if I had windows, I could have seen the construction of some impressive battleship. That meant that I was on the edge of a building. He had also been indicitive of a certain wall- so that would be the first wall I'd try to knock down. It would be roughly 3.2 minutes before they got someone here that could incapacitate me, I would have that long to knock down as many walls as it took to get out of here. I flexed my wings experimentally- testing the strength of the bonds of them. I was convinced that I could break them in roughly eight seconds.

They should have been more careful- they'd decided that I didn't inherit the acidic breath of the Ender Dragon. They were wrong- I didn't use it when I was young and uneducated because it hurt. I didn't use it afterwards because as long as I had a trick up my sleeve- I had the upper hand. The only problem was my blindfold.

Which was why I had to act now. I had to do something while I could still see where I was going- before they put my blindfold back. I put all my strength into breaching the restraints on my wings. As soon as I broke them, an alarm went up and the place went into lockdown. I summoned up some strength, then went to the indicated wall and let loose as much acid as I could manage. The wall dissolved before me even better than anticipated, and as soon as it was out of the way I launched myself through it. Upon seeing the outside world- I gasped. The sky was a bright color of blue, covered with splatters of white. Below me gaped a mass of darker blue liquid. The entire world was a little too bright, but bearable all the same for the amount of open air surrounding me.

There would be someone to subjugate me again soon, so I flew away as fast as I was able. I felt like I was being eaten from the inside out from breathing the acid. I went for the solid land instead of the gaping blue expanse ahead of me- it sent chills down my spine for some reason. I flew for a long time, until the light started going out. I landed in a large expanse of wooden pillars topped by green objects no bigger than my finger, but in such large amounts that they blocked out any light there was left. I settled, resting against one of the wooden pillars. I closed my eyes briefly, giving in and letting the exhaustion of the day take over.

***

I woke up to see a pair of green eyes staring at me through the trees, with the early morning light to illuminate them. I held out my hand uncertainly, hoping it was a gesture of peace to whatever species this creature came from. It moved quickly, apparently running away. I sighed, noticing that I was a little big hungry. Meat came from dead animals... Right? So I just needed to kill something to eat. I listened for something to eat- I heard something in the distance. It almost sounded like a Moooo. I headed in the direction of the noise- finding some sort of herbivore. It was easily to dispose of- a quick stone to the head and it was done. But... What was I supposed to do with the meat? I wasn't sure I should eat it raw.

But... What was cooked? I heard laughing off in the distance, I followed it to some sort of camp. A bunch of people were gathered around a red fluttery thing, holding meat over it. They were feeding it wood to keep it going, and they had some sort of tool nearby that I didn't know the function of, it must be the tool used to make the red fluttery thing. I tried to sneak in when their backs were turned, but things never really turn out as I plan. They saw me run away with their tool.

I ran until I found a decent clearing before collecting some wood and trying to figure out how the tool worked. I put the wood in a pile and tried banging the two pieces of the tool together. It didn't really work well, I tried banging them different ways, and eventually I made a spark. I put the meat on a long stick and held it over the fluttery red thing, feeling the heat of it. It felt wonderful.

The green eyes showed up again just as I felt it was time to try this cooked meat. I tilted my head at them, taking a piece of meat off the stick I was using to cook it and tossing it over the fire, towards the eyes. I didn't want to scare it off by having the meat too close to me. The green eyes came closer, showing up in the firelight. It was a small creature that walked on four legs. It seemed predatory, but skittish. It was somewhat yellow with brown spots. It took the meat, and didn't run away right away.

I looked at it over the fire, observing it. It was wild- like no Seran, Heartless, or Other humanoid had ever tarnished it. It had a rugged beauty, a predatory, haunted beauty. I respected that- probably because I related with it. We were both wild creatures- both somewhat destructive in nature. But I thought there was something to be said for both of us- besides that we were monsters, because we weren't. I offered it another piece of meat, slightly closer this time. It came, seemingly observing me just as much as I was observing it.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I said softly. It dashed off, but something told me it would be back.

I began eating a little bit, the taste of proper food seemed to bring this whole situation to life. I started laughing and crying at the same time.

"I'm free." I muttered quietly, laughing all the more. "I'm FREE!!" I yelled into the nothingness.

K awoke in his bed chamber.

Well, it wasn't really his. This was a community bed chamber, with matresses for for every Heartbroken in the Worship camp. It was the only room that wasn't dedicated to the Heartless.

He turned his head to his Grandniece, Elytra, and smiled. Careful not to wake her, he rose quietly and stepped outside.

It was a cold morning, but K had a robe on which provided warmth. He made a beeline for the prayer circle forming. He joined in the five Heartbroken's prayers, but stopped when he heard what sounded like an explosion.

The group all stopped silent and turned to the bed chambers. There was a huge hole in the roof. As they watched, a second piece of TNT flew through the hole and blew up the entire right half of the building.

"Elytra!" K screamed and ran towards the bed chambers. The rest of the group stood in place, but in seconds a rain of arrows was upon them.

K just had evaded the arrows, but the rest of the circle was shot and killed right there. K ran blindly towards the building as explosions detonated the camp around him.

He made it to the doorway just as Elytra came sprinting out, terror on her face. Silently, K turned and ran, with the intentions of Elytra following. They had gotten to the edge of the camp, which rested on a cliff. A valley loomed hundreds of meters below.

K pulled out a pair of purple wings and put them on Elytra. "Fly, my dear. Please, for me."

"But K, what'll you do!?"

"Hurry! I'll find a way to catch-" K looked down to see a sword in his stomach. Turning around, a Heartless stood behind him. He fell to his knees.

"K!" Elytra screamed.

He smiled faintly. "Fly, Elytra."

And he pushed her off the cliff.

There was something ramming into the side of his body. As he became more and more awake, the feeling became all the more noticeable. “Go away, Dawn,” he muttered. He absentmindedly shooed the cat away; he was tired from playing Minecraft all night and was in desperate need of sleep.

A startled, high-pitch cry suddenly filled the air. Sitting up with a start, he glanced wildly around. He was in a forest – why was he in a forest? The last thing he remembered was his head hitting his pillow. Was he kidnapped by someone? That would explain the odd feeling he was experiencing. It could be a side effect of some sort of drug they used to keep him asleep.

His gaze eventually settled on a small, green blob of goo.

It stared at him with wide brown eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that it had just blinked, he would have been able to convince himself that he was just staring at a very, very strange toy.

He screamed.

He then proceeded to scream even louder when he realized his scream sounded far different than his own. He frantically looked himself over. His skin was a different shade, and his hands looked like they belonged to someone far older than him. Besides being the wrong style and length, his hair had become blond. He was dressed in a strange green outfit. The final, shocking blow came when he noticed that he was able to see perfectly without wearing his glasses.

The blob opened its tiny mouth and said, voice trembling, “You're not a Seran.”

He stopped screaming. “Seran?” he nervously asked. He regarded the blob with a wary eye. There was a sword at his side, and he felt slightly reassured as he placed his hand on its hilt.

Its body rocked back and forth. Was that supposed to be a nod? “Your clothing is different, and you screamed when you saw me...” It stared down at the ground. “I'm too small to be intimidating...” But then it looked back up at him and hopped back. “You're a Heartless!”

“Heartless?” he repeated, bewildered.

The blob shook. “How could you not know what you are?” It flinched as he moved into a more comfortable sitting position, moving the sword from his side to his lap. “Please don't hurt me!” the blob cried out when it noticed the sword, tightly closing its eyes.

He looked down at the sheathed blade. After a moment of hesitation, he moved the sword behind him and gave the blob a warm smile. “I promise I won't hurt you.”

It slowly opened one eye. “Really?”

He nodded. “Really.” Taking a deep breath, he added, “Can you please explain some things to me? I have no idea how I got here. I don't even know where here is.”

The blob made a gulping noise, despite lacking a throat. As it began to speak, he realized something – how was the blob able to speak and think? He couldn't see a brain. “...What do you need me to tell you?”

“Could you tell me where we are, what a Seran is, what a Heartless is, and what you are?”

He listened with horrid fascination as the blob went on to describe how the Heartless had mercilessly destroyed the lives of so many; he was starting to understand what had happened to him. When the blob finished by saying it was a slime, he was faced with a truth that he desperately wanted to deny.

He was in Minecraft.

He couldn't prevent his tears from falling.

When he finally stopped sobbing, he got to his feet. The slime nervously watched him as he attached the sword to his belt. He knew his house was near here – that was the first place that he should go to. Then he could try to find other people and figure out how he ended up in a video game.

He wiped the last few tears from his eyes. He was scared, but he was also strangely thrilled. Childhood dreams of adventures through faraway, magical lands were beginning to resurface, and he decided to not push them back down. Thinking of this as an adventure he had always wished for made it easier to cope with reality.

It was disorientating being on his feet. His new body was taller than his old one, and the slightly new perspective completely threw him off. When he finally adjusted to his new height, his gaze returned to the slime.

They stared at each other.

Though he had just stood up, he crouched down so he was closer to its height. “What's your name?” he quietly asked it. When it remained silent and its eyes were still full of fear, he added, “My name is Levi Novelo.”

It muttered something.

“I couldn't hear you.”

It looked away. “...I don't have one...”

Confused, he questioned, “How can you not have a name?”

“...A Heartless killed my parents when I was little. I've been on my own since then. I had a name once, but I don't remember it...” Was the slime crying? Levi couldn't tell. What he did know was that he was talking with someone who had been alone for a very long time, and in that moment, he came to a decision.

“I can give you a name,” he offered.

It regarded him with suspicion. “You're a Heartless. Why would you do that?”

“Because a name is a part of who you are, and you're missing a part of yourself right now.”

It finally leaned back and forth. “Alright,” it agreed. “You can give me a name. But I'm not necessarily going to take it.”

He thought for a minute. “What gender do you identify with?”

“Male.”

“Okay...” After thinking a little longer, he suggested, “How about Jerry Slimer the Second? Or Second for short?”

The slime looked at him with disbelief. Then, after a moment of hesitation, muttered, “I guess that works.”

He looked down the pathway he was standing on; he knew that if he followed it, he would end up in front of his house. “Do you have a place to go, Second?”

“No. Why?”

He gave him a warm smile. “Because if you want to, you can come with me to my house.”

Second stared at him with wide, confused eyes. “Heartless have homes?”

He nodded. “We do...So, um, what do you say?”

When he arrived at his house several minutes later, it was in the company of his new friend.

Washi

Washi awoke in a cage, surrounded by villagers. Well, this should certainly get interesting... She thought as she sat up. The chanting that was in the room ceased as she got up. Washi touched the bars of the cage, "oh this won't do at all," she muttered as she turned into wind and re-solidified on the other side. The villagers took a step back and lowered their eyes, except for one who bowed slightly. "Care to tell me who you are?" She narrowed her eyes at the one who bowed.

"W-we are the Revivers." The girl said as she hesitantly lifted back up her head. "We are your worshipers, you have the power to save us from the horror that has taken over the land..."

Washi's eyes widened "Wha? Horror, how long have I been out? Suji just said it be for a couple of years!" She felt the back of her head, finding that her once extremely short hair was in fact dragging the ground. "Eh, then again Suji has never told the truth in her whole life." She turned back to the villagers who had woken her up, "thank you for doing this for me, but good bye." She said briskly running out the tunnel to the uppermost levels of the lab.

Washi came upon a dead end, with no way out except a trap door on the ceiling. She searched for a lever of some sort, having come up with none, she swiftly kicked open the trap door to reveal sunlight on the other side. She dissolved into winds and re-appeared once again on the other side. "Good to be out again... I wonder if the cave is still here." She muttered to herself as she started off into the direction of the ancient cave system deep in the woods.


A couple feet away from the cave, Washi stopped and peered into the clearing, surprised to see that there was a house, a house seemingly occupied. She narrowed her eyes and shifted into winds just as someone with pure white eyes who appeared to be in his early twenty's walked out. "Now what do we have here?" She muttered to herself as she gazed at them. "Who are you?" She called out to him as she debated whether or not that was a smart decision.

Mystletainn

His fist broke through the wood of the tree, leaving a solid gap of space in between. The man drew his hand back, letting it collapse to his side. He sat back on the grass, watching the single block of wood float and turn within the trunk.

The soil felt rigid beneath his hands, geometric, brown and impenetrable. He sat there listless, with eyes as dull as the tree and world around him. The clouds drafted above, animating themselves across the night sky. And from somewhere, somehow, he thought he could hear the playing of a music box.

He was vaguely aware of time moving, of the sun passing deep through the clouds. He felt the light rise into the forest, and knew that another night had ended at last.

The man sat up, feeling his hands slip through the rotten flesh surrounding him. It littered the earth, bones and eyes rolling a death tally of the night’s creatures. Their broken corpses lay around him, disintegrating in the sunlight. Between them all were woven countless flowers, veins of roots twisting through the corpses and blooming petunias in the skull sockets.

He stretched his hand out towards a rose, feeling it shine and caress into his palm. His finger tapped the petals slightly, counting each one in gentle rhythm. Past all else, there was one thing that Mystletainn would hold onto.

His flowered hand tensed as he heard rustling behind him. Quickly, his arms flew out, the bones sweeping into his hands like dark magnets. Without a word, Mystletainn vanished into the trees.

“...telling you, that thing had wings,” the Seran said, pushing through the bushes. “It looked like a giant bat or something! And it went this way. Come on!”

“You sure, Altas?” Another Seran ambled into the clearing, his eyes squinting against the sunlight. “If it was in a hurry, it would have left tracks, and I don’t see a thing.”

“He probably just didn’t want to admit he lost our flint and steel,” a girl said, wrinkling her nose as she saw the vines decaying from the trees. “Seriously, Altas, we can make another one.”

“Oh, come on!” Altas turned around, his thick eyebrows set in a scowl. “When I suggested we come out here to the woods, it wasn’t for campfire songs and flowers. Guys,” he said, lowering his voice, “what I saw was nothing Seraphinity has ever seen before. What if it’s an Ancient One?”

The girl turned pale. “Don’t talk like that. We both know the Ancient Ones aren’t around anymore. And even if they were, what business would they have stealing our tools?”

“That’s what I’m going to find out,” Altas replied triumphantly, turning and marching across the clearing.

“Altas!” the girl called out, then groaned. “Dorian, what do you think. Should we go?”

Dorian was observing the vines on the trees, feeling the healthy emerald cords in his hand. “I suppose we might as well continue. Real or fake, it never hurts to learn the truth.” He walked past the girl, clapping her on the shoulder. “Cheer up, Mea. With any luck, he’ll make it three feet before-”

“Achoo!” Altas sneezed wildly, his nose quivering. Sniffling against the sudden flood in his nostrils, he bucked three times, sneezing again in quick succession.

“Ah, right.” Mea folded her arms in amusement, noticing the multicolored flowers that dotted the clearing. “Mr. Adventurer has a pollen allergy.”

“Achroagh!” Altas practically flipped over backwards, stumbling and tripping on the roots. His long nose flopped with snot, his eyes already burning red and crying. “Blaugh,” he moaned, reaching out for fresh air like a congested zombie. And Dorian and Mea stood together at the edge of the clearing, watching their friend roll in floral torture.

“Should we help him?”

“Nah. He needs this.”

Dorian smiled at Mea, trying to resist pulling her closer to him. Standing there in the forest before a curtain of vines, a floating tree, a field of flowers and an allergic villager, it was as close to paradise as Seraphinity could be.

Dorian frowned. “A...floating tree?” He walked over past Altas, who was jackknifing acrobatically on the ground to Mea’s delight.

He ran a hand over the trunk, feeling the rings where the wood had sliced away. “There are no cuts, no claw marks, it just...broke.” Dorian turned back towards Altas, worrying. “Could it really have been an Ancient One? Or…”

Something twinged in Dorian’s mind, and his eyes flashed to the ground. Planted in the earth beside him was an oak sapling, barely a foot tall.

“That wasn’t there before, was it? I, I don’t get it.” Drying his temple, the villager turned back to the clearing.

Mea was enjoying the show, oblivious to the vines that descended behind her. Altas got tangled in the roots and tripped, landing at the edge of the field. His eyes cleared just in time for him to see the skull, with petunias blooming where the eyes should be.

“Mea!” Dorian reached out for her just as the vines tightened around her neck, and the girl flew off of her feet into the trees.

“Shit!” The Seran dashed towards the curtain, breaking away from the tree just as the sapling began to sparkle beneath him.

Wood and leaves erupted from the ground, impaling Dorian’s limbs and dragging him upwards. Dorian screamed as the green sawblades filled his mouth, cutting off his air. As blood dripped to the base of the trunk, a man dropped softly to the ground. With dull eyes, he raised a hand that glowed with moonlight, placing it against the tree. The wood stretched upwards, leaves sprouting rapidly, branches bending, limbs twisting violently until one sickening crack was heard.

A shower of blood washed down from the leaves, splattering the flowers as it fell. As it did, Mystletainn leaned his head back and exhaled.

[That was a little scary]
[For a second I was sure that you’d see me]

He turned to look at Altas, who was struggling to his feet.

[Looks like everything turned out okay though]
[Yay for me]

“You!” Altas shouted, eyes wide and bloodshot. “Who are you?”

Mystletainn cocked his head.

[Who am I?]

He moved forward, step by step across the grass towards Altas. Where he walked, flowers sprung up beneath him. They bloomed and thrived in his path, a verdant, dreamlike trail as he walked across the clearing. Mystletainn approached the Seran boy, a sea of flowers in his wake.

[I'm a player]

“You’re that Heartless,” Altas gasped, stumbling backwards. “The...ocean of trees…”
Mystletainn turned around, hearing something drop behind him. Mea’s body had been released by the vines, her face damp, blue and lifeless as her strangled throat. The vines now dropped limp, swaying harmlessly in the breeze.

Turning back, Mystletainn nodded in confirmation.

[Apparently that’s what they call me]

Altas jumped back; his brain ran cold as his back hit a wall of trees that penned him into the clearing. Mystletainn dropped his arm to his side, a silver farmer’s hoe sliding into his hand.

[you said something about an Ancient One]

He raised his hoe.

[Tell me]

Altas gritted his teeth. “No way. No matter how many people you monsters take, I’m not going to stop believing!”

The Seran grimaced, shutting his eyes. “You...you can kill me here. But once the Ancient Ones return, then we’ll-”

He was cut off by Mystletainn’s hoe hitting the side of his head, knocking him down. The Heartless stood over him, eyes cold and remorseless.

Altas grunted as the edge of the hoe slammed into his back. “You…will never win!”

[Tell me]

“The Ancient Ones will save us...you’ll see!”

[Tell me tell me tell me]

The hoe flew down continuously and reaped fountains of dark color, the screams becoming warped, visceral gurgling. Eventually, Mystletainn staggered backward and collapsed on himself. One green hand clutched his face, his eye twitching in dulled agony.

[Monsters need to die]
[You all need to die]

Furious, he began striking out with his hoe, slicing the earth awry in perfect, perfect cubes of destruction. He screamed, letting terabytes of sound dissipate into pixelated air. Heaving, he dropped his shoulders, glaring at the Seran that lay in front of him.

[I’ll save this world]
{Save it from you}


Altas screamed to the world, tears in his eyes. “Herobrine!”

The Heartless rushed forward, his hoe tilling the earth and spilling blood onto the grass. When it was done, Mystletainn leaned back against the crimson tree and sighed. Raising his hand, he began counting the bloodstains. Four in total; one for each finger. His thumb was still green, though.

He smiled, leaning back and drowning himself in the sensations of Minecraft. Past all else, there was one thing Mystletainn would hold onto.

No matter what, Mystletainn was still human.

Despite still trying to digest everything that he had been told, and everything that had happened to him, he had quickly – and foolishly – informed his cult that he was going to head out into the world. He wanted to see things for himself. At the time, it had seemed like a very smart idea. He had thought that it would be a major relief to feel the sun upon his skin again, and that he would revel in every second of his freedom.

But now, alone in a place he did not recognize, he felt absolutely terrified.

The trees loomed over him, and the path he was walking on winded into the unknown. An eerie mist licked his feet as he continued on. He should have asked for a map, but all that he had on him was a meager loaf of bread and a bag of emeralds that he could apparently use for trading.

“Who are you?” a voice piped up from behind him.

He screamed and jumped up in surprise.

When his initial fear disappeared, though only slightly, he managed to muster the courage to turn around and see who had spoken. The speaker was a Seran girl who appeared to be in her early to middle teens.

“I-I'm Herobrine,” he stammered.

She watched him with a pair of piercing red eyes; he felt incredibly uncomfortable being the focus of her attention. “I'm Washi,” she introduced herself. She offered him her hand.

He nervously shook it.

“I'm supposed to-” No, that didn't sound right. It was his own decision to help rid Seraphinity of the Heartless threat. “I'm going to stop the Heartless,” he finally said. “C-Can you help me by giving me some information?”

The girl shook her head. “I don't know who the Heartless are. I was put into a deep slumber for many years.”

“So you're like me!” he exclaimed, overcome by a sudden joy. He wasn't the only one who felt out of place; this girl before him was in the same situation that he was.

He told her what he had been told upon waking up, keeping an eye on her expression the entire time. It revealed nothing about her thoughts. He was flooded with relief when she volunteered to come with him – she wanted to understand what the world had changed into just as much as he did.

They decided to continue following the pathway. The Revivers had told him that it had appeared practically overnight. They believed that only a Heartless could be responsible for it. He was filled with apprehension as they approached a house. It was a simple house, made of dark oak and spruce wood.

“I'm going to try finding others like me,” a man said from inside. “Do you want to come with me?”

There was a long silence.

“...I'll come with you...” a boy answered, his voice hesitant. “But I'm just coming because I'm interested in seeing what happens-Hey! What are you doing?!”

“...You're small.”

“That's not an answer! Put me down, damn it!”

“...I bet you could balance on top of my head.”

“You are not testing that theory!”

The door suddenly swung open, and a man walked out. He was dressed in a strange green outfit, a sword at his side and a rucksack on his back. What caught Herobrine's attention was the slime balanced precariously on the top of his head. “H-hi,” Herobrine managed to get out. He guessed this odd man was a Heartless.

The man stared at him and Washi.

With a startled cry, he rushed back inside and slammed the door behind him. Herobrine listened with confusion as he heard pieces of furniture being pushed up against the door. “What are you doing?” the slime demanded.

“I'm stopping Herobrine from getting in!”

End Experiment 325

I woke up the next morning to find that not ten feet from me there was a trail- which had definitely not been there the day before. I swallowed a lump in my throat- something had been through here and I hadn't even woken up. Shame on me. I got to my feet and stretched, accidentally hitting my wings on a tree, startling a bird that had been singing only moments before. I sighed- even if I was free, I wasn't going to be normal. That would have to be okay- since there was nothing I could do about it.

I decided to see where the trail went; if anyone came up I could quickly disappear into the brush- I reasoned. I twitched my tail restlessly as I walked; following the trail-that-hadn't-been-there. There was more bounce in my steps- as if just being out here was giving me energy. I twirled in the air, letting my wings fan out behind me as I broke into a joyous jog. I came across a house near the trail, with beings outside it, and inside, I presumed from the statement "I'm stopping Herobrine from getting in!". I hid behind a tree, observing the scene. I'd heard about Herobrine from fearful whispers, and I'd once been told a story about him- right before they killed the Seran that told it. There was what looked like a grown man and a small child waiting outside the house. The child looked around. "What's that?" She said, pointing at me. I jumped- realizing that my wings were bigger than the tree trunk.

I had to get out of here before one of them attacked me- or worse- made eye contact with me. I backed up a few steps quickly- trying to figure out what to do from here. Something was in the way of my foot and I tripped on it and fell backwards. It wouldn't have been a bad fall, but I landed on my tail wrong, and that was very painful. I grunted- biting my tongue. I hoisted myself to my feet, knowing they were watching me. I was probably some freak to them. I then looked everywhere but at them. "Can you please try not to make eye contact with me? The outcome will not be pleasant for any of us." I shifted my weight between my feet awkwardly- wondering why I wasn't currently running away.

"Is that a Heartless in there?" I asked, wondering if it was anyone I'd seen before. I wondered if all Heartless were like the ones I knew- or if there were those with a healthy dose of kindness, compassion, or empathy. "If he calls himself a doctor- don't trust him." That was the only advice I could think to give them on the matter.

Washi

Washi shook her head and looked away as the Heartless slammed the door. She glanced over to the side and saw a Seran girl with Ender Dragon wings. "What's that?" She asked quietly, pointing.

The hybrid backed up a couple of steps and tripped over something. Washi moved to help her, but stopped as she pulled herself up again. "Can you please try not to make eye contact with me? The outcome will not be pleasant for any of us." The Seran/ Ender Dragon girl said, shifting.

Washi nodded and looked away, wondering what would happen if she looked her in the eye.

"Is that a Heartless in there? If he calls himself a doctor- don't trust him." The hybrid girl said.

Washi nodded and turned her attention back to the house "hello? We're not going to harm you. At least, not if you don't try to harm us." She said and stepped towards the door.

When he finished moving the last piece of furniture in front of the door, he gave a relieved sigh. He doubted that Herobrine could get in now; if he did, Levi had no idea what he was going to do next.

Second hopped up onto the table next to the window and peered out at the group assembled in front of the house. “Herobrine?” he questioned in disbelief. “You seriously think that guy is Herobrine?”

He nodded, holding his sword's sheath close to his chest. It made him feel slightly more protected, though in actuality it didn't help him in the slightest. “He has to be! Didn't you see his eyes?”

“He could be a Heartless like you,” Second argued. “I've seen plenty of Heartless with his eyes before.” The slime jumped off the table and hopped over to him. “Besides, Herobrine's an Ancient One. He's supposed to be asleep.”

“Ancient One?”

Second stared up at him. “You don't know what an Ancient One is?”

Levi nodded.

The slime sighed. “The Ancient Ones were a group of magical beings. There was a terrible war eons ago that wiped the majority of them out. The rest of them, like Herobrine,” Here Second glanced at the window. “were put into a deep sleep. With the threat of Heartless, the people of this world have started to turn to them. The people who worship them are called Revivers-”

Someone suddenly tapped on the window. A pair of pupiless eyes looked into the cabin, and their owner had a shy smile on his face.

Levi paled.

“I was going to say something about how you should probably block the windows if you were so determined not to let Herobrine, but then you asked me about the Ancients Ones,” Second informed him.

The human rushed to unsheathe his sword. It shook in his hands as he approached the window. Upon noticing the weapon, Herobrine raised his hands up above his head. Levi took a deep breath as he opened the window. There was two ways that he could go about dealing with this situation. He could either beg for his life, or pretend to not be as terrified as he was.

He decided to go with the latter option.

He hardened his gaze into a glare. “My name is Link, and I'm a hero who has traversed many lands. If you try anything funny, I won't hesitate to stab you with this sword.”

“Your name is Levi,” Second piped up. “And I've never met someone who was less likely to be a hero. You're a coward and a crybaby.”

He glanced back at Second. “I'm Link, and I'm a terrifying hero,” he slowly said.

“No, I'm pretty sure your name is Levi.”

Levi groaned and turned back to Herobrine. “Ignore-”

“Also, Mr. Hero, you would look a bit more convincing if your hands weren't shaking.”

Herobrine nervously cleared his throat. “Um, I'm not going to hurt you or anything like that. We just wanted to talk to you.”

Levi kept the sword raised. “About what?”

“...About the Heartless. You're a Heartless, right?”

Realizing that it would be stupid to deny the accusation, he reluctantly nodded. “I am. Is there anything else you want to talk to me about?”

The Ancient One thought for a moment. He glanced back at the two others standing in front of the house before his gaze returned to the player. “You're not a doctor, are you?”

“No...” He peeked out at the two of them. “Is someone hurt? I'm not a doctor, but maybe I could help?”

Herobrine shook his head. “Someone I'm with doesn't like Heartless doctors.”

He took a deep breath. “Do you want me to come out?”

The Ancient One nodded. “Oh, my name is Herobrine!” he said.

“My name is Levi Novelo,” the player admitted.

Mystletainn

The trail was easy to follow. A trampled flower on the ground, a block of busted foliage at head height, clearly where someone had crudely forged through. Mystletainn overlaid it all in a wake of flowers.

He wasn’t exactly sure how he’d started leaving them behind. Maybe there was just so much bone meal on his body that the earth sapped it up and grew healthy. It was an even trade for the bloody trench his hoe made as he dragged it through the forest. Mystletainn hacked through a tall piece of grass, pocketing the seeds nonchalantly.

He had little idea what the Ancient Ones really were, but he’d garnered enough from the terrified prayers: that they were beings of unimaginable strength, once rulers of the world but cast into deep sleep long ago. And the same name, recurring over and over: Herobrine, the monster that hid in human skin.

Mystletainn never got cold, and shouldn’t have been able to shiver. He stared up towards the sun, squinting at the midday.

[Good thing the boss monsters are all asleep], he decided, carefully placing a sapling in the ground.

[But I’ll kill them too, when I get stronger]

Green light spiralled from his right hand, striking the sapling and launching him upwards on the branches of a spruce tree. He sprang off of it, flying from tree to tree in exhilarating parkour. Swiping his hoe downwards, he carved through the leaves and plunged onto the forest floor, rolling to his feet.

The Heartless exhaled, rose and drew behind a tree. Focus, now. He’d just heard a shout coming from this direction. But the noises fell to a hush, as if the threat had ended. Pulling out a piece of bread, he ate it messily and continued.

A cottage sat in a broad clearing, wooden and well-tended. Mystletainn made note of a small garden attached to the side. More interesting than that, though, was the group of people gathered outside one window. The girl standing at the back had folded to her sides large, batlike wings reinforced with white spikes. Mystletainn smirked when he saw that she was holding a flint and steel, likely taken from the unlucky adventurers.

Next to the thief was a girl in a white dress, who couldn’t help but notice said flint and steel uncomfortably. Mystletainn shared the anxiety, but something about the girl also unsettled him. There was a weight to her being that seemed to bend the data around her; Mystletainn felt his movements frost to a halt. What were they doing? What were they...what were they at all?

The man closest to the window was dressed in a black cloak, his arms folded as he spoke through the glass. Drawing closer, Mystletainn could make out the person he was speaking to: someone with eyes as pixelled and unchanging as his.

[Another player?]

Mystletainn exploded with glee, breaking his stride and full-out running towards the house and Heartless. The bat-winged and strange girl turned their heads towards him, but he didn’t care. The herbalist waved his arm wildly, a paradise of flowers blooming behind him.

[Hey, hey! My name’s Mystletainn, nice to meet y-]

“Levi Novelo? We’re not going to hurt you. You seem to know who I am, but I’ll tell you in good confidence: Yes, my name is Herobrine.”

The change was instantaneous. Mystletainn’s hoe slashed against the ground, ripping up a river of branches that spiralled towards the house. The monster turned from the window just as a wooden hammer smashed into his shoulder, knocking him back.

[Herobrine Herobrine Herobrine]

Mystletainn blitzed towards him and swung his hand in a vicious arc; the branch sprouted another appendage that slammed into Herobrine’s leg, crumpling him forward. The iron hoe snaked upwards and sliced blood up Herobrine’s chin, and the Ancient One toppled backwards. The Heartless in the window looked in shock, but Mystletainn no longer paid him any attention, advancing without a sound.

[Herobrine Herobrine Herobrine]

The cloaked man sputtered on the ground. “Wha- who are you?”

Mystletainn’s hoe dragged on the ground, wreathing the earth with blood-red roses. His eyes pixellated and unchanging, he raised his tool.

[You’re the Ancient One]

Herobrine’s eyes widened. “Another Heart-” He had to cut his sentence short, rolling as Mystletainn violently reaped the soil that would have been his head. Herobrine jumped back and staggered as the Heartless uprooted his farming tool, placing it on his shoulder.

[You can tell who I am, can you?]

Mystletainn walked around the Ancient, who had to turn his head to follow him. Staring into his empty eyes, Mystletainn brushed away the tails of fear, petunias growing in aggressive shades around him.

[I’m Mystletainn, a human. And you’re Herobrine.]

His grip on the hoe shook, a distinct emotion permeating his character: monstrous, childlike rage.

[And you’re going to die.]