Chapter Text
The morning came fast and without issue. The hulking golem was more than capable of keeping the village safe from any threats. The pair slept well in their beds after having to travel so far. The sun rose through the windows and Steve was the first up. Slowly he sat up in bed. He looked at Alex sprawled out on her bed, mouth open, and snoring. The bed was at least a foot or two too small, but she was still passed out.
She really was something else. She was the one making this all possible, if it was just Steve he would have been dead in a day. His body couldn’t keep up with what he wanted to do anymore. When he first appeared maybe, but now it felt like his body was deteriorating.
He smiled. He also had a friend now too. Which was nice when all his other friends were animals. Someone to actually talk to. Steve was happy, and imagining a world with people? That would be truly amazing.
He got up after realizing he was staring a little too much. Quietly he tried to pack his gear, but he couldn’t escape Alex’s awareness.
“You, leaving for something?”
“No, just packing up.”
Alex groaned. “When we get back to the house, can we make a bigger bed?”
Steve quietly laughed. “Of course.” He looked over at her.
She was curled up like a cat, Jagerin in one hand on the ground. “Can you make breakfast?”
“I can see what I can scrunge. You rest.”
Alex wasn’t listening anymore, she was passed out again.
Steve left the house and welcomed the morning air. He toured the village, it was hard to think there was anything else in this world. For the longest time he thought it was just him.
“Good morning Steve.” Angevin greeted him at the town center.
“Good morning Angevin. How are you?”
“The village made it through the night, I couldn’t be happier.”
“I understand the worry, nights are awful.”
“Night’s used to be peaceful, but now after the calamity they are dangerous. They only get more dangerous with each passing day as well.”
“Hard to imagine a peaceful night.”
“Yes, in the long line of Clerics before me and will be after me, we take care of our village protectors.” He motioned a hand to the roaming golem that was covered in monster guts.
“None of you fight?”
“Our people swore off violence ages ago. It was to protect us from the corruption of power that all people seek. So, we have our golem do it for us.” He gave a smile.
“I see, and I'm guessing the place you are sending us with the reclusive people is violent?”
“More than violent.”
Steve sighed at hearing that.
“They toy with the very idea of life and death and play with it like clay. They are dangerous people.” Angevin turned to Steve. “If you are to seek them, know you will not be killed by them, but captured.”
“And played with like clay?”
Angevin nodded somberly. “Others of our kind have been captured, and never seen again.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”
Steve then looked around concerned. “Sorry, Angevin?”
“Yes?”
“I promised I’d make Alex breakfast, can I use some of your crops?”
Angevin Laughed “Of course, our home is your home.”
Alex woke up to the smell of fresh cooked food. Sluggishly she rose from her bed and looked around. Steve was setting up a small table in the center of the room. He was carefully balancing two bowls of food on his arms. Alex helped with the table and Steve set the food down.
“Thank you, here is breakfast.” Steve sat down on the edge of his bed.
Alex smiled, “Thank you.” She looked down at her bowl and didn’t recognize some of the things in it. “What is this?”
“Angevin suggested some of their mutton. Since they just slaughtered some of their sheep.”
“You cooked meat?”
“I cooked it, didn’t kill it, and I don’t know how good it will be.”
Alex took a bite. “Wow, that is really good!”
“Really? Is it good?” Steve took a bite and recoiled.
Alex laughed, mouth full. “Not good?”
“No! Ew, I can taste its life!”
Alex laughed some more and Steve emptied this bowl into Alex’s “Here you take it!”
“Hah! More for me!”
Steve then took out some of his rations and nibbled on the bread.
“So, when are we leaving?”
“After breakfast. I got the map from Angevin earlier.”
“How far is this place?” Alex wolfed down the last of her bowl.
“200 or so kilometers north”
Alex nearly dropped the bowl she was scraping scraps out of. “How are we going to get back?”
“No clue.” Steve deflated into his lap.
There was a silence in the room for a moment.
Alex stood up and slammed the door behind her. She stormed through the town looking for Angevin. Then she saw him outside of his church.
She strode over to the man. Angevin could see the fire in her eyes and sighed.
Alex gripped the man by his collar and lifted him against the wall. She was easily two feet taller than the man and could crush him in her hands, but he did not falter.
“Your anger is misplaced.”
“Don't give me shit about being misplaced! You’re trying to get us killed!” She roared.
Angevin sighed “If you want to make him happy, then go and follow the map.”
Alex’s face twitched with anger. “What aren’t you telling us? Why can’t you tell us how to find our people?”
Angevin’s voice was steady and full of conviction. “Weren’t you paying attention? We lost that knowledge generations ago.”
“Bullshit! Then how do these people know? There are things you aren’t telling us.”
By this time the golem noticed what was going on and was lumbering over. Steve too was making his way over, and a small crowd was forming around them. Alex glanced around and tightened her grip on Jagerin.
“Alex, what the hell are you doing?” Steve yelled over the murmuring of the crowd.
Angevin and Alex locked eyes. Alex let him go and stumbled back. “There is something he isn’t telling us!”
Steve tried to help Angevin up but he stopped him. “I'm fine.” He got to his feet. The golem was now upon them and loomed over with his hulking iron body. Alex reflexively got on the balls of her feet as the golem’s shadow enveloped her. As the golem got ready to strike and Alex readied herself for a fight, Angevin got in their way.
“Stop!” His voice boomed and a silence fell over everything. The golem stepped back. Alex looked down at him. “You’re right!”
Alex stepped back and Steve put a hand on her shoulder. He could feel every fiber tensed and poised for battle. She was like a tightly wound spring.
“Steve?” Angevin’s voice was finally wavering. “You remember how I told you about the corruption of power?”
Steve nodded.
“Follow me.”
Pushing his way past the crowd that packed in like sardines. The three of them made their way down to the underground archive. Angevine scoured the walls of books hastily.
As he did, Steve pulled Alex aside. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Alex averted her eyes from him. Steve then put a hand on her face forcing her to look at him. “I-”
Steve waited.
“Doesn’t it sound a little too convenient that they don't know about our people. But these other ‘reclusive people’ do? 200 kilometers is a little far for them to be reclusive!”
Steve thought of what Angevin told him earlier. Alex did have good reason to not trust them, but to threaten his life and get herself almost killed in the first place? It was extreme to say the least. “I understand, but you can’t be doing stuff like that.”
Alex looked ashamed.
Steve adjusted his tone and relaxed a little. “Alex.”
She perked up.
“We are a team. We are doing this as a team. So, we talk about these things. If you feel the need to do this again. Talk with me.”
Alex softened a little. “Alright. I will.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise. We are a team.”
Steve smiled and looked over Alex’s shoulder to see Angevin with some sort of tome.
“This is what I need to show you.” He sprawled out the tome on a nearby table. He pulled papers from his arms, all of them illustrations of people like Angevin. “This is the only surviving record of the calamity. The reason we don't have anymore is because they were stolen.”
Alex chipped in before Steve could get a chance. “Why didn’t you tell us any of this while we got here?”
“I didn’t feel you were ready for what it implied for both of you.”
This hit them both like a wave. Steve instantly started skimming over the text as Alex looked over the illustrations.
“Your people lived over 1000 years ago in prosperity. With all things in the world. There were no monsters, and our people were there and as close as kinsmen. Until-”
“Him.”
“Yes, the man we know as” He said something unintelligible. “Meaning great destroyer, or as your people came to know him as Herobrine.”
Alex picked up an illustration of what she thought was familiar. “Steve, this is-”
Steve took the illustration from her, then dropped it. “That’s me…”
The paper dropped to the floor as a silence fell on the room. Angevin then took the tome and flipped through it. “He is the reason for the calamity and the increasing number of monsters each night.”
Alex was horrified by what she was hearing. Steve could barely stand.
“All we know is that his power corrupted some of our own. They joined his never ending army for a promise.”
“What was that promise?”
Angevin picked up an illustration of some of the people like him. “Godhood.”
Standing in that archive both Steve and Alex were stunned with disbelief. Angevin was pouring over the surviving record to show the both of them. “Steve, I have no clue why he looks like you, but-” He turned to the last page of the tome. “I do know he was sealed somewhere by some of your people.”
“And your corrupted people know where.”
Angevin nodded.
“If Steve looks like this herobrine guy, then what am I?”
“Ah, You Alex, are a mystery. I knew Steve’s relative relation with the destroyer when I saw him, but you I can’t place.”
“I'm a mystery...”
Steve but in. “This guy looks like me and caused the monsters, but he is sealed somewhere, so we are safe from him.”
“We are safe from him, but not his legion. They grow in power each night. That is why it is important for you to find the corrupted people and find their secrets.”
“How does this lead us to our people?”
“Your people and him are intrinsically linked.”
“Find him, find them.” Alex and Steve said at the same time.
Angevin nodded slowly. “Our corrupted people wish to bring him back. They have secrets that have been lost to the ages. Magic that plays with life and death like a child with sand.” He closed the tome and sighed.
Alex took Steve’s hand and squeezed it. She was terrified and something deep inside her was roaring like an engine. Know what the world could be if this single man came back, gave her a purpose, gave her a goal. To protect Steve and the world that he wants, that engine inside her was screaming out to end the corruption.
Steve winced at Alex’s grip. He could feel her pulse through her hand. He wanted to tell her everything would be alright, but he didn’t know that. This was the reason he stayed on his farm. Alex coming around was a miracle, but was his dream selfish? If it was to endanger the whole world by trying to find people like them. Then who was he to want anything?
“I can understand how you feel about this. It is the reason why I held off on telling you everything. But even if you wanted to go back home, you can’t. The truth is, even without herobrine here the power of his army grows.”
Steve and Alex didn’t know what to think. Their brains were full of uncertainty.
Angevin sighed. This was his fear. He had to hope that his words could get through to them. “At this moment, inaction is death, hesitation is destruction, any action is better than sitting here jaws open.”
Alex could feel it and so could Steve. Angevin was right. Steve thought of the map back in their cabin. He took a stern look up at Alex. “We leave by noon.”
She nodded and the both of them made their way out of the archive. As they exited Angevin smiled. Hopefully soon he wouldn’t have to worry about the looming night anymore. Maybe soon he can enjoy the stars again.