Hero's Might: Previews

It's OFFICIALLY my ANNIVERSARY for Hero's Bane and I am super excited about it and all of the support you guys have given me over the year, you pushed me from writer's block and motivated me to write through the thick and thin. You even gave me some kind of light when my life took a turn into a dark pit of despair. I was still writing this when my grandpa died back in January, he was like my second father when my parents split for 7 years, so sitting with him at the hospital for almost a week only to watch him waste away was just utterly depressing. He raised me with my sisters until my parents got back together. Losing him was tough. It was even tougher when my baby cousin Zander died shortly after from heart failure. … Yet… I still continued to write on my story during those tragic times because Hero's Bane seemed to be the only thing to keep my mind from my losses. I can't believe that I am still working with it after a full year, nevertheless; I am glad. And I am glad you are still enjoying that story.

A/N: So, sorry if I didn't post this as an update to my chapter 60 or post 61(because it's nowhere near done) but after contemplating it- I just didn't think it would be right to clutter my last chapter with such a long page(s) of an A/N. It's long enough as it is so I decided to just post it as a new story, but this is rather 'pieces' of a story.

These are excerpts in the upcoming sequel; which is actually still a while away, and they are NOT in order. There's a reason for that but you don't need to know. Besides, I haven't started writing on the sequel so I am just taking parts that I have fully chosen to take place and I wrote them down. There are some excerpts that will have no names because it wouldn't be fun to let you know who's speaking and who they are speaking to, but on some I'll let you have the speakers. Also, some of these paragraphs are subject to small changes or add-ons when I actually get to them. For now… Read and Enjoy! ;D

Quick Note: Rick hates his name so he goes by the name of Archer.

…

"This is your fault." The blonde archer muttered lowly from behind the bars with his emerald orbs gazing intently through his prison cell to the cell right in front of him, just six blocks across of his. His eyes narrowed as the figure sitting on the ground only brought their knees up to their chest and sat in silence. "I thought you said he was a 'good' guy? I should have known he wasn't, all the legends say his isn't anything but a monster but I still listened to you. Big mistake, now we are all going to die in this horrible place because of you."

"How was I supposed to know that- that he-." Steve stopped as the guilt built back up, he lowered his head onto his knees and stared blankly at the stone brick wall. In truth, it was his fault. Everything happened because of him. The miner could clearly tell that his friend was not only enraged but distraught from the whole mess that just happened, the man's tone and rigid posture also made it clear. The archer was pretty much powerless to the many copies of Herobrine attacking him and all of the people, he was skilled with a bow better than anyone Steve had ever met other than Luna but even with his natural talent for hitting his targets with precision he could never hit the original Herobrine nor find him. He wouldn't have done much damage anyways.

Him, the archer, and everybody else was just lucky that Herobrine had stopped his merciless attacks and listened to his pleas to spare everyone in the fortress, it was shocking enough that no one was killed during the being's rampancy. The White-Eyed man had actually listened after days of bad confrontations and fights and had taken them all prisoner instead of killing them, he guess that he himself was lucky too to still be alive in spite of everything that had happened already. Herobrine just seemed hesitant and lenient only when the miner himself was struggling to cling to life. As to why? He wasn't sure. Otherwise, Herobrine treated him like he would to any other human.

"Well?!" He suddenly moved off of the dusty wooden stool and stood up before walking to the end of his cage and grabbing a hold of the bars, he shook his head back and forth in disbelief as he stared at the miner. "Say something."

"I didn't know that he wouldn't… remember me." Steve said quietly.

"Am I supposed to believe that you were friends with him before?! It's starting to sound like a big lie just to get some attention around here if you ask me! That's the story that got me to move into this Notch forsaken land to begin with. One of my long ago; childhood friends just happened to become friends with the Legendary Herobrine. But I came here and Herobrine had-"

"Rick stop it." Leanne moved up from behind and grabbed the man's red long coat and pulled at it to get his attention. "He didn't know that this would happen. I mean look at him?" She gestured the motionless miner sitting in the corner of his cell. "He's clearly not lying, I can tell by the tone of his voice and the troubling expression on his face. Steve you aren't lying are you?" She asked for reassurance in his defense.

The miner sighed but hardly did anything else in his spot. "He was my friend once, you should know most of the story from there since I've already told you, but when I went looking for him for again and when I finally found him… he just wasn't the same."

"So that's why you always came back to the stronghold all ragged and exhausted? Or at least for the past few nights right?"

The man lightly nodded. "Yeah, it was because I was fighting with him and trying to get him to remember who I was but he just couldn't. He nearly killed me a couple times during those skirmishes, but I didn't want to tell you guys that he was practically back to his old self. I was afraid for your reactions."

"Yeah, you were so afraid for our reactions that you didn't care for the safety of our lives!" Rick sneered and squeezed the bars tightly.

Steve turned his head with concern written on his face. "I did care … I-"

"I'm not buying it Steve!" The blonde interrupted with a low growl. "If you 'really' cared about us; your 'friends' then you would have told us that Herobrine the 'White-Eyed Terror' and not the 'Friendly Immortal' was running around with the desire to kill each and every one of us! Just look at where we are now?!"

"I just wanted to get him to remember so that he could return to the stronghold like I have wanted to for the past two years and help him place trust in our kind again."

"Well you apparently couldn't." Rick released the bars and folded his arms. "Getting many people to move into this cursed land without having a 'friendly' demon was the worst decision you could have ever made."

"Cut it out. He tried to fix things at least!" The blonde woman placed a hand on her brother's shoulder again and tried to get him to face her but he wouldn't budge.

Rick then shrugged Leanne off with haste and shot a glare of his own to his sister. "Sis, do you not realize the situation we are in? Herobrine is going to kill us all now!"

"You're right Archer. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." He said earnestly looking at his distraught friends. Steve closed his eyes for a brief moment and faced the wall again. "What a failure I turned out to be right Notch?" Steve whispered to himself and opened his blue eyes, he waited in silence for some kind of sign but he got nothing like he expected.

"I don't think you're a failure." Leanne stepped up to edge of her cell and looked through the bars with worrisome emerald eyes. She felt so bad for the miner but she didn't want a once upbeat and determined guy to become so regretful and blameworthy. He was actually really lucky… if he looked close enough. "It's alright. You should be so happy that you had finally found him Steve. So many days and nights you invested in finding him weren't wasted, all of those mornings you went to pray at the shrine? Those seemingly countless hours and pleas had paid off." She then felt a small but sad smile creep up on her face. "You've searched for two full years and had no luck, but you did ultimately fulfill your wish of finding your friend. Even if he isn't the same now, you did complete your goal."

The miner kept his gaze glued to the wall but he did feel a little better for actually accomplishing something worthwhile, Leanne's words seemed quite comforting but the guilt still weighed him down and it was getting heavier the more he thought about it. He put so many people in danger just because of a mistake, so many innocent lives of are now in Herobrine's wrathful hand. The being could easily crush them all in one go if he wanted.

This put even more worry on the miner's mind. The sounds of crying children definitely made him feel worse, there were many kids running about the fortress and now they are all in the dark dungeons with everybody else; waiting for the old hero to come and- well he really didn't want to think on that anymore.

"Steve?" Leanne asked softly after waiting so long for some kind of a reply.

"I woke him up too early."

"What do you mean?" She slightly tilted her head in confusion and curiosity.

"I found him asleep in a large ancient stronghold not too far from the Iron mines, but he was on a stone alter sleeping peacefully. However; something just didn't seem right when I looked at him, his eyes were closed and his body was there but a resonating glow was coming from underneath his closed eyelids. I didn't know why; I thought it was just the glow from his eyes like they normally do, but I think he was still recovering. Not his body but his memories. I didn't let him finish!" Steve shook his head and pounded a fist on the cold stone floor enraged at himself for making such a selfish fault, doing that actually got Rick to look at him despite his anger. "I just wanted him to wake up, I wanted to have my friend back but he hadn't recovered enough and because of doing that; he doesn't remember hardly anything except for his dark past!" The miner seethed then just as quickly cooled off from his mistake. "But I wasn't aware that waking him would have been a bad thing? How was I supposed to know that he was still recovering? I should have thought things out before making such a rash decision but I didn't. And now; even I am his enemy once again."

A deep sigh came from the miner's right.

"Even if what you say is true, it doesn't change our current situation. But-" Archer moved a hand up to the top of his head and rubbed his temples as he felt his rage diminishing. He had almost forgotten the miner's tenacity when it came to going out and hunting for Herobrine, that guy spent at least three to four hours a day; or even nearly the entire night on occasions looking down in the caves or through the woods. This determination out of the guy must show for his 'friendship' with the god-like man, the marksman really didn't consider this because of all the stress he had from being beat up to getting locked in a dark cold dungeon with his sister's life at risk as well as his own. "I'm sorry Steve, at least you had cared enough to look for so long, I saw you at the shrine most mornings for the past years, or getting on your horse and heading out into the wilderness with your pic, sword, and torch. I guess if you care enough for someone as cruel as him then maybe you are right. Maybe you were his friend once? That doesn't help us now though."

"You're right. It doesn't." The miner said blankly.

…

Herobrine had heard the whole conversation from the shadows of the prison hall columns, he heard everything those three said out of the tunnel filled cells that were crammed with humans. He focused in on what the miner and his friends were saying through the crying children, the beatings on the bars, the shouts for freedom, and the frightened cries of many. Those words the miner had said only confused him more, he couldn't remember anything of mortal being his actual friend. He could barely remember the guy at all but he always saw flashes of him when he tried to recall something. Thinking back only seemed to make his head hurt, it ached more when he tried to remember the mortal identical to him.

That human was more of a headache then he's worth. He wasn't worth holding onto. Herobrine felt as though he shouldn't have to hold onto the miner nor any of the humans. He needed to get rid of them and be free of his migraine.

…

Archer paced back in forth as he tried to take their conversation in, he noticed that Leanne had took a seat by the edge of the cell and watched him as he moved. After walking in place and thinking; he felt that maybe he was being a little too harsh on Steve. Feeling the tug of guilt for making the guy feel worse he stopped and turned away from the back wall and towards Steve's cell. His eyes shot wide open and he gaped from the form standing in front of his friend's cell. "Steve!"

Steve immediately looked up at Archer from his shout but was instantly greeted with two white glowing eyes coming from his shadowed duplicate staring at him from behind the bars. His gasp had quickly caught attention of people in nearby cells and they all started to cram into the corners of their cages with screams and shouts from the sight of the legendary being in the torch's dying glow. People in the close by cells were obviously panicking from their vigorous movements away from the bars but Steve only remained still and panicked on the inside instead of getting up and running.

There was no point.

The barred iron door was suddenly ripped off of it's hinges and the being stepped inside the cell. "Herobrine?" Steve held his breath for a short minute before gasping as Herobrine quickly grabbed him by the throat and dragged him roughly out of the small chamber by his neck. Steve instantly lashed his legs out and flailed as he was being carelessly dragged by the old hero's legs with the tight clamp still on his neck keeping his head and upper torso from touching the ground. Steve grabbed onto the strangulating force and tried to get a good breath of air but it was difficult.

"STEVE!" Leanne shouted out and reached her arm through the bar as he was being pulled away from their cell and towards the dark unlighted corridor. "Nooo!"

"LET HIM GO YOU BASTARD!" Archer shouted with anger strongly present ion his tone as he fiercely jerked at the iron bars that kept him sealed from freedom. He continued to pull at the iron but he couldn't get through the barred wall or barred door. He then moved to the edge of his cell and lightly moved his sister aside before trying to look through the gap of the bars and wall as Herobrine dragged the miner further from sight. "Don't you dare hurt him damn it! Steve!"

Steve's eyes watered as hs lungs shriveled, he needed oxygen. He removed his hands and the started ramming his fists into the side of Herobrine's leg.

Herobrine sneered and jarred the man a bit with a rough shake. "Stop struggling mortal!" His loud shout seemed to echo down the hall of panicking people and many of them grew silent from the inhuman-echoing-deep-silky voice of the immortal. This strange tone of voice had almost the entire dungeon in silence as the man walked by their cages with his first victim in his hand.

"No, he's first." A man said quietly and backed behind a few of his cellmates in fear. "We're next. We're next!" The man cowered and muttered small prayer lowly to himself.

"But I thought Steve was the one to… you know? Say that 'He' was not evil?" A feminine voice came quietly through one of the more larger chambers, many visible faces could be seen in the weak light of the dying torches on the walls between each prison cell.

"Steven? Is that you?"

'That voice?' Steve managed to turn his head to the side to see Nigel, Warren, Luna, and a bunch of other people in a large cell, all of them were wearing expressions of fright and concern; too scared to say anything and risk being next in line for their predicted fate.

"Ni-Nigel?" The miner choked and squeezed his eyes shut as more pressure was applied for talking. He could still feel himself being lightly jerked back and forth from the being's swaying arms in his walk.

"Herobrine please?" The old explorer moved to the edge of his own cage and only watched in disappointment and worry as the being looked straight ahead and ignored him. "Please let him go? He's your friend! Don't do this! I implore you!" It was getting too difficult to see the miner now so the old man backed away and moved over to Warren before taking a seat on the floor with an expression of dread.

Steve's eyes widened as the last cell he was drug past had a very familiar face looking at him with utter terror. "Stephanie?" He looked at his shocked sister who seemed to be just frozen in fear, then gasped rather loudly despite the hold on his throat. "Mom?" He choked out her name and trembled as a stray tear escaped his eye, his blue orbs locked onto the form of his mother and stayed on her. She was lying on the floor splayed out and was completely silent and unmoving. He didn't see her shift and he couldn't see her face from his position. "Mother!?" He managed a shout but after he didn't get a single reply nor a sign of life from her; he felt a part of himself break. His chest felt heavier now and moister in the corners of his eyes had double tenfold. He was too shocked from her visible but dead-appearing condition that he didn't care what was going to happen to him.

"Before I do anything, I am getting answers." Herobrine said blankly as he glanced down for a brief moment only to see Steve lying still and letting his arms drag across the floor, the miner stared silently at the prison cells they were leaving behind. Without another word mustered by either of them, Herobrine walked into an empty corridor and dragged the miner along before disappearing into the darkness.

…

So, guys. A lot to think about here. I was going to do a few excerpts but this one is just so big and took so long. I still may do more later, depends on if you guys are going to tell me what you think about this one. Review and tell me your thoughts and I may give you moar in another chapter! XD