Chapter 24: 24
><>3rd person POV<><
::: Previously: The war between Null and the two high ranking immortals had begun. The void being's true power shown among the clouds. In the end, Null stood determined. Afraid no longer, and ready to win. :::
With a silent battle cry, Null sprung up, pulling out it's diamond/gold sword, and charged at it's foe. Herobrine sprung away from the tree he had braced himself against, and the live wooden pillar snapped as Null's fist went right through it. A little nostalgic, Herobrine's eyes widened upon sight. Spikes of fear were only sent further through him when he saw those blazing eyes up close, literal white fire spewing from them, spelling out his doom.
"Herobrine!! Get away from it, NOW!" Notch warned, reeling his arm back to send another shock of wind, but waiting for his brother to leave first. Herobrine suddenly snapped out of it. No. He was NOT going to cower away! He was a high ranking immortal! NOTHING was supposed to be more powerful than him! This thing must have only been lucky. He knew it then. Null had to have a weak point.
"Get out of here, brother! I can handle this thing on my own!" Herobrine said with a scowl, ignoring his compressed fear. He could save worrying about the concept of death after he had won! Notch just rolled his eyes, deciding to wait it out and watch this new foe closely. That way, when his brother was dead, he would have a better idea of how to finish it off himself.
The battle sprung back into such a thing when Herobrine made the next move, using his obsidian sword to slam the void figure into the remains of the tree it had smashed. Not seeing the action coming, and having it's actions been limited by it's own remaining pain, Null was actually hit into the broken tree, receiving pain from the shattered log as well. The void being quickly stood with massive splinters sticking out from it's side. The impaling objects had to be yanked out between dodging sessions. Herobrine's blade was a whirl, but Null was capable of comprehending the swings just fast enough to dodge. Once the last of the troublesome splinters had been pulled, Null struck Herobrine with a strong kick as soon as it saw an opening. With an 'oof,' Herobrine fell back into another tree, which cracked on impact. Herobrine had little time to recover when he saw the branches of a tree being swung directly at him. He slid his sword away too, seeing what Null was doing, and pulled a tree from it's roots to be used as a weapon. The void being then ran around the immortal-made clearing of trees, hiding slightly in the shadow of the trees; the fact that it was still moving giving up it's secrecy.
The high ranking immortal slammed the tree he was holding down before Null's path, then lifted it again to be slammed down right on top of it. As the tree came down a second time, the void being had to think quickly, pulling up a black shield, made of solid dark matter. Right after the swift recovery from the impact of the tree on it's shield, Null warped the solid dark matter so a massive black spike was sent directly through it, rendering the massive weaponized tree useless! With a shout, Herobrine leapt towards Null the moment it had pulled away it's shield, and the two entered fist-to-fist combat; one which Herobrine was much more experienced at. Both the powers of speed and strength were used by both in a whirl of punches, flips, and kicks.
Meanwhile, Notch watched silently from the treetops, scanning this new foe for any sign of weakness. Though it had it's divots in skill in certain areas, he found no obvious weakness he could exploit, internally bringing him into a minor panic. He and his brother might just have to use the forbidden move afterall.. meaning he couldn't simply watch his brother be killed. He would have to intervene.
Vwoop!
An interesting noise brought Notch's stunned eyes back onto the void figure and his brother. Encapsulated around Herobrine's fist: was a golden bubble. The immortal's fist slowly sunk further into the tiny sphere, Herobrine trying his hardest to pull it out. Oh no. Null took that moment to catch the short break it so desperately needed. That ability cost a strain to it's overall energy, but in such a small form it was proving useful and efficient at the same time.
Herobrine scowled down at the sphere which made him look like an insolent fool; his left fist stuck with no way of getting out. As Null prepared for another round, pulling out it's enchanted blade, Herobrine took action once again, this time long range. He thrust fire forward, out from his free palm. The fire was quickly dodged by the void being, and caught the battered trees behind on fire. The choking smell of smoke quickly spread outwards amongt the forest with the happy flames.
Null was having a hard time not getting burned as the waves of fire continuously flew in it's direction. The intense sensations given off by the raging fire began to cloud Null's intake on it's surroundings. Before it even realized it, Null was cowering away from the emitting fire, seeking shelter between the burning forest and a large, fallen log which had not been scorched just yet. Still, it kept that golden sphere in place, knowing it was the only thing keeping Herobrine away.
"So, you don't like fire, hu?!" Herobrine roared over his own flames. "I'd like to see how well you survive once I get out of this thing!" A crooked grin rose on the high ranking immortal's face. Null's eyes squeezed shut in that moment, blocking out the heat that began reaching for it's left side as the fire slowly spread down the log it sat behind, needing a moment to plan out what it was going to do. It needed to get out.. somehow. Suddenly, the feeling of sharp, crooked teeth split through the void being's arms, forcing a muffled yelp out of it's hidden mouth. Null looked down at it's left arm with wide eyes, seeing that nip was actually fire which had decided the void being looked like a tasty snack. Null began flailing immediately, not used to this new form of pain one bit! It dropped down to it's hands and knees, punching at the dirt beneath it with the hope the fire would die out in the dry mud, but the fire seemed just as determined as Herobrine himself to not let go of the dark being. Completely preoccupied with the fire spreading across it's arm, Null didn't even noticed the man with a blue shirt, even darker blue pants, and brown hair walking towards it from the edge of the burning forest.
Splash!
Null felt a rush of relief as cold water was poured directly on it's arm, releaving it's appearing to be unharmed surface from the excruciating pain. Though, it still had still felt worse. Pain was never fun, no matter how bad. Quickly, Null looked up at this supposed savior; glowing white, blank eyes, meeting with blueish purple ones. Steven! The void being's eyes scrunched in joy, happy to see the human it adored so much come to it's aid.
"Heh, I couldn't just leave you alone, now could I?" Steven smiled with a friendly grin, then he helped the void being up and assisted by acting as a means of support. "I still don't know how you manage." Steven sighed, leading his friend through a fire free path he had made into the forest, where hopefully the flames would cover them for a time.
Herobrine glared hatefully into the burning forest, knowing that was where his foe had escaped to. He was still, however, unable to move much yet, since his fist was still slowly moving through that floating golden bubble. It was acting almost like some extremely thick cobweb that just would not give up it's hold on his much needed fist.
"Herobrine." Notch spoke up, grabbing his brother's attention. In his anger, Herobrine paid him no response as he watched the other high ranking immortal hover down to his useless level. The immortal stayed on edge as his brother drew nearer, his hairs standing on edge as his well hidden fear began creeping back into his suspicious mind. Instead of focusing on him, thankfully, Notch instead began observing the golden bubble arund his sibling's hand. Herobrine tugged again, making the point to him that he was still trapped. "..Intriguing..." Notch scratched his beard, looking closely at the still flakes of golden substance floating inside of it. Then, he pulled out a majestic gold pickaxe with an obsidian handle, decorated with florescent patterns of quartz, and struck the golden sphere with the unnaturally shiny gold tool. Instead of the pickaxe getting stuck as well, it bounced off of it, leaving behind a small crack which strong beams of golden light sprung from. His brow rose at the outcome, and Notch continued slamming that same pickaxe down on the golden sphere.
"Careful!" Herobrine warned his brother, worrying his arm would get cut in two if Notch didn't stop in time. Pretty soon the sphere shattered, and Notch grabbed one of the small glowing flakes of gold that began floating up into the sky. He examined it closely, making sure not to crush the delicate fragment of enchanted gold.
"This.. this is of power I have never even seen before." Notch finally spoke his thoughts as his brother rubbed his sore wrist after all that yanking.
"I know. It sure is curious.-"
"-But not something I have never heard of before." Notch interrupted his brother, looking at him with a fading to concern look. Herobrine's eyes quickly adjusted to this new facial expression, and his eyes too widened ever-so-slightly when he realized what his brother must have been talking about. He didn't even have to read his mind.
"..Impossible. Th- th- that can't happen. It can't be them. Wh- we would be-"
"-Doomed?" Notch watched as his brother's face began to grow pale, his own face slowly doing the same. "...I think I know why you have been so concerned now.. brother." Notch loosely rose his hand absent mindedly to his throat, imagining the most impossible of outcomes. Then, silently, Notch placed his hand on Herobrine's shoulder, making him flinch. "Herobrine... I know what must be done.. YOU, know what must be done.. We have no other chance." Notch looked deep into his brother's eyes, a knowing expression implanted in his own.
Slowly, Herobrine nodded in agreement. "..I do... We must combine our power... and make it mortal... That is the only way.." He whispered the last part to himself in defeat, but now Notch shared that feeling with him. It was their last, and only chance.
------------------------------------------
"Here, Null, take this. Um, do you need any food?" Steven asked Null when the two were safely sitting in a quiet part of the forest, darkened by thick branches all around except for that one patch in the trees where light flowed down onto the two recovering forms. Null was showing it's weakened state fully, shivering slightly as it's very being still recovered from all those injuries prior. Meanwhile Steven had prepared a couple potions of healing, and was deciding whether or not he should make a fire to cook up some food. Sitting tiredly on a log, Null shook it's head slightly, unenthusiastically accepting the healing potions it was given, and chugging them all down one after another. Still, the pain was fresh, and it kept replaying over and over again in the form's mind. "So, I heard from Naya about the whole story she went on, and how you reacted to first seeing them." Null looked up from it's feet and up at Steven's happy smiling face, as he too sat down on a slightly older log across from it. "You really missed us, didn't you?" He tilted his head. Null closed it's eyes, and it was hard to see, but still possible to see the dark form nodding slowly, the nearly black background made by the thick trees behind it acting as a cold blanket of some kind.
Steven nodded a little with the dark form, and continued with a new smile. "Well, I am sure you will be happy to know that we have won against the Nether mobs. The Nether castle has been successfully infiltrated, and while you were fighting, blown to bits. Only the sea of lava remains, and whatever remaining bridges and fortress might have been set up elsewhere." Null tried to look happy with the news, but Steven saw right through it, looking into the sorrow that remained. "..What's wrong? We're winning... Right?" Null nodded with a tilt to it's head. Eventually, if it continued attacking the two immortals, Null would eventually win, but...
"..You, weren't made for fighting... Weren't you?" Steven asked all of a sudden, causing Null to look up at him curiously. It's face seemed to say 'what do you mean?' And Steven understood it. "You have never been much of a fighter. At least not compared to Herobrine.. and Notch... You, almost seem.. more, delicate? Maybe?" Null could tell Steven wasn't sure if he had chosen the right words, but he still got the point across. Thinking about it, Null really did seem quite a bit more delicate compared to the two. For one, it seemed to feel a lot more pain than they did, even though no wounds or blood were ever visible. It had a terrible time trying to forget horrors of the past, unlike the immortals, who at times seemed unphased by even the most terrifying of events. And.. it had a soft spot like no other.. for the humans and their simple yet fascinating ways. ...Why was it so different from the other Immortals?! So much so, that it wasn't even considered one, according to Herobrine at least.
"..I was never like the rest of them." Null didn't even realize it had spoken aloud until it heard a gasp come from Steven.
"N- Null?. You, you just talked." The dark void jumped in it's seat, trying to speak again, but those attempts failed, and the solid void slumped down once again. "No, it's okay.. That just means you are getting better. M- maybe you'll be to talk normally again in a little bit. Just.. don't give up. Got it, buddy?" Null's arm jerked away slightly as he felt Steven's hand rest on it gently, but it calmed when it remembered that was it's friend's hand.. and not someone else's Steven reminded it of.
------------------------------------------
Notch looked down at the compass he had just made impatiently as he hovered over the forest, Herobrine right behind him. Inside the altered compass, that same flake of glowing gold floated in specifically one direction, essentially guiding the two back to where it had come from. The flake suddenly pushed backwards, then just scraped the bottom of the compass, spinning around in a circle, tearing itself apart with the friction. Notch stuck out his arm as he stopped, it ramming into Herobrine's face since he had been too busy looking down to notice. The older brother interrupted the slightly younger right before he was about to complain.
"Shhh!.. Null should be right below us." Notch spoke, making Herobrine back off and look down again, straining his eyes as he squinted in search for any unnatural or moving shadows. "Now, remember the plan, and don't start another batting game with trees, will you?" Herobrine only huffed in response. The two then very cautiously descended down below the tree tops, widening their eyes in order to adjust to the darkness.
Vvwwwhh!
A noise. A noise breaking open the silence. A noise sounding like a gust of wind. The two immortals prepared this time, knowing that sound had to be their foe sweeping through the trees. Sure enough, Null zipped between the leaves of the trees, but, as more of a distraction than anything.
"YHAAA!" Steven jumped from atop a branch, Null's diamond/gold sword in his hand, and he got a perfect strike, breaking through Notch's shoulder bone, nearly breaking his left arm off with that single maneuver. Understandably, the immortal hollared in pain, desperately attempting to claw the Herobrine look-a-like away from the sword lodged in his shoulder. Herobrine took action right away, creating a condensed sphere of fire between his palms. Right as Herobrine sent the fireball outward, Steve yanked the sword back, out of Notch's shoulder while also pulling him right where he had once been standing. In the end, Notch took the flaming hit, only making the experience even worse for him. He quickly was crumpled down on the floor, his shoulder oozing red liquid. Herobrine cringed at the sight of his brother's blood. No immortal should ever be brought down to such a pain filled level, at least not unless they are dying by his hands. Steven retreated into the forest before Herobrine could even register everything going on. Still, he paid close attention to the zipping noises haunting the forest around them.
"Show yourself you COWARD!!" The enraged immortal shouted, mostly angry at his idiotic brother for thinking the forest was safe enough to descend down into, and getting injured for it.
"Hero!.. Stop-shouting! And, just get him into the sky already!!" Though he tried to conceal his volume, it was very hard with his heavy breaths, clenched teeth, and anger among it all. Herobrine continued scowling, but silenced himself and began to think. He needed to get Null where it was most vulnerable! But how?!
Luckily for him, the answer jumped right at him, literally! Steven pounced forward from behind a tree, hoping to catch the immortal off guard. Herobrine noticed this attack right away, though, and was the one to surprise his attacker instead, catching him in a headlock and pulling the sword away from the mortal's hands and stabbing it deep into the nearest stone so it would be a challenge to pull back out.
"You know, I could so easily end you right now." Herobrine taunted as Steven fought to escape the hold he was in. "But I am going to need you alive for the next thirty seconds." He hissed into Steven's ear. The mortal man's eyes widened as he was shifted before his now captor, and used as a human shield the moment Null finally showed it's face. The dark void form looked at Steven with fear filled eyes, likely wishing it hadn't given him such a dangerous job. Why Steven had even attacked again, it did not know.
"Null! Get out of here, he just wants you-" Steve's pleads were cut off by the sound of rushing wind and air between the two as Herobrine flew high up into the sky. Null couldn't risk it's friend being out of it's sight any longer than he needed to be, so it quickly jumped up after them, turning into dark matter form so that it could float the rest of the way. Once up at eye level with the high ranking immortal, Null realized it was in just as bad of a position as before, since Steven was now being used as a hostage against it.
"Drop all your weapons or the mortal suffers for it!!" Herobrine demanded, pulling his obsidian blade close enough to Steven's neck for it to tickle the stubble growing there. Obliging, Null checked it's inventory, emptying it of anything that resembled a weapon. Herobrine watched with a strict face as even little things like pickaxes and a feather fell to the floor. By the time Null had finished, which wasn't too long, Notch hovered up stealthily behind it, about ten blocks away. Null finally looked up to see Herobrine smirking, though it couldn't tell if he were looking at it, or something behind it. Just to check, Null -- in it's dark matter form still -- looked over it's shoulder, seeing the mega threat hovering behind. The very fibers of Notch's shoulder were sewing themselves together right before the dark form's eyes, and even Notch's eyes glowed a little with the hate running through him like his own immortal blood.
'Alright!' Null turned back to Herobrine, speaking in it's mind sternly, allowing both to hear. 'I dropped all my weapons, so put the human down!!'
"What?.. This human?.." Herobrine teased, tightening the sword against his throat. All Steven could do was pray that whatever god was out there would save him in his time of need. Null's eyes widened.
'D- don't toy with m-me!' The dark matter trembled in both inflection and spirit.
"As you say.~~" Herobrine spoke with a toothy grin, doing the very thing Null had feared he would. He dropped it's friend. Null watched in slow motion as Steve fell, before realizing there was a chance it could still save him. Quickly, Null dove down for Steven.
"NOW, HEROBRINE!" Notch commanded, and at the same time both brothers used their mind manipulation abilities to keep Null from falling any further. They even dragged it upwards back to their level. Null broke from it's dark matter form as a last attempt to struggle free, trying and trying to fall down to catch Steven. It couldn't break eye contact with it's freind. The poor human screamed it's name, reaching out desperately. His life; his family; his kids; all were dependant on this man's survival. All would be heart broken, and surely lost without him.
"NOOO!!!" Null screamed back, it's voice pained and raspy, unready to be used again.
Particles began to swirl around the dark void figure as it reached down just as desperately as Steven reached up. By the time Steven had fallen beneath the branches of the tree, the particles swirled like a wild storm around Null.
...Null's eyes closed tightly, once again feeling a pain ten times worse than death itself.. The pain of loss... When the void began looking around, it could barely see it's own captors, but instead saw the many bright, flashy colors of magic that flew like a whirlwind!
"WHYY!?!" Null's raspy voice broke out of the sphere of colors. "WHY DO YOU TORTURE ME LIKE THIS?! WHY DO YOU TORTURE HUMANITY LIKE THIS!?!" Herobrine was quick to respond, for he had been thinking of the best way to answer ever since he began hunting Null.
"Power!" Was the beginning of his simple answer. He shot Notch a glare before continuing. "I know the pain mortals bring when they die! It was the only thing that made me feel powerless, USELESS! You only added yourself to that list: THAT LIST OF THINGS THAT MUST BE DESTROYED!" Though Notch did not agree with his brother on that topic, he did agree in one area: that Null was a force too dangerous to be kept alive! "NOW SEE WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LOSE!!!" Herobrine shouted, anger filled and hatred driven. The added emotion only increased the brightness of the particles. In that moment, Null began to feel pain. But it wasn't the kind you get from being stabbed; it wasn't the kind you get from being burned; no, it was the kind of pain you feel, simply for living! At first it was only bad enough to make Null hug itself, curling into a ball, desperate for some kind of comfort. But after a few seconds that went on like minutes, Null was audibly screaming it's lungs out.
The void form suddenly broke from focusing on it's pain, and instead on trying to escape. Suddenly, it knew what the two were doing, and it wasn't ready for that. Null tried turning into it's dark matter form so it could attempt to fly out again, but after a couple seconds, realized that for some reason that was no longer possible. Null then tried summoning a sphere of dark matter to be thrown as a projectile, but no such things were forming between the void being's trembling hands.
"Yes! It's working!" Herobrine shouted triumphantly.
"Save it! We haven't won yet!" Notch shushed him. Null THEN tried summoning a simple bow and arrow. That worked, and Null shot the arrow in the direction of the one it hated the most. That arrow however fell away into unexistence before even reaching him, and pretty soon the bow faded the same way. Eyes wider than before, Null began reaching outward for anything, anything that may help it escape, only to be left further in despair when an invisible force-field was found encasing the living void. Every time it banged on the surface the whole thing glowed and shrank a little. Pleading to both brothers with it's eyes, Null looked outward, not finding any form of sympathy in either. Fine! It would suffer this alone! As Null finally gave in, drooping it's head and soul alike, it's exterior -- whatever the substance -- began cracking, beams of bright, pure white light escaping it. 'Soo, this is how it ends..'
"Say hello to the Universe for me." Was the, final, thing Null heard from Herobrine, no longer even able to see his face anymore, before finally being consumed in the bright light that had made up it's core...
><><><
Notch and Herobrine both squinted as the remains of their energy had been drained, and they watched with slit eyes the glorious sight of their foe cracking into millions of little pieces, before completely exploding in a flash of light. The explosion was so great it rattled the sky, being heard across the word, by all. The force from the explosion pushed both immortals to the ground, them unable to fight making a painful impact with the forest floor. Neither had been so drained in so many ways in their entire LIFE! Both, blacked out the moment they had the time to spare...
Herobrine finally awoke when darkness had taken hold of the world, and the bright moonlight beamed down into the clearing he himself had made in his fall. The high ranking immortal rose slowly, knees shaking and muscles tense. His energy was near zero, even though he knew it had already been several hours. Like one of his own mindless beasts, Herobrine walked on weak legs, slowly making his way towards where he last remembered there had been a Nether portal. He would go there and rest up, since he knew Notch would no longer welcome him anywhere without promising to let himself be killed soon after. Or something along those lines.
The pain in his mind also weakened him. He had only changed Null's form of immortality/mortality, meaning it was still out there, somewhere. Eh, likely with the very little survival skills it had, Null would only last a week. It might even die of hunger! Herobrine couldn't help but chuckle at the idea. Yeah, likely his foe would just end up killing itself by accident..
Notch woke quickly, falling further into the tree stump he had landed in, reminding him of all those injuries that were still healing. Ohh, how much he wondered if that secret power had actually worked, for it had been forbidden for any immortal to even consider using! Only Herobrine and Notch had the combined power to pull it off anyway.. Maybe, if say eight or ten normal immortals gathered together, they could somehow pull it off.. but, that was highly unlikely.
Though it was already past him, as Notch stay stuck, too weak to wiggle out just yet, he couldn't help but keep replaying all of what had just happened in his head. Man! Null's scream had sounded so, so excruciating! The way it had so desperately attempted to save that mortal, and the sound of it's both physical and emotional pain shooting from it's lungs like bullets. Oh, Notch wondered if he would ever unhear that. Slowly, however, Notch began to drift off into a much needed rest, knowing Herobrine wouldn't care to kill him off just yet, so there was no need for fear. The high ranking mortal, fell asleep, still stuck upside down inside the hollow log of a tree, hoping inside that his decision wouldn't come back to haunt him...
The entire forest was silent. No, the entire world was silent, as it mourned the loss of it's greatest protector.. Null, had fallen....
==========================
Whooo! This a looong one! Over 4,700 words now! :D
I hope you all enjoyed, and, seeya! 👋
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone