In Search of Herobrine: A Famous Novel About Minecraft (2 page)

Steve wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on, but he needed some better gear first. He didn’t have any iron tools yet, and his only armor was a pair of leather boots. Steve decided to go mining, so he grabbed his pickaxe and torches and headed underground. It wasn’t long before he had lots of coal and a good amount of iron ore to work with.

Steve had enough ore for a full set of equipment by the time he reached the surface. While the iron was smelting, he began making a little garden, plowing rows for the plants and digging trenches for water. Steve had always been a hard worker, and the garden was finished before it even began to get dark.

              Steve was sitting back and admiring his day’s work when he saw a pig ambling up towards the garden. The pig looked at Steve and Steve looked back at the pig. Steve picked up a carrot and gave it to the pig, which ate it quickly. The pig kept looking at Steve. “What are you looking at me for?” said Steve. “I already gave you a carrot.”

              The pig kept staring until Steve gave it another carrot. “To tell the truth, I wouldn’t mind having some company,” said Steve, “what with all the leaves missing from the trees and other strange things.” Just as the sun was setting, Steve added a little pig stable

to the side of his house for his new friend. He made a sign to put beside the door, then looked at the pig.

              “What do you want to be named?” The pig didn’t say anything. Steve thought for a while, then wrote ‘Pigphelas’ on the sign.

              It had been a good day. Steve was a bit worried about the thing that had come in the night before, but he had a good iron sword this time and felt ready for anything. Steve wished good night to Pigphelas and went inside as night fell for a second time.

There were no strange sounds this night, only the usual groaning of zombies and rattling of skeletons far away. The morning came quickly and Steve was ready to start a new day. He decided to look around the nearby hills to see if trees had lost their leaves anywhere else; if so, he might be one step closer to finding the creature that had said his name that first night.

              Steve gathered his gear and prepared to set out. He had his sword, a pickaxe, an axe, and a full set of iron armor as well as other tools. He also packed some loaves of bread for himself and carrots for Pigphelas. Steve had made a saddle for Pigphelas during the night and it fit perfectly. Last of all, Steve picked up his bow and arrows. He got on Pigphelas’ back and they rode off towards the hills.

They were soon out of sight of the house and going up and down hills and through narrow valleys. They found a field of daisies and tulips and Steve dismounted and let Pigphelas graze for a while. Steve climbed a nearby hill and looked around. There was still no sign of barren trees or any strange creature. Steve sat down and ate some bread. Pigphelas ate more flowers.

              After the lunch break, Steve and Pigphelas went a bit further, but there still weren’t any clues as to where this creature might be. Steve was ready to turn around and go home when they suddenly came across something very strange. A smooth two by two tunnel had been dug into the side of a hill. Steve got off Pigphelas and

looked closer. There was no sense in it— Minecraft creatures couldn’t dig. The tunnel didn’t seem to have any use, either, as far as Steve could see. It just went about five blocks into the hill and stopped.

              Steve didn’t know what to think, and was poking around the tunnel with his shovel when there was a loud bang off to the south. Pigphelas was running around in circles as Steve leaped out of the tunnel to see what was going on. There was a cloud of smoke rising from the direction Steve and Pigphelas had come from. Things kept getting stranger, and the smoke was certainly not good news.

              Steve got on Pigphelas and they rode off. It didn’t take long for Steve to realize that the place the smoke was coming from was the very same valley where his house was. Pigphelas clambered up the last hill and Steve slid off the saddle and gasped. The little house was on fire and stone and wood were scattered everywhere. Even nearby trees were burning.

Steve ran towards the house, but he could tell there was no way to save it. He didn’t even have a bucket. All he could do was stand back and watch the home he had built burn to the ground. Pigphelas was rolling around on the ground.

The fire burned until nothing was left of the house except for the doorframe and the stone pillars at each corner. Steve picked his way through the ashes and saw that something else had survived the fire that he had never put there— a strange rock sat in the middle of the old house’s floor and on it were written the words ‘When you least expect it’, and at the bottom ‘Herobrine’.

              Steve sat down and sighed. He looked at the rock again and thought. All these things had to be connected— the leafless trees, the empty tunnel, and fire. They were things that only players were supposed to be able to do, but someone or something had been doing them and knew his name, too. And what was the message on

the rock supposed to mean? ‘When you least expect it’ was certainly true, but what was ‘Herobrine’? Was it a slogan? A signature? Maybe whatever had destroyed his house was called Herobrine.

              There was something unnatural going on in the world, and more than ever, Steve knew that he had to be the one to stop it. He could build another house, sure, but how would he know that same thing wouldn’t happen again? Steve stood up and looked over to where Pigphelas was now sleeping. This had to be dealt with at the source. Steve let Pigphelas sleep and began to look around the ruins of his house for anything useful that had survived the fire. He didn’t find much, but with the food and equipment he had taken on his journey earlier in the day, Steve thought that he had enough to go after this Herobrine creature.

              Steve spent the night in a tree, out of reach of zombies, while Pigphelas slept in the ruins of his stable. The zombies and skeletons didn’t seem to bother him for some reason.

In the morning, Steve gathered up his things and got ready to set off on an even bigger quest.