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"can i-," he whispered, and herobrine had to strain to hear him in the howling wind of the dark winter night, eyes providing their only light in the cold woods.
"speak up, child." they growl. it awakens something primal in collin - fear (its the same sound that the mammoths made before they charged, the same quiet growl of a lion, the same shriek of an enderman), greed (he wants to sound like that. he wants to strike fear into all those who doubted him, those who doubted small, weak, freak Collin-).
"i want to add another clause to the contract." the wind ceases.
the child is almost brave, the demon thinks in amusement.
"you are giving your soul to become a demon. there's not much else to give." herobrine is, however, curious. they are not used to mortals asking for more.
"you...you said humanity and souls are different, right?" gods, he's a child. he barely comes to herobrine's chin, shivering beneath the frail fabrics made from animals. he's a pleading child.
(herobrine was a child once, long ago. a child of a demon and a human. they'd been ignored, abused, destroyed, and they rose from the ashes of who they had once been. they had mercy once. it had been burned in the fire of their anger.)
(but a small ember had not burned.)
"get on with it."
their voice is sharp, but it's not angry.
"i want to protect my brother."
herobrine let out a scream that echoed through the woods, sending animals ranging from the smallest mouse to the biggest bear running. "DEMONS HAVE NO FAMILY!"
(the betrayal still hurts, after all these years.)
"PLEASE!" Collin begs, and he's just a fifteen year old boy. He's a stupid, stupid boy, who thought becoming a demon would keep him from being bullied. Hell would destroy him. He'd be at the bottom of the ladder. A weak, runt of a demon.
(human-turned-demon were always weak. always bullied.)
“What will you sacrifice? You are adding a whole other life to the contract, little Collin. That will take something big."
"My humanity. Please. All of it. Everything. Just- let my brother be protected. He's just a kid."
(So are you.)
"Fine." Herobrine spat. The word surprises them. It surprises Collin too. "It will be done."
Collin signs the contract. He sheds the coats till he's left bare in only his pants and shirt, shivering in the snow. Herobrine's fingernails elongate to talons, their eyes growing brighter, their teeth growing sharp. They smirk at Collin as soon as he signs, and thrust their hand into his chest.
They rip out his heart, his humanity, and throw it to the ground. Something would find it. Something would take form to protect his dear brother.
"Collin," They grin. "Do you know how demons are made?"
(They're made through extended pain, as each human part becomes corrupted by demonic energy - the soul becomes the demon's.
The body becomes the demon's, too.
Demons are not a direct process. They do not go from human to demon in a simple contract.
Before they are demons - humans are vessels.)
Collin's scream echoes through the forest as Herobrine reaches in, through every pore in his frail mortal body, and kills him over, and over, as they relish their new vessel. Collin is weak, yes, but his fate as a demon in the next life - well, his body is already beginning to shift. His power reserves are endless, ready to be filled up and never be emptied. Herobrine is shocked at how powerful he can become. How powerful Collin could've become as a human mage.
Ah, well. He's Herobrine's now.
A flame appears above their hand. The snow crunches beneath their feet as they slowly make their way towards Collin's home village, only having a direct order not to harm little Armen. The rest of the humans, however?
An Enderman finds the heart, and swallows it whole.