Time went on, of course. Notch continued to complicate Minecraftia, and Herobrine watched the many new abilities his brother gave to the humans who plagued the world. It made him sad, for it was proof, in his eyes, that the power of being a god really had gone to his brother's head, and that his brother no longer had a sense of what the world of Minecraftia was really about - he had become more interested in seeing how complicated he could make it.

Herobrine still fought to defend his world, and now that he was doing so by choice, not by duty, he had no qualms about attacking humans - whether his brother had invited them in or not, they were unwelcome, and that was all. Of course, the impossibility presented by The End might turn out to be enough to drive any human away, but Herobrine didn't like to wait for that eventuality.

Whenever a human was driven away permanently due to one of his brother's new modifications to Minecraftia and the avatars humans used to plague the worlds, it was a victory for Herobrine. Sometimes it was their deaths that were permanent - Herobrine's intuition told him that humans believed that the world ceased to exist, though in reality, the gateway to it was all that was destroyed. Other times, they travelled to The End and were trapped. Still other times, they simply lost any desire to plague the world of Minecraftia and abandoned it, though this was rare. It was especially enjoyable for Herobrine when he himself was the one who caused a human avatar's permanent death.

There was one more surprise awaiting Herobrine, though, and this one was not of his brother's making: not even two days after his return from The End, Herobrine was walking around aboveground at night without a pumpkin on his head - after all, he reasoned, the Endermen were in their strange, empty homeworld; there was no more need for caution - when, to his complete surprise, he stumbled upon nothing other than a group of roaming Endermen!

They looked at him, and Herobrine knew he had stolen their souls with his gaze.

"My friends?" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in your homeworld!"

We were…

And we'll go back soon…

But even though your world is full of perils for us…

It is quite beautiful…

We would still like to visit sometimes…

"Of course, you may!" Herobrine assured them. "I just didn't expect to see your kind anymore. I apologize for looking at you; I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late."

We forgive you…

Always…

You saved us…

"And I will save you again," Herobrine said, and he turned away.

The pain that shot through him was brief before darkness swallowed him.