Behind the Legends

Mutants

                                                          7 years before events of "The Survivors"
          He walked through the spruce forest, the soft clinking of his diamond armor being the only sound other than the rustling of foliage. As of so far, he was surprised by the lack of mobs, seeing as the tall trees and mossy boulders provided a good number of shadows and dark places. Yet, other than the occasional small critter or bird, he seemed to be completely alone. Sure, he could have gone with his friends... team? Team was probably a better term for the five of them. Sure, the four of them were friends. But him? He didn't really know what a friend was quite yet. Hense, he had gone out on this recon of the forest alone, so he could think in peace.

          The sun was still high in the sky, so the risk of anything too bad was pretty low. And with the diamond armor and gear the king had provided, he wasn't all too worried. Maybe that was just because he wasn't used to being... well, out in the open. He looked from side to side as he went, and still saw nothing, and still there were no sounds of- wait, no. He stopped, his eyes focusing over to his right. He wasn't sure what it was, but he heard something. It was sort of like a heavy thudding sound, like boulders hitting the ground. It seemed to be getting closer, from what he could tell. Just before he could take anything out in defense, a hulking, massive zombie burst out from the brush, towering over him and running on all fours. Its torso had to be at least three blocks wide at its chest, its arms longer than he was tall, his fists nearly as big as his head. His eyes widened, and he tried to bring his shield out to block but was too slow. The mutant zombie's massive fist connected with his chest, and the sound of splintering diamond resounded out, followed by the heavy thud of him crashing against a tree. 

          Pieces of diamond fell to the ground, his chestplate having jagged cracks throughout it. His breathing was shallow, the wind having been knocked out of him. He drew out his two diamond swords, steadying himself the best he could, sizing up the mutant. He may be able to do this, if he were fast enough. Every plan he had fell to pieces, just like his armor as the other three stepped into the clearing. One was a towering skeleton, with a large rib cage, bones as thick as walls, and two large crossbows latched to both arms. The third was a creeper, towering as tall as a tree. It's four legs were bent and long, and its body narrow and tall. The fourth and finale one was an Enderman. It stood hunched over, yet still being the tallest out of all of them. It had four arms, each ending in two, large tentacle like fingers. His mind raced as he thought over everything he had read up on them in the past week... which was pretty much nothing. The creeper could blow up three times in total, only the third explosion killing it. The zombie could tear up the ground, the skeleton shattered into pieces when it died...

          They all lunged forward, all aiming right at him. He gritted his teeth, spun his swords around, and pushed off the tree, mind racing on what to do. He dodged a swinging blow of the mutant zombie, just to get hammered by two arrows the size of my own arms by the mutant skeleton, one landing in a crack in the chest plate, causing him to cry out in pain as it hit flesh. Before he could refocus, the zombie spun around, slamming its massive fist against his back. It spun, forcing him around in an arc, and hurled him into the mutant creeper. He collided with its body, and it exploded, sending him flying through an adjacent spruce tree. As he hit the ground, an enderpearl flung from his grasp, landing behind a boulder. He appeared there, gasping for breath, his vision blurry. His arm shook violently as he lifted a golden apple to his mouth, consuming it as fast as possible. He sat up, leaning against the boulder, hearing the noises of the mutants trying to determine where he had gone after the explosion. He shuffled through his inventory, seeing what he had. His tools were fine, but both the swords had broken in half. His helmet was who knows where, one boot was missing, and his chest plate and leggings were looking more like diamond chainmail at this point. He did have a shield, and a fishing rod... and one more golden apple. All of that... as well as two more pearls, and a snowball. He leaned his head back, taking a deep breath. He really didn't want to die, not after just discovering what life could be like. He slowly stood, still behind the boulder, and let out his breath. He cried out, knowing all the mutants would head to, or at least look at the rock. He took out a pearl and threw it straight up in the air as hard as he could.

          All the mutants looked up to the pearl, the skeleton aiming it's bows up at it. He then leaped out from behind the boulder, hurling the snowball at the mutant zombie's head, and then the second pearl right after it, but even harder. When the snowball was about 2 blocks from the creature's face, the pearl caught up, colliding into it in a flare of particles. He teleported right in front of it, midair, already swinging the axe. It lodged right into its head, the handle still in his hands. He used the combination of the pearl's momentum and his own leverage to go over its head, yanking the axe as hard as he could. The monsters head tore from its body, and he fell to the ground rolling. As the other mutants were turning their gaze at him, he spun and threw the head and axe at his now falling first pearl. It collided with it, again teleporting him into the air. He twirled around, took out his diamond pick, and hurled it as well, it spinning end over end until it struck home in the mutant skeleton's jaw. As it lowered its bows, trying to clutch its face and remove the tool, he landed on top of its skull, his hands grabbing the picks handle and tugging. With a loud crack, the skeletons jaw broke off and the whole mob crumbled to boney pieces. Before he could land on the ground, the mutant enderman's large, tentacle-like fingers snatched him up, and tossed him right back into the creeper at max velocity. It exploded for a second time, and a moment later he was slammed into another boulder. His leggings were gone now, his clothing having ragged tears, and patches of blood and bruises showing over his face, arms, legs, and torso. He chomped down the second apple in a few seconds, as the enderman lifted its four arms up in the air, a strange howling sound beginning to sound our around them.

          A funnel of wind began to spin around the enderman, like a mini vortex, it full of the same, purple particles. It dragged small plants into it, along with the pieces of the skeleton. He began to slide towards it, and before he could even try and grab on to something, he was lifted from his feet, and sucked into the spiraling objects. As he went around, the pieces of bones crashed into him, causing him to wince in pain again and again, his vision getting dizzy as he spun around in the air. Just as he thought it was over... an idea popped into his mind. He took out the fishing rod, and just as he saw a blur of green, he cast it out. The lure narrowly avoided a bone, flew outside the vortex, and latched onto the creeper. The bones began to hit the string, causing it to catch, which yanked the mutant creeper into the vortex with me. As he expected, it began to glow white, despite knowing it would be its last explosion. He closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. He grabbed hold of the fishing line, pulling as hard as he could. The creeper was yanked towards him as he pulled out his shield, slipping it onto his arm. At the last moment, he rammed his shield against its massive green body, and shoved it to the center of the cyclone. And then, it did what creepers did best.

          Bones and blocks flew everywhere, a third massive crater appearing in the ground. The wind died down, and everything was quiet, except the sound of the breeze blowing the leaves of the trees. And off to the side of the crater, surrounded by debris, he laid sprawled out, the only remains of diamond on his body being a broken shoulder patch and some bits still around his stomach. Everything hurt, from head to toe. He couldn't even move the arm that the broken shield was latched to. He slowly opened his eyes, a few locks of black hair obscuring the view of is left eye. He took a shallow breath, trying to feel at how his health was doing. It didn't seem like he was dying... just a lot of pain, and probably quite a few broken bones. He closed his eyes again and let out a long, pained sigh. It was gonna be a long walk back to the city.