The Admin's Reign: A Spark of Hope

Chapter 1

I remember when my world was free when I was very young and my parents still lived.

But then he came. The Admin, taking the greatest city as the start of his new empire. I don't remember how, but my parents just disappeared one day, leaving me with my little sister, Nikki. As we got older, the Admin had all the children to work in different ways. When I was fourteen, I saw one of the guards mistreating Nikki. Angry, I stood up to him and refused to work.

Because of my nerve, I was seen as a potential soldier and they took Nikki from me, ensuring that as long as I behaved, they wouldn't hurt her. Along with countless others with the same problem, I was forced to aid in the conquering of other cities and towns to grow the empire. We were forced to feign heartlessness, slaughtering anyone who stood in our way.

Sometimes, a soldier would lose all hope or sanity, not caring about the danger he put to his jailed relative, would run away. Any runaway's relative would be killed, and the runaway himself would be hunted down by the Admin's champion and slaughtered mercilessly. I had only heard stories about her, supposedly she was the Admin's 'secret service', his number one. Rumor said that she was an assassin trained from childhood. Her name was Petra, and I prayed that I'd never meet her.

After a while, Romeo's forces grew a little lazy, he seemed to lay back a bit, as if he was no longer concerned with the idea of loosing. After all, his empire was the largest in the world, no one could stand up to him. But we continued to conquer cities and towns, taking children from their parents, splitting up spouses and siblings, killing those who were too stubborn to comply. Such horrendous things kept me awake night after night.

I prayed to Notch for a spark of hope amongst these discouraged souls.

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Jesse stood up on his toes to catch a glimpse of the ruckus. Making his way through the crowd, the sounds slowly grew louder.

Apparently, a prisoner was trying to escape at the bidding of his parents, but the soldiers grabbed him.

"What is the problem here?" He demanded.

"This one was trying to escape, Sir." A soldier answered, holding the arms of a young man who trembled under Jesse's gaze.

Looking to the other side of the camp, a few other soldiers brought his parents. He inspected them a little before turning back to the boy.

"We might have more servants prepared for the Admin." He announced.

The father glared at him. "I'd rather die than work for him."

"I'm sure you would, but would you rather your son die?" Jesse asked, gesturing with his eyes to the boy.

A moment of silence was shared between the father and son before he looked down. The mother was crying, looking back and forth between her husband and her son.

"Please don't do this," She begged Jesse. "Please leave us be, no son deserves to be without his parents!"

"He'll be in the brig, maybe if you get a cleaning position you'll get to see him every once in a while," Jesse replied.

"No..." She muttered in despair, her body shaking with sobs.

"Alright, enough of this, off they go." He commanded.

"No!" Shouted the boy. "Mom! Dad!"

"It's gonna be okay, we love you!" The father called as they disappeared behind the tents.

They bound up the young man, knocking off his glasses in the process.

"Hey, c-can you get my glasses? I can't s-see without them." He said, sniffing as he obviously tried not to cry.