Corrupted Minds - A Hermitcraft Story

Introduction

Long ago, there was peace. Unfortunately, good things only last so long.

It all started with a man named Matteo and his son, Zephyr. The two Admins lived quiet lives in the mountains, watching over their world. The village was always pretty calm and days were uneventful. No matter, the pair enjoyed their slow lives.

When Zephyr was nearing his time to begin training to take his father's place as Head Admin of their world, he started acting out and became restless. He claimed the monotonous lifestyle was getting to be too little for him. Matteo could tell something was wrong. The two had always loved the way things were in their world, and Zephyr had grown up in these tranquil surroundings.

Zephyr's condition didn't end up getting any better and, if anything, his outbursts and acts of disobedience multiplied and became more irregular. This worried Matteo greatly and he feared that if something wasn't done, his son would never be the person he was ever again.

Zephyr's attempt to run away was the last straw. Matteo locked Zephyr in the cellar for two days refusing him any communication and only served him two small meals a day opposed to the normal three. In the time Zephyr was locked underneath their cottage, Matteo took advantage of the peace and studied the sorcery of old admins to see if the problem had been observed before. Unfortunately the books of old held no knowledge of poor Zephyr's unfortunate situation, so his determined father had to innovate. Matteo scoured the books of magic and wizardry in search of something that may help his son be freed of the horrid condition.

Finally, four days after Matteo let Zephyr out of the cellar, he found something. It wasn't a normal solution, and Matteo didn't even think it would work on his son, but since the problem seemed so helpless he decided it was worth a try anyway. The simple hex would animate the harsh feelings that Zephyr was letting control his life and actions into another human being.

When it came time to do the seemingly impossible, Matteo was terrified. If he had known what he was going to do to his son however, he would have conjured up the spell weeks before he did. After hexing Zephyr, not one but two young, strong men stood before Matteo. The two were complete opposites. While Zephyr had long, curly, bronze-blond hair, the new being had short, jet black hair which spiked out in all directions. Zephyr's pale white skin contrasted with the man standing beside him with a well tanned and muscular body. Zephyr's eyes were icy blue while his opposite had dark irises with red pupils. Even their clothes reflected each other in opposing ways.

For the first month, Matteo let the new Zephyr stay around. They named the new Zephyr 'Odysseus' for his disobedient and hateful behaviors. Matteo called Zephyr's previous condition 'going mind corrupt' and the result of the separation was the new being called a 'corrupted soul' or just a 'corrupt' for short.

Soon however Matteo noticed that being another admin, he could have the same thing happen to him. After separating himself, he found that having two corrupts around would be too much for the normally slow paced village, so he banished Odysseus and his own corrupted soul to a world far far away where they would never be seen by another living being again.

He decided that he was going to not only take action to save himself and his son, but to take it even further. After separating himself and banishing the two corrupted souls, he cast another spell so that every Admin would have twins; the first born being normal and the second born, a corrupt...

Ximus looked down at his three kids sitting before him. "And that's why you three," he lowered the story book and gestured to the boys, "are so special!"

The two seven year old twins looked at each other. Both wore faces of amazement and confusion making Ximus laugh internally. They pointed to each other then to themselves. " You mean you're me?" they both asked in unison.

Xisuma, the first born twin, looked up at his father. "That's..." His face lit up and he jumped in the air from where he was sitting. "That's so cool!" he bounced around for a few seconds before collapsing down next to his twin brother and throwing his arms around him happily.

Ximus smiled as he watched the twins reactions. Suddenly another voice entered the conversation. "Oh Ximus, give it a rest will you?" Xiomara set down the dish she was drying, exasperated. "You have to stop filling their heads with these Admin Stories of yours. They're just fairy tales." His wife had always hated the stories he told the children. Unfortunately for Xiomara, they had to be told. They were part of the children's heritage after all.

When he looked back to tell the kids that their mother didn't know what she was talking about, he found that the twins were looking up at him with big eyes leaning on his knees. Xieviel, the second born, leaned in as far as he could. "The story was real, right?"

Ximus smiled sweetly. "Of course it was, Ex! I wouldn't lie about your ancestors would I?" He ruffled the boy's hair as a smile replaced his worried frown.

This is when he noticed his oldest son, Xian glaring at him. The twins ran about the house playing chase so Ximus took the chance to talk to his 13 year old. "What's on your mind AX?"

Xian just rolled his eyes. He hated the stupid nicknames his father gave him and his brothers. "That dumb story wasn't true. Look at me, do I have a twin?"

Ximus felt guilty for Xian's reaction. This was the first time Ximus had told the story in the house, because Xian was an oddball case. He was born an only child and really didn't have a twin. Ximus looked down at his son. "AX- I mean Xian... you don't have a twin. It's very true. But that doesn't make you any less special. And look, just because you were born different doesn't make the story untrue. Look at your brothers for example. They turned out like the story said right? It's the same with me and your uncle Zagan. You're just a case that's never been seen before, like Zephyr in the story. To me, that's pretty cool! Just remember that okay? And me and your mother love you just the same as them." He rested a hand on Xian's shoulder.

Xian brushed his father's hand away. "No, it's not true. And if you think you're gonna get me to believe you, think again, old man!" Xian got up to help his mother with the dishes. Deep down, the teen knew his dad was right. He only said the things he did to make his mother happy. He adored her with everything he had and she gave him the same in return, letting Ximus deal with the twins. She hated the Admin Stories Ximus was always telling the boys so of course he believed the same.

Ximus looked around the house. At his wife and Xian, at the storybook, to the twins, and back to the book. He smiled. Life was hard but it was wonderful. He had three sons that he loved and a wife who he gave buckets of love and nothing in return. That's how life was though, and he couldn't change it.

The twins ran back to their father. They looked at each other and Xisuma counted to three on his fingers as Xieviel watched. On three they both gave him the biggest smiles they could manage with their hands clasped together and in unison they begged, "Please can you tell us another story?!" Ximus smiled and opened the story book. The boys climbed into his lap smiling, ready for another tale.

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(Words: 1320)

(Thank you guys so much for reading my first story! To be honest, I was really nervous to post this, but it's been in my mind for so long I went ahead and did it. I may go in at some point and add some drawings to this chapter because I didn't have the time but there will be plenty of drawings in the chapters to come. Anyway that's it for this chapter. Thanks so much!)

And don't forget - Keep on adventuring!