A Minecraftian's Misfortune

Chapter 1: The Apocalypse Revelation

My life hadn't always been chaotic. With the world seemingly falling apart around me, I pondered if there's anything I could've done to avoid it. As I shuffled through my memories, I realized there was nothing I could have done. The danger had always been there, though it wasn't obvious at first. The source of this danger, the evil and mutated creatures, the corrupted landscape, was unknown to us. My home was still intact, even though the city walls were slowly crumbling under the weight of the corruption. The city's name was Three Streams, but ever since the corruption hit our doorstep and poisoned our famous three streams, the inhabitants had taken to calling it Taintside. After all, the true name of the corruption that was at our doorstep was called the Taint.

We'd seen it coming. We knew it existed, from the very first, fateful day that we saw the purple on the horizon a year ago. We knew it existed, yet we were powerless to stop it. We had no idea how to divert this nightmare, nor do we have any idea on how to cure it. Terrible things had entered the city, Tainted Creepers, Plague Zombies, and Taint Swarms. We'd lost so many soldiers and civilians to the monsters and the various diseases caused by the Taint, including my own parents. They were both out past dark, and were killed by a Tainted Creeper. The massive explosion had vaporized them instantly... There was nothing left of them to cremate.

The law was that the dead were to be cremated, or run the risk of a zombie invasion. It's not like the undead valued the living, after all. As I thought about all this, sitting in my cobblestone basement while drinking what was left of my late father's beer, I realized something. The community library might have information on the Taint, and ways to prevent or cure it. I set down the bottle on the table next to the kegs and stood, glancing at the clock that was ticking on the other side of the table. It was the middle of the night.

I sighed and walked over to the stairs that led up to my house. At the top was a door that used to connect to the kitchen, before my house was burned by a rogue fire spread by Plague Zombies that began burning in the daylight. As I peeked out of the little window in the door, I saw a few Plague Zombies wandering through the town. My heart began racing as I feared they might smell me, they always seem to be able to sniff out the living. I grabbed a few planks of wood and barred the door with it. It should hold until morning came.

I descended the stairs and walked over to my bed, crawling in and began singing to myself softly, "Tonight we'll sail to the edge of the world and watch the stars fall down. You'll put your head in my arms as we wonder is there anything we could have done..."

I fell asleep after a few repetitions of the song, sleeping soundly until dawn broke.

I heard a loud, resounding thump. Then another. And another. There were zombies trying to break down my door. I jumped out of bed, opening a chest and grabbing my family sword. It was a rusty old blade, with moss growing on the hilt of it. My father had said it was made of a rare and durable material known as Manyullyn. However, with time the shining purple blade had faded to a black-violet rust.

Just as I pulled the blade from the chest, there was a loud crunch as my door was shattered by the undead menace on the outside. There was a soft, squishy sounding footstep, then suddenly more thumping as the zombie tumbled down my basement stairs. The zombie, unfortunately, landed on its feet. I heard more squishy footsteps descending the stairs. I muttered to myself, "Hold on... Holy shit, it's the day of the dead!"

I held my sword at the ready. As a child my father had sparred with me, teaching me how to defend myself in this hellish world where the undead assaulted the living at night. As the zombies approached, I began swinging. The blade, despite its rust and age, sliced through the abominations as if they were made of warm butter. I hacked and slashed and stabbed, not stopping until there was nothing but a pile of dismembered limbs and a puddle of blood on my floor.

I sighed, some of the blood had gotten on my clothes and skin. It evaporated in seconds, along with the remains of the zombies, which turned to dust in a small plume of smoke. There was nothing left of them but a few pieces of rotten flesh. I picked up the flesh and salted it, then I put a piece on each drying rack I had in the basement. The combination of salt and a drying rack would yield me monster jerky, which I could then eat later on without risk of being infected by the zombie plague.

I glanced at the clock again, noticing it was getting to be close to midday. I sheathed my rusty family blade at my hip, grabbing a few potions and a short necked glass water bottle, then I set out into my crumbling city. I followed the cobbled brick pathway through town, arriving at the mostly untouched inner city. I was on the doorstep of the castle, and a few remaining guards blocked my entry.

"Halt! State your name, citizenship and business." A guard barked at me, brandishing his spear. I stood erect and looked him in the eyes. "Sir, I am Richard Eldwick. I'm the son of the late Eugene Eldwick and Arianna Eldwick, the candle makers. I am from this city, Three Streams. I've come to do research in the library about the taint, to see if there's anything at all I can do about it. If there is, I would tell King Alderman about it." I explained to the man.

He paused for a moment, then nodded to his companion who went inside. After a few minutes of waiting, the companion guard returned. "The king grants you permission into the library, however he advises you to treat the books with respect, or risk the penalty of a fine. And, I really doubt a teenager such as yourself could afford to pay a fine, especially in a time of a great depression, such as this." the guard explained, holding the door open.

"I won't disrespect my lord's property. That, sir, is a promise." I said to the guard, nodding and heading inside.

Unbeknownst to me, the Taint creeped ever closer to my home, and towards the castle. Slowly, almost silently, our doom approached us.