The Hermit took a break from farming and gazed into the distance. Past the fence surrounding his property on a small mountain consisting of a 4-by-4 obsidian hut, a pig, cow and chicken pens, an infinite water source, a small tree farm and the small farm he stood on. The climb up his little mountain was only around 12 blocks in height and it was mostly stone. In front of the mountain laid the grassy plains. And a bit further away the town he sometimes visited to trade with the local Villagers and players. But as he gazed out onto the plains he noticed something. Something he didn't like at all: The Town Guard, almost a dozen players in fully enchanted Diamond armor with their enchanted Sharpness V diamond axes and Power V bows as well as their non-enchanted tools were running towards his mountain led by the commander with his Sharpness V-Knockback sword. This was odd considering he was known throughout the town as a peaceful person and honest trader. And that made it concerning. Especially on a Hardcore server.

He turned around and bolted to his hut. He had always feared this day may come.

His past was catching up with him.

Junior, as the Guard called its newest member, had always wondered why the man they all knew as 'the Hermit' had never bothered to build a proper staircase up his little mountain as he and his comrades jumped up the mountain from block to block like frogs jumping from lilypad to lilypad.

'Once we are up and past the fence, get out your picks and surround the house. Junior, you stay with me, got it?', the commander asked.

'Yes, sir!', the other said in a chorus.

A moment later they had reached the top. In front of them lay a plateau. About 5 blocks away was the stone fence with the wooden gates surrounding the property of their target. It was a rather big plateau. There were 5 to 7 block spaces between the farms and pens as well as an additional 8 block clear space around the hut. It was a simple and truly ugly build. It was 4-by-4 in both height and width. In a way, it mirrored the true character of its owner. They quickly broke through the fence and zeroed in on his house. As the guards surrounded the house, the commander yelled:

'Priest! Empty your inventory and come out! At once!'

'This is a hermit's hut, not a church! There is no priest here!', the occupant replied from inside the hut in a calm tone of voice.

A few guardsmen giggled. But the commander stayed serious.

'Don't play dumb with us! You may have changed your name but not your skin! Or voice! The emissaries from the United Republic of the Jungle had a lot to tell us about you, 'Dread Priest', former second-in-command of the Sons of the Void!'

There was a moment of silence. The six guardsmen tasked with surrounding his hut had completed their task, taken out their picks and were now waiting for the commander's order to engage.

'Dread Priest died with the Sons of the Void. The Hermit has not committed any crime.'

'Your crimes are too severe. Countless player avatars died because of you. And the rest would have followed suit if you Sons of the Void had succeeded!'

'Oh, is that what they told you?', Dread Priest asked, all calmness gone from his voice, 'That we had some 'nefarious plan'?! Well, did they also tell you that they frequently hired us to do their dirty work?! All I did was on the order of someone else! Each member of this new 'Grand Council' had hired the Sons of the Void at one point or another! Perhaps even one of your fency diplomats had used us to get rid of a rival! Did they tell you that?! But when they formed their 'United Republic of the Jungle' after the last war, they decided they had no use of us anymore and discarded us like useless tools! They didn't even consider giving us a chance to be a part of their new nation! They just decided that we were a danger to peace and that all the things they hired us to do were crimes we and we alone were responsible for as some sort of 'dark scheme to kill everyone else on the island'! Did they tell you that?!'

Another pause. Then he continued, the calm tone back in his voice mixed in with the tone of voice of a tired soldier who no longer wants to battle:

'If you know anything about Dread Priest, you would know not to unleash him again. I have renounced that way. I live a PvP-free life now. But if you try to execute me for crimes committed in another life real-life-years ago, I will not hesitate to defend myself.'

The commander sighed.

'Go get him, boys.', he simply said.

The 6 guards went in and started digging the obsidian.

'I warned you!', Dread Priest yelled out.

Suddenly, there was the noise of pistons retracting and the floor around the hut disappeared. Along with the 6 guardsmen. A moment later, one of them yelled:

'Lava!'

Then, their death messages appeared in chat.

'6. 6 guardsmen dead, burned to death in a few seconds.', one of the remaining 6 said.

'We lost half our force and haven't even hit him once yet!', another yelled.

'He trapped the area around his house. So much for 'renouncing his ways'. Block off the holes, then we'll break down the door and storm his hud. We still outnumber him.', the commander ordered.

The door went down fast. The commander stepped in first, ready for a fight.

But the hut was empty. Only his bed, his workbench, his furnace and his chests. There was a torch lightening up the entire room. The floor was made out of cobblestone. Two more guards entered the hut.

'Careful. He probably rigged the floor.', the commander said.

They removed the floor and sure enough: They found TNT.

And a chaft going down with water at the end. The chaft was one block wide. Its walls were made out of obsidian. It would take too long to mine.

After clearing out the TNT, they lined up. The first two jumped down - and before they could land in the water, Dread Priest placed a block replacing the water. He then grabbed the gear that the two dropped upon death.

'You should have returned home!', he yelled up.

'Son of a-', the commander cursed before running out.

He came back with a bucket of water, then placed it. Then, they all swamed down. The moment the first guard touched the ground, they were shot by the Power V-bow of the guards. Dread Priest stood at the end of a 2-block high, 1-block wide, 8-block long corridor. The walls were obsidian while the floor was simple smoothed stone.

The first two guards advanced slowly shielding the arrows while Junior blocked off the water. He then mined a block of stone to see whether it was another fall trap. But the next layer was obsidian with no sticky pistons on the sides of the walls.

As the front two guards were about half way through the corridor, Dread Priest suddenly stopped firing. He pressed a button. A metal door closed in front of him.

'Back! Quick!', the commander yelled. They turned around and ran to the back where they had landed.

But for the front two guards, it was too late.

Pistons retracted the ceiling and TNT Minecarts fell on top of the two guards.

Only the commander and Junior were able to shield just in time.

Now, it was only them and Dread Priest.

'Bridge across! I'll shield you.', the commander ordered.

He crouched on the edge shielding while Junior slowly placed blocks across the craters covering the stone floor.

Dread Priest was watching from behind a new door he had placed after the TNT blew up his old door.

'For an 'elite assassin' you sure run a lot.', the commander tried to taunt him.

'LadyVadAAA, D0gTheDawg and of course our leader, The_DreadMaster, were the PvP gods. But I was the planner. The trapper. The builder. When the allied army attacked our base Mitsuringakure, it were my preparations to our underground base that gave them the most difficulties.', his tone of voice shifted to that of an old soldier remembering his heroic deeds in battle, 'An obsidian ceiling on top of a layer of lava on top another layer of obsidian on top a second layer of lava on top a third layer of obsidian! An obsidian corridor over an underground sea of lava with rapid fire flaming arrow dispensers leading into a Sand Trap! And the village itself with fake houses that, upon entry, caused the enemy to burn, drown, blow up, suffocate or wither away! And last but not least a dirt floor covering two layers of TNT followed by another layer of dirt followed by another sea of lava! Any one nation would have found their doom attacking us! But a force of over half the island's population, nearly 60 people, proved too much. Still, my friends sold their lives dearly buying me the time to finish up rigging the base turning it into a death trap! Me and my friends, the Sons of the Void, the most feared freelance-assassins, spies and saboteurs in the jungle, were ready to go out in a literal bang!'

He paused for a moment. They were almost there. Dread Priest continued in his 'old, tired soldier'-voice

'But I survived. My friends and nearly the entire enemy forces perished. But somehow, I had miscalculated and survived on 1.5 hearts. I was the last Son of the Void, now on what had become enemy ground.'

He suddenly opened the door, a Splash Potion of Decay in his hand. Junior turned around to run and was pushed away by the commander escaping the Withering effect. Dread Priest closed the door and left. As he left, he finished:

"I dug my way out to the sea unnoticed, built a boat and left, never to return. And it seems, I'll have to do it again."

As the commander withered away, they bridged the gap and broke the door. They entered another small obsidian room. The room was empty except for a chest they didn't dare touch at the side. In front of them, they had to break another door. They gazed into a smoothed stone hallway, 2-block high, 1-block wide and an uncountable amount of blocks long with a railroad running down said hallway. The railroad started 4 blocks away from them.

'Wait here. I smell another trap.', the commander said.

Eating a piece of steak to avoid dying by wither, the commander crouched forwards to the rails.

But nothing happened.

Junior followed him. They began crouching down the rails.

They hadn't come far when suddenly, they heard a tripwire being triggered.

They looked to the sides and noticed the hooks.

And the sound of TNT igniting around them.

'Move, move, move!', the commander yelled.

They bolted back to the obsidian room.

In their heads, they counted down the time until the TNT would explode.

'10...9...8...7...We're not going to make it!'

Suddenly, the commander hit him from behind, sending him flying.

He landed near the room and jumped in.

Just in time before the world outside exploded.

And the commander with it.

Junior, the last of the 12 Guardsmen that had moved out to arrest the fugitive elite assassin Dread Priest, climbed through the rubble of the cave that once was Priest's escape tunnel. Alas, he heard flowing water. He saw light from the outside world.

He ran towards it and swam out.

In front of him was the ocean.

And no sign of Dread Priest.

He could have gone anywhere.

But the last survivor of the Towns Guard vowed: No matter where Priest had fled to, he would find the last Son of the Void.

And bring him down.