Hermitcraft Season 9 Oneshots

An Ill-Fated Execution (Traffic Zine!)

Hi! This chapter is a little different from usual, as this oneshot was actually written for Traffic Zine!

If you don't know what it is, Traffic Zine is a collection of artwork and writing pieces by artists and authors in the Life Series community. I was lucky enough to get one of the spots in the latest, Limited-Life themed edition of the Zine, and this was the piece I wrote for it :)

I'm really proud of this piece, because it's a really big milestone for both me and my writing. If you want to check out the Zine itself, I'll put the link in the comments here ->

Thanks for reading!

- Xan

Bloodlust had always been such a strange and unnerving feeling. In another life, Martyn could remember falling prey to its temptation, allowing himself to indulge in his own madness and take another's life to save his own. He thought he'd learnt from that experience, that he'd never be enticed by his own bloodlust again, but the Boogeyman's Curse worked in very peculiar ways and he was nothing if not its underling.

In spite of his unease, Martyn had immediately started planning, wondering when, where, how and who he'd kill. Because as easily as he could take out his sword and eliminate one of the people beside him, where was the fun in that? He wanted his kill to be dramatic, pretentious and memorable in all of the worst ways. All he needed was for the opportunity to present itself, and in a game of death and chances, it didn't take very long for that to happen.

The first opportunity had come when Skizz had been alone and gearless in the caves. It has been overwhelmingly tempting to kill him, because it meant both a quick escape from the curse and a comedic continuation of Skizz's own apparent curse. But in that very moment, Skizz had done something unexpected, something that had saved his life without him being any the wiser. Because, as if in spite of the uncertainty and mistrust that had plagued the group, Skizz had decided to give Martyn a genuine and wholehearted compliment.

It had taken Martyn by surprise, and for a moment, he was unsure what to say or do. Part of him didn't have the heart to slaughter Skizz after such a kind and heartfelt gesture, and during that brief moment in which he'd faltered, the opportunity slipped away from him.

His second chance, albeit being more of an opportunity to cause chaos than to kill, came when Grian made the grave mistake of digging straight down. Quite a novice mistake in hindsight, and Martyn couldn't really be blamed for standing by and watching in amusement. However, Grian didn't die, and even if he had, the death wouldn't have been Martyn's to claim.

A more direct way of impacting an otherwise accidental death manifested not too long later, when atop a mountain that had yet to be given a name, a creeper was making its way towards Cleo. Martyn had debated pushing them into its path, a vague memory coming back to him in which he'd once similarly pushed her into death's clutches. However, Martyn could also remember how furious they'd been after that had happened, and decided against aggravating her this time.

Later on, he'd run into Grian whilst exploring an amethyst cave, who was seemingly alone and without much gear to defend himself. It would have been a perfect chance to get this whole 'curse' business over with, if Martyn hadn't discovered that Joel was with Grian and was welding an iron sword, which Martyn wasn't too keen on ending up on the wrong side of.

He'd quickly left the self proclaimed 'Bad Boys' behind, and found Etho in an underground room that he, Tango, Skizz and Impulse had apparently claimed as their base. Martyn made a brief