Ivor walked through the snowy woods, alone. With nothing but his adventuring gear, his armor from his time as a member of the Order of the Stone, covered by a thick wool jacket. On his back, a large backpack containing many supplies, and the treasures of the Order of the Stone.
He didn't steal them. In fact his friends gave them to him... and practically kicked him out of the Order, told the whole world a lie, and never mentioned him being a member of the Order at all.
But that's too much to comprehend, lets rewind and go slow...
He had a good life. He was an alchemist, he would create potions that would do marvelous things! He even created a Potion of Teleportation! All you have to do is think of a place you want to go when you use it, and it will take you there.
And, add the fact that he was self-taught, he is a genius after all, just a bit odd. Now spending all of his time on potions made him seem lonely, but it is quite the opposite, had his friends.
Soren is the eccentric ginger that could build wonders. Gabriel is the dark-skinned warrior who would always defend his friends. Ellegaard is the calm, redstone genius that would help solve problems. Magnus is the... volatile one of the group, but his heart is in the right place.
They would go on adventures, to go collect wonderful treasures and memories. They went to places from the Nether, to underwater temples, to dense jungles, and they even visited parts of the Far Lands.
Everything was perfect, so why couldn't it stay the same? Why did everything have to change? It is because life has no remorse for the individuals it affects, only cares about its survival and continuation.
At least, that's what he thinks, he thinks that life is unfair, even to those who are good. But on the other hand his so-called 'friends', where never friends and he only realized it too late.
It was only when they attempted to fight the Enderdragon, was when his life started to go to hell. It was revealed that Soren had an item called the Command Block, an item that can alter reality itself. He used the powerful item to 'defeat' the Enderdragon to save them.
But then the arguing started... if you call a 4 V.S. 1 verbal disagreement an argument.
In the end, much to his surprise, they were determined to tell the tale of how they 'defeated' the monster... without mentioning Ivor having any part of their adventure, or of him being a member of the Order.
So they told a huge crowd of people the 'extraordinary' story Soren created, even showing the Enderdragon egg as further proof of their adventure. It eventually started to spread to the whole world, and became legends.
But Ivor was there in the crowd, glaring at them as the audience cheered for them while he sarcastically clapped. He wanted to tell the truth, he wanted to shout it out and let the whole world know what they did... but who would believe him? No one.
When years passed by, Ivor became a threat to revealing the truth, especially since he secretly took the End Crystals from the End. So they bribed him with the treasures of the Order to keep his mouth shut, to not tell everyone what they did.
What kinds of friends do that?! To trade the most precious treasures they collected, that held the most blissful memories?! Was their fame more important than friendship? Was their friendship, the memories of the trinkets, was worth so little that they discarded them as bargaining chips? Did any of them value the treasures like he did?
But that was probably his mistake, his weakness. They knew how much those items meant to him, it was the perfect thing to keep his mouth shut. At least Ivor was honorable to keep his end of the deal.
Plus, they didn't try to kill him, they let him go, let him walk away, or maybe they couldn't kill him. Maybe deep down they think of him as a friend. Ivor scoffed at that idea as he walked deeper into the blizzard.
So he stubbornly accepted the deal, and they let him inside the Treasure Room to collect the treasures. But Ivor had a request to be left alone, to remember the good times he once experienced.
The rest of the Order agreed, it was the least they could do, and left Ivor alone in the Treasure Room... that was a horrible mistake. One thing everyone, except Ivor, didn't realize was that Soren hid the Command Block inside the Treasure Room, he even put it back in its secret place after the Enderdragon fight. So after solving an amateur level puzzle, the floor opened to reveal the Command Block!
Instantly, Ivor grabbed the item, and smuggled it out of the Orders temple when he left the temple, his former friends gave him a goodbye, even faces of regret, but he just ignored it. He was done with these people.
He wasn't stupid, not like his former friends. He placed a decorative replica of the Command Block in place of the original and he reset the puzzle so the secret opening would close, and no one will know what happened.
It was then over the course of a few years he started to crack... metaphorically speaking of course. He was determined that he was done with the Order, and its members. But hearing their fame, seeing them act and take in the attention like actual heroes... he just felt sick!
Soren became a famous builder who now conducts various experiments in his legendary fortress in the mountains, he even created something called the Formidi-Bomb. One of his many Impossible Objects he created.
Magnus and Ellegaard created their own kingdoms; Boom Town and Redstonia respectively. But when Ivor went to actually see the kingdoms with his own eyes, he was shocked; more at his former friends to be exact.
For Boom Town, hardcore Griefers who constantly tried to defeat/kill him, constantly surrounded Magnus 24/7 trying to take his position as king. He was too stubborn to back down from a challenge, but after a while, it looks like he bit off more than he could chew, since he hides away in an obsidian tower like a coward.
For Redstonia, Ellegaard was a respected redstone engineer, passing her teachings on to other people. But she can be... prideful, egocentric, and just so caught up in her fame. Who has a very bad habit of shooting people down emotionally, dismissing them, especially those who are not redstone engineers.
Gabriel lives by himself, traveling around... at least that's what everyone else thinks. In reality, Soren sent Gabriel to retrieve the Command Block when he found out it was stolen and replaced with a fake. But he could never find Ivor, especially with the Potions of Teleportation he's been using.
But what happened Ivor? According to history, the story his friends told the world, and the public... he is simply nobody. No one will miss him when he dies, no one will care about him, and he will die alone.
But if that's the case... he'll solve the mysteries of the world, and die with no regrets, with a smile as he is no longer ignorant of the world, its wonders, and its secrets. So he traveled the world, but mostly to find more about the creators of the Command Block; the Old Builders, because if they created something like this, and it came into this world, who knows what else is out there.
But one question always lingers in his mind. 'Why did I get the short end of the stick when I wanted to do the right thing?' He asks himself all the time.
But soon will be his chance, and soon his plans will be complete. In years, his carefully crafted revenge plan will be perfected! Then he will expose the Order for who they are: liars and cowards!
And so, here he was, finding more information about the Old Builders, more importantly their knowledge. He was following a map, scribbled with notes of his own doing, and a circled area in the jungle.
After finding bits and fragments of knowledge, he finally managed to pin-down a temple of the Old Builders. Even then, the text of the Old Builders is difficult to translate. But Ivor managed to do it, and the key words for what this temple contains are 'Dark', 'Destructive', and 'Deadly'.
After wondering around the marked area on the map, he finally found the temple! He ran to the distant building in excitement, only to stop in horror as he looked at the blood trail leading inside, and heard screams coming inside the temple.
Call it old habits, but he couldn't ignore this. After pulling the necessary gear from his backpack, with an enchanted golden sword in one hand, and a Potion of Harming in the other, and a Potion of Healing in his pocket just in case someone else needed medical help, he rushed inside the temple, only to gawk in awe and horror.
There were dead wolves on the ground, blood covering the floor as the wolves withered away, turning into ash; except for the five wolves that were trying to fight their attacker. He saw an unlucky wolf blasted by a black, flaming skull projectile. The wolf started to wither away too, until it become nothing but ash as well.
Ivor saw the ash of the wolves move simultaneously as if it was being blown by the wind. He saw the ashes move through the air, and become absorbed by a Wither... who was being controlled by a girl with green eyes, clearly wounded, tired, and malnourished, holding a strange book in her hands.
It was then the wolves saw Ivor, and tried to pounce on him, only to be blasted back. "I'm not done with you yet you mutts!" Jess screamed as she willed the Wither to blast the wolves by firing more skull projectiles, killing them and saving Ivor.
She slowly limped to Ivor, snakingly asked "Are you okayyyyyy~" It was then she collapsed on the floor, but the Wither started to become transparent and disorienting, still remaining after the battle. Ivor quickly ran to the collapsed girl, trying to shake her awake. "Hey! Hello?! Are you okay? Can you hear me?" He asked, but no response, only groans. He then turned to the transparent Wither with his weapon raised at the monster. "What's going on?"
"SHE WANTED THE POWER TO SURVIVE, AND NOW A SACRIFICE MUST BE MADE..." the 'Wither' spoke, its voice deep and intimidating.
"Sacrifice?!" Ivor yelled. "For what?"
"FOR USING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE BOOK..."
"She just killed an entire pack of wolves! Isn't that enough?!"
"NOT OF BLOODSHED, OF ONESELF..."
It was then the transparent 'Wither' morphed into a featureless person with their arms and legs highlighted red.
"ONE OF THESE MUST GO... OR SHE WILL DIE..." and then the entity retracted back into the book where it stayed firmly closed as one last voice ringed out throughout the temple. "EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE..."
Ivor barely had any time to process that when he heard Jess's pained scream as her body started coiling smoke- no, ash. Her body was starting to disintegrate!
He quickly ran up to her, pouring a Potion of Healing to delay the process or even dull the pain. "Listen to me, I need to know, which is your dominant arm?"
"W-Why-?" she whispered, trying to speak through the pain.
"I need to know!" he intervened. "Left or right?!" he yelled urgently.
"I-I a-am l-left hand-ded." Jess said through the pain. Which was actually good, since that one had the least damage so far, he could save the arm. The other arm however was useless in its state, considering the exposed, fractured bones.
It was then Ivor pinned her down on the ground, pulled out his golden sword, and raised the blade above the right limb. He looked at the girl, her wide pain-filled eyes. "Sorry kid." He apologized as he cut off her arm.
A/N: And so the prologue comes to an end. Also a shout out to: TheMysticCupcake. Don't worry, Lukas will play a very important part...
Tell me what you think so far, and enjoy! :)