Invidere

Prologue - Chimalus
The world was as a forest as the news was like wildfire. After a year of turmoil, what remained of The Wild Emperor had supposedly been eradicated by the same entities that had been opposing him for so many months. As the four heroes traveled across Kilran searching for their foe, they gained the attention and praise from all they passed by. When they'd finally caught up with Herobrine on the first day of Autumn, the gossipers of Aragon were the first to hear.

The corrupted village named in honor of its founder had many questions. Who were these heroes? Why did Herobrine target them? Did they even have a right to be the ones to have the honor to slay the evil spirit? Kilran's united military had been disbanded centuries ago after Herobrine virtually obliterated it before his death, leaving the world in a state of anarchy. In response, villages across the world began to declare themselves citystates, taking matters into their own hands to defend against the ever growing monster hordes.

Aragon was among the largest and most powerful of these citystates. Ever eager to be the city responsible for the permanent death of Herobrine, they formed their own miniscule military to follow the tracks of the roaming heroes and do away with them so they could claim the glory for their own. Try as they may, though, the military never caught up with the heroes.

The bitter man looked upon the events with both unwavering interest and abject rage. Not even born with the right to have a surname, Vitiate spent the better part of his life attempting to learn as much as he could about The Wild Emperor and his fallen brother, Notch. Scouring the land for lost knowledge, he learned that their power was very much tangible, and could perhaps even be transfused from their blood and consumed to grant unimaginable power. He'd heard legends of the famed Golden Apples, saught after by kings and emperors across Kilran for their untold power. Soon, innocent curiosity evolved into envy, and eventually, jealousy. With each passing month, Vitiate grew more angry, enraged that he was not special in the way his idols were and had no way of obtaining the priceless relics.

Attempting to match their power, Vitiate tried in vain to delve into the dark arts, twisted magic that had been rumored to derive from the power of the Gods. But only a handful in any generation even had a spark of that kind of power within them, and Vitiate was not gifted like they were.

Soon, Vitiate began to erect shrines across the world in an attempt to communicate with Herobrine. At these shrines, he did unspeakable things - led a herd of swine into a lake of fire, convinced mothers to slaughter their own children under the threat of murder, and mutilated his own body, anything that might grant him an audience with the disembodied spirit.

When reports across the world began to detail the inevitable return of Herobrine in a vengeful spirit form began to spring up, Vitiate waited patiently, confident that the dark entity would reveal himself and offer to share his power. But as the months passed and more and more towns began to fall to him, Vitiate realized Herobrine had no interest in him.

He knew that the proverbial heroes would eventually slay Herobrine - it was inevitable. Given their alleged accomplishments, he began to suspect that they, too, were Gods. By gathering as many rumors and whisperings as he could, Vitiate began to narrow down the possible sites of Herobrine's death, using a combination of the heroes' travel routes and traces of their passing to pinpoint a precise spot.

Traveling far and wide across the land, Vitiate finally arrived at the site of Herobrine's death - an eerie crag, corrupted with purple overgrowth and lined with sharp, jagged rocks. Sure enough, at a small clearing beneath a massive cliff lay a simple memorial, marked only by a small rock with a crude message scribbled on to it:

"Let it be known that on the first day of Autumn, in the 42nd Harvest Year,

The Wild Emperor, AKA Herobine,

a wicked marr on the fair land of Kilran,

was slain by the greatest of friends who only saught to protect each other.

Each friend was given an equal share of Herobrine's prized heirlooms,

and his famed Apples of Gold were bestowed upon those who deserved them the most."



Chapter 1 - Chimalus
"We're going to need a bigger boat," Ned said as he gazed upon the crude raft and the massive river beside it.

to be continued...