[500,2400]
[our dear physicist]
Upon reaching the edge of the village, our dear physicist is immediately received terribly. A group of five villagers in full bronze plate mail with bronze spears and swords stop him, showing clear hostility.
"Who are you?" said one.
"State your purpose here!" said another.
"Are you with the hated?" said a third.
"Hi..." answered our physicist, eyebrow cocked at their blatant hostility, and also their curious facial structures. identical unibrows, emerald green eyes, long noses, and that nasally tone all of their voices held.
"Answer us!" roared the fourth.
"Fine, fine, don't get all worked up." started our physicist. "My name is -R----- M--------. Call me 'The Physicist' please." A routine introduction flowed out of his mouth. It was light and cold. An entirely neutral tone developed from years of submitting himself for the approval of others.
The guards shuddered-a strange sense of dread had naturally enveloped them upon hearing our dear physicist's name.
"This feeling of dread..." one of the guards started to talk "perhaps he really is related to 'the hated'..."
two of the other guards' eyes flickered with a dangerous light upon hearing this, and the guard who first spoke immediately leapt toward our dear physicist, pushing him to the ground and pinning his arms behind him.
"What the hell?!" questions our physicist. "What're you doing?? Why?? And who even is this 'hated'?"
None of the guards replied with an answer. A flurry of insults and "Shut Up."s were all that he got. The guards shot him looks of disgust and hatred.
He let out a long sigh and allowed the clearly paranoid villagers to tie him and walk him into the village. After all, he knew he could escape at anytime, given his high speed and the items he had in his inventory.
There was also the question of who this mysterious "Hated" was. It would be a lie to say our physicist's curiosity wasn't a factor in his decision to play along with the villagers. Not to mention the abnormal strength these villager guards seemed to be blessed with.
As he was being dragged to the core of the village, our physicist quickly emptied his satchel and armor-coat's contents into his inventory, as he suspected the guards would take visible items away from him.
And then he saw the true state of the village. Blocks missing, charred ground and destroyed houses. He looked to the guards once more, taking them in properly this time.
They looked tired, weary. They were in no state to guard the village.
Their armor had dents, small bite marks, and even arrow tips stuck in them. The regular villagers around were chatting intensely and extremely seriously. Some parents were comforting their children, others were putting the scattered pieces of their houses back together.
"what...what happened here??" asked our physicist, shocked that a village so clearly flourishing with their bronze armored guards could have fallen into such a state in a world where skeletons, zombies, and the occasional NEUTRAL enderman were the only things to fear.
The first guard looked toward him, suspicion still streaked across his face. "The infernals and endermen attacked us yesternight. They came here with that blasted 'Hated'. Thought we were with him, and...well."
He paused for a second, started to say something, but then stopped. For a minute or so, the grinding of the physicist's armor against the ground was all that could be heard.
The third soldier-the one that had jumped on him, continued the sentence. "To put it simply, there used to be five teams of guards in this village. We're the only remaining team."
The physicist's eyes grew wide.
"5 teams? That means whatever an infernal is can take out 20 fully bronze geared soldiers out...what on earth is going on with this world??"
"Yeah, we thought the same thing..." replied another one of the guards. They seemed to have quickly realized that the physicist was no enemy. "Well, we're here now,"
The group had arrived before a particularly grand building, at least 3 stories tall with a burnt rooftop garden, and shattered windows. It was in no better state than the rest of the village.
"This is the mayor's home. Go on in with Jeb...and also sorry for the hostility earlier, we're not in the best of situations right now." One of the guards stepped forward and picked the physicist up by his armpit, allowing him to stand by himself. "I'm Rath by the way,"
Rath offered him a small, tired smile before lightly pushing him toward the door of the large home along with another one of the guards, who must've been Jeb.
Stumbling over his own feet, our armored physicist bumbles into the house, swiftly followed by Jeb. There, sitting right before him, on a strange mat of sorts, was what the physicist assumed to be a villager-he couldn't actually tell-the person on the mat had strange, golden-white paladin like garb, and a mask that covered the entirety of his face with a golden cross.
"We found another of 'the hated's kind, this one approached our village without any infernals following him, and appears to be friendly." A cold, and lightly intonated voice floated out of Jeb's mouth. Just the same tone as the physicist had used to introduce himself at the entrance of the village.
The mystery villager hummed, and our physicist smiled knowingly at Jeb.
"We do not know if he truly comes without harm." A calming, soft, slightly muffled voice sounds from behind the mask. "We shall execute him along with 'the hated' at nightfall today."
"But si-" Jeb attempts to interrupt the masked villager, his voice wavering.
"I know you feel pity for them, Jeb. I do too, trust me. But this is for the sake of our village...We must do this. We can't take another night of this...You know that Jeb."
The physicist watched the interaction, panic slowly growing in his eyes.
He attempts to speak, but Jeb holds his hand over the physicist's mouth.
"I understand, sir." Jeb had resolved himself.
"I will allow Rath the ho-" started the masked mayor, but was almost immediately interrupted by a soft whimper from a dark corner of the room.
Jeb, our physicist and the mayor turned their attention to the little iron cage in the corner of the room.
The physicist's eyes widened with shock once more.
With a glowing black and red ring on his finger, and knees to his chin sat a crying boy.
A crying HUMAN boy.