Heart of Corruption

## The Heart of Corruption

The **Heart of Corruption** was a malevolent entity with unknown origins, which plagued the town of New Anvil for a short period of time through the Tree of Corruption, which had grown in the town's Wall District. It would later return much stronger, using the Vessel of Corruption as a proxy body to protect itself. It was ultimately slain for good at the hands of Cadmus and the Heroes of New Anvil.

## Description

The Heart of Corruption looked very similar to an End Crystal, being composed of two translucent cubes that rotated around with a smaller cube on the inside. However, the Heart had a negative black-and-white color scheme, which was a running theme with all corrupted creatures.

## Biography

the Heart of Corruption's origins are unknown, but it can be assumed that it was formed inside of the Infinite Plane, where it used its extradimensional powers to create a pocket, which would become known as the Garden of Corruption.

### New Anvil's Time

A short distance outside New Anvil’s borders, a strange tree had grown. It was like any other the townsfolk had ever seen, with dark, gnarled bark and black, dead leaves. One unlucky villager made contact with the tree, and he died shortly afterwards. Knowing this was bad news, Cadmus took an axe and cut down the tree. For a short time, nobody thought anything of it. But then, the tree grew back, larger than before, and began corrupting the ground around it.

Many measures were taken to try and get rid of the tree. It was cut down, uprooted, set on fire- nothing worked. Cadmus decreed that no one was to set foot near the Tree, and had a great wall built around it to prevent the corruption from spreading. Cadmus then tasked Charon and Zephyr with studying the tree and trying to figure out what it was. After some extensive research, they discovered that its root system was growing rapidly underground, and was extending out towards the town itself. They theorized that it could potentially grow additional trees from its extended roots, covering the entire village of New Anvil in corrupted trees.

They also discovered an opening in the ground right underneath the tree, leading straight down. They theorized that this could be where the tree had come from, and killing it at the source might stop the spread. However, this would be suicide, whoever went in might not come back. Never discouraged, Cadmus ventured down the hole underneath the tree, intent on destroying the source. He entered a chamber wherein the tree’s source was held- known as the Heart of Corruption. Cadmus destroyed the Heart, causing the tree and all its roots to dissolve into dust. Cadmus ultimately survived this journey, thus saving the town.

### Cold War

During the time of the Cold War, the Heart of Corruption returned, this time spreading much further and more aggressively through the town of New Anvil. Cadmus assembled a team, consisting of himself, Charon, and Zephyr, and the three of them ventured back into the Garden of Corruption, where they found it had expanded since the last time they were there. The team was first confronted by Gargeth, the Corrupted, a massive Ultra Zombie who acted as the Heart's first line of defense.

Afterwards, they made their way to a wide spire in the center of the Garden, where they would have to open the vault doors in order to enter the den of the Heart. They succeeded, and finally faced the Heart of Corruption once more, only this time it was prepared for a fight, having constructed itself a proxy body known as the Vessel of Corruption. The battle against the vessel would be grueling and difficult, but the team would succeed in destroying it, finally killing the Heart for good.

## Abilities

### Corruption

The Heart of Corruption was able to spread its influence into the Overworld from its pocket of the Infinite Realm. The corruption had varying effects, most of the time it simply infected and killed humans that came into contact with it, but when coming into contact with monsters, it would convert them into mindless drones that served the Heart.

### Root Manipulation

The Heart can manipulate and grow its own plant roots, which it used to grow the Tree of Corruption. It also utilized this in attacks, rapidly spreading sharp roots through the ground that could impale its foes.

### Immunity Shield

The Heart of Corruption could create a shield around itself that deflected attacks.

### Infinite Plane Manipulation

The Heart was able to weave the fabric of the Infinite Plane into a pocket dimension. It was also able to expand this dimension to a larger size.

### Hive Mind

The Heart constantly maintained a powerful neural link to monsters corrupted by its influence, being able to control them. Unlike the Sculk Reality, monsters corrupted by the Heart had no manner of independent thought.

## Trivia

* The Heart of Corruption is based on an actual event that happened to the Minecraft Realm, where it was temporarily corrupted and would crash. The Wall District was built as a method of marking what areas would cause crashes.
* The Heart of Corruption is heavily inspired by the Heart of the Black Garden from *Destiny*, as it is confronted in a hidden area accessed by a portal.
	+ Likewise, the Heart's proxy body, the Vessel of Corruption, is compared to the Sanctified Mind from *Destiny 2*'s Garden of Salvation Raid, which is recreated in the form of the Garden of Corruption Dungeon.