Chapter 8

The next morning, I went downstairs to the first floor to find Sparky coming out of the villager hall.

"Good morning Lucky."

"Mornin'. Um, so Ianite was here last night and she was kind of acting a little bit strange before I went back to sleep." Then I told him of my nightmares and the happenings between Ianite and I afterward.

"Hmm... yes, that doesn't sound like her. Maybe she's trying to sort things out. What things, I don't know, but that's a very possible reason." I nod slowly, thinking. "So, wanna come with me to the training facility Mianite built? There are spare Elytras there. You can have one of them."

"Really? Dude, let's go!" He chuckled, then we made our way to the training facility. As we approached,

"Whoooaaa. This place is massive."

"Yeah, it's a really fun place to train if you're interested."

"Train in what?"

"Parkour, archery, speed, agility, and Elytra control."

"Ooo, that sounds fun, I wanna try."

"Go for it." I grinned and the first thing I did was the obstacle course. That was really fun and I did really well on it. Next thing was archery, which I did really well, of course. Third was parkour. That I had a lot of trouble with, but I ultimately did it in the end. Then the Elytra course. I took one of the Elytras and equipped it. I took a stack of fireworks as well. I took a deep breath as I approached the edge of the cliff. I leapt off and deployed my Elytra, activating a firework as well to go through the first hoop. I was doing pretty well... until...

Lucky_Fire1991 experienced kinetic energy

I respawned in my bed back at home. Then I was teleported to an invisible Ianite. I could hear her giggling so I just smirked in the direction of her giggling then went over to Sparky, who was chuckling as he handed me my things. Thankfully all I had was my ender chest, silk touch pick, Elytra, and fireworks.

"RIP. Well, at least you did pretty well for your first time doing the Elytra obstacle course."

"Yeah, it wasn't too bad. Better than I thought I would do to be honest."

"Really? But you had an Elytra before."

"I know, but I hadn't really done this kind of thing with it. I just flew around in open air. I also hadn't had fireworks with it before either, so that was also a new experience for me as well."

"Huh. Well, at least you're learning new things while with me."

"Yeah, I guess. Y'know Sparky, I'm realizing that I'm actually glad I met you guys in the first place, and that I came back after leaving you all. I think I'm starting to find my true self."

"Oh yeah? What's your true self?", he asked softly.

"Like what Tom said on his beach, at least partly. I can be kind and nice, I actually let myself be vulnerable at the ocean going to Ianite's temple, but I also am tough, always ready to battle, so... I guess I am a true Ianitee, balanced. I'm kind, yet tough, nice, but battle ready when need to be, vulnerable, yet guarded when it comes to taking hits. I have decent stamina, so I can fight for a while. I did so in the Nether yesterday. I also wasn't as wiped out as I was with the fight with the Naglfar. Though, to be honest, that fight was many opponents and heavy hitting as well. The enemies in the Nether weren't as bad as the Naglfar. So I guess maybe I'm embellishing my abilities. Still though, you should have seen the sheer amount of enemies in the Nether. Oh, I didn't tell you, I met Mianite yesterday as well. I think he was behind the weird amount of enemies in the Nether. His last words to me before he disappeared were, 'Good luck in the Nether'. So I think he made it so that there were more monsters than normal."

"Possibly. I wouldn't be surprised."

"Hey, can we go to Karl's garden? I wanna hang out among the flowers and trees." Sparky smiled gently.

"Sure." We leapt off the cliff and flew to Karl's garden. When we got there, we found a bench and sat on it, facing the small pond. I watched the water of the pond. It's so still, so blue. In my peripheral, I can see Sparky watching me with a gentle look. Then a gentle breeze swept through the air which made small ripples on the pond. I smiled softly at the sight of the ripples. This is like a dream. This is so peaceful. Somehow... this doesn't feel right to me. All I've known since I've got here was action. I look around suspiciously.

"Lucky, what's wrong?" I stood up.

"This is way too peaceful... too quiet... I don't trust this..."

"Lucky, everything's fine. ~stands up~ Believe it or not, there are days where it's peaceful and quiet. Come on, let's sit back down and relax." He gently laid a hand on my forearm and looked at me. I looked back at him, then after a few seconds, I sighed.

"Fine... but I'm not letting my guard down." We sat back down but I was tense. I couldn't relax. I then felt hands lay gently on my shoulders. I look up and back. I see no one, but it must be Ianite.

'Lucky, relax. I'll make sure your time here in the garden is peaceful. You don't need to keep your guard up all the time. Remember what I told you. You can let your guard down. Sparklez is right, there is actually peace from time to time. Relax my champion, take this day to unwind from the events of the past few months.' I leaned back, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

'Ok. I'll try Ianite. Thank you.' I couldn't see, but I'm dead sure she smiled gently at my telepathic comment. She stayed for a couple minutes, but then went away, no doubt hovering above Sparky and I, keeping watch. I leaned forward, resting my arms on my legs and watched the water yet again as the breeze gently rippled the surface.

"Feeling better?", Sparky asked.

"Yeah, I can enjoy today. I had a wave of peace wash over me, so I'm going to embrace that and just relax." It's true, Ianite's presence had given me a wave of peace. I then smiled a small smile and recited a poem I just made up on the spot.

"A gentle breeze ripples the water's surface. It plays with our hair, making our hair move ever so slightly. It goes through the grass and flowers, making them sway to invisible music. Then slowly, the gentle breeze fades away." Sparky looked at me surprised.

"Where'd that come from all of a sudden?"

"I dunno. It just came to my mind and I just said it."

"Well, that was very pretty Lucky. I enjoyed your poem."

"Thank you. I actually liked coming up with that. It was pretty fun." He smiled.

'I enjoyed it too Lucky. It was a very beautiful poem.'

'Thank you Ianite.' I felt relaxed now. Like, really relaxed. I laid amongst the flowers, put my hands behind my head, and stared up into the afternoon sky. There were a few fluffy white clouds floating by. Sparky did the same, laying next to me. The day was warm, not too hot, but not too cool. It was pleasant. As I watched the clouds go by, I gradually felt sleepy. Before I knew it, I'd fallen asleep. I wasn't completely out though. I was aware of my surroundings. A couple minutes pass and then I heard Sparky move.

"If you're about to prank me, good luck. I may be napping, but I am still aware of my surroundings." He stopped moving. Yup, he was about to prank me. I grinned and opened an eye to look at him. He was grinning sheepishly. I chuckled and then closed my eye again. "If you wanna prank me, wait till I'm actually dead to the world. Then I won't know it."

"Thanks for the advice."

"Don't take that to heart. Forget I even said that..." I woke up and sat up, glaring at him.

"Oh, I won't forget. Watch out Lucky, one of these nights I'll get you."

"Well you can't prank me too soon, I'll be expecting it."

"Oh I know. I can wait." I sighed and shook my head. Well, I'll know to expect something wrong one of these days. I laid back down and closed my eyes again. I heard Sparky move again, but I think he sat on the bench again. I took a little catnap for 30 minutes as Sparky probably watched the ocean or inspected his weapons and tools and I knew Ianite was watching over us. I'd ended up on my side, back facing Sparky. As I opened my eyes, I saw Ianite close to me, just chilling by the pond's edge, softly and quietly disturbing the surface of the water with a reed. I stayed silent and just watched her with a serene look on my face. She can't see me. A couple minutes pass and she looks my way.

"Oh, you're awake."

"Yeah. I was just watching you disturb the water with your reed.", I said, propping myself up on my elbow now.

"I see. Were you entertained?"

"I mean, I wasn't bored."

"That's one way to answer the question I suppose.", she said amused. I chuckled.

"So, ~looks at the sun's position~ it is going to be dark soon. We should probably get back to Sparky's and my island." I looked over to Sparky to see him asleep on the bench. I sighed quietly. "Well, maybe. I don't wanna disturb him."

"I've got a splash potion of levitation and slow falling. I could splash the levitation on him and you and you could 'carry' him through the air back to the island, then I could splash you with slow falling so that you don't take damage."

"I trust you Ianite, but I'm not so sure about that plan. Maybe we should just wake him up... despite me not wanting to..." I stood up as well as Ianite and I went over to Sparky. I gently shook his shoulder.

"Hey, Sparky, we should get going. It's gonna be dark soon.", I said softly. He didn't wake. I furrowed my brow in thought. Then I grinned mischievously. I got closer to Ianite.

"Ianite, could I see the splash potion of slow falling? I'm gonna prank Sparky.", I said quietly. She returned the mischievous grin and handed me the potion. I took a couple steps back, Ianite made herself invisible and most likely flew up into the air, and I splashed the potion onto Sparky. That woke him up.

"What did you just splash onto me?" I busted out laughing.

"Don't worry... it's only slow falling...", I said between laughs.

"Where'd you get slow falling?"

"My little secret", I said, winking.

"Did you conspire with Ianite?"

"Nooo, why would I do that? I wouldn't want to let our lady stoop to such mischievousness."

"You totally did. The both of you conspired this prank together."

"I promise you, she had nothing to do with it." He eyed me suspiciously. I held both my hands up in defense. "I'm tellin' ya. She's innocent."

"I'll let you say that. I know our lady likes to prank once in a while, but I'll let you say she's innocent."

"Fine, but it's getting dark. We need to go home." Sparky stood up.

"Ugh, slow falling while Elytraing is gonna be annoying."

"Then don't Elytra, just take a boat."

"But a boat is too slow... fine... You're coming with me though. You're the one who gave me slow falling."

"Fine." We went to ocean's edge and Sparky put down a boat and we boarded. I'm guiding the boat so I guided it toward our island. When we got there, he picked the boat back up when we were on land. I bade him a good night and went up to my floor. As I sat on my bed, Ianite appeared grinning.

"That was a really good prank. You had a good idea Lucky, his reaction was priceless." I grinned as we quietly high fived.

"It really was. I'm so glad you had that potion on you. And I didn't rat you out for having that potion. He didn't believe me at all, but hey, it's whatever, right?"

"Yeah, like he said, I do like to do a good prank every now and then. It's ok if he knows that I helped you with that prank. I do appreciate that you didn't tell him I helped though."

"Of course. Well, I should be getting to sleep. Thanks again for the help Ianite. I'm glad I'm your follower." She smiled gently.

"Of course, it's what I do, and I'm glad you are my follower too. Now get a good night's rest. I'll be seeing you another time." I nodded and then slept for the night.