Chapter 17

Yeah, I may have fallen asleep pretty quickly, but I also had a nightmare pretty quickly too. Man, I haven't had one in a while... maybe it's because mainly good things have been happening? I dunno... but in this nightmare I unalived alongside my village. The zombies invaded, we weren't prepared, so we couldn't defend ourselves, and we just fell by the sheer amount of zombies. The nightmare ended with a zombie just in my face, then it switched. I was in a jail cell, Wot was there in front of it and I was covered in darkness smoke. I looked even more beat up than I do now. This seems to be happening after every one of my wounds healed though. I have no bandages at all.

"Give in High Priestess. We're in a new location, so no one can find you now."

"I'll never give in Wot. They'll find me. They'll find a way. I believe in them."

"Faith in nothing. I hid our location so well, not even your goddess can find you."

"My goddess will kick your tail once she finds me. You most definitely incurred the wrath of Ianite now, with this stunt."

"I'm not scared of her. Do you know what she did High Priestess?"

"What do you mean, 'what she did'?"

"You don't know? Well, goes to show how little she trusts you. She..." Then the dream ended there. I woke up then sat up with much difficulty.

"What was that?", I asked myself quietly. I looked at the clock and it said it was past midnight. It's getting close to 3 AM. I sighed, got up, went to the kitchen, and splashed water on my face... as best as I could... again, dumb bandages... then my shoulder felt warm and wet... I think I did something when I sat up... I went to Ianite's room, then paused at the door. No, I won't bother her. Dianite and Dec should be the ones to tend to it.

'Dianite, can you and Dec meet me at Sparky's island? I did something to my shoulder...'

'Need teleporting?', Dianite asked.

'Please?' I was teleported shortly after. Then Dec appeared.

"Where's Ianite?", Dianite asked.

"Sleeping. I wasn't about to bother her with my shoulder problem. Just have you and Dec quick fix it then I can just stay the rest of the night here and let her know in the morning what happened."

"Probably not a good idea. You should probably go back to her. Communicate with her while we fix your shoulder up.", Dianite said. I nodded.

'Ianite? I'm sorry to wake you. My shoulder got bleeding again. I'm at Sparky's island with Dianite and Dec as they fix it.' Ianite appeared at once.

"Lucky, how did you?" I told her of my nightmare and of the dream I had after it. Afterward,

"Ianite, what was Wot talking about? What did you do?"

"..."

"Ianite, tell me. Please." She leaned against the wall, then told me of Olive and Oak and how she abandoned them and how she was called a flighty goddess, a goddess who doesn't stick around in sticky situations. Of when she had gone on a journey to find herself. How she thought her mother (she has a mother?) hated her. After she told me everything,

"Lucky, please don't think any differently of me. Please don't abandon me as your goddess, or as your lover. I've learned from my past mistakes. Please... forgive me." She started to cry silently. By this time, Dianite and Dec were done with my shoulder. They got the bleeding under control and bandaged up again. I stood and went over to her and hugged her.

"Ianite, I would never think any differently of you. I would never abandon you period. I'm glad you learned from your past mistakes and I forgive you. I love you and nothing will ever change that." She took a bit to settle down, then she looked at me.

"Do you promise?" I took her hand, still holding her.

"Of course my lady. This is a promise that I will never break. You have my sworn oath on that."

"Lucky, be careful. If you're going to swear an oath, you need to be bound to it. To bind an oath, you need to go through a trial that will put you through the wringer. You will be tested, trialled, put through your paces. You will get weary. You can't give up, otherwise your oath will fail to be bound and you won't survive. Oaths are a serious thing Lucky Fire. Only make one if you think you can survive the trial of making one.", Dianite said.

"I can do it. Give me the trial. Even with my wounds, I will get through it. My will is strong. My love is strong. I'm strong. Bring it."

"If you wish.", Dianite said. Ianite protested at him, but her protest fell on deaf ears. Nothing happened for a bit, but then we all but Dec were teleported elsewhere. It was a village, wait, this is the village at the bottom of the mountain where the training facility is. Then the raid bar appeared at the top. Really? This'll be easy.

"Take out your armor and weapons. You'll need them. This is no normal raid.", Dianite said. I put down my Ender chest and took my things out, then equipped them. I looked up, all 3 gods were watching me. Ianite looked extremely worried. I know she wants to stop this, but she can't. I can tell she's trying so hard not to come to me, to help me. Then I heard the raid horn go off. I looked over to where it sounded... oh boy... Dianite was right. This is no normal raid. There were way more enemies than normal. It's almost like the Nether all over again. I attacked, parried, blocked, shot my bow at the Pillager beasts when I had the chance. I know my wounds will all open up again, but that's the risk I'm willing to take. I fared well at the beginning, but as Dianite said, I became wearier and wearier. I started taking more hits than I could give, but I still attacked. Then, all of a sudden,

"Dianite, stop this! She's gonna unalive for sure!", Ianite yelled.

"No, keep going, I can do it!"

"Lucky, no you can't, you're not invincible! You've proven yourself already. Isn't that enough? Haven't you done enough? Haven't you put yourself through enough?" As we were talking, I still was fighting. As we were talking, a Pillager beast yeeted me a few feet. I heard Ianite's cry, but I got up. Slowly, but I got up. I shot my bow and arrows at it, ending it. Then I got back into the fray. After I unalived about 50 more enemies, the raid ended. I looked up at the gods.

"You've done enough Lucky. You've proved your worth. You never gave up. You kept going even when the going got tough. Even after that Pillager beast yeeted you, you still got up and fought. Now, there is also a mental test. This one will test your mental state. It will test you to see if you can keep your wits about you. This will test you to see if you will break. You can back out now if you want, you will suffer no consequences, only the injuries you gained during the fight. Will you give up, or will you continue?", Dianite asked.

"Lucky, please. I believe you when you say you'll never break your promise that you will love me and nothing will ever change that."

"I know you do, but I want to do this. I want to prove myself, I want to show you that nothing will break me. I want to show you that my love will endure anything thrown at me." Ianite looked unsure about the trials, but I know and can feel that she knows that my love will endure. She has the utmost faith in me, and feeling that gave me the strength needed to go ahead with the trial. "Dianite, give me the test."

"Be warned Lucky Fire, this could break you, you could go to a place that you'll never come back from. You could get trapped in that fake reality. You could never be normal again."

"Bring. It."

"Don't say I didn't warn you." We were teleported to a different island. After I took off my armor, I read the sign. 'Adventure Island'? There was a building under construction, but the first floor seemed to be done enough to do what we need to do. Mianite quickly built a surface for me to lay on. He said it was for this next trial. I laid on it and then Dec came in, I assume to help Dianite change my bandages and tend to my old and new wounds while I go through my mental trial. Mianite initiated this one. Dianite had done the raid. Hmm, will Ianite give me a trial? I was instructed to close my eyes and not think. I did so, but felt sleepy. I think I was meant to feel sleepy, because then the trial began. I was taken away to a place and Wot was there.

"Well well, High Priestess to be, or should I say, Failure to be. You think you can be High Priestess? The world has no need for such a thing. Your abilities are useless. You can't defeat me. I'm way more powerful than you."

"You're wrong. I'm part of a prophecy that foretold of my coming and of my abilities. I'm destined to save this world. So that means defeating you and bringing the world back into a balanced state. Then my lady's presence will have more peace than turmoil like it should be."

"You're confident... but can you be confident knowing that none of the gods are alive? I already won. You defeating me won't do anything. I told you I'm too powerful for you." He stepped aside and pulled back the curtain that was behind him. There was Mianite, Ianite, and Dianite. They were unalived alright. When I saw my lady, my heart skipped a few beats.

"Ianite?" Then I also saw my other friends. Dec was alive however, but I think he turned to Darkness' side. He wasn't coming over to me. "No... this isn't real. Not one of my friends will unalive, they won't. And... gods can't die, they're immortal. You're lying, this is fake!"

"I'm not lying. Join me. Your Priest already has. He gave up just like that when he saw what I did, what I can do. He was easy to sway. Come now, join him. I'll make you the High Priestess of Darkness. You'll be powerful. Even more powerful than you would have been if you'd become the High Priestess for the gods." I looked at Ianite. I went over to where she was laying. I took her hand. Her hand was cold. How is that possible? Isn't this a trial? I bowed my head. Has it become... real?

"Giving in?"

"No... I'll never give in. You unalived her, that's not going to make me want to join you... what the heck were you thinking? That makes absolutely no sense. What, you thought 'Oh, I'll unalive her goddess and lover, that'll make her want to join me'? Well you thought wrong!" I took out my sword and attacked.

"You little sneaky sneak. Oh, you'll pay for that."

~Ianite's POV~

As soon as Mianite gave Lucky the visions in her head,

"What did you give her?", I asked.

"Visions of Wot, his victory over us and her friends, Dec having gone to the Darkness' side."

"We're unalived? ~Mianite nodded~ She won't fall for that."

"Oh trust me, she'll think it real after a bit. Give it time." I looked at Lucky, concerned. After a few minutes, I could see the disturbed look on her face, she's definitely struggling now. Mianite was right. Then eventually, it got worse, she actually looked like she was struggling against something like someone was holding her and she was trying to get away. I went to reach out to her, but was stopped by Mianite. He shook his head at me. I looked back at her. I hope she'll be alright...

~Normal POV~

This fight is lasting really long. I'm definitely more beat up than before. It seems I can't win. I kept trying though. I kept attacking and defending, but then Wot disappeared in a cloud of smoke. I looked around, trying to feel his presence, but I couldn't... wait, why not? Then he grabbed me from behind. I struggled.

"Get off, let me go!"

"Never, if you won't come to my side, then I'll just have to keep you locked away, that way you won't try again to stop me!" I struggled a little more, then I realized I could use my magic to get at him even if I can't. His mistake was that I could still move my arms enough to where I could get him with my fire magic, which I absolutely did. The fire engulfed me too, but of course I was fine.

"How are you fine?!" I smirked.

"Because I'm immune to fire and lava. Have been since I was little. Unlike you, Darkness." And because I prefer not to unalive other people, like Wot is, he's just corrupted by Darkness, I waved my wand and extinguished the fire. He looked at me like, 'what the heck?'. "Give it up Wot. I'm more powerful than you. I can keep up with you in battle. You'll never get me to join you. If you don't, we'll forever be in battle. You unalived my goddess, I will always avenge her, you can't unalive me.

"You're supposed to be powerful? We literally just came to an impasse... wait, you can't unalive me... but you... ~looks back at the gods and goddess~ Hmm. There's only one explanation. This ain't real. You're just a fake. This whole thing is fake. Ianite is alive. I believe this. Ianite and the others are alive, and you're not really here. Begone visions. I'm not fooled. I survived. I'm strong. Bring me back!" Then I woke up.

"Lucky! Oh thank goodness. You were under that for a really long time, but you did it.", Ianite said. I grinned.

"I did, and I did it for you. So, is the oath bound?" The three gods nodded.

"You've proven yourself worthy. Congratulations Lucky Fire. You passed the tests.", Dianite said.

"I did good. I'm glad... now I could sleep for days... Ianite, can we go home?" She smiled gently and nodded. We bade Dianite, Mianite, and Dec goodbye, Ianite disappeared, then she teleported me to her. We were in my room. "I really am exhausted..." I laid on my bed and Ianite knelt beside my bed.

"I'm not surprised. You went through so much just to be oath bound. Your love is just that strong."

"It is, and I am that strong too. I survived. I'll always survive. Love is the most powerful thing." She looked down. She seemed to be thinking about what I just said.

"I suppose it is. If it kept you sane and kept you going during the fight, then it really is. Well, I'll let you sleep. You need it after that. I'll be close, so when you wake up, let me know." I nodded, then she went out of my room, and I was out instantly.