Chapter 18

When I woke up, it was dark out. I looked at the clock. It was sunset... how long did I sleep?

'Ianite?' She came into my room.

"Lucky, you slept for just about two days. I guess you weren't kidding when you said you could sleep for days."

"I really slept that long?" Ianite nodded. "Jeez... should I try sleeping the night, or...?"

"It's up to you Lucky. Do you think you could get back to sleep?"

"No, I don't think I could. I guess I'll get up." Ianite helped me sit up. Boy was I sore... I got off the bed and Ianite and I sat on the loveseat in the living room.

"So, how are you feeling after that Pillager beast threw you?"

"Very sore, but it was worth it. I'd do it again too."

"Well you don't have to, thankfully. I was so worried for you. That raid was pretty serious. It was so far from a normal raid. I'm proud of you though Lucky. You never gave up. You kept going. You defeated every enemy that came your way, even that Pillager beast that threw you so far."

"Yup. I knew I couldn't give up. There was no way I would. During the mental test however, I did fall for it a little bit. When I saw you and the others unalived, I was shocked. Especially seeing you like that. When I took your hand, it was cold. That's the moment I began to think, maybe it was real. Then I started fighting Wot, avenging your unalive. Then after we stopped fighting, due to an impasse, I realized he couldn't unalive me, then that's when I came back to reality. I knew again that it was a test. It wasn't real and I came back to you."

"And I'm glad you came back. I just didn't want to lose you, not so soon after we got together." I smiled gently at her.

"You'll never lose me. Come next week, I'll be an immortal High Priestess, then we'll be together forever." She then smiled and nodded, I could feel her happiness with that sentence. Then we talked the rest of the night after she changed the bandages. Then later in the morning,

'Lucky, we've found the Fire stone. You and Ianite come to Tom's island.', Dec told me telepathically. I relayed this to Ianite, and she disappeared, then I was teleported to her. As soon as I fully appeared, I took Ianite's hand.

"Where's the Fire stone? Nether, given my vision, but how far in the Nether is it?"

"It's 2,000 blocks from the portal. I'll be coming with you, so you'll all know where to go." We all nodded. I turned to Ianite.

"I'll go to Sparky's and make some potions of Regen and Instant Health before I go, to keep my promise that I would be prepared." She smiled.

"Ok. Be safe my champion." I smiled back.

"I will, always." We hugged, then she wished Sparky good luck and safe travels, then disappeared and I went to Sparky's island to make myself some potions and get my gear out of my Ender chest. I went up to his potion and Nether portal floor... Oh, right, he has the only portal. Oh... I looked over to the brewing stand I used before. The potions were still there. I took them off, yup, they're still the Infinite Fire Resist potions. Phew. I'm supposed to be the special one for this mission. I'll share it with them after I find the obsidian room though. They'll be surprised. I get my Ender chest out then I hear,

"Banned! Those are banned!" I get a mini heart attack and look over, a little scared.

"R-Really...?"

"Don't listen to him Lucky, Ender chests are perfectly fine. Go ahead with your doing.", Sparky said. Tom argued, which made Sparky retort. Sparky is right, I felt it. I breathed a sigh of relief. I got out my stuff and put on my armor and gold boots. I went over to the brewing stands and made my potions. When they were done,

"I'm ready." They all nodded and we went through the portal. We followed Dec 2,000 blocks away to a giant lava lake.

"Alright Lucky, you're up.", Dec said. I grinned, then I, barely, jumped in. I heard Tom and Karl's surprise before going down. I tried breathing, and yeah. Dad did the Lava Breathing too. Sweet! I looked around for the obsidian room. I then found it. I went back to the others then I surfaced from the lava.

"I found the obsidian room." I swam, for lack of a better word, to the shore. Karl and Dec helped me out of the lava, I took out my Ender chest, ignoring Tom's outcries of 'Illegal!' 'Banned!' and got out the potions and handed them to Sparky, Tom, and Karl.

"Here, these are Infinite Fire Resistance potions that my Father made when I was young then I recreated. You'll never need another Fire Resistance potion again. Good thing brewing stands make 3.", I said, winking.

"You really recreated them?", Karl asked in awe. I grinned and nodded. They drank their potions and were amazed. I then led the way to the obsidian room with the guys following closely and opened the iron door and we all went in. There was a chest with signs in front of it. The signs say 'The Fire stone isn't here, you'll have to play some games and win to win it. Lucky Fire, you can't play. You have presence sensing, that's cheating. Sparklez can be the Ianite player. Open the chest to be teleported. Lucky Fire, stay behind with Dec.'

"Fine... be that way. Good luck Sparky." He nodded and they opened the chest and got teleported and I went back to Dec.

"Can't go with them huh?", he asked as he helped me out of the lava. I shook my head 'no'. "Well, we can talk while we wait." He helped me sit on the ground then sat down across from me. "Excited to be High Priestess?"

"Yeah, I can't wait. Will these wounds heal with the immortality that I get?"

"I'm not sure. Becoming immortal with wounds isn't something that happens very often, if it has ever happened."

"Hmm... I hope so... I hate these dumb bandages. I'm sorry for being such a pain these past weeks..."

"Lucky, you're not a pain. You were a victim of the Darkness at first, then you did a very brave thing for Ianite. You were so brave Lucky, not everyone can go through those and come out as strong, or stronger than when they went in. You proved your worth, as Dianite said."

"I was trying to prove myself for Ianite though, not my worth."

"I understand that, but do you not think you kind of also proved your worth to Ianite as well? You proved your love was strong enough to get through those tough trials, even if you were exhausted and weary. You proved you were worthy of being a lover to a goddess with love backing your reasons for keeping on fighting, with love driving your every action, every thought, every move and because of that, you came out stronger than when you went in, I feel." I mulled over what Dec just said to me, then we talked a little more, then the guys came back. Sparky didn't look happy and Tom looked ecstatic. I instantly knew. Tom got the Fire stone... frick... We went back to the overworld to find it dark. Of course. Immediately, the others left for their island for sleep, I mean, I don't blame them.

"We should go too. Rest well Sparklez."

"Night Sparky." He bid us good night and Ianite disappeared then I was teleported to her. We sat on the loveseat.

"So... Tom got the Fire stone too... ugh, when are we gonna get the chance to get a stone, like seriously..."

"Don't feel so down Lucky. We'll get one eventually."

"Maybe..."

"Lucky, you must stay positive, optimistic. Only with such an outlook can you be successful in things you wish to succeed in, but just know this, I believe in you."

"Being optimistic is easier said than done... It's not like optimism can magically fix everything for someone.", I muttered.

"Well, you'd be right, but it has given you strength thus far."

"Hardly."

"Do you not think that your perseverance after everything you've been through, to an extent, might be optimism?"

I hesitated before answering her, saying, "I guess so."

She reached out to me briefly with a look of empathy, but then settled for a nod. After a couple minutes of silence,

"Well, we should get to sleep, what do you think?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Good night Ianite."

"Good night Lucky."

We hugged, then went to our bedrooms. After I got into bed, I tried, but couldn't sleep because I had thought back to my discussion with Dec, mulling over what he said, again. I stayed awake and just stared at the ceiling, thinking.

'Am I really worthy of Ianite's love though? Yeah, I won my trial... so what? That doesn't mean much of anything, just that my oath is bound and that my love was strong enough to get me through. But does that really make me worthy of her love? What about her? I know she doesn't want to lose me, she told me herself, but... she could lose me in other ways. Like, what if Wot gets to her?

'He can't unalive her, she's immortal, but he could infect her with Darkness, just like he did to Mianite. She'd lose me in the sense that she'd be against me in every way, shape, and form. That's a very real possibility. A possibility that I don't want happening... and it very well could. Wot knows we're lovers. He might get to her just to get back at me... oh no...' I sat up, not even bothering to take care with my shoulder.

'What am I even doing? Why am I even trying right now? Why didn't I think of this before? How can I say I love Ianite if I'm putting her in jeopardy of being infected with Darkness just by being her lover? I can't stay here, I can't have anything to do with being even just her follower right now. The only way she'll be safe, the only way she won't lose me, is if I stay away. I need to go...' I stood, broke my bed, picked it up, went out of my room, being careful to be quiet while opening and closing my door and the door to the outside.

'Mianite? Please, could you teleport me to you?'