Hey y'all, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new one-shot! NOTE: I do not own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.

(I would definitely recommend listening to Infecta - an original song by Mineworks Animations - whilst reading this chapter. It really helps set the mood!)

Infecta

I took a deep breath, studying the careful illustrations in my spell book. It would be a long and complicated path to get my wizard powers back. But I had to try. I had to try to get my powers back for Dec's sake, if nothing else.

The flickering candle next to me illuminated the ancient pages with a soft golden glow, casting a gentle light on my face as I carefully turned over page after page, reading each section thoroughly.

It was very late at night right now - or it could be very early in the morning, depending on how you looked at it. I had almost become nocturnal at this point, preferring to study my books on powers when my little home was silent and everyone else was asleep.

My little ginger tabby cat, who I had found a few days ago, lost and alone at the foot of my mountain, was curled up at my feet, fast asleep. I could faintly hear Dec snoring from upstairs, probably deep in some dream. It looked I would be left in peace for the most part, hunched over an ancient book in the candlelight.

And I was happy with that.

I had never been all too 'sociable', so being left alone was always sort of a pleasure. And now, as I stared at the long, slanting Runes that were scrawled across the page, it felt almost as though the silence was wrapping me up in a thick, warm blanket, blocking out all sounds.

I was lost in my own world as my eyes traveled over the pages of the book, reading about powerful inscriptions to bring back magical energy, as well as ways to bind the magical energy to the desired recipient. Finally, I came to a page with instructions and recipes for creating power sources. I frowned, concerned by all the resources it would take.

It would require practically all the vinteum dust I had been gathering, as well as ten of each elemental shard. Then came weirder things - a couple dozen feathers, witchwood planks, and a Nether star. The last ingredient would be expensive, as well as dangerous to get. I wasn't the best at fighting and there was a very good chance I could be withered. Without my normal immunity to mob attacks, the wither infection would spread rapidly and I would most likely die before I could even get help.

I shook away those thoughts. I would fight the Wither when it came down to just the Nether star. Those other ingredients wouldn't be too challenging to obtain - granted, witchwood was rare. I was pretty sure I only had a few left in my chests downstairs. It may take some time to gather all sixty-four planks that I needed.

I continued to read until the small clock in another room chimed six, the grey dawn light just beginning to creep over to my chair. My cat, whom I had decided to call 'Quexa', yawned and stretched out, plucking at the floor with her small white feet. I leaned down and rubbed her, smiling gently. Quexa purred as I scratched her cheek and she brushed up against my legs, leaving behind little ginger cat hairs. I snorted, knowing by now that it would pointless to try to brush the cat hair away - Quexa was a cuddler, and she shed like crazy.

"You're a little mess," I told Quexa as she looked up at me, green eyes wide. She meowed in what seemed to be agreement, then hopped up into my lap. I smiled and rubbed her, leaning over to close the book. Quexa curled up in my lap, still purring as she kneaded the soft fabric of my robes.

I had never imagined that I would be such a cat person. But I had to admit - Quexa had definitely won me over with her sweet charm and loving personality. She was quiet for the most part and her purr was quite calming, if I dared say so myself. She provided a sense of close companionship that I hadn't felt in years - not since before my friend Tom was killed.

I knew Tom had been brought back to life and that he was living to the south with Matt and Phil. However, when I had tried to find him again after shortly arriving in this land, I had instead come upon Matt, who warned me to stay away. He had said that they needed to stay hidden - something had gone wrong and they didn't want the king to know. When I tried to ask if Tom was okay, Matt just shook his head and said "He's having a tough time coping without his powers." I had no idea what Matt had meant by that - why didn't Tom have his powers? Come to think of it, Matt hadn't looked right either - his eyes weren't glowing and he was holding a sword instead of his wand.

Was that what had went wrong? Had they lost their powers too and were trying to keep it secret? I didn't know and probably never would.

"Wag?" I jumped a little bit, then turned my head to see Dec in the doorway, staring at me with bleary, sleep-filled eyes. "Did you stay up all night?"

"Yeah," I muttered guiltily, scratching Quexa's ears. Quexa let out a short purr before falling back asleep, flicking her white-tipped tail. "I was reading again. I need to find a way to get my powers back quickly, especially with that new prophecy hanging over our heads."

"Guess what else you -" Dec cut himself off with a wide yawn. "- need. You need sleep, Wag. This staying up all night and taking five hour naps in the day can't be good for you."

"I know," I shrugged. "But there's a lot of stuff that I need to do. This is a long process, and failure isn't an option. There isn't any other way."

"Then let me help you," Dec pleaded. "You're going to kill yourself if you try to do all this on your own. Tell me what you need. I can gather supplies for you while you rest."

"Thanks," I smiled gratefully. "Okay, if you want something to do, I need sixty-four witchwood planks. It's the tree that has silvery leaves - there should be some beyond the outreaches of the Taint. It'll be a day's journey by foot, but you can borrow my jetpack and hang glider if you want. Oh, and if you see any chickens, I need two dozen feathers as well. I'll get the materials I have now out of my chests so you can see just how much to gather." I yawned after I had finished talking, covering my mouth with my hand. With reading all night and preparing things for the spell during the day, I was beyond exhausted.

I picked up Quexa and set her down on the floor, earning an annoyed meow from my cat. I muttered an apology and stood up, trembling a bit as I made my way over to Dec, who was still standing in the doorway. He gave me a worried glance, but I didn't look at him. I didn't want to be fussed over. I would be fine.

I walked into my chest room, just to the left of my study. It was very crowded in the little room and I had to squeeze around my crafting table to get to the chest where I knew I had some planks of witchwood. When I opened it however, I found that there were only a few purple splinters amongst the oak and that horrid eucalyptus. I frowned, then remembered I must have used it all when I repaired my altar - which had unfortunately had to deal with a slightly explosive, backfired spell.

The good news was that I already had eighteen feathers. Dec would only have to gather half a dozen more. I passed on the news about my supplies to Dec, who nodded, understanding. I gave him my jetpack and hang glider, told him to use the fuel in the jetpack sparingly - it would only last for so long before it needed to be recharged - and told him to be back as soon as possible - there was supposed to be a blood moon later tonight, and of course, that would pose a very dangerous threat.

After Dec left, I was alone in my house, save for Quexa, who I could see sprawled out in a patch of morning sunlight in my study. I smiled and went back into my study. It was time to memorize the spell.

"Wag? Hey Wag, wake up," I blinked open my eyes and looked up at Dec, who was staring down at me with amusement sparking in his dark brown eyes. I realized that I had fallen asleep while reading and my cheek had been pressed against the page of my book. I mentally groaned. I was probably going to have ink imprints on the side of my face now.

"Wha' time is it?" I murmured, lifting my head. Dec snickered and gestured for me to turn my head slightly to the right. I gave him a confused look, but complied to his odd request.

Dec studied something on my cheek, then said aloud, "The process of binding new magic to a former possessor of magical energy is a long and difficult process. It must be carried out with the utmost precision and care."

I blushed as I realized that the ink had left imprints on my face and Dec was reading from it. I pulled my hood up over my head to disguise the ink tattoos, looking down so Dec couldn't see any part of my face at all.

"My Notch," I muttered. "You can read me like a book, Dec." Dec laughed and I felt a smile playing on my face as well. But dammit, being tired was just the worst!

"Alright, I got what you needed me to get," Dec recovered quickly from his fit of laughter, although a grin still shone in his eyes. "The witchwood and the rest of the feathers are in a separate chest upstairs. Oh, and I also found some more vinteum dust when I chased a chicken down into a cave. I didn't know if you needed more but I mined it out too."

"Thanks," I smiled gratefully. "I probably will end up needing extra, because knowing me when I'm tired, I'll probably screw something up."

"Nah, you'll do fine," Dec picked up Quexa, who was winding around his feet. My cat purred and licked his nose, much to Dec's surprise and my amusement. Quexa then wriggled out of the priest's grip, and jumped into my lap, still purring.

"Glad to know someone thinks so," I murmured. "I think I will actually try to get some sleep tonight. I can try to get the last ingredient for the spell tomorrow, I guess. I'm pretty sure I have all the elemental shards that I need. But all I can say is that I'm not looking forwards to getting the last material."

"What is it going to be?" Dec asked curiously.

"A Nether star," I responded. "I can summon the Wither boss, sure, but fighting it is going to be the problem."

Dec's eyes widened with fear and he suddenly put his hands on my shoulders. I jerked my head up to face him, surprised at the sudden contact.

"No," Dec sounded urgent. "You - you can't. Anything involving the Nether is too dangerous. I don't know how you got enough supplies to summon a Wither without getting killed as soon as you stepped foot in the Nether, but you can't go back there or do anything with it. The - the Nether mobs might be able to sense my presence and become more vicious. It's too dangerous for you to fight them."

"I have to!" I protested, picking up Quexa in my arms and standing up. "Don't you understand? It's the only way!"

Dec glanced down at his feet, clearly realizing that I was not going to be persuaded. "Then I'm sorry," He whispered forlornly, filling me with dread at the prospect of the fight to come.

I took a deep breath, readying my mithril sword. Even though Dec had warned me against fighting the Wither, I was still going to fight it. I had to.

Dec himself had left with the others early this morning to go back to the land of Mianite to hopefully complete Dianite's prophecy. I had helped Dec explain their story to the mortals and had even managed to relay a message to the other wizards, who seemed to have their powers back once again. Now it was only I who remained in this world, as well as the residents of Dagrun, who were beginning to wonder about the disappearances of the strange new people.

I had wanted to be alone when I performed this spell. Dec had been indignant but I had convinced him that it was what I wanted to do, and I could be very stubborn if I wanted to. Finally, he had conceded after I promised that I would come back to the land of Mianite as soon as I regained my powers.

I shook my thoughts aside and got ready to place the third and final wither skull on the soul sand totem. This would be a long, hard fight but I hoped the end result would be worth it.

I swallowed once more, and placed the skull down, the Wither appearing half a second later with a loud, explosive bang.

I barely had time to swing my sword at it for a first hit before it was shooting wither skulls at me, which I dodged with a frantic agility. I started up the deadly dance of a battle - jumping and rolling around wither skulls while still getting in hits of my own.

The fight seemed easier than I had originally thought, at first. The Wither was taking a lot of abuse from my sword and wasn't shooting skulls quite as fast anymore. I could just barely see the Nether star shining in its ribcage and courage filled me at the prospect of soon being able to get the rare Wither heart to complete the spell.

Then, I got hit in the chest with a wither skull.

I screamed in pain as the skull exploded in front of me, showering me with dark wither magic. I collapsed onto my hands and knees, coughing as the cold poison quickly entered my bloodstream. It flowed like shards of ice through my body and I was almost instantly overwhelmed by the freezing sensation.

The wither hissed in triumph and got ready to shoot one final wither skull to finish me off, but I staggered to my feet and drove my sword through its center head, killing it first. The wither fell to the ground, dead, but I wasn't in a much better state. I was shaking violently already and was barely able to pry out the glowing Nether star, hidden deep in the Wither's twisted ribcage. I held onto the star like it was my lifeline, which it practically was. I had already pieced together the rest of the spell in my altar, and I just had to get the Nether star home...

...which would be a long and difficult journey, seeing as I was deep underground in my boss-fighting cave.

I leaned heavily on the wall as I made my way over to the crude staircase that led out of the underground cavern. The wither poison was slowly paralyzing my movements, and after I was just halfway up the stairs, I had to crawl, unable to walk anymore.

The chill creeping through my bones was horrible - I felt as though I could never be warm again. The poison was also affecting my lungs, wrapping them in dark, icy chains. It was getting increasingly hard to breathe and I was dragging in every breath with a rough clatter and releasing it in a weak cough.

Oh Notch, this hurt.

I dragged myself out of the tunnels and into the open, getting pelted with driving rain as I did so. The water cut through my robes, but as soon as it hit my back, I felt it turn to ice on my skin. It felt like narrow icicles were piercing through my lungs at this point and I was choking out pained little sobs, tears streaming down my face.

I still had the faintly glowing Nether star in my hand and I pulled myself up to the spell altar, but a sudden wave of cold agony washed over me and I cried out, sliding back down the slick, steep steps.

I... I couldn't move anymore. My arms were weak - too weak to even drag myself around.

I had one last hope.

I shakily raised my hand and summoned up all the strength I had left. If - if I could toss the Nether star onto the altar, then maybe the magic would be able to affect me and reverse the poison before...

Before it reached my heart and killed me.

I desperately hurled the Nether star over at the altar, but as I did so, my limbs locked up and my throw fell short. The Nether star landed just a few centimeters away from the center of the altar and I choked out a heartbroken sob.

It was all over for me now. I would die of Wither poison, without ever regaining my powers again. Without ever seeing the prophecy fulfilled.

Without ever saying goodbye to my friends.

I don't know how long I lay there, my heart beating weakly as it tried to stop the Wither poison from entering it. The rain kept pouring down and I trembled violently, colder than I had ever felt before.

I heard soft footfalls near me and I managed to shakily lift my head to stare at the person who had just walked up.

It was King Helgrind. His eyes were dark as he stared at me, his expression devoid of any emotion. His dark red robes were the colour of dried blood in the dim light, and his enchanted diamond sword shone weakly through the pounding rain. He walked up to the altar and halted next to the Nether star, staring down at the pure object.

"You've lost, Waglington," King Helgrind's voice was deathly cold as he spoke to me. "You know, it would be so easy for me to just nudge the Nether star over to where it needs to be. But I won't do that."

I wanted to scream at him; to yell at him to help me. But I could barely breathe anymore - let alone talk.

"You're a threat to me," King Helgrind smiled cruelly and for the first time, I realized that he was the true enemy. He was who Dec had to fight, according to the prophecy.

"Goodbye, Waglington," King Helgrind stalked down the stairs, his robes brushing past my hand, which was just beginning to turn black from the Wither poison.

I felt more tears pool in my eyes and I didn't struggle to hold them back.

This was...

The end.

I opened my eyes one last time. My heartbeat had almost slowed to a stop and the Wither poison had completely taken me over. I was too close to death to even cry. I could only watch the Nether star shine from where it lay... so close, yet so far.

It was... devastating.

I heard a faint meow and Quexa padded into my line of view, swishing her tail worriedly. She stared at me for a few seconds, then turned and ran up to the altar, shaking off her soaking wet fur. She pawed at the Nether star curiously, and watched it with wide green eyes as it slid easily over the witchwood planks. She pawed at it a few more times, and somehow... somehow, she managed to get it to slide onto the altar, where it needed to be for the spell to be completed.

Silver sparks of magic flew from the altar and Quexa turned tail and ran, darting towards me. She hid herself under my robes, watching fearfully as the silver sparks wound themselves into tendrils and started slowly arcing towards me.

"Good cat," I murmured, managing a weak smile, but it was all I could do because my heart...

Tha-thum...

was...

Tha... thum...

slowly...

Tha...

stopping.

...

WAG! NO! *sobs* He - he's... gone.

Infecta... Infected... Mutata... Changing... Perdidit Me... Losing myself... Paulatim Mori... Slowly dying... Oh, Notch, that song fits so perfectly that it's actually scary. Oh, and for those wondering, I didn't stay up quite as late finishing this. Only until 12:15 AM. That's too early to stop writing, so I'll continue. Oh, and happy February 32nd, everybody! XD If you don't know who that's a reference to, then I pity you greatly.

(Quexa the cat is heavily based off my two cats, Stormy and Bunny - the cuddliness and the shedding! XD)