Hey ya'll, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 1,713 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.

Chapter 8

"User!" Twisted called, desperation very apparent in his voice. User and Syndicate had gone out early yesterday morning, and they hadn't come back yet. Twisted hated to assume the worst for them, but it wasn't looking good.

Sparklez had said he had heard distant roars while he was over at the Coliseum yesterday, but couldn't tell where they were coming from. He was helping in the search for User and Syndicate now too, along with Wag and Firefoxx. They were all armed with powerful weapons in case they needed to defend themselves against the dragon.

Sparklez was walking along next to Twisted, the Bow of Ianite in hand. He refused to believe that Ianite wanted to take over the Overworld, but had definitely agreed that the dragon needed to be eliminated.

And he was the first to notice the massive heap of black scales draped lifelessly over the ground.

"Twisted!" Sparklez breathed, grabbing Twisted's shoulder. Twisted followed the mortal's gaze and gasped, drawing his sword. The dragon was stretched out over the sand, one massive wing resting on top of a collapsed desert temple. It appeared to be dead, but that raised an even bigger question.

Who killed it and where were they?

"Do you think -" Apparently Sparklez decided that it was better not to say what he was thinking and left his sentence hanging. But Twisted knew what he meant – he was having the same thought.

"We have to check," Twisted said determinedly. Sparklez nodded without hesitation and together, they walked over to the dead dragon carcass, stepping lightly over the sifting sand. Twisted looked around and was about to give up hope when he saw something that made his heart stop beating.

A pale, bony hand sticking out from under the dragon's right front leg.

"User!" Twisted shrieked, darting over. Sparklez gasped and jogged over to Twisted, who was frantically trying to lift the dragon's heavy leg, only to no avail.

"Oh gods, no!" Sparklez tried to help Twisted, grabbing one of the dragon's silver claws and using it to tug the dragon's leg away, revealing User's battered and broken form.

User was incredibly pale, and he was smeared with blood from numerous scrapes. His right arm was still pinned under the dragon's chest, and his goggles were missing, most likely crushed as well. He didn't appear to have any major external injuries, but Twisted knew with a sinking heart that User must have been hopelessly crushed.

Then User drew in a shuddering breath, calling Twisted's attention to the faint rise and fall of the wizard's chest. He wasn't dead – at least, not yet. But Twisted knew that he didn't have enough healing magic to save his friend. The only wizards who did were Wag and Tom, and even that may not be enough.

But they had to try.

"Sparklez," Twisted swallowed down his panic and turned to the mortal. "You need to find Wag and Firefoxx. Wag's the only one who can save User. You have to go – now."

Sparklez nodded and ran off without question, kicking up clouds of sand as he raced across the desert. Twisted turned back to User, keeping his eyes trained on User's shallow breathing, getting ready to tap into his own small supply of healing magic should it slow down or become even fainter.

As User lay still, Twisted was finally able to realize just how hard it was for him to get over his experience in the land of the dead. The dark circles under his eyes were almost black, obviously showing how much sleep he was losing to nightmares; or to the fear of them. He was faintly trembling, even though he was unconscious and seemed beyond frail from his lack of appetite.

Twisted was suddenly reminded of something: where was Syndicate? They hadn't found the mortal and had no clue if he had survived or not. Twisted decided that while he waited for Sparklez to get back with Wag and Sonja, he would look around the area for any sign of Syndicate.

It didn't take long for him to find a bit of torn black cloth from Syndicate's tuxedo near the crumbled desert temple. Twisted frowned as he saw small droplets of blood and followed them over to a collapsed pillar, where the drops turned into a large pool of blood.

Twisted gasped as he saw Syndicate, lifelessly buried under the rubble of the pillar. Blood had soaked through his tuxedo and he was mangled horribly, completely crushed. His eyes were half-open and glassy, and he was obviously dead.

There would be no happy ending for Syndicate. He was gone, too far gone to even consider bringing him back to life. Twisted choked out a sob and slumped down with his back against one of the half-crumbled sandstone walls, his hand over his mouth.

Where was Syndicate right now, Twisted wondered. Was he fighting for his life in the land of the dead? Was he being hopelessly overwhelmed by angry spirits? Or was he already one of the lost souls, filled with sorrow from eternity on?

Twisted tried not to think about that. He tried not to think about how Syndicate would become a floating patch of darkness, cursed to steal the memories of any spirit who entered the land of the dead. He tried not to think of the poor mortal, staring into the face of Death itself as he was finally overwhelmed.

Thinking about that wouldn't make coping with the loss of Syndicate any easier. Twisted took one final glance at Syndicate's crushed body and felt a tear of sorrow slowly run down his cheek. He hadn't deserved to die. He was always trying to do the right thing, was fiercely loyal, and had been such a good friend to User these last few days. Twisted had noticed an obvious difference in User's personality after he had talked with Syndicate, and knew that he would be forever grateful to the mortal for helping his best friend.

"Why did this have to happen?" Twisted whispered, slowly walking back over to User. "Why couldn't we just have a normal life? Is that even too much to ask?"

Twisted sat down next to User and gently held the wizard's bloody hand. He was still half-covered by the dragon's paw, but at least it wasn't crushing him like before. Thankfully, User seemed to be breathing steadily now, but Twisted knew that he was still in danger of death.

"Come on! Hurry!" Sparklez's voice drifted over, carried by the wind. Twisted lifted his head to see Sparklez leading Wag and Firefoxx towards Twisted and User, gesturing frantically with his hands. Wag sped up when he saw User lying under the dragon's hefty paw and Firefoxx whimpered fearfully, obviously scared for User.

"He's still alive," Twisted murmured. "Can you help him, Wag?"

"I'll do my best," Wag nodded. He gently rested his hand on User's chest and closed his eyes, concentrating. A tendril of silver mist drifted down from the sky and enveloped User in a shimmering layer of magic. Firefoxx and Sparklez watched with wide eyes as the blood slowly vanished and User's eyes fluttered open. He sighed softly and the magic disappeared, dissolving into nothing. Wag swayed unsteadily and he lay down on his back, the powerful healing magic exhausting his energy.

Twisted realized that User's right arm was still trapped under the dragon's carcass and he struggled to lift the scaly hide away. Sparklez caught on quickly and hurried to help, and once they had shifted the dragon a little bit away, Firefoxx was able to gently pull User's arm out from under the dragon. User watched all of that with blank eyes, remaining silent.

"Syndicate?" User rasped shakily, his voice hollow. "Is he -"

"He's gone, User," Twisted struggled to hold back his tears. "I'm so sorry."

User closed his eyes and a violent shudder ran through his body. "It's my fault," He murmured hoarsely. "It's all my fault. We should never have come out here."

"He's – dead?" Firefoxx whispered. "How? Why?"

"The dragon," User responded immediately. "He – he was distracting the dragon so I could kill it, but the dragon caught him and threw him into the temple. Then it – it collapsed on top of him. I – I should have helped h – him. I should have k – killed that dragon before it could even h – hurt him."

"Oh, you poor things," A new voice crooned, eerily familiar, yet colder than ice. Twisted turned around in time to see a goddess appear in front of him, her multi-coloured eyes glinting ominously.

"I – Ianite?" Sparklez choked. "What are you doing? Wh – why did you send a dragon to kill us?"

Ianite laughed, a harsh, grating sound that sent shivers down Twisted's spine. "You think I would actually submit to Mianite? To go along with his every command? Wrong. I have learned much since first being created, and one thing I know is to create the perfect balance, the perfect world, is to have one sole immortal ruler. Three will cause wars and mortals make them worse. So you see, to have peace, there must first be destruction – yours."

"W – Wrong," User shakily got to his feet and stared at Ianite, and though his eyes held a shattered look, Twisted knew that User hadn't shown this kind of bravery in a long time. He was stronger now, and that knowledge gave Twisted hope for his friend and for everyone. Ianite snarled, clearly disliking being challenged. Twisted felt something brush his shoulder and he turned to see Wag, determination filling his eyes as his energy returned. "Ianite, if there is anyone here who needs to be defeated, then it is you."

Sparklez and Firefoxx readied their weapons and User summoned an enchanted bow to his hands, as well as a quiver filled with arrows. Wag and Twisted drew their swords and glared at the goddess, who had summoned her own sword. It was time to take revenge for Syndicate.

User gave Ianite the Death Glare and glanced around at his friends. Twisted knew that User didn't care if he lived or died anymore – he wanted vengeance.

"Attack!" User roared, rage filling his voice, and just like that, the final battle had begun.

"Is this the end of a new beginning? Or is this the beginning of the final end?" - Ender, after a very bad day yesterday because she ended up deleting a good portion of her FNAF one-shot by accident.

Random Observation: I counted up all the words that I have written for the Mianite Collection (excluding Author's notes and the IAKN one-shots)... it amounted to a grand total of 105,461 words! That. Is. Insane!

DiamondScribe: I think I may have broken your feel-o-meter again by the looks of things...

RusYRP: Was that supposed to be a pun? ;) 'Well executed?'

ironhideandratchet4ever: Well... at least User is alive, right? *laughs nervously*

OstrichLord4Lyfe: Not as bad as the non-Mianite related fanfiction coming after this - the name is Amulet but it's basically going to be The Lord of the Amulets because yeah. XD

MyBrokenHeart123: Eh... well... I NEEDED SOMEONE TO DIE OKAY?! IT'S BEEN TOO LONG! XD