There was no avoiding the issue at hand. Dianite was returning, and he wanted me dead. But what was I to do? I consulted the priest, since I had no other option.

"Ah, Mot." The priest shook his head sadly. "I have no idea. As you probably learned from the purge, I am no fighter. My only job is to interpret the word of Mianite, and all he has said is that Dianite is returning in some way. I believe it is impossible for him to appear in the overworld, since he is too weak, but we don't know how powerful he is for sure. Your little one is preparing for a fight, though. Perhaps you should too."

I went back to the castle to find Alyssa in the mob spawner, dodging the arrows of skeletons and destroying creepers before they could explode. After she had cleared out the room, she wiped the sweat off her forehead and came to talk to me.

"Hey, Dad. What's wrong?" She shut the iron door behind her and cleaned off her sword.

I sighed. "When's your next fighting lesson with Mianite?"

She narrowed her eyes. "In a couple of hours. I'm using the big battle arena in the Coliseum for the first time. You better not tell me I can't go. This means a lot to me!"

"No, no," I replied quickly. "I just wanted to join you. I feel like I haven't practiced enough for the dangers at hand here. Maybe you could show me what you learned?"

Her glare was quickly replaced with a smile. "Sounds great! I'll teach you everything I know. Bring your diamond gear! The fight might get tough." She skipped up the stairs, and I felt my heavy heart lift slightly.

As we entered the battle arena, Alyssa started giving me instructions. "We have to stick together, so we can have each other's backs. Mianite used some of his powers here to make sure that people can't fight in here, so you don't have to worry about hitting me on accident. The easier mobs will come first, so it'll be like a warm-up."

We stood close to each other with our swords drawn. Mianite unleashed zombies and skeletons first. We killed them easily, so he stepped it up a notch. Charged creepers and poisonous spiders formed around our feet. I dashed away quickly from the exploding mobs, and jumped around to avoid being poisoned. After a minute, we took care of them, and then the real deal started.

Except that maybe Mianite had made a mistake.

He unleashed nether mobs, including a few ghasts, some blazemen, and some angry pigmen. I ran toward them, but then heard them talking.

"Mot..." a pigman hissed. "You... have... gone... against... the... word... of... our... god!" The mobs ran right around Alyssa to get to me.

"Mot!" she screamed. "What's going on?" She might have said more, but her voice was drowned out by the chanting of the mobs.

"FOR DIANITE!" they yelled, charging at me. Now, mind you, I can fight decently, but not when dozens of fire charges are being hurled at me from all angles, and golden swords are slashing through my armor. I did my best to fight back, but they didn't seem to be taking damage. I was overwhelmed. I was shoved to the floor, and then everything went black.

"PLEASE!" I heard someone sob. "Mot, please wake up! MOT!" I opened my eyes to see Alyssa crying in front of me. Mianite was behind her, and so were all of the others.

"A... Alyssa, what happened?" I asked. My voice refused to work properly, so the words came out as a whisper.

"You died, Mot," Mianite said. "You respawned in the castle, so we took you down to the priest's as quickly as we could to make sure no permanent damage was done."

"Why were the mobs acting like that?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer. I was hoping that it was a hallucination of some sort. That couldn't have been real.

Mianite shook his head sadly. "I have no idea how Dianite managed to do that, but it was my fault for spawning nether mobs. I'm so sorry, Mot." He looked at his feet. "It's getting late. We should leave him now. He needs rest."

Alyssa nodded, tears streaming down her face. She gave me a hug, then exited the room while holding Mianite's hand. The others followed her, and the priest closed the door behind him. I was left in a pitch-black room in extreme pain. The only thing I could do was go to sleep, so I did.

Yet another mistake. It seems my life is just a series of those at this point.

I was sitting on a chair in my home in Urulu. I looked out the window to my left and saw six-year-old Alyssa playing with ten-year-old Andor. Those two had been best friends. I was about to walk outside to see what they were doing when someone entered the room.

"Hello, Mot." the scarlet-colored god took the seat across from me. "How's life been lately?"

I shrugged. "Not much has been happening. I hear that there has been some more fighting in your family, is that correct?"

The flames in his eyes died out, revealing his quiet, caring self that he tended to hide from the others. "Unfortunately so. It's Ianite again, losing her self-control. Luckily, she has Spark with her. It must be nice for a god to have a companion like Spark, someone who sees her as an equal instead of a superior. And the way they look at each other." He shook his head, and my stomach twisted into a tight knot. I remembered this.

"Yeah, it must be." Suddenly, I realized that I could change my history. I hadn't bothered to admit anything to Dianite while I lived in Ruxomar, but this was my opportunity to do so! "You know, Dianite, there's one thing I haven't admitted to you."

He raised an eyebrow. "What is that? I thought my champion was supposed to trust me with everything."

My heart pounded a million times a second. "Well... this is different." I wasn't sure how to begin, so I just said it. "Ever since I'd seen the way Spark looked at Ianite, and the way Steve looked at Martha, well, I had wanted someone to look at me that way too. And then, the next time I spoke to you, I realized that it was you I loved. I was sure you didn't love me back, so I didn't tell you. But now that you bring that up, I might as well tell you." I could feel tears rising, and I quickly wiped them away. I looked up hesitantly to see Dianite's reaction. He looked shocked, but his eyes were full of warmth. Was it possible..?

"You fool." Suddenly, Dianite's eyes turned completely black, and the entire house set on fire. "You weakling! Falling in love with me! How could you even think I could ever love you back! And then, to make it worse, you kill me! Who do you think you are, Tom? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would come out. I suddenly forgot who I was. Tom didn't sound right, but who else could I be? I couldn't remember killing Dianite either. Which Dianite was this? All I knew was that I couldn't speak or move, and the flames were licking at the edge of my seat.

A cruel smile spread across Dianite's face. "There's only one punishment fit for someone like you." Everything went black, but his words still sounded in my ears. "DEATH."