Written in the 3rd Person

The summons came at a weird time of night, four O'clock in the morning was never a safe time to be travelling to the End but there was no denying Ianite. Her followers and family all made their own ways to the End, after a brief visit from Caitlin to ensure that they knew it was of the utmost importance that they attended. They all emerged from the End portals at the same time, appearing at the top of the hill under which Ianite's house resided and made eye contact with one another. Martha, Jordan, Ianita and Caitlin stared at one another in confusion – why were they here? It wasn't that much of a surprise to see them all in the same place – Jordan, Martha and Ianita were always shadowed by Caitlin whenever they ventured outside for walks or visits to their friend's houses. There had been multiple instances where a monster had snuck too close to Ianita for their liking, only for it to be dissolved into writhing shadows a moment later.

"Why are we here?"

Martha and Jordan spoke at the same time, each of them keeping a hand on Ianita's shoulders as if she would vanish if the true purpose of being here was revealed. Ianita glanced around, nibbling on a bit of pie – recognising the location they were in and seeming more excited to be there than the rest of them. Jordan had a dark feeling tugging in his chest, whatever they were here for it wasn't good news. This feeling was confirmed by the dark look on Caitlin's face – she knew why they were there, after all, she had been the one entrusted to send for them. She shook her head slowly at Jordan when he opened his mouth to ask a question and began to lead the way down the hill – taking care to use a route that Ianita could handle on her own.

They clambered down the slope, an unknown urgency fuelling their movements as the sands of an invisible hourglass began to drain away – wasted time ticking by with every step they took forward. Jordan reached the base of the hill first, seeing Ianite standing in the ruins of her once beautiful home. She was staring endlessly into the void that surrounded her island, ignoring the crumbling structure around her and the screeches of the angered Endermen – seemingly in another world of her own. Martha placed Ianita's hand into Jordan's and sprinted across the ruins to wrap her arms her mother, whispering frantically in some form of dialect that Jordan struggled to understand. Ianite's normal aura of pure violet was tinged with a dark grey, a flickering glimmer in contrast to the strong waves of light she used to give out.

Ianita's form began to shake, tears filling her big eyes as she caught on faster than Jordan to what was happening. She hugged Jordan's leg tightly, her little body heaving and shaking violently as she began to sob – muttering the word 'Mam' over and over again like a mantra. Martha grabbed Ianite's shoulders, trying to get some form of response from her but nothing seemed to be working. Pleading, crying, screaming and shouting all received the same response – silence. Ianite didn't even blink when Martha slapped her across the face in the last ditch attempt to snap her out of this trance like state.

"Mother! Please! Not like this, you promised me it wouldn't be like this! Ianita is so young, there's so much danger that is yet to come, and we need you! I'm not ready to be a goddess yet... Please! Don't leave me... I love you. So much."

When she received no response, Martha stepped backwards – grief and anger on her face, warring for control of her mind as her fists clenched and unclenched in rhythm with the beating of her heart. She gently pulled Ianita off of Jordan's legs and hugged her tightly, crying silently as she attempted to calm Ianita, her face hidden in the crook of the little girl's shoulder so Ianita wouldn't know anything was wrong. Jordan stepped forwards, the gravity of the situation weighing heavily on his shoulders – his lady was dying, and this would probably be the last time he would see her before yet another piece of his happiness shattered into pieces.

Jordan crossed the distance between his lady and himself, hovering on the threshold of her now destroyed home. Every part of him screamed for him to run to his lady and try to fix the problem with whatever magical solution he could find, but a small scrap of logic and fear knew that there was no cure for whatever ailed his goddess. He stepped through where the doorway used to stand, moving silently across rotting floorboards and shattered glass, stepping on the remains of a once towering bookshelf and forcing himself to look away from where they used to have tea together. Reaching his hand forward gently, he placed his hand on his goddess's shoulder in an attempt to provide some form of comfort. As Jordan moved to stand in front of her, Ianite spoke – her voice a rasping whisper in the silence that had befallen the End:

"Love is stronger than vengeance."

Jordan stared into Ianite's dim violet eyes for a moment, before pulling her into a hug – clutching tightly to her shaking form as if she was about to disappear forever. Jordan clenched his eyes shut, tears leaking out of the edges of them and rolling down his dirty cheeks – leaving clear trails for all to see. Ianite pulled out of the hug, placing her hand on Jordan's cheek and closing her eyes.

The warm hand that was cupped against Jordan's cheek turned ice cold, causing Jordan's eyes to fly open again in fear of the unknown. What he was faced with was far worse, for where Ianite had once stood was merely a statue – incredibly lifelike, an almost exact replica of Ianite as she had been mere seconds beforehand. Jordan started, staggering backwards and staring at where his lady had once been, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Martha lunged forwards as if her late action could stop her mother from disappearing – her hand touching the shoulder of the statue just as Jordan's hand gently touched the right elbow. Nothing happened until they took their hands away.

Then it crumbled into ashes.

Jordan and Martha stared agape at the falling ashes – not caring that the ashes were falling into their hair and clothes, only attempting to understand what this meant. The ashes mixed with their tears, sticking to their cheeks in a disgusting grey sludge that was an accurate representation of the agony they were experiencing. Ianite was dead. She was gone forever, her ashes were raining down upon the land she had once ruled over and those that loved her were forced to face the crushing blow of her loss. Martha crumpled to her knees, staring at where her mother had once been standing – agony the only emotion filling her normally expressive violet eyes.

Ianita stood behind Martha, almost using Martha as a shield from the truth she had already realised. The pain of losing Ianite echoed in Ianita's eyes, an untold well of grief and pain enveloping her as she attempted to come to terms with an event that had tilted her entire world.

"I'm sorry Jordan."

A gentle hand on Jordan's shoulder caused him to spin around from his frozen position to face Caitlin, a pain similar to his own evident in every movement Caitlin made. However, Jordan didn't see that he saw only red as grief fuelled his anger – the closest person to him was going to receive a whole dose of pain and in this case it was Caitlin. Jordan lunged forwards, slamming his right fist into the underside of Caitlin's jaw, swinging upwards and causing her head to jerk backwards with a violent crack. Caitlin staggered backwards with the force of the blow, her vision blurring and pain enveloping her – the surprise attack catching her off guard more than the pain itself. Jordan pressed forward his advantage, launching the heel of his foot into the flesh of her stomach, feeling the wind go out of her as she curled in on herself in an attempt to gasp for oxygen.

"You knew this would happen! This was the first event! You knew she was going to die and you said nothing! You coward! You knew we would try and save her, but you let her die anyways! Call yourself a follower of Ianite do you? Well now she's dead and it's your entire fault! You piece of absolute garbage! Curse you to the Nether!"

Up until now, Caitlin had been allowing Jordan to hit her – he was filled with grief and needed some way to vent his emotion and she was happy to fill the role of his punching bag as long as it is brought him some peace but this was a step too far. On the next lunge of Jordan, Caitlin dodged quickly to the side – causing Jordan to overstep and stagger slightly. She kicked violently into his kneecap, causing him to buckle and then she swept his feet out from under him, causing him to land in an ungrateful pile of limbs on the hard floor. Shadows rose from all around, swirling around Caitlin's fist before forming into chains of darkness, wrapping around Jordan's struggling form and pinning him to the floor. She took care not to hurt him with them, merely locking him into place so he couldn't hurt anyone else but she could not help the sharpened shadows that were beginning to form as she struggled to control her anger.

"This is not my fault. I have served Ianite for over a decade now, suffering through hell and back, from experiments to torture sessions just to ensure her safety and the safety of her followers. Including ungrateful curs such as you. I understand you are angry Jordan, I understand you are grieving but you are not the only one who has lost anyone. Such is the way of life. So get up, off your arse and win. Find who caused this and defeat them. You should know more than anyone what Ianite did for us, how much we mattered to her and why she brought us to this realm. She made me promise to help you and to protect you, as well as those you love – do not make me regret my choice."

Caitlin stormed off at that point, the sharpened shadows vanishing at a wave of her hand and the shadow restraints that were pinning Jordan down dissolving with each step she took away from Jordan's struggling form. Once she was out of sight, Jordan could stand again. Jordan stared at where he had last seen her, his anger screaming for him to chase after her and catch her by surprise again – the drive to draw blood growing ever stronger.

However, the first domino had fallen and it was one of the most powerful. Whoever had caused the death of Ianite clearly knew what they were doing; the decline and destruction of the rest of the world were yet to come if Jordan could do nothing about it. It was time to find out the truth. Who was the puppeteer in this wicked scheme? Who was to pay for the death of Ianite?

A/N

Yes, I know it's Tuesday - not Friday as originally planned.

I don't really have an excuse, merely bad time organizing on my part - seems I've been too optimistic with how much free time I get nowadays.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Even though it probably ruined your emotions as it did mine...

Please vote, comment and share this story with those you think might be interested!

Much love <3

- Caitlin