I finished yet another meal at the Foodie Touches restaurant, and thanked Firefoxx for the meal. "Where are you off to now?" I asked her as we exited together.

"Sparklez told me that he needed help with some stuff," she answered with a sigh, brushing her long brown hair back. "You can join me, if you want. I know you don't have much else to do."

I perked up at that. "If you're willing to let me come along, I'd love to. It gets pretty dull down at the priest's house." I followed her out of her light pink house and into the sky. She flew down to a separate section of Ruxomar, which Sparklez had fenced off and claimed as his own. It was completely filled with different machines, and a few farms. It's where Sparklez spent most of his time.

Foxx landed next to him. "What's this new contraption?" She gestured toward what appeared to be a tiny cobblestone hut. It looked more like a terrible starter home than a contraption, but I listened for the response all the same.

"There's a block inside of the hut that needs testing," Sparklez explained. "Could you go inside and try to access it?"

"Sure thing." She strode inside of the hut, and tried to press down on the strange block. "I don't..."

Suddenly, Sparklez took out what looked like a remote control, and pressed a button. The entire hut, including Foxx, vanished. "Got you!" He burst into laughter.

I stared at him, appalled. "What happened to her?"

He grinned at me and waved a small disk. "I trapped her inside of this storage cell. She can't get out unless I press the button again." When I reached out to grab the remote from him, he pulled it away from me. "No way! I'm going to use her as my purge bet." He spread his wings and flew into the sky.

Confused and slightly outraged, I flew after him. "You're going to bet a contestant for the purge in the purge?"

"Yep!" Sparklez laughed. "The purge is tomorrow, so she won't have to stay in there long. She just has to be submitted as a bet, and then she can be let out. Did you hear that?" he asked the disk.

A muffled cry from inside of it shouted, "Let me out! I don't want to be your purge bet!"

Sparklez landed outside of the purge hall, and I drew out my hammer. "Sparklez, don't make me."

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Mot. No need to defend her. That's Mr. Episode Three's job."

I assumed that "Mr. Episode Three" was a name for Jericho. "Well, I'm defending her anyways. So, you can either put her back, or you can face my hammer, and I'll put her back myself."

He stood there in silence for a moment, then flew off once again. I furiously chased after him, waving my weapon. Sparklez, grinning, raced through the sky and landed next to his reactor area again.

"Let. Her. Go!" I yelled, charging at him with my hammer extended.

"Fine, fine." He pressed the button again, and the hut reappeared. A dazed and furious Foxx stumbled out of the hut, glaring at him.

"What was that for?" she snarled, although she didn't look that angry.

"I was making you my purge bet," he laughed. "Wasn't it a nice prank?"

"It would've been a nicer prank if you did it to Tom, not to me," she muttered, dusting herself off. "It is not fun being trapped in a 3x3 area, let me tell you."

"Well, I'll have to find some other way to trick Tom. He wasn't as willing as you to come over and help me with a machine. He always says that he has more important things to do."

I snorted. "Like what? Building another dong-shaped tree?"

Foxx grinned. "Probably. Anyway, I should probably work on my Thaumcraft stuff. Are you going to come with me, Mot?"

"No, I think I'll talk to Mr. Sparklez here for a bit," I said, wanting to confirm my suspicions about this guy. "And I'm not all that interested in Thaumcraft. I'll see you around, I suppose."

"Oh, alright. See you." She took off into the setting sun, leaving me and a confused Sparklez standing next to the trap.

"Do you have to ask me something?" he asked, soundly slightly nervous. Maybe it was the hammer I was still holding.

"Oh, just a quick question," I said, quickly putting away my weapon. "I just heard a few rumors drifting around..."

"And?" he asked, almost impatiently.

"I heard you've tried to make a deal with Mianite." I crossed my arms and stared at him. It was difficult to look intimidating, with me being so short, but he always seemed to be nervous around me.

"I didn't end up making the deal, if you've come to lecture me on that," he snapped, rolling his eyes.

"No, I know. I just want to know what it was about the contract that made you want to agree to it," I said, thinking that was a reasonable thing to ask.

Sparklez shrugged. "I don't know. It seemed like a fair deal, and I'm willing to sign any contract that seems completely fair."

"But it's Mianite we're talking about here!" I was shocked that he could care so little. "You know that he isn't exactly the most trustworthy of people."

He was getting frustrated. "I told you, it was a good deal, and I couldn't find loopholes that he could take."

"Mianite always finds loopholes." My voice was angry and bitter, and he could sense it. "What could have possibly motivated you that much?"

"He said he'd revive Dianite." Sparklez, knowing that I would want that, had an expression as if he was challenging me.

"But there are other ways to revive him, aren't there?" I pointed out. "Why would you want Mianite's help, specifically?"

He was silent for a moment. "He said he'd revive Ianite too. That's something that nobody else has promised."

"Revive Ianite? But... I'm sorry, I know she meant a lot to you, but don't you know how she died?" My voice was next to a whisper.

"What does how she died have to do with it?" he answered sharply.

"Her quintessence was drained. She can't come back, not to how she was before," I told him, flinching away from what I knew would be a furious response.

"I have to try." His voice was stiff with determination, and I knew that he wasn't an easy person to convince. "She never let me down. I can't let her down."

"Sparklez, when was the last time you tried to revive someone who couldn't be revived?" When he looked at me questioningly, I followed with, "This is the second woman who you've been close to that you've tried to revive. It doesn't work out, no matter how much you want it to."

He started trembling slightly. "This... this isn't going to be another Capsize. It... it can't be!"

"I'm sorry if I upset you," I said quickly. "I just want to help..."

"Why?" he yelled suddenly, tears filling his bright blue eyes. "Why does this always happen to me? Every person... that I ever get close to... ends up... gone. In... in some way or another." He voice kept breaking, and he had to stop talking to avoid it failing altogether.

I stared at him in silence for a minute. "Is there anything I..."

"Just leave!" Sparklez cried out. "Please," he added when he saw my expression. "I just need to think about this... alone."

I did what I knew I had to do. I flew off, feeling like all I did was do even more damage.