As we walked and Hawk brooded about how selfish and self-centered I was I decided to open the notebook.

Inside was an empty page, but as I looked text and graphs started to appear, written in what looked like calligraphy. The information was very technical and m I didn't understand the significance at first, and then I saw my name at the top.

This must be the stat sheet that I have been wanting, seems like a pretty lame reward for executing godly vengeance.

"There's no pleasing you! All you do is complain about not having access to your stats and information, then I give it to you and now all you can do is complain about how you want more." Andrea admonished me in my mind without so much as lifting her tail. "Next time you won't get anything, I thought it would cheer you up, you have been a bit down since the whole "killing' thing."

"I am appreciative, it is just that well normally in games this is the sort of thing you would get when you start off. When you are around level 100 and fighting dragon gods you would normally receive enchanted weapons or insane skills, you know 'cool' stuff. Pardon me if I am a bit put off by the 'killing' it just feels so real here."

"Fine." Was all she said then she went silent again.

There was a loud thud then, "ARGH!" came a shout from my right as Hawk fell. He was clutching his right shin with both hands as he rolled around on the ground writhing in pain.

"What happened? You alright?" I looked around for an unseen enemy or even a rabid squirrel, but saw nothing until I looked at the path behind us.

"Is that an old chest half buried in the path? It looks ancient, but I don't remember seeing it a few seconds ago." That is strange.

"It wasn't there, then it was, but it was too late for me because I had already stepped past it." He wasn't in a good mood before now he certainly wasn't.

"Alright, let me see it." I shuffled over and grabbed his ankle in both of my hands kneeling down. I rolled up his pants to find a bloody trail running down his shin. I winced with a sudden sympathy pain, and continued rolling the pant leg up. Where the chest hit his leg there was a large dent and a cut where the bone had broken the skin. He most likely chipped his shin bone on the metal rim of the chest, I needed to wrap it up to prevent an infection.

"It doesn't look that bad." I lied, "You will be good as new in a few days, I need to wrap it with something. You have any linen in our bag?" I asked reaching for the bag he was again wearing like a cape.

"Yeah I picked a few up while we were in town, before you destabilized the place." He handed me the bag and I retrieved the linen tearing off a few strips.

"You should be good to go, it might hurt, but walk on it normally and at night we will need to elevate it. You need to change the linen when it bleeds through. Wash the old ones in clean water then we will boil them to sterilize." I reached out and he grabbed my clawed hand and he came up to his feet testing his leg.

"How do you know so much about, well so much?" He asked as he hobbled around a little then got the hang of it and walked normally.

"Where I am from you spend the first twenty or so years doing nothing but learning and then you continue to learn as you get older. We have a massive collection of information that is accessible to almost everyone at all times. This allows anyone that has the desire to learn almost anything they want to. I am a little more curious than most so I learn as much as I can."

"How does your society support that many people, not contributing? You don't have libraries or wise men? How do you make sure that the information isn't just made up?" Sometimes I forget how smart he is.

"You have a good point, in fact that is a huge problem. We basically don't know what is real and made up,. A lot of times you just have to find sources that you trust. We have wise people, we call them teachers, and scientist, nobody listens to them. We have a lot worse freeloaders than young people they run everything. Enough about my home, let’s talk about yours. You ever saw anything like this?" I handed him the book. His eyes grew wide, then he changed pages, and again. He looked shocked and maybe a bit scared.

"Where did you get this?" Was all that he said.

"Adelpha handed it to me along with that scroll that I read earlier."

"You got this from a God? Why would you open it? No one can see this!" He was holding the book by the corner and brandishing it in front of me like it was Sunday and there was a sucker born every minute.

"Alright Creflo, it is just a stat book. It will allow me to keep track of my stat changes and abilities. That way I don't forget about something important and not use it for a long time. Then realize that I haven't been using a skill that I could have used before to solve a simple issue."

"Your stats? This book is full of personal information about me!" He extended the book now in his hand and opened it to the first page that now showed his information and not mine.

"That is strange when I hold it, the stats are mine. That just means that anyone who holds it will have access to their stats and skills. I don't see why this is such a big deal."

"Do you know what goes into creating a book like this? I haven't ever seen or heard of one, how does it even work? If the right enchanter finds this book and figures out its secrets they could make one that tells you other people's stats and information. That would be very dangerous." Hawk is always thinking of the bigger picture.

"I am not getting rid of it, now let’s bag that treasure chest and get on the road."

We both spread the bag over the chest and shoved it up into the bag. I then dropped the stat book in and promised myself some quality time later when we stopped.

"Where are you even going? We don't have any reason to go this way. The only places in this direction are the cave where we met and the guru at the top of the mountain." Hawk winced every few steps, but otherwise was doing fine.

"You aren't tired of sitting around doing nothing? Let’s adventure discover something new! Live a little, it won't hurt you!"

"I don't mind living a little, but you just walk around with no plan and hope for the best. That is no way to live, we should go back to the village and get some supplies. We can ask around see if anyone needs something, maybe even get an update of news from the surrounding areas. You can't just expect an adventure to smack you in the face!"

Just then there was a strong gust of wind followed by a muffled yelp from Hawk as a piece of parchment slapped into his face. He grabbed it and looked at it, then he shook his head and extended it out to me.

"Warning! This mine is off limits, do not enter without permission from the owner. The miners are the property of Bjorn the Brave along with all ore, gems, or resources taken from the mine." On the bottom were the words "Purple Stone Cave"

"You were saying?" I asked.

"Oh so now you want to go to the mines? They are a horrible place and most likely we will become prisoners, why do I even like hanging out with you?" He shook his head.

"You don't have a lot of choices, here let's take a look at my map."

"Map? You have had a map this whole time? Why would you just now remember that?" He handed me the bag.

"I forgot about it actuallyip, but then I saw it listed on the first page of that book under 'assets' so I figured we could use it to figure out where we are going."

"You are hopeless! I miss Denabla, at least she would listen to me."

"Sorry Hawk, I know that I need to do better at listening. My last three girlfriends all told me. I'm just worried that I have a limited time here and I want to have a positive effect. I also don't feel real comfortable about killing the elders. I thought it would be fine, but then I did it and well it felt too real." I shivered with the memory of the Chief's lifeless state of shock.

Hawk put his hand on my shoulder, "If we are traveling to the mines we will need some supplies, and a plan. Why don't we stay at my place back in the village?"

"You asking me for a sleepover? You got your own place?" Just full of surprises.

"Yeah, it isn't much but I call it home. Built it myself, took me the better part of a year."

We walked back to the village at a slower pace due to Hawk's throbbing leg.

When we arrived we were surprised to find that everyone was just continuing on with their lives. There was a mass murder just a couple hours before and now they are just moving on? What kind of life do they live where it is commonplace to see such wanton violence?

We arrived at Hawk's home and it looked identical to every other house. I don't mean it had the same layout or color pattern. I mean if you got a caliper out and measured every feature it wouldn't have been off by more than a few thou.

"You come up with the floor plan yourself?"

"No, we only have one good set of prints, so typically we all use the same set. The inside is a little more forgiving, but we always use the exact measurements on the outside and foundation. A few generations ago there was a trend to modify the plans to make unique houses, but it didn't work and they would be blown over by strong winds." He knocked on the wall with his clinched fist. "It might be the same as the others, but it is solid and trustworthy." We went inside.

The inside was your typical bachelor pad, if you were from the 18th century. There was seating for 1, there was one bedroom, no bathroom, and a nice fireplace where it looked like all of the cooking took place.

"You live here by yourself?" I asked trying to make small talk.

"Yeah, just me." That didn't work well.

"Your parents don't live with you? Where do they live?"

Hawk's face dropped and I knew that I had hit a sore spot. "Sorry, I didn't..."

"No, it is fine. They have been gone for a long time now, I don't even remember then if I am honest. Nobody really talks about them much either." His eyes were wet and he had a hand on his chair to steady himself.

Some friend I am! "Sorry to hear that they are dead, I don't know what I would do without my mom. She is a huge part of my life."

"They aren't both dead, just my mom." He replied evenly.

"What? Where is he then? Why don't we just go see him?" Great, like he never thought of that.

"It isn't that simple, my father had a gambling problem. He got into massive debt with the Hobgoblins that run the quarry, before long he started seeing them hanging around the village. Then others started to notice. One day they were caught by a hunter and brought to the elder council for questioning. When they told them the full story, and how much he owed the elder council was furious. We aren't supposed to interact with them at all because of a treaty that was signed a long time ago. The elders confiscated my parents’ home and sold it off, they didn't get enough to pay back the losses though. My mom was pregnant with me at the time, and the hobgoblins offered the elders an even trade. They wanted her for the debt, but luckily they refused, most likely because it was a public offer. The elders offered the full amount from the selling of our family assets and my father, and the hobs accepted."

"So your father, is he at the Purple Stone Cave? Doesn't sound like a horrible place."

"Maybe not to you, but the hobs are terrible and sneaky. They abduct travelers that are lost and force them to work the mines for the rest of their lives. They rape, steal, pillage and destroy. It is not somewhere you want to be, my father most likely died long ago from starvation or dehydration." He slumped down into his chair and looked defeated. "I didn't want to tell you before, but we should avoid the mines."