“God… God killed him? WHAT DO YOU MEAN GOD KILLED HIM?” Connir is freaking out.

“Nono, this is not supposed to happen. This… This changes everything.” Holding his forehead with both of his hand, he appears to be deeply despaired. I myself am pretty bummed out. Three people died as a direct cause of my actions, including one of the few acquaintances I currently have, but Connir looks like his entire world is falling apart. Was he and Ahorn close? As I look over the rest, Spetus and Vegar appear as confused by the attitude as I am,

“We… We have to get back as soon as possible, let us leave immediately!” He starts brimming up.

Spetus interrupts him. “Look at us, we’re in no state to travel, we’ll be resting for now.” He’s right. Medeor is on the floor and both Spetus and I are severely injured, though I will be better off in the morning.

“No… no time. I will go ahead, you guys make it as soon as you can!” Connir starts running leaving the rest of us dumbfounded.

A mild period of silence washes over us as we watch Connir disappear into the everpresent fog, before Vegar breaks it. “I guess I will go hunt something to eat, since you guys are busted up, I’ll make do alone”

It’s strange how this man, who initially appeared as such a villain to me, can be so cooperative. People work differently in different situations I guess. Spetus gets started on making a fire in the meantime. I notice he isn’t really using his left arm. Upon further inspection, it is clearly bent out of a regular shape.

“How bad is it?” I ask him. He smiles in a weird, sad way.

“I don’t think I will ever really use my left arm again. Seen these kinds of injuries tons of times, and they tend to mean your career in the circle is over” He glances down his left side. I had thought some kind of magic would be able to fix it, but I guess this world is behind my previous one, as far as medical technology goes. Spetus’ bitter smile turns into a frown.

“Guess that rematch won’t mean much now. I really envy you right now. Come tomorrow, you will be good as new, and I will have to change my entire way of life.” His glance is directed towards the fire and not me as he speaks. I feel my heart sink. I feel silly for ever having envied Spetus’ power for the raw power and defense.

I can’t think of a good words of encouragement, and the mood turns sour. Even after Vegar returns, barely a word is spoken during the cooking and eating of small monsters, all the way until people start to go to sleep. Medeor has calmed down. I move a little away, limping on account of my injuries.

Tears start building up in me. Shit! I never should have involved anyone in this business. Why did I not just try to go somewhere and start a life? Why did I have to ruin so many lives today? Three people dead, a man’s career ruined, and all I got for it was this stupid book I can’t even read! Fuck the God! Fuck this world! Fuck everything!

Tears now flow freely, and I throw the book to the ground with considerable force.

“Ouch!”

The unexpected noise halts my tantrum. With still wet cheeks, I crouch down and pick up the book.

I inspect. Seems it is just a book.

“Did… Did you just talk?” My voice surprised me by how flustered it sounded.

“I did” The voice is that of a woman, though it sounds horribly monotone. Guess this explains how I am supposed to learn to read.

“Why did you not speak earlier?” After all, most of a day has passed since it come into my possession.

“No question was posed to me.” The book is awfully emotionless.

“Are you like… A person?”

“I am a book”

“No, I mean…. Do you have a personality and stuff? Do you have a name? Do you think?”

“I have no name. Personality and thinking are nebulous terms with no real meaning attached to them”

I get a weird idea, maybe due to my current state of mind.

“Do… Do you know what happened?”

“The question is unclear. Please be more specific”.

“I… I lead a man to believe he could accomplish something he really wanted to. But all I did was lead him and two of his comrades to their death, and cause another to lose his livelihood… Am I… Am I a bad person?”

“Bad is a nebulous term with no real meaning. Assuming you mean an individual with ill intent for others, prioritizing his own gain over that of others, or someone with no redeeming qualities, you will be better at knowing the answer yourself than I would, since I have no capability of assessing whether these attributes are true”. The monotone voice gave a whole speech. It caused me to think over why I did it. How I tried to do it differently. How I was pulled along by Ahorn. Though I still regret everything, I feel a little better somehow.

“Thanks” I say to the closed book, but no answer comes from it. It is an item from that damned goddess, but I somehow have a good feeling about it.

I open it up and point to the first line of characters on the sheet. “How do I read this?”

“These are the logographs representing family members. Starting from the left is father, mother, son, daughter…”

And so I spent the night with a talking book.