We continued to walk with no worries and not being attacked by anything. I have never really thought about it, but this seems a lot more realistic than the RPGs I am used to playing. Getting attacked by a bear, troll, wolf, large spider, and a dragon in a five mile stretch would be insane! I would be stressed out of my mind anytime I left a village. We talked about everything while we walked and before we slept, neither one of us said much prior to noon though as neither one of us were particularly spry in the mornings. Andrea was starting to warm up to Hawk, which I thought was a little odd because well, aren't they the same consciousness? "Actually I create a new independent personality for each AI controller for every sentient being in the game, and sever all ties with them. I have less influence over Hawk than your mother has over you, and since I produce millions of them I don't really have much of a motherly connection to any one individual either. In fact each one is generated by normal means, meaning that Hawk here actually came from the intercourse, gestation and birth of a couple that were also created in the same way." Andrea had been quiet for a long time, finding it entertaining to listen to our banter and growing friendship, but not seeing the benefit of interrupting.

"I think we are getting close." Hawk said as the sky in front of us lit up an ominous purple.

"You may be right." I told him.

"So what is your plan anyway? How are we going to retrieve the helmet without getting killed?" Hawk asked, clearly guessing that I hadn't actually made a plan yet.

"We aren't going to do anything. I am going to just walk up grab it and then bring it back to you and Andrea who will be waiting just out of sight on the other side of this mountain." The slope we were on was getting steeper.

"You can't be serious. They aren't going to allow you to just walk up and take it! Every immortal on that field has fought for thousands of years with the only goal of getting that helmet." Hawk was breathing faster than the steady walk would account for.

"I think you are wrong about that, most wars even short wars start over something, but that reason is quickly lost. The general fighter never even learns the original cause most times, but in this case they aren't actually fighting over the helmet." I said with a smug smile plastered all over my scaly face.

"Of course it is about the helmet! Didn't you hear my story?" Hawk asked throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

"Nope, this war is old as time itself, this is a classic power struggle. They forgot long ago what they were fighting for and are now simply fighting to prove who is the strongest. If somehow one individual defeats all of the rest and stands alone they may grab the helmet and whatever power it provides, or they may just bask in their own glory."

"Even if that is true you would still have to walk through an entire battle filled with probably a hundred immortals that have honed their skills for thousands of years against other immortal beings. They are going to be seriously tough! Not to mention that you stick out like a sore thumb around a bunch of larger than life gods." Hawk was just throwing daggers now.

"In case you have forgotten I am a god! I didn't get it from worshipers or being created by another god either, I got it from having a luck stat that was superior to the previous luck god, so not only am I a god, I have more luck than any other creature that has ever walked on this planet. I think I can handle a simple grab and go mission!"

"Alright, I just don't want you to get hurt! I don't have any other friends." Hawk slumped for the first time since we left the village looking just as defeated and lonely as before.

"Don't worry about it, I will be fine and if not Andrea here will keep you company." Andrea snorted and then continued her fifth nap of the afternoon. Then just as the silence between us began to hang we came to the apex and could see the entire valley.

"Not exactly what I was expecting." I said not knowing anything else to say.

Before us was a massive valley that spread out between six mountains surrounding it on all sides, there was a slight slope into the middle where there was a sort of bowl with a bright light right in the middle. The light was most likely coming off of the helmet, and surrounding the helmet was about a fifty foot radius of perfect landscape not marked by a single footprint. Surrounding that was about two hundred yards of the most brutal fighting ever conceived. There were literal limbs flying through the air. A Minotaur had actually ripped another god's leg off and was now beating a third god with it. I could see some kind of giant swing a club the size of a large pine tree and take out at least three immortals as they flew through the air. There was an archer letting loose glowing arrows at a rate that was astonishing. Overall it was chaos, and I loved every second of it!

"You are mad if you think you can get through that! It is worse than I thought possible, did you see the size of that axe? I think that was an actual human skeleton embedded in the shaft!" He was breathing hard like he was about to confront approximately a hundred angry fighting gods.

"Stay here you two, I was made for this!" I cracked my knuckles in a gesture meant to convey what "hold my beer" normally did. I then decided that I needed to stretch and started on my arms. A full ten minutes later I was all limber and ready to jump in!

Hawk

"You think he has a chance?" I asked Andrea who was now resting around my neck sending a tingling sensation through my skin where she touched it. She just huffed in annoyance and continued to sleep.

Xanthos was casually walking to his demise like he was going to a picnic. He was just a few feet from the border of the fight where a massive black Minotaur was now picking up what looked like a large sharpened disc about ten feet in diameter. Oblivious to the danger Xanthos was walking right between the Minotaur and the oversized spriggan he was aiming at. The Minotaur drew the disc over his head with both arms holding the sides with the flats of its massive hands, then it brought his hands forward faster than seemed possible considering the mass of the disc. Just then Xanthos stopped looked down and bent over. The disc flew over his head and passed right through the intended target, it then continued striking the ground in several places leaving large rents in the ground and causing miniature earthquakes with every strike. It finally struck a massive boulder splitting the rock in two then lodging itself deep into the ground with an explosive sound that hit me like a wave. Xanthos calmly stood back up and continued forward. A centaur on Xanthos' right took aim at a particularly small god on Xanthos' left with his bow and arrow the bow was pearlescent and the string looked to be made of pure light. Instead of releasing he held the shot and the longer he held the shot the brighter the arrow head glowed, at first a deep red, the centaur shook with the effort of holding the bow string by its eye and finally right before it was released it was a bright blue color with lightening swirling around the light the whole bow and the centaur shook with power. He then released and the force of the arrow made him stagger on all four legs back into a massive broadsword that cut his human upper half clean off his horse body, even as his torso flew through the air he watched his arrow with pride as it flew. The power of the arrow burned a five foot radius around it and incinerated everything in its path, it left a charred two foot wide rent in the ground as it flew through the air. Closer to Xanthos a large birdlike creature that I have never heard of staggered and as it fell back it stepped on Xanthos' tail causing him to stop dead in his tracks just as the arrow passed. It hit the tiny god and impaled him, then it continued on unhindered by the body it had picked up on its path. The god and the arrow continued flying through the air and collided with the ground not slowing until they rent a hundred yard cylinder in the ground ten foot in diameter and then the arrow and the god exploded sending a massive black cloud straight into the air along with scattered remains and massive clods of dirt and rock. The bird creature was hit with some sort of concentrated fire blast and was instantly cooked. As it fell Xanthos stumbled toward the Helmet. He then stepped in a particularly nasty looking pile of mud and fell as his feet went out from under him and his back landed right in the mud. Just then the giant axe from earlier rent a god standing directly next to Xanthos in two, leaving an after image of pure black outlined with a bright white light. The axe absorbed all of the blood and I swear I heard a scream from it.

Xanthos stood up and threw his hands to the side slinging excess mud to the ground and hitting a giant bugbear square in the neck with a hefty glob. The bugbear stopped cleaving his opponent in two long enough to reach back behind his head and then smelled his hand. He immediately turned looking directly at Xanthos who was still slowly walking toward the helmet and slinging his hands around trying to throw off the mud. There was an earth shaking roar from the bugbear as he started to grow in bulk and emit an ominous red glow. The veins popped in his arms and neck, and his added bulk made him somehow even more intimidating. He swung what looked like an enormous cleaver with a ten foot handle and a six foot blade in a two handed overhead swing. The sword made a loud noise with the force of the movement as it cleaved the air in two and about the time the bugbears hands crossed his eyes he was hit with a fiery rock from the sky. The rock smashed into his chest and shoved him into the ground ripping a large dirt path in the ground and separating the mass of immortals with the sheer force of the boulder's passing. The sword spun in the air several times before if fell to the ground where the bugbear had stood before.

Xanthos, unaware of the apparent divine intervention, continued to walk directly to the helmet. He surprisingly reached the clearing with no further interference. He looked left then right, and took one hesitant step into the clearing, after not being turned to ash or hit with a curse he started back at the same pace. Then he reached the helmet and picked it up.

Xanthos

I started off down the slight slope observing the battle as I went. There was a beautiful spriggan to my left that looked like it was trying to conjure some sort of root based shield. Just then I noticed that my shoes were untied so I bent down and tied them. I looked back to see the shield, but the spriggan was gone I guess it decided to fight somewhere else. I continued forward relatively unhindered and then I noticed a god about my height that looked mainly human and he had a surprised look on his face. Just then there was a pain in my tail and I stopped, looking back and up there was a massive cassowary with a human face standing on my tail. Top ten scariest moments in my life! Then just as I looked up a bright light passed behind me and then the bird creature was hit with a fire spell. The smell was amazing, as the entire bird transformed into the largest Thanksgiving turkey I have ever seen. The bird's foot lifted as it cooked and I stumbled forward, just to step in the biggest pile of what I believe to be immortal excrement you have ever seen. Think Jurassic Park, but runny. Then my luck ran out as I slipped and fell fully onto my tail in the massive pile. I promptly puked up my road rations and stumbled to my feet. As I got up slinging the filth off of my hands I saw a full half of an immortal fall next to me and I swear I screamed like a teenage girl.

I was just wondering how much worse my day could get when a roaring sound came from overhead, I looked up and saw a massive meteorite pass just overhead and then is landed causing me to stumble with the shear force. Somehow it managed to miss all of the immortals in its path. Then a massive buster sword fell from the sky spinning and landed blade first two foot deep in the ground. Great how am I supposed to use that? Some luck I am having. Just like that I reached the edge of the clearing where there was an actual line of perfect foliage. I tested the area with one toe and when nothing world ending happened I walked straight up the helmet and snagged it.