Section 3:

     Mr. Tierson was busy preparing linner when me and Hokeson entered to have a look at the book about biomes. Everyone else at the table had left already, so it was just the two of us.

     "Okayyyy, time to have a good look at these biomes." Hokeson half smiled as he flipped open a thick leather book. It's cover was warn, but the purple coloring still shown, almost as a means of subtle warning. The thick book was split into a plethora of chapters, each one dedicated to the rarest of biomes. Every page was filled to the brim with words written in the human's mysterious language, and sketches dotting the warn old pages. It would be easier to scan over the pictures, since that would be easier than translating entire sentences to paragraphs. Whoever had written the book wasn't the best artist, but judging by all the amazing things they had drawn, they had seen a lot! I began to wonder who exactly had written the book in the first place. I, along with the other villagers, always believed the human had written all the books written in his language. However, this book was written differently. The human's handwriting, I had seen, was a tad sloppy in comparison to the words written in this book. Does.. does that mean, that there are more humans out there? Hm, I had never thought of that before. What a strange idea to think there were more than one human.

     "Wait! I see it!" I blurted out, snapping out of my deep thought, hand slamming down on the page Hokeson was just about to turn. Sketched in the top left corner, was a single gold bar. Or at least that's what I hoped it was a picture of. Immediately, the weapon smith pulled out his translating piece of paper. He began writing on another blank piece of paper all the words written around the image. When he was done, he began reading aloud, even though I was already reading over it myself.

     "It says.. 'Though this place may be seen as nothing but a meaningless desolate waste-land, fear not, for beneath it's radiating crust resides an ore rarely found so near the surface: gold. However, again I warn thee to heed in wait, for in such a dry uncharted landscape, anything is possible." Hokeson read, stopping a moment to think. Then, he flipped back a few pages, to the very beginning of the chapter to translate again. When he had finished with the first paragraph, he again read aloud, "The rarest biome amongst my list: The Mesa Biome. Known for its striking colors and endless heat, where it rarely ever rains, it is no wonder many 'a travelers never make it out alive. When entering, one must supply thyself with a plethora of stock. One being water to keep hydrated. Two being a light wear of armor, for the ground can grow thin beneath, and cave-in on those unprepared. Beware, also, in such terrain, you render yourself an easy target for the midnight ghouls. In such a biome, one must be more than prepared to survive." I waited a moment in thought.

     "None of this is exactly sounding hopeful." I commented after a moment. Hokeson only nodded his head in agreement. We next flipped through the pages in the chapter, seeing sketches of nothing but rock structures, and dead bushes. "..Sooo, what next?" I asked after finding nothing else helpful.

     "We look for The Mesa Biome. The human likely knew when he left, or at least had a general idea. Perhaps if we went through the East Exit and had a quick look around, we might find something useful."

     "-Wait wait wait wait, what?! You are saying, we, actually LEAVE?.. NOW?!" I jumped up in my chair, eyes wide and filled with worry. Where could I even start? I had never even left the village before; I rarely even looked beyond the wall protecting us! I- I had no experience with the outside world! No one did, except the human!

     "Listen, Tim. You have nothing to fear here." Hokeson met me eye to eye with a firm expression that spoke millions. "We will travel in the day, meaning the only danger we could possibly come across would be creepers, and even then we will only be outside for a few minutes at most, just to have a quick look for that biome. It shouldn't be too hard, especially if we find a nice tall hill to scout from. There should be nothing to fear." He affirmed. I just stared on tight faced, not sure what to say besides a title wave of what-iffs. ..Wait, high ground? My eyes widened a little, then, I jumped down from my seat and ran out the door. Hokeson, probably thinking I was running away, didn't follow, at least until I ran back and called for him to do just that. Pretty soon both of us raced out the door, where I pointed to a far side of the village. Hokeson followed my finger to the top of a roof. Walking around a house, we could both better see the top of a tall watch-tower, the one the human had built soon after building the wall. He stared up at it as if he had completely forgotten it even existed.

     "Of course! The tower! Not sure how far we can see from up there, but we may as well try!" Hokeson then lead the way in that direction. The tower itself was surrounded by the small forest of oak trees, atop a hill with a few berry bushes planted around it. I remember sometimes sneaking up to the tower for some of the berries, but the structure was so tall and intimidating, I dared not steal it's sweets too often. Soon we were up at the top of the short hill and ready to open the door. Hokeson hesitated before opening it. "Heh, I was only in here once or twice, when the human used to be up there all the time. Watch out for the stairs. There's no railing." He warned. I just looked on at the tall-standing door before us. Slowly, Hokeson opened the door into a much darker space. Only a couple lanterns lit up the otherwise empty circular space. In it's middle, was one large, winding staircase made of dark oak slabs. The stairs spiraled all the way to the top of the tower, slowly narrowing as it reached the top. This had to be one of the human's biggest builds yet! Even the library and schoo-house felt smaller in comparison; probably due to it's height. And Hokeson was right. There was no railing around the staircase. Guess the human wasn't as worried about falling as I was. Heh, gulp.

     Up the stairs we went. It actually wasn't all that terrifying as long as I had my hand clinging onto the post in the very center. The spiral stairs weren't all too slim and had been well placed. Still, I couldn't get the image of falling out of my head. But, before I even knew it, I was at the top, which also had no railings. Welp! I wasn't leaving the safety of the center square anytime soon! Hokeson walked around me fearlessly, walking about the dark oak boards searching the horizon. I did so as well, just, from the safety of not moving anywhere.. at all.

     "Aha!" Hokeson exclaimed, making me jump. "Do you see right over there?!" He pointed forward, past even the distant hills on the southern side. "I can just barely make out mountainous terrain, which looks a lot like the ones in those pictures! Bingo!" I squinted to see what he was looking at. It was... so far away.

     "Okay, so, how could we possibly make it there and back before night?!" I squeaked. Hokeson studied the horizon a little further, as well as the path it would take to get there.

     "Hmm, sorry, Tim.. We might have to camp out... orr!" He rushed back down the stairs. I tried my best to follow quickly, but ended up dusted by him.

     "W-wait! What is your idea?!" I call down to the one already a flight below me.

     "Just hurry!" Is all Hokeson says before he is outside, door slamming behind him. I take my time step by step making my way down, before I finally reach safe, solid ground, and run after the older villager. The moment I rush out the door I see him riding a horse just down the hill in front of me, frantically trying to sort out the reins. "Horses!" The weapon smith smiles at me the moment he sees I have made it outside. I smile a little too. I always did want to ride a horse, but just never had an excuse for jumping on one. This looked like it was going to be pretty fun.