The sword dragged across the ground, leaving behind a trail. There was a bright orange fire burning in front of him. The smoke was flowing into the sky and the village was almost completely empty. He had incapacitated the two bandits, the third one was already trapped.
"Get out of here now!" The voice was extremely familiar. He turned his face to see Laura pushing some more of the villagers away, all of them were running into the mountains. The bandits had made some sort of barrier around the village. It was probably somewhere in the center of the village but judging by how quickly the fire was spreading, he doubted he could make it in time. The forest around was concerning too. He needed to find a way to block that.
Something small hit his shoulder. He turned around blankly.
"What do you think you're doing?" Her voice was filled with anger but her expression was closer to sadness. "Get out of here quickly!"
Her words felt distant in his mind. He wanted to just walk away but he couldn't risk the chance that she would follow him and endanger herself. "It's fine. I have something to do."
"What are you talking about?" Laura marched up to him. "And what are you carrying? Is that a sword?!"
He looked down at the sword that was still clenched in his right hand. "It's just a family heirloom." He replied, "I went back into the forest to take it."
He didn't understand why but she seemed relieved upon hearing that. "Anyway now's not the time for this, we'll talk later. Go to the mountains- we have an emergency shelter built there if you-"
"The fire will spread." He interrupted her pointing at the woods, "We need to stop it before there's nothing left for any of you to come back to. Do you want the emergency shelter to become your permanent residence?"
Laura frowned, "What are you going to do? A normal person or a person with unhelpful magic attributes can't do anything to stop it."
"But someone here has the correct attribute, right?"
She flinched. "Yes but-"
"For some reason, nobody is able to use their powers. That's why the bandits were able to suppress them and do so much damage."
"How do you know all that?"
"That's not what's important right now. Bring the person with the right ability here, the more the better. I'll destroy the barrier."
"Destroy the barrier? How?"
"The center of this village- not the absolute center but the point at which most of the houses would fall into the barrier's circumference. It doesn't require magic to take down a barrier because it's usually impossible to use magic there anyway. I can destroy it with this sword."
"You-" She looked at him like he was a completely different person or an alien. He didn't blame her for making that expression, it would definitely come as a shock to her to see how much he knew about a situation like that. He was more surprised that in a completely magical village, nobody had ever discovered barrier magic. Well he supposed that was the trade off people made when they got comfortable enough. A village of magical people who co-exist peacefully- nobody would need to fight each other or find a way to compensate for those without the same abilities. Without the resources, there would be no innovation either.
"We don't have time. Hurry up." He said seriously. The urgency in his tone must have worked because she snapped to her senses and began running towards the trail. He sighed as he continued heading for the center- the conversation removing a part of the dazed feeling he carried.
The heat was stifling. The air was dense and thick. He could hardly see anything with how much heat there was in one place, distorting the air and surroundings. The pressure and lack of oxygen made his lungs burn but it didn't affect him significantly.
The fire wasn't able to spread through some places so he avoided the parts with the flames, opting to only walk on areas in which the fire hadn't reached. For the time being, most of the fire was contained to the houses. Looking at how much destruction had taken place, he felt a sickness in his stomach. There was no time for that. A little closer and he'd find the barrier.
Not many would be able to identify the barrier upon first sight but he could tell immediately. There was a single flower growing from a crack in the ground. The flower was likely just a placeholder, the real contraption was underground. Raising his sword above his head with both hands, he wrapped both his palms around the handle and drove it into the ground. Cracks formed and soon, a portion of the ground crumbled away leaving a tiny crater. It was something Mint had never seen before- an odd metallic object with a seal around it. He didn't want to destroy it without investigating it first but if he didn't de-activate it then the village would burn down or worse.
He picked up the object with his left hand. After memorizing the shape of the device and the carvings on it, he put the device back on the ground. Lifting his sword again, he plunged it into the object which shattered like glass. The change in energy was palpable and suddenly the air didn't feel as suffocating. Mint turned around. He could hear voices in the background. It was no doubt someone from the village with diffusion or water related magic coming to help.
Unfortunately, there was no time for them. He would just have to make it look convincing enough. Taking a deep breath, he got to work.
***
"It's here! Over here!" Laura shouted. It was just her luck that Samo was still loitering around the forest. Samo was right behind her but already out of breath. "Don't worry." She said, unconvincingly. "I've got this."
As Samo ran closer to the fire and lifted her hands, something unimaginable happened. Laura rubbed her eyes in disbelief. There was no way...the fire was gone. The flames which were rising to the sky began to lower to the ground like embarrassed students caught doing something wrong by their teacher or a terrified person backing away from a demon. It was as if they never posed any threat to begin with. The flames were completely subdued and only the sooty powder everywhere served as evidence of their existence.
What was more unbelievable was that some of the houses were still intact structurally. She suddenly remembered there was someone else in the middle of the fire. Forgetting the miracle for a second, Laura found herself running to the center. 'He didn't die, right?' She found herself thinking in a panic.
As she neared the center, she saw a figure standing motionless. The figure turned around to look at her, smiling like an idiot. "Looks like I succeeded."
She stopped running and exhaled a sigh of relief. Mint walked towards her awkwardly. "I found the device. Unfortunately, the fire destroyed it. I'm sorry I couldn't retrieve it."
"That's okay." She replied, waving her hand in the air as one hand remained on her knee as she attempted to catch her breath. "Who cares about that now?"
Samo who seemed to have noticed them dashed to where they were, beaming. "Mint! I know you didn't do it! I'm sorry my sister doubted you after you helped paint her house and all..."
"That's okay." Mint said with a smile, secretly shocked by how quickly he was cleared of suspicion.
"Moreover Samo-" Laura started, standing back up. "I never knew you were so amazing! Putting out a fire in seconds? Could you always do that?"
Samo laughed sheepishly, "I don't know, I've never done it before! You know, weirdly enough I didn't even feel like I was doing anything!"
"It must be the adrenaline rush!" Mint quickly interjected, "When you're in a disaster situation, your body can exceed its normal capabilities by many times the usual. When the barrier broke, your energy must have also been suddenly amplified."
"That's true." Laura nodded with agreement, "As incredible as it was, I hope we won't ever be in a situation where we'll need to see it again."
"Agreed."
"Anyway let's go tell the others about what happened."
"Yes ma'am."
As the two walked off, Mint stood by himself thinking about what just happened. There were many lingering doubts in his mind. He had encountered things he had never seen before. It was almost as if...something bigger was on the horizon.
"What are you doing now?" An exasperated voice broke his inner monologue, "When I said let's go I meant you too, Mint. Now hurry up!"
"Yes ma'am!" Mint said jokingly, running up towards them. Laura rolled her eyes as Samo burst into laughter. Well for the time being, everything was okay.
***
Three days later
"Why? Why didn't you kill them?" The young woman yelled accusatorily, reaching out her hands as if trying to grab Mint. She was barely being held back by her friends.
Once everything had calmed down, Mint had revealed to them that the bandits were all left in the shack. The first one had been tangled in vines while the other two were tied up with minimal wounds.
"That's enough, Amethyst." Laura said sharply but her words fell on deaf years. Unlike Samo and some others, not everyone was quick to trust Mint. They believed he had brought the bandits there after scoping out the area and only helped them so that he could protect his comrades.
"But it's true, isn't it?" A man with sharp eyes said, "Why are they barely injured from the fight? If he was actually trying to stop them then they shouldn't be in such pristine condition."
"That's right! Why should we let the thieves who tried to burn down our village live? What right do they have?"
"It's suspicious how much Mint is on their side...I want to trust him because he helped me out before but it really is strange..."
The voices of anger and confusion became louder and louder. The mob was hungry for vengeance and justice, unsure of what those words even meant. The bloodthirsty attitude of the villagers made Welt feel sick. He had been watching from the sidelines hoping they would come up with a reasonable solution but the more he watched, the less he could believe that those were the people he lived alongside his whole life.
"Everyone stop it!" He turned to see Fiona standing on a barrel. Her voice was loud enough to make everyone pause and turn to look at her.
"Now that you said everything you wanted, listen to what he has to say!" She turned her eyes towards Mint who stood quietly a bit further away from everyone. Nobody seemed pleased but Mint was nevertheless given the spotlight for a short statement.
"Everyone." There were no strong emotions in his tone. He sounded like he was reading off a sheet of paper but his words carried a weight that made everyone go silent. "Do you really think killing them is the solution? These three bandits infiltrated the village using a powerful and never seen before technology. Making that kind of technology means being extremely knowledgeable. However, these bandits only stole the most basic items. The rarer and more valuable objects were untouched. Why? It doesn't make sense does it? And more importantly-"
He looked at everyone, his eyes hiding a glint that no one had seen before. There was a determination in his eyes that seemed to make him look much older than he was.
"Is killing someone going to solve the problem?"
"You're right. I chose on purpose not to kill them. My reasoning is simple-" He paused again, eyes always fixed straight ahead.
"If I begin to kill indiscriminately because of someone's wrongdoings and what I believe is right than that's not justice. You've marked them as criminals and want them to pay with their lives but- once someone's dead, it's over."
"They won't ever come back. Even if in the future you realize you made the wrong decision, even if you calm down from your emotional state and change your mind, no matter how much you cry to the world-"
"Once it's gone, it won't ever come back. That's the truth about life and death. You might think you're above it but don't take someone's life so lightly."