There was a moment of shocked silence. Then,
'You ...know? You know what's going on!?' Arin demanded.
The village head laughed again, an even stronger maniacal quality edging into the sound. 'I know everything! It told me! It told me! I saw it!'
...'It'?
The distortion?
The golden dragon was finishing up, licking the last of the blood from its mouth. Sir Grif, however, made no move to command it to attack Arin again. Instead, he continued speaking.
'It saved me. It saved my child. And then, it told me it was all for naught, because everything is being destroyed again,' he snarled, 'by you!'
'What... what are you speaking of, sir Grif?' asked the man with the speed-enhancing talent. 'Dream? Destroyed - what?'
No one answered him.
Arin could feel a headache coming on.
'It is not saving anyone, you idiot!' he snapped. His eyes flickered up to the dragon, and he hastily took a few more steps back, putting a market stall in between them, before adding, 'People are dying - no, people have died. Multiple people have died. If you know what this is, you should understand that -'
'And why must I care? Why must I care about that - about the others - when my everything is dying?' sir Grif roared. 'I do not care! Every day, every hour, every moment I have here with her - means more than anything else!'
Arin gritted his teeth.
He'd already learned from madam Seren that the headman had been involved in covering up Elara's situation, as well as the matter with Lana.
However, he'd assumed that that had just been the initial, thoughtless selfishness of a desperate parent. He'd figured that the man would have acted differently, had he known they were dealing with a distortion.
That he would have at least tried to do things differently if he'd known multiple lives - lives that were also his responsibility - would be at stake.
He'd just thought that the headman had been pulled into and deluded by the distortion before he'd had the chance.
But clearly, the man was fine with everyone eventually dying, as long as it meant his time with Elara could be prolonged within the dream.
What had happened wasn't fair. Of course it wasn't! Not to Grif, and not to poor Elara, who had unwillingly been placed at the centre of it all.
But it was even more unfair to all the residents of Silvershade, who had been pulled into something they had no knowledge of, and that had no relation to them. It wasn't fair to all the people who had died without even knowing why.
...damn it. His head was really starting to hurt now.
He might have even rubbed his aching brow, if not for the fact that his hands - uh no, hand - was otherwise occupied.
'What is happening here?' yelled the villager from the sidelines again.
The very next moment, the dragon reared up high in the air, and flapped its leathery wings. An embarassingly frightened-sounding whimper escaped from Arin's lips at the sudden movement, and he stumbled even further back.
Damn it, damn it, damn it.
Was it just having an innocent, post-dinner stretch? Or had it just been given a silent command to rip him to shreds?
'No. Don't kill him,' said the village head, eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled strangely. 'Not yet. Don't allow him to leave yet.'
Oh.
This part, he definitely meant for Arin to hear.
'It told me you entered alone. And as long as you aren't permitted to leave - to call for aid from outside the village boundaries - all those who have left, can be called back in soon enough.'
'They can't,' responded Arin, eyes flitting between the headman and his dragon. 'Even if I don't leave, others can safely enter Silvershade after dawn. Come morning, they shall carry away all the people who have already awoken.'
He paused for a moment.
Hang on, if the range of the distortion was only until the boundary of the village, why hadn't they just carried all the sleeping villagers outside?
...based on what he'd heard about distortions, it probably wouldn't have been that easy. Besides, Siel, who knew more about distortions, would've said something.
Still, he couldn't believe he hadn't even considered that possibility! Had coming to this world made him ten times stupider somehow!?
He shook his head slightly to clear away the distracting thoughts. 'Anyway,' he continued, 'there won't be anyone left in Silvershade by tomorrow night. The distortion can never pull them back in again!'
Sir Grif laughed again, and Arin realized he was starting to really dislike the sound.
'They shall all be back. All of them. Every single one, you hear?' The village head was still smiling, but there was now a slightly pitying, almost patronizing look in his eyes as he looked at him.
'The reason things have been so very easy for you until now, tower magician, is that it was still in its infancy. But, it is growing stronger now. Perhaps it was desperation that hastened it. Perhaps it was your very actions that pushed it to evolve. I cannot say. However, it can already draw people back in the very same night they leave. Just give it a little more time.'
'It has room to grow. It will keep growing stronger. And you. Shall. Fail.'