If Arin had had the energy to control his expressions, he might have stared in open-mouthed shock at the scene.
As it was, he remained slumped where he'd been, with only his eyes moving to flit from the headman's prone form, to look at the space behind him.
Of the remaining three villagers, who had been immobilizer by Grif's snakes, one of them was standing tall with one of her arms outstretched.
The other two were also pushing themselves off the ground to stand up.
There were no snakes to be seen.
Looks like Grif getting knocked out had made all his beasts disappear for the moment.
The speed-enhancing talent-user seemed to shift like a mirage, before suddenly appearing at the fainted headman's side.
He bent over his body, kicking at it a couple of times. Then, he picked up the stone, still lying nearby, and hit the man's head with a hard - thwack! - again.
Catching Arin's eyes on him, he shrugged. 'Better to be certain 'bout such things, no?'
'...Mm-hmm.'
Then, a slender hand appeared in his line of sight, and he looked up to see the woman - whose magic seemed to be some kind of telekinesis or object repulsion - offering him a hand.
She was the one who had sent that large stone flying.
Arin grasped the offered hand, and bit back a pained groan as he straightened to stand up.
'That was smart of you, tower magician,' commented the woman. 'Provoking and distracting him, so that his attention shifts away from our bindings entirely. That is what allowed me the chance to tear that beast off, and use my magic.'
...
Arin blinked dumbly at her.
'Ah, right,' he said after a moment, nodding slowly. 'Good that you... took the chance...'
...His actual, harebrained plan had actually involved provoking sir Grif into using his beast-summoning magic until he reached his limit.
Because, magic, like physical strength, was limited, right?
Arin had figured he could exhaust the man, until he either got tired, or distracted enough, for him to physically take down.
Clearly, just one short barrage of attacks had proved to him he wouldn't survive long enough for his dumb plan to work.
...but, well, the villagers didn't need to know all that...
'Hmm,' the woman half-smiled. 'We're in your debt, sir Rin. More than we truly know, it seems.'
'To think, our village head would... Hmph! But... A distortion...,' mused the fast man out loud. 'Say, how long has it been?'
Arin coughed again, trying to quell the burning in his throat. 'A-a month...' he rasped.
'An entire - ! But how is it that not one of us caught onto -'
'You simply... woke up one morning, and continued on with your day as usual. You had... no chance... Even if someone noticed something amiss, it would allow be overwritten. Erased, and altered, by a warp.'
'Ah. I see,' the man nodded.
'But - how are you so calm!? We've been here a month! You said people have died! Are we already dead on the outside!?' came a sudden shriek. It was the other lady, speaking tearfully from the back.
'None of that now,' said the rock-throwing woman in a stern voice. Then, turning back to Arin, she asked, 'Why do you suppose it is not making us forget right now?'
Arin frowned slightly. He'd been wondering about this too.
'Because...' he said slowly. 'Because it's energy is focused elsewhere. It is focused on... evolving.'
Even after losing most of its 'residents', the distortion hadn't created another warp to confuse and keep at least those who were still asleep.
Instead, it had sent sir Grif as a proxy, while retreating to strengthen itself.
And - if a distortion indeed was something that possessed it's own intelligence, or even a consciousness of some kind - it would only have done that if it was confident of its victory.
If it believed it could succeed in evolving, to the point where none of this would matter.
If it believed it could eventually pull everyone back in again.
...Right. There was that too.
Shit.
'Then, let's not waste any more time,' said the fast man, echoing his unspoken sentiments. 'Tower magician Rin, I've gathered that we must die here to leave. You must call upon those - those beetles at once!'
Ah.
'...I can't.'
The three villagers in the square looked at him in silence. Then, the fast man sighed. 'Your magic has been exhausted, eh? What inopportune timing.'
See?
He'd been right about that! Magic did run out from overuse! Ha!
...but for now,
'I'm sorry,' he said quietly.
'There's no need to be,' said the rock-throwing lady. 'Still, the four of us must leave. Now.'
Arin nodded. Then, he added, 'Get Grif too.'
'Isn't it better for him to remain here, so that he may not make things difficult for us on the outside too?' asked the fast man.
Arin shrugged the one shoulder he could still feel. 'I'm sorry, but out there... none of you are in any state to be attacking anyone right now.'
The sobbing woman whimpered loudly.
'We have... healers waiting just outside Silvershade,' he hurried to add, catching her eyes filling again. 'You will be fine!'
'Then let's not waste any more time,' repeated the fast man, seemingly vibrating where he stood
'Right.' Arin coughed again, then said, 'There's a cliff -'
'There's no need,' said the rock throwing woman. Turning to the sobbing woman, she said, 'Miss Mira. We will be relying on you for this. Please.'
Arin couldn't help but raise a brow at her words.
The sobbing woman whimpered loudly again. 'But -but!' she cried.
'Please,' said the rock-throwing woman again.
The sobbing woman stared at her for a moment. Her reddened eyes then slowly shifted from the other woman's face, to look at the fast man, then at the headman, and finally, at Arin, who stood the farthest away from her.
The very next moment, she shut her eyes tightly. Arin watched as she raised her thin arms to hug herself. And then,
Arin only felt as though he'd heard a small, wet sounding - click! - somewhere in his head. It was the faintest sound from... his ear? Or was it his neck -
Everything went black.