Gregor saw two heading towards the people in the square, tried to reach them but was blocked by the other three. The "Boss" seemed to be giving one of those classic villain speeches when they think they've already won.
But there's one detail she forgot.
'The time limit for being blocked is up. Now let's finish this.'
Luckily, that minute or so was enough for me to recover some divine power. And I just remembered an ability that could be very useful in our current situation.
'Let's see what the best time to use it would be...???'
One of the NPCs being defended didn't look well. Several crying, tombstone, and other emojis appeared. I don't need to think too hard to know that this isn't a good sign.
'An NPC dying was expected, but the mission was to save them. I don't know if there's a penalty for self-attacks in this game, but I have no intention of finding out. Unfortunately, the emojis she's showing are making me believe she's going to try to do something like that.'
But how could I stop her????
'Ha!, what if I do that.'
""""""""""
POV Méia
Life for the people of the village was never easy. Many thought it had been easy for her, after all, she was born beautiful with a very wealthy (compared to the others) and loving family. I also agreed that I had been very lucky with my family, but if that wasn't enough to say that my life had been easy, I strongly disagree.
Nobody's life was easy in this village. Crops were difficult to plant in this hard, dry land, and when they managed to do so, the harvests weren't very large. Fierce animals attacked routinely, and the only one who could heal the wounded and sick was the old witch with her idiotic children who always followed me like flies.
Even though I always helped whenever someone in the village needed it, even though they would thank me afterward, nobody did anything to help with the constant attacks from that old witch's children.
Nobody except one person.
He was always the constant target of the villagers' anger, mainly because of his appearance, and he had said several times that he didn't care about yet another reason for them to be mean to him. But I always felt safe and comfortable with him, even when he was dirty from work (or when they threw trash at him and hit him to relieve their anger), which nobody wanted to do.
Even my parents had great sympathy and appreciation for him; I knew they didn't exactly like the closeness I had with him. However, considering what could have been, they believed he would be a better choice than those idiots. After all, it wasn't just once that the old woman sent "marriage proposals" between me and her eldest son (or what was supposed to be her eldest son).
Fortunately, because my father was the only carpenter in the village, and the only one capable of making repairs to the precarious huts and building the meager furniture, and his mother was the only one with the ability to be a true weaver. Our family could have said no, and even that witch would have had to back down a little.
But the children wouldn't; their logic was simple. If an "accident" happened, the responsible man would have to take responsibility. After all, in a small village like this, who would want a woman who had already slept with someone?
Some said that I had even slept with Gregor, which is why he protected me, but those who said this often disappeared into the forest shortly afterward. And with the frequent visits of the midwife (who, unsurprisingly, worked for the witch), appearing whenever these babies appeared, it wasn't hard to imagine who "cared" for them. And she always came back saying that I remained as pure as ever.
Whenever she did that, or that rumor resurfaced, a part of me never stopped thinking.
'If Gregor tried to do it, I...'
But I never had the courage to finish that thought. True rumors or not, I (and practically everyone in the village) knew it didn't matter; the midwife would always say she was pure. And if, by some great misfortune, those idiots managed to catch me off guard and there was a witness (probably another of the brothers or someone bought and/or threatened), they would force me to stay with them.
But the point was that only they could do something to me. Or they would if it weren't for Gregor.
Everyone assumed I was afraid of the situation I was in, and they weren't wrong, I was, but not only that.
While others said I got excited by the brothers' interest, and only played hard to get, and used Gregor to "spice up" the charade. I knew that several of the young women in the village who dreamed of climbing the hill where the old woman and her children lived were envious of me for it.
To them, I could easily have everything I dreamed of if I left my parents, my pride, and the "strange fat man of the village" behind.
But that was what they dreamed of, that's what others thought I felt. I always did my best to never really show what I felt, apart from the occasional fear or apprehension.
What I felt most in reality was anger.
Anger at the old woman who let her children do whatever they wanted in the village, anger at the children for doing their bidding without restriction, anger at the villagers for letting them do whatever they wanted without caring, anger at myself for not being able to do anything, even anger at my parents for not being able to do anything.
But what really enraged me was how everyone treated Gregor, the only one who was truly kind in that village, besides my parents. The way the villagers took out their helpless anger on him, how the children humiliated him whenever they could for getting in their way, anger at my parents for not being able to openly help and stand up against that witch.
And the biggest source of anger was myself. For being primarily responsible for all the problems, both for Gregor and for my parents. For always being the one who had to be protected by them. Just like now.
Honestly, I barely remember why it all started, another public humiliation of Gregor by his idiotic children, perhaps?
But I felt something different that day, as if the villagers' anger had somehow been amplified. The anger they hurled at him, along with garbage and stones, that day was greater than usual.
Something inside me screamed that if this continued, Gregor really wouldn't survive, so I did the biggest stupid thing: I openly stood against the rest of the village. My parents and Gregor himself always reminded me that if I wanted to help, I should do it calmly and behind the eyes of others.
If they knew we were walking around as the "outcast" of the village, we would give that old woman and her sons all the justification they needed to crush my parents' reputation and basically turn me into their children's plaything. We never understood her obsession with me, but it didn't matter. Even less so now.
Everything that happened afterward was a blur. I could clearly remember the moment the eldest son tried to grab me right there, under everyone's eyes, until the moment Gregor finally showed the strength he always hid.
After that, everything was a blur until the old woman arrived, a blur with occasional moments of pain and an overwhelming feeling of insignificance. Even more so when that strange, golden hand appeared out of nowhere and crushed several of the old woman's lackeys.
But the feeling that has lingered in me the longest so far is insignificance, powerlessness, and anger, greater than anything I had ever felt before.
Gregor being hurt, the villagers acting like dogs to that old woman, my parents being imprisoned by strange chains. All of this made me angry, and I knew I was to blame for all of this happening. If I had stayed quiet, if I hadn't interfered, if I hadn't...
'If I hadn't been born, this wouldn't have happened.'
This thought grew stronger and stronger in my head; the anger towards my parents disappeared, even the anger I felt towards the villagers, the idiotic children, and even the old woman; only the anger I felt towards myself remained.
'If I hadn't been born, none of this would be happening, maybe even Gregor would be treated better. If I disappear now, things might get better, maybe if...'
More and more thoughts entered my head, my hand moved without me realizing it, a shadow approached from in front of me, my parents were shouting something behind me but I couldn't hear anything, I barely felt the slight tremors on the ground.
I looked up and saw one of the creatures the old woman created coming towards me, its spiky, deformed hand getting closer and closer to my head. I didn't feel fear, just a recognition that my end was finally coming.
'Maybe things will get better this way, the old woman also said that if I went with her things would turn out well, right? Gregor would be well taken care of, wouldn't he? My parents too, if I...'
Whatever I was about to think didn't quite finish. A blue energy field appeared around me and my parents, and immediately the negative thoughts I was having vanished, as if they weren't mine.
Only when the shield formed did I notice that the black current around me was different, with a purplish tone, not just black like on my parents and Gregor.
'Was there something else in that current then? Was that why my thoughts were so negative?'
I don't know, but my parents ran as fast as they could and pulled me into their arms. My mother kept rubbing my face and head, repeating, "Everything will be alright, darling, everything will be alright." I think she was trying to convince herself more than me.
My father put his arms around us and looked apprehensively at the two creatures banging on the shield, but he wasn't just looking at them. Following his gaze, I could see the situation around us better: Gregor fighting further back, the villagers who didn't know what to do, and finally the old woman. Murmuring while holding something in her hands.
Even though I could look, I still couldn't do anything. I couldn't help Gregor, I couldn't protect my terrified parents, and I couldn't even get revenge on that damned old woman!!!
I felt pain and tasted iron in my mouth; I had bitten my lips without realizing it. But suddenly, a pain much stronger than before overwhelmed me, coming from an unknown place. It was so strong that it made me bend forward.
""MÉIA!!"
Even the old woman looked over here, but I only saw it for a second.
When I bent down, my gaze fell on the strange bottle with a blue and purple liquid, guided by the same feeling as before, when I made the foolish mistake of putting myself in front of Gregor during the humiliating scene. I reached for the bottle, opened the cap before my parents could process what I was doing, and downed the drink in one gulp.
As soon as the last drop passed down my throat, I felt something inside me change.