I, (26F) blew up a village. Long story short, I was journeying through the desert when I came across a little village. I was pretty thirsty and tired, so I stopped to rest. This village was too small for a tavern, but luckily an older couple was willing to take me in for the night, given that I would do some chores for them. I really needed to get out of the sun, so I agreed.
Fast forward a little bit, I ended up staying there for a little longer than anticipated. To be honest, my pilgrimage failed and I can't go home until it's complete so... I'm kind of couch surfing atm. But Mimi and Pops (as they called themselves) were really nice, so they were cool with it. As long as I tended to their small garden and cooked their meals they were pleased. It was a nice gig for a while, until the next door neighbor caught me using a weather manipulation spell to cause rain to fall over the garden. Listen, an extra mouth to feed in the middle of the desert isn't anything to sneeze at. Besides, the small oasis at the center of town was lowkey drying up, so it's not like I had much choice. But that asshat couldn't let it go, saying I was a "bad omen" and an "evil witch who has communed with dark forces". Like, who the fuck says that? Soooo I may have placed a weensy teensy little curse on the guy... but he deserved it! I mean, those are just natural consequences, don't act surprised when what goes around comes around. But since I was an outsider, everybody else in the village took his side when he balled his eyes out. I mean really, for such a tough guy, he folded fast over some light internal bleeding. But I digress, a bunch of people grabbed their pitchforks and threatened to burn me at the stake. Which, like, I don't even get? Because how are you going to support your country's army who is mainly made up of dark mages and sorcerers, but then act like all witches need to burn? Pick a struggle ffs. But then Mimi and Pops emerged out of the crowd, and they started ripping into those pricks, saying shit like "you should be ashamed of yourselves," and "Hex has done nothing but support this community, and this is how you repay her?".
Pops made a good point about how this village is too small for us to be turning on each other, and at the time I was so happy he stood up for me. But later that night I was tossing and turning in bed, and I realized hey, maybe I don't belong here? I was a drifter already, and this town didn't have any problems until I showed up. Tbh I don't give a fuck about the other villagers, but Mimi and Pops have done so much for me and I didn't want to burden them. That guy was right, I am a bad omen. Everywhere I go, people get hurt because of me. I couldn't stand the thought of bringing more grief to them, especially after I found out about their son.
I never told them, but one day I was cleaning some old boxes and found all these small clothes and toys. I hadn't realized it at first, but it was weird that they already had a guest room when I came to stay with them. This place is so small, and it never gets visitors. That's when it clicked that I was staying in their son's room, and this was his stuff. I opened another box, and found a school uniform with some old report cards, all A's, along with a beginner spell book. He even won some kind of award. I dug a little more, and found a whole stack of letters. He wrote about being conscripted due to his affinity for magic, and said they were going to pay him a lot of money for his abilities. He said he was going to send them money every month, and that he was excited to start basic training. In the next letter, he talked about meeting other people like him, and being inspired to work hard to protect Plegia. The letters went on for a while, talking about various things, like how the walk from the base to the battlefield was apparently several day's journey, and he was worried how he was going to perform with blisters on the bottom of his feet. And he griped about how much he missed Mimi's cooking, and how the cooks on duty always just made stew over and over again, without ever getting better despite it being their only job. And how he was nervous when his troop was called to action, but he figured it would be okay because he wasn't on the front lines. And then the letters stopped.
That's when I knew Mimi and Pops had been through enough already. It wasn't a hard decision, but I knew I would miss them in a weird way. After that, I packed up my things. I waited until the dead of night, when I could slip away unnoticed, and then their lives would return to normal. I was halfway out the village, but the moon was full that night, and in the pale moonlight I could see figures moving in the distance, coming towards me. I couldn't really make out what it was until the figures crested over a dune, and that's when I realized they weren't walking, they were shambling. They were undead. The Risen were here.
Without really thinking, I started casting spells in their direction, trying to protect the village. But evidently, the explosions woke some of the villagers up. Our asshat neighbor stormed out of his hut cussing me out, claiming I was going to kill them all. I tried to defend myself, but he jumped me and grabbed my wrists so I couldn't cast anymore. I screamed at him that the Risen were coming and if he didn't let go we would all die, but he didn't want to hear it. I tried so hard to rip my hands away, but he ended up wrestling me to the ground as other villagers came to back him up. Genuinely guys, I felt my blood boil. At that point, I didn't really care whether he lived or died, and my spell had been charging up for a while, so I just let loose. Bro pissed me off so bad, my magic fucking exploded. What I didn't expect was for it to go so far. I thought it would blast him off me, and I could make a break for it from there. But instead, it leveled the entire village. I watched him disintegrate in front of my eyes, and the magic swallowed up everything else around me. To be honest, I wish it would have taken me too, but there's no rest for the wicked.
When I came to, everything around me was ash. There was nothing; no huts, no angry villagers, no Risen. No Mimi and no Pops.
Truthfully, there was nothing to bury, so all I could do was walk away. I have no idea if anyone even knows that village is gone now. I don't know if I'm a wanted criminal or not, or if anyone even cares with the war going on. The guilt used to tear me up inside, but now I just feel kind of empty. But sometimes I think back on that and wonder, am I the asshole?
Comments
Displaying 1 of 1 comments ( View all | Add Comment )
Anvoit
no not at all