I immediately began chanting the healing enchantment. The man I was healing broke his foot while working in the fields last night, and this tiny village didn’t have their own surgeon.

I gently laid my hands on his ankle, green light emanating from my hands as the spell came into being. The light sank into his skin and slowly faded away. What looked so simple to the eye was mentally draining, and dawn was approaching. I had to leave. Fast.

I stood back up, while the man stared at his newly healed foot. After a few moments, he started coughing violently, like he just breathed in a cloud of smoke. His wife rushed over, but I held her back.

“It’ll be alright, this is a natural reaction immediately after a ritual. Just let him rest.”

She winced and watched him, looking helpless.

She turned to me and awkwardly bowed. “Master Chanan, I don’t know what to say! Thank you! I don’t have much, bu-“

I put a hand on her shoulder. “No. This is my duty. Performing the ancient arts of our people is enough.”

She nodded profusely. “Y-yes, thank you, Master Chanan!”

I smiled and turned towards the door. “I’ll return in a fortnight. Do not speak of this to anybody.”

I stepped out of the mud hut and creeped towards the edge of the village.

However, I didn’t make it far before I was spotted.

An old lady’s voice rang out from somewhere in the dark and startled me. I turned to confront the noise.

“You BASTARD!” She screamed out.

“You murdered my husband! I should’ve never trusted your kind!”

She stomped towards me, yelling profanities all the way. The whole village could hear this.

I put my hands up to assuage her. “Freya! What makes you say such horrible things? I saw your husband a few days ago, and treated his throat problem as I always did!”

She stepped right in front of me. I could see her eyes, they were red and teary.

“He’s DEAD! And all became of you, MAGI!”

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a cavalry horn. And not just any horn — that was the sound of the Inquisition.

She smiled wickedly when she heard the sound. “Now I understand why the King outlawed your kind. My family trusted you, but I always suspected something. It’s too late to save my husband, but I’ll make sure you’re put down for good.”

The sound of galloping horses shook the ground around me. I didn’t understand what was happening, and was too stunned to move.

Before I got my wits about me, the cavalry surrounded me, and the woman retreated.

The lead Inquisition officer pointed a crossbow at me and barked orders at me. I couldn’t understand anything he was saying.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers smashed the hilt of his sword against my head, and I blacked out.

My last thoughts weren’t about the pain, or the fate awaiting me. I’d escaped these evil men many times before, but this was the first time one of the villagers turned on me.

It finally occurred to me: was I the evil one this whole time?