“I warned you that you didn’t know what you were doing! We all warned you!” Archmage Leonel whirled on her with barely restrained fury. “But you always have to know better, don’t you? Play with powers you can barely comprehend.”

Selene simply focused on her breathing as her eyes scanned the room full of bodies, refusing to let the devastation show on her face. Refused to give Leonel the satisfaction. Gods, there was hundreds of them. So many soldiers she healed to keep them fighting in a war they’d otherwise long have lost.

“When will you learn that you’re not a God Selene. You can’t have any power you wish.”

“I did what needed to be done.” Selene’s voice came out as barely more than a whisper. “They’d all be dead without me.”

“They’re dead BECAUSE of you, Selene!Because you couldn’t keep that cursed power in your blood locked away like we all told you to.”

Selene turned and barely opened her mouth to snap back a response when a soldier - a girl in broken armour and skin as grey as stone - stumbled over to them, dropping to her hands and knees. She managed to croak out half a word before she started coughing up enough blood to pool on the ground beneath her. That was her doing. Her magic feeding on the poor girl, taking back ten times more than it gave to heal her.

Selene dropped to her knees - ignoring how the blood stained her robes which were surely worth more than the soldiers yearly earnings - letting her magic soothe the soldiers pain, knitting the body back together even as the remnants of her magic were trying to tear it apart. It was already too late to heal her. She’d die regardless. At the very least she can ease her pain before having to end it.

There was a second in which the archmage stared at her which such intensity she feared he was trying to set her aflame with his eyes alone. But then he simply started to walk away before stopping at the door to the infirmary.

“You have a day before the mage hunters are sent after you. Who knows, maybe you’ll finally have the opportunity to heal yourself.”

And then there was only the sound of his footsteps accompanied with the coughs and cries of pain of all those she tried to save. All those she doomed to terrible deaths.

~~~

Selene knocked at the scratched up door of the little hovel. She didn’t wait long before Freya opened, the worried lines of her tired face easing into a relieved smile.

“Oh thank the gods you’re here! The boy is getting worse he’s-“

“I cannot heal Tom any longer Freya.” The words would be too difficult to get out if Selene was looking into the mothers eyes. Instead, she kept them on the ground, the worn down shoes being an easier sight to handle than the desperate confusion that surely replaced Freya’s face.

“What? But why? Please your healing has helped him unlike anything else! All the healers have given up on him. He has no one else he- he will surely die if you don’t help”

Selene closed her eyes, trying to control the lump forming in her throat.

“Freya I-“

“Please. I’m begging you” the baker dropped to her knees, holding onto Selene’s robes “Just one more time I know it will help. The gods would not have sent you to us if my son was not meant to be healed by you.”

One more time.

It’s too late for him anyway. Right?

Selene nodded once, and that was enough for Freya to jump up, thanking her over and over as she led her to to boy bound to an old bedroll.

Selene was in a sort of haze then. She couldn’t even speak as she brought her hands to the boy of barely 8 being eaten by her magic.

All Selene could do was send a prayer for the boy to the gods, and ask for forgiveness as she let her magic ease his pain for the moment. She hated how much relief shown on his face. She knew it would be the last time he felt that way. Because of her. She felt a tear roll down her face as she did her work. She would have to let Freya know the truth before she left for good.

Could she stand the hatred that would follow?