"Don't try to move too much," the woman said softly, her voice like the wind through the trees. "You've had a fall. You're lucky you didn't break anything."
Selene's throat was dry, her voice a faint whisper as she struggled to speak. "I... I fell..." Her mind was still reeling from the confusion of everything that had happened. "Kieran... Lyra... they..."
The woman's expression softened, though it was hard to tell if she felt pity or something else. She knelt beside Selene, studying her carefully. "I know," the woman said, her voice carrying a strange weight, as if she understood far more than she should. "But you are not alone now. You are here with me."
Selene closed her eyes, her heart aching once again. She could still feel the sting of Kieran's betrayal, still hear the harsh words, the finality of his choice. Lyra's smirk, the way Kieran had looked at her like Selene had never mattered. It was all too much to bear.
But the old woman's presence was oddly comforting, like a balm to her wounded soul. She didn't know what had brought her here, didn't know why she had fallen or what had happened after that, but in this moment, with the old woman by her side, she allowed herself to let go, if only for a moment.
"My name is Eira," the woman said, her voice soft but firm, the words grounding in the quiet air. She didn't wait for a response, as if she already knew Selene was too exhausted to speak. "I'm a healer... or, rather, a rogue healer. I've walked the world for a long time, helping those in need, though not many seek my aid."
The crackling of the fire seemed louder now, though it wasn't the flames making the noise—it was the quiet ripple of confusion inside Selene's mind. Eira's words hung in the air like an echo. Rogue healer? It didn't make sense. If this woman was a healer, why hadn't Selene heard of her before? Or had she, in stories long forgotten by the world?
"Why... Why did you save me?" Selene's voice was hoarse, but the question was desperate, as though it might unravel something she couldn't yet see.
Eira's eyes softened with an almost imperceptible sadness, and her hands moved as if to stir the fire, though she made no real motion toward it. "I did what was needed," she said simply, as though the explanation was too simple to elaborate on. "You were close to death, Selene. It was not your time to leave this world."
The mention of her name sent a ripple of unease through Selene, as though the old woman knew her too well. Selene had only just met her, hadn't she? And yet Eira seemed to know everything about her.
The firelight danced across the features of Eira's face,casting shadows that made her seem even older than Selene had first thought. Her eyes, though, gleamed with an intensity that belied her fragile appearance.
"I- " Selene began, her breath catching in her throat as her thoughts raced. "How do you know my name?"
Eira, without hesitating, met her gaze, and even though her expression did not change at all, there was something in the way she looked at Selene that made her shiver. "I've been watching," she replied simply. "I saw you walk into the storm of your life. And I knew it would come to this. That you would be lost... broken."
Selene's chest tightened at her words. She had opened her mouth to object, but the next thing that Eira said stilled her.
"The curse that binds you runs deeper than you realize, child," Eira continued, her voice barely above a whisper, as though speaking too loudly would break the fragile silence around them. "It is not just a wound on your heart. It is a wound on your very soul."
The words hit her like a blow, and Selene stiffened. Her heart hammered in her chest to the deep, rhythmic thud, which beat in her ears. How does she know about my curse?
"How..." Selene could barely form the words. "How do you know about that? About me?"
Eira leaned forward, the firelight glinting off of her pale skin, her eyes dark and endless as she locked onto Selene's. "I know many things, Selene," she stated. "I've seen the pain hidden in your eyes before. I've seen what happens when a heart is torn in two, when betrayal digs deeper than any blade. And I've seen what happens to those who try to run from their fate."
Selene recoiled. At the moment, her thoughts were a jumble of disbelief and confusion. Her chest tightened painfully at the weight of Eira's words as if something thorny were pushing into the very marrow of her bones.
Eira's hands moved slowly, like she was carefully choosing her next words. "But it's not just the betrayal of your mate, is it?" she asked, her voice oddly soft, yet knowing. "It's the curse. The one that's marked you since birth. The one that was sealed by the very blood of the moon."
Selene's heart skipped, a cold shiver crawling up her spine. She opened her mouth, but no words came. The moon... Her thoughts were chaotic now, spinning in circles. What was Eira talking about? The curse had always been something Selene had carried, something she had always known in the back of her mind, but hearing someone else speak of it with such certainty felt different. It felt... real.
"How do you know all of this?" Selene managed to ask, the words tasting strange on her tongue. "Who are you really?"
Eira did not respond immediately. Instead, she reached into the worn folds of her cloak and drew forth a small vial of liquid glimmering with a silvery hue. Holding it before Selene, she spoke in steadiness with calm eyes as she did it.
" I am nothing but a healer," Eira sighed, "but that does not mean that I know nothing of the dark truth of being one of us. A darkness that cuts across a life bound to the fate of others."
The vial drew Selene in with the magnetism of its faint glow. There was something unsettling about it, something that made her skin feel as if it were crawling, but she could not tear her gaze away. "What is this?" she inquired, her voice almost the faintest whisper.
"That is the first step to breaking your chains, Selene," she said dryly. "But this is only the beginning."
Selene's heart already began racing in anticipation; her body perhaps responded even before her mind could catch up. "What do you mean?" Her voice wobbled, as if her words were fragile, due to all the uncertainty.
"The curse that hangs over you is much older and rests on the shoulders of a fate that has been written for you before your birth." Eira's voice went serious as her gaze bored into that of Selene's. "The moon, the blood, and the shadows have been getting you ready for what is to come."
A chill scuttled through the body of Selene; her breath was caught in the throat while whirlwinds of thoughts whirled above what Eira's words meant within itself. Greater destiny? Oh no, not like that, her brain shrieked in protest. I do not want any part of this. I never requested such a thing.
Even with those thoughts being formed in her brain, a part of her knew it was futile to think otherwise. She could feel the weight of something bigger and darker. The feeling would not go away; it was as if she was tied to forces far more interconnected than she could see.
"You are not alone, Selene," she said gently, her voice a little warmer now, though still carrying that edge of caution. "But you must be willing to face what is coming. You must be willing to confront the truth of your curse... and of what it means for your future."
"Why me?" Selene asked, her voice barely audible, her hands trembling. "Why is this happening to me?"
Eira's gaze grew distant, her eyes reflecting the flickering flames in ways that seemed almost unnatural. For a long moment, she said nothing, as if contemplating the right words, the right way to explain something so complicated.
And then, finally, she spoke, her voice low and almost reverent. "Because you, Selene, are the key. You are the one who can break the curse—or let it consume you."
Selene's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't make sense of it. She didn't want to. but there was something about what Eira said that met with an old resonance deep within. Her heart raced, the old woman's gaze seeming to settle on the edge of something vast and unknowable.
Eira parted her lips into a half-smile, not a reassuring one. It was knowing.
"There's more to you than you even realize, Selene. Much more. But I can't tell you everything. Not yet."
Selene quickened breaths, and the tension bubbled in the air, like a burning vice on her chest. "What does that mean?" she whispered, her voice slate-like. "What is this greater destiny? What does it have to do with me?"
But before Eira could say anything, a sudden gust of wind blew through the trees and snuffed out the flames of the fire. The light disappeared immediately, leaving the two of them in the total absence of daylight. In fact, the world about them seemed to fall silent, even the wind no longer dared disturb the stillness.
Then came Eira's voice again across the quiet.
"Everything, child," she intoned softly, her words hanging in the air like a warning. "It has everything to do with you."