This is the End

She could feel the ground slipping beneath her, each step heavier than the last.
The fight was over; the screams had faded, the darkness driven back.

The village would live.

She stood alone among the silence, blood marking every step she had taken to protect them.
No spells left, no strength to carry on... Only the quiet certainty that this was the price.

She tightened her grip on the staff, just to stay standing a moment longer.

Not for herself…
but to be sure the world she saved would see another dawn.