Bound To The Silent Laborer's Bed

“I was the youngest Paladin in history, the absolute pride of the Azure Blade. But after a disastrous mission in the snow, I was falsely accused of slaughtering my own squad. Grand Master Bernardo Rowe didn't just exile me; he surgically severed my connection to the magic Aether, turning me into a crippled mortal. Desperate to survive, I tried to climb the Holy Stairs to reclaim my legendary sword, "Rebellion." Instead of answering my call, my own blade shrieked in absolute rejection and blasted me down the thousand stone steps. My bones snapped like dry twigs, and I was left in a pool of my own blood. The pilgrims laughed at me. The guards declared me a lost cause and left me to rot in the dirt. I should have died there, betrayed by the Order and the holy magic I once served. But a silent, massive laborer named Cato Sims dragged my mangled body into the shadows. He healed my shattered skeleton in mere days with impossible skill, yet he allowed lowly servants to spit on him and beat him just to keep my presence hidden. I didn't understand why my holy sword had abandoned me, and I understood even less why this stranger was protecting a condemned criminal. When I finally snapped and demanded to know his price for saving my life, he didn't ask for money or my body. "The mountain does not forget its debts. I am reclaiming what was taken from it." Staring into his unyielding eyes, I realized my exile wasn't the end, but the beginning of a terrifying truth.”