TheDarkButterfly
Professional Procrastinator
Paladin had never intended for his life to be this way. He had never intended to slip away into the night, leaving his whole life and all his friends behind. He didn't have any family, he hadn't in a very long time. So perhaps it had been all too easy to set aside his sword and slip out the night of the Coronation unnoticed until it was far too late to find him. He didn't want his friends, his party members, to discover the truth. He didn't want them to discover that he had become half of the man he used to be. After that, he roamed the lands for a year or two before being taken under the wing of an old man and his granddaughter struggling with the physical labor that caring for the tavern entailed. They paid him well and welcomed him as family and now he had been staying in this village near the outskirts of the border for nearly 5 years. They also helped him when the poison in his veins grew too much to bear alone.
Everything had been fine until that fateful encounter with the Demon King. With the threat of the demon invasion looming, a party had been formed with the crown prince himself at the helm to sneak in and defeat the Demon King. Paladin had been placed in this party, vital to it in fact, because of his great abilities with holy magic that could ward off demon tricks. During the final battle with the Demon King, when Paladin had struck through his core he had taken the full backlash of the demon magic exploding, nearly killing him as consequence. It wasn't until after he had been awake for a couple of weeks that he realized that all of his magic and abilities were now gone. Ashamed and dishearted he had left the castle without a word to anyone, leaving his sword behind. He hoped they would never learn of the truth. It wasn't until he had been traveling a while on his own that he realized that the poison in his veins waxed and waned opposite of the moon. At full it subsided, and at new the poison would subdue him more often than not. It wasn't exact, but he at least knew to expect it.
Now he quietly tended to the tavern, helping out the people of the village where he could in thanks for them being willing to take in a complete stranger. All he wished for at this point in time was to lead a peaceful life and for the happiness of all that he cared for. Though he hadn't heard his patron's voice since his injuries, he still hoped that the Goddess of the Moon was still listening and watching over him and his people. He couldn't ask for anything more than that.
Everything had been fine until that fateful encounter with the Demon King. With the threat of the demon invasion looming, a party had been formed with the crown prince himself at the helm to sneak in and defeat the Demon King. Paladin had been placed in this party, vital to it in fact, because of his great abilities with holy magic that could ward off demon tricks. During the final battle with the Demon King, when Paladin had struck through his core he had taken the full backlash of the demon magic exploding, nearly killing him as consequence. It wasn't until after he had been awake for a couple of weeks that he realized that all of his magic and abilities were now gone. Ashamed and dishearted he had left the castle without a word to anyone, leaving his sword behind. He hoped they would never learn of the truth. It wasn't until he had been traveling a while on his own that he realized that the poison in his veins waxed and waned opposite of the moon. At full it subsided, and at new the poison would subdue him more often than not. It wasn't exact, but he at least knew to expect it.
Now he quietly tended to the tavern, helping out the people of the village where he could in thanks for them being willing to take in a complete stranger. All he wished for at this point in time was to lead a peaceful life and for the happiness of all that he cared for. Though he hadn't heard his patron's voice since his injuries, he still hoped that the Goddess of the Moon was still listening and watching over him and his people. He couldn't ask for anything more than that.