The moon was at its peak as a lone figure approached the temple of Edain, he stood upon a hill watching the clerics and holy men go about their business.

  "Finally, I have found it. The Eastern temple of the righteous servants of Edain," he said, The wind blew fulfilling the tattered cloak he wore on his travels. He pulled it closer around himself huffing a freezing breath in night air.

  With the last of his strength, the man gave a leap, running forward towards the great wooden doors of the temple attended by the paladins.

  There he would find the one he had been sent to find, the healer Amais.

  ===

  The clerics and acolytes of Edain were going about their business when a strange man fell through the wooden double doors. The paladins pursued him but there were no match for the one armed hulking figure that had crashed through the holy place.

  Many screamed, rushing back to their quarters while holy knights and clerics rushed to the temple's defense. They surged forward in a sea of white cloaks and armor, the stranger fell to his knees before they could land a single blow of him.

  He smiled, showing them rows of blood stained teeth. He spat, splattering the temple's stone floors with chunky bile-filled blood.

  "At last."

  The stranger collapsed, falling forward as a tree does with a final chop. The acolytes jumped in fright, everyone froze when suddenly a voice came from the top of the spiral stairs.

  "Why are you standing there? Put him on a stretcher!" A young man rushed down from the stairs, healing manual in hand, and dove to the floor to check the unconscious man. He looked up at the faces of the still shocked clerics and acolytes.

  "Get moving!"

  They leaped into action, scurrying away to find a surface as tall and wide enough for the man to rest on.

  "But Amais, this man attacked the temple," one of the paladins said, moving the others out of the way. The tall man in silver plated heavy armor said with a glare. He towered over Amais who lifted his head to meet his gaze with a fierce look of his own.

  "As a healer, I have taken an oath," Amais said.

  "And so what, lives could have been taken this night,"

  "And yet none were," Amais said, the paladin lifted his head, red in the face and ready to raise his voice. Amais held a hand up to stop him, unwilling to hear any of it. "Rest assured, anything that happens further in will be on my head,"

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "And any lives as well," the paladin said.

  "I understand your apprehension, but just look at his size," Amais said, gesturing to the man being lifted on a stretcher. "Do you really believe he couldn't have killed anyone if he wanted to?"

  The paladin glared, exhaling through his nose in exasperation at the logic he frowned, realizing Amais was right. In fact the intruder had specifically kept his weapons sheathed, if he meant any harm he would have drawn his blade instantly and harmed the acolytes milling about the entrance to the temple.

  "See to his injuries, I should like to question him later!" the paladin barked.

  Amais folded his arms, taking issue with the other man's tone.

  "Apologies," he mumbled.

  "I will see to his wounds, then we can find out what's really going on," Amais said already on his way towards the infirmary.

  ===

  His feet clacked against the stone floor as he walked toward the healing area to meet the mysterious assailant. Why would someone breach the temple of Edain in such a way? They served a peaceful god and remained outside of conflicts within the entire continent of Mardros

  "That's up to the paladins to find out, my job is simply to heal him," Amais said entering the room to find another cleric on his way out.

  "You," the other cleric barked.

  "Master Anok, I was just going to see our lovely guest," Amais said suppressing a litany of insults. Before him stood a short man that only came up to his chest. While he dwarfed the old master Anok the man was certainly not short of foolish price.

  Master Anok bared his teeth, ready to spit Amais' name like a poison.

  “He asked for you specifically, are you consorting with heretics now boy?!” Anok accsued.

  “I’ve never met him in my life,” Amais said narrowing his eyes. What business did the stranger have with him? Could one of the passing acolytes have mentioned it to him?

  Anok upon not getting a reaction, ground his teeth in anger.

  "Speak to him, he's in your care from now on!"

  "Exactly what I told the paladin," Amais deadpanned. He side stepped the short man and headed straight into the infirmary. Anok's frustrated shout rang out from behind him, echoing through the corridors of the temple's ground floor.

  Amais found the intruder sitting up on the infirmary cot.

  "He doesn't seem to like you does he?" the man on the cot said with a smirk. Amais flashed a smile, tempering his demeanor as he strode forward to check on his patient.

  "I'm afraid he doesn't like anyone, you could be a vassal of the holy one and he would still find something to take issue with," Amais joked.

  "Such is the way of most elders I believe," he said relaxing into the pillows propped up against his back.

  Amais observed the stranger, he was a tall man. Almost a giant from the stories of old with a clean shaven head and a strong squarish face. There was a severe looking the man's stone gray eyes, eyes that knew of secrets.

  The intruder was covered in scars, both fresh and aged. A survivor of something brutal, but the thing that caught Amais' attention was the man's missing right arm.

  "You look like you caught death in one hand and he took a piece," Amais said before he could stop himself.

  The intruder threw his head back laughing as Amais spoke.

  "What is your name?"

  "Amais," the healer replied, checking the man's shredded stump. He went to fetch a kit and after smearing some herbal paste on it, began winding a fresh bandage around it.

  "You are just as Gaius said you would be," the stranger said.

  Amais gasped, the breath leaving him with sudden force. His chest tightened at the sound of the old name of his master.

  "How do you know that name?" Amais whispered.

  "I’ve met him."

  "Liar!" Amais said, tightening the bandage and pulling back. "Anok must have told you something about him to mess with my head!" He was about to storm out when the stranger spoke again.

  "He's alive."