CHAPTER 18

As all of the children and their parents had left the playdate with mixed feelings, Daelyn was quite excited at the prospect at going home. He enjoyed the playdate, but he was looking forwards to something else. He would be going back to Orthrus tomorrow to read!

He still couldn’t get the rows upon rows of bookcases out of his mind, and he could not help but crave for the knowledge that was hidden within those bookcases.

Daelyn saw some of his newfound friends off, but he could not help but shiver at Cyrus’ expression. The boy seemed to be afraid of something, and as Daelyn tried to approach him, Avary quickly took Cyrus’ right arm, and hurried off. Cyrus did not resist, following her with a deadbeat look on his face as they made their way home.

Daelyn found this quite concerning, but he did not fret on it very long. After all, Cyrus was their child, and who would punish their child for defending another one?

While Daelyn was happily contemplating such positive thoughts, Cyrus’ mind was filled with the opposite. He did not know what kind of punishment he would get, but he had from what he knew, it wouldn’t be nice.

His father had already dealt out some punishments to branch family members, and it was more akin to torture than anything else. Hitting them with a whip, using water magic to drown them, stabbing them and then using fire magic to cauterize the wound, and much more.

Cyrus was genuinely scared because of this, and because his father had gotten his hands on one branch family member who had a human partner.

It was a dark elf man and a human woman. Cyrus had heard that they were quite timid, and hadn’t wronged the family directly, but their pleads fell on deaf ears, as his father tortured the man beyond comprehension.

The man had made sure that the woman could escape, and this had infuriated father even more. The man had been tortured in the most obscene and brutal ways that could be imagined, and father could continue it for the longest time. He could do this, with potions. He had placed a large order of healing potions at Grey Theandor, which he quite liked at the time, because of his hardworking personality and his skill in alchemy.

Those potions were used in abundance, and father had spent his coin generously to continue his torture for as long as he desired.

In the end, the tortured man had gotten his hands on one of the tools that were used on him, and killed himself. He had released himself of his mortal body and the pain that came with it, only to find his beloved in the afterlife. She had committed suicide out of grief, and they actually had a happy end together.

However, as his soul left his body, father entered the room, and he was prepared. He had attained a soul capturing device from unknown sources, however he could not torture the man’s soul, since he did not have the tools for it, and those were quite costly.

Seeing that he had already spent an exorbitant amount of money on his torture, he decided that he would end it. He made one last expense for the sake of sating his desire for the man’s suffering, one last expense that would satisfy him. He bought the services of a soul mage, one that was not connected to any kind of public guild, and asked him to perform one particular spell.

He asked and paid the soul mage to destroy the soul of the man, making sure that he would not get the rest he deserved, and have him vanish into the void of the universe as scattered parts of a being, only able to reform in an unknown amount of time. A soul could technically not be destroyed, but it could be ripped apart, and that was his mister Tyrrith’s intent. He would have the man suffer for eternity for loving a human, and for betraying him.

Cyrus had never been allowed in the torture room, or the hall which bordered it, but he could hear the bloodcurdling laugh of his father from the other side of the house. He could feel it reverberate through everything as his spine tingled form the laugh, and his instincts told him to run and hide.

A few minutes later, his father walked past his room, together with the soul mage, and both had a wicked smile on their face. The soul mage was looking at the coin pouch he had in his hands, he seemed to be very happy that he got paid so much to torture someone for eternity.

His father didn’t necessarily look scary, but he seemed very satisfied, which only bolstered Cyrus’ anxiety and fear concerning the topic.

That was the reason Cyrus was so scared, his father hated humans and everyone who associated with them even more, than either his brother or mother did. Cyrus became more and more scared as they drew closer to their family home, he feared his father’s wrath.

Minos and Avary saw the fear in his expression, but did nothing to ease him. Both had their own reasoning as why not to, but they did not know the reasoning of the other.

Minos thought that whatever punishment that human defending idiot received was deserved. He did not sympathise with humans, neither did he with their loved ones, or those that sympathised with them. His brother had helped a human, and thwarted his attack towards that same human! He would not forgive him! Did he forget the death of our older brother! Does that mean nothing to him? Does his family mean nothing to him?!

As Minos was lost in thought, trying to reason with himself and justify hating his little brother for defending a human, Avary also had an internal battle. She was torn between the grief of losing her eldest son, and her love for her youngest. She felt hatred towards all humans for killing her child, and her judgement of Daelyn was clouded by this, as she had not seen his attempt at making it up to Minos as positive, but merely some human scheme. She had not seen Daelyn’s apology as sincere, but as an intricate scheme leading to their downfall at his merit.

As her mind was still clouded by her hatred of humans, it was also clouded by the love for her youngest son. Little Cyrus never had been very strong, but he had always been very nice, gentle, and loved reading. She could not have asked for a better son, he was her youngest, and she loved him. She loved his little quirks, she loved his urges to read, and she loved his personality. However, she was puzzled by his behaviour he exhibited today, did he forget about the death of his brother at the hands of those damned humans?

While her mind did not become clearer, she did come to one conclusion. She knew that her husband knew what to do, she whole heartedly believed that her husband could find some kind of middle road that would satisfy everyone, and she could return to her simple live with her sons.

With these thoughts raging through their heads, their made their way to their home in silence.

As the trio saw their home appear between the foliage, Cyrus flinched. He had already contemplated if running away now would solve his problems, but his father would most likely hunt him down and punish him even more.

Avary opened the door, she saw her husband sitting in the living room on the sofa, with a book in hand. As he saw them, he put his book away, stood up, and walked over to them.

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“Hey, you guys are home early, did something happen?” He asked with a soft and curious voice.

“Yes, something happened, right Cyrus?” Sneered Minos with an arrogant tone, which led to Cyrus flinching from his remark.

Their father looked on in surprise and shot a questioning look towards Avary.

“Eldrin, dear, we need to talk. Something happened at the playdate, we will be getting the story from Elrieden later, but I want you to hear it from us.” She said with a calm and soothing voice.

Eldrin looked at her with a curious expression, before she walked off to his office, and he quickly followed.

Cyrus’ family had never been bad, it had almost always been a happy family, and everyone tried to treat each other with love and dignity. However, his brother’s death brought a taboo in the family, and he was very aware of this.

They did not want to speak about his death, they did not want to speak about the humans that killed him, they did not want to speak about the betrayal they faced from their indirect relatives, they didn’t want to talk about their past. Cyrus had found this to be true many times, as he asked them about it, and would never get an answer. They would either change subject, or simply ignore him.

As his parents had finally entered Eldrin’s office at the end of the hallway on the right, they quickly followed behind them, intent on eavesdropping. They tried to make as little sound as possible as they approached the door, until the door suddenly opened. Their father stood in the doorway.

“Eavesdropping is rude, don’t do it again. Go to your rooms and reflect on yourself.”

The two boys were stupefied at the warning, they had not expected their father to find out so quickly. As if he could read their thoughts.

“You’re 100 years too early to try and sneak up on me.” He said with a soft laugh before closing the door.

The two boys complied and walked towards their rooms in a slow pace as to try and discern something from the conversation going on inside, but it was in vain. The door and walls of their home were quite thick, and wouldn’t easily let sound pass through.

 The rooms of the two boys bordered each other, and as they both stood in front of their respective rooms, Minos sneered to Cyrus, before saying.

“Whatever punishment you receive from father, you deserve it. You are an idiot for helping a human!”

Minos quickly opened the door to his room, and slammed the door shut behind him.

Cyrus stood in front of his own door for a second, absorbing his brother’s remark, and accepting it, before entering his own room.

Cyrus had quite a normal room. It had a bookcase filled with different kind of children’s books, and some more advanced kinds, he had a large amount of toys lying around, a small desk on the left, and a bed.

He pulled the chair standing before his desk back, before sitting on it. He stared at the wall, he groaned, and stared at the ceiling, he was contemplating the conversation going in on his father’s office at the moment. He had no idea what kind of story his mother was telling, and how he was represented in that story, but he could only hope for the best.

He knew his mother was not stupid, but he also knew that her mind could be clouded by the love for her children.

He stopped contemplating about the conversation, and remembered the playdate and the fun he had. He hadn’t had such fun since, since… Well, he had never had such fun, and that human, Daelyn was the cause of this. He had not forgotten the death of his brother, and the people that did it would need to be punished, but he did not think all humans were bad.

Even if all humans were bad, he still thought that Daelyn was his friend, and a good person, human or not. He had never had a friend, or someone like Daelyn enter his life before, and while he was shaken up by it, he did not hate it. Instead, he liked the commentary Daelyn could give on his remarks, and he liked the jokes he could make about shared topics.

These thoughts only reinforced his action, as he did not regret defending Daelyn from his brother. He did not regret saving a human, since it was his human, he was the only human, or dark elf, that he could get along with.

As he was lost in thought, the door opened on a crack, and his mother’s face appeared in the doorway.

“Cyrus, honey, dinner will be done in five minutes, okay?”

Cyrus replied with a cheerful: “Okay!”

He decided to stop dwelling on such hard thoughts and instead pick up a book.

The minutes passed quickly as his mother knocked on his door.

“Cyrus, dinner is ready. Everyone is already seated, did you forget the time again?”

Cyrus looked up in shock as he had indeed forgotten the time. He quickly made his way towards the door, opened it, and followed his mother towards the dining table situated in the living room.

The atmosphere was loaded with tension, as Cyrus sat down on his chair. The dinner went by in silence, only the occasional ‘pass me the salt’ or something alike could be heard.

As they had  all finished their meal, Eldrin spoke up.

“Cyrus, I have yet to get the whole story, and I know I will be getting the story from Elrieden which also entails yours, so I will read that, and I will make my decisions tomorrow. In the meantime, you shouldn’t fret too much, it wouldn’t be good for you.” He said with an indifferent and serious tone.

Cyrus flinched at hearing his father, and accepted his judgement. He couldn’t change it in any way, but he was happy his father was trying to get the complete picture.

As they had finished eating and had their maids clear the table, each of them went on to do their own thing, the boys went to their room, Eldrin went to his office, and Avary stayed in the living room and started reading a book.

While Cyrus had been relieved at his father’s choice, it should have been wise to think otherwise. His father indeed tried to get the whole picture, as to reinforce the punishment Cyrus would receive. He was perplexed at hearing how his own son defended a human. A human of all things?!

Eldrin could have understood in some kind of way if Cyrus defended a goblin or a gnome, they might be useful as pets, but a human? No, humans aren’t useful for anything. The only thing humans can do to help others, is die. They take up space, food, resources, and they take lives. They take lives out of greed, for profit, for fun, or some other twisted goal.

Humans listen to their urges, and only their urges. They are worse than animals as their instincts are not focused on survival, but on the torment of others. They can find the most cruel and horrific ways to torture someone, outdoing even the demonic beings of this world. While Eldrin had had his fair share of torture, he had only once seen human torture, and saw that it was on another level.

He remembered the desperate and bloodcurdling screams the victims had released, and the bemused laughter of the tormentor. The tormentor had made their lives a living hell as he defiled, deformed, maimed, penetrated, punctured, burned, drowned, and healed them, only to begin the whole cycle again. Humans had some quite advanced healing magic, and very loose morals, resulting in them being the best torturers of this world.

If you wanted to have someone tortured, you hired a specialist, who was most likely human.

He had employed the services of one once, and he was disgusted at the efficiency and effectiveness he tortured someone with. He had thought up a way of torturing someone for eternity, with only a simple ritual, a torture that would last for an unknown length of time, was done in less than ten minutes.

Eldrin had been completely swallowed by his anger then, only to later realise his mistakes. He had realized the horrible thing he had done, he had tortured another dark elf with a human, he had paid a human to torture a dark elf for eternity, he had betrayed his brethren!

He only realized this after seeing his own child’s fearful eyes as he walked to his office. He saw the raw fear in his eyes, and realized his mistakes. He could only regret his choice, and quickly tried to revert it, but he was only met with resistance. The mage which had done it had responded to his request of reverting it.

“Are you an idiot? Do you think I can get a soul that has been divided into thousands of pieces back? I never knew dark elves could be this stupid! Ha!” He said with an arrogant and smug expression.

Eldrin, enraged by his own mistakes and the man’s attitude, had slaughtered the man in broad daylight, in front of his comrades. He had slaughtered them, he had burned their corpses, and removed any trace of him ever being there.

He couldn’t ask any other soul mages for a solution, since it would become clear that he had paid someone to tear apart a soul, and spread it throughout the universe.

Since that day, he had sworn to never involve himself again with humans, since they were thieving, scheming, and lying pests. Pests that should be removed from the face of Althea, as they stained both the Terrean and sub-Terrean world.

As Eldrin kept justifying his hatred towards humans, with all of the horrid stories he himself had experienced, or he could think of. He finally reached a conclusion.

As for his son, his own brood, who had helped a human. He could no longer view him as his son, as his child, as a creation of him, since he betrayed them and choose a human over a dark elf.

As such, he reached a punishment, he decided that that child was no longer his son.