CHAPTER 20

Night gave way to day as the morning sun rode the sky, and the inhabitants of the forest awoke.

As the morning brought the warmth and light of the sun, so did it bring anxiety for two families.

At the Vitafius house, the family was busy getting ready to leave, as they had planned to meet the Theandors that morning. The two little girls were anxious about going back to that place, since one of them would be trialled there for assaulting one of her peers, and the youngest daughter was anxious because she didn’t want to see the monster again.

The parents of the two children were less anxious, they were more worried about what kind of punishment the Theandors had conceived. While they knew that Grey would be quite soft on their daughter, they were more afraid of Lyvia.

Lyvia had the bad habit of getting very attached to others, and her emotions would flare up if those people were to be wounded, assaulted, or even insulted. Besides that, she was a mother first and foremost, and she treasured Daelyn. Both Dalarius and Celeria knew that the wrath of a mother was not to be taken lightly, and could only hope for the best.

The family could only release a collective sigh, and made their way to the Theandors.

While the morning of the Vitafius family was filled with anxiety, the morning of the Tyrrith family was filled with a tension in the air, and dread.

The family was far from relaxed, as they woke up, and they could only wait for what was to come.

The mother of the family believed whole heartedly that her husband would be able to think of a proper punishment for their son, the eldest son in the house thought that whatever punishment his brother got would be deserved, and the person on trial was anxious beyond belief.

The child awaited his judgement in his room, as he was extremely afraid of the punishment he would get. He feared the physical abuse his father would inflict upon him, he feared the punishment his father had thought up, as he knew that it was most likely a brutal one.

He had not slept that night, because of the fear he had harboured for the coming morning. The screams of his father’s victims echoed through his mind, and whenever they reached their peak. They suddenly stopped, only to be followed by his father’s bloodcurdling psychotic laugh.

He could only be relieved as the morning sun brought him a respite from those nightmarish screams, only to have his anxiety return as each passing moment was one closer to his judgement.

He quickly dressed, and started to get ready for the day ahead. He dressed in quite simple clothes, as his family had never appreciated very expensive clothing, putting more significance on battle prowess than political intrigue.

He shifted from his bed towards the chair standing in front of his desk. He observed the desk and the bookcase behind him that had granted him respite of the busy and demanding life of the Tyrrith family.

The family had always favoured physical superiority and skill in close combat above reading literature, or skill in magic. The family had produced some very talented aura users over the centuries, and had refined their techniques to new heights as they became one of the more prevalent families of aura users in the forest.

However, the forest had many enemies, from both inside and outside, and as the family’s power became more and more prevalent, so were they expected to exert more and more of that power to ensure the wellbeing of the forest and its inhabitants.

The many warriors and powerful aura users of the family were shipped off to either fight the larger denizens of the forest, the orcs and other monsters of the wastelands, or the rising corpses of the deadlands.

As the family’s members fought more and more, so did more and more die as the conflict surrounding the dark elf kingdom was ever present and ever growing.

While the family had lost some of its members, it was far from becoming weak, and it had been even farther from the situation it was at now.

The situation it was in now was caused by one of their own members, the eldest daughter of the head of the family, and the next head of the family.

She had betrayed the family for reasons unknown to Cyrus, but she had caused the family to split from its branch families, lose a part of its fortune, and had caused the death of a large number of disciples together with the destruction of their biggest training centre.

Even to this day, his parents held a grudge, and they wanted to chase her to the ends of the world, but they couldn’t. They had to regain the families former position, rebuild their empire, regain their control of the branch families, and regain their fortune. They vowed to do all of this, from a small dojo in some unknown village near the edge of the forest.

While Cyrus wasn’t very interested in the story itself, since he was never really interested in the family, or using aura as he had a weak body. He was afraid as he once again realized that his father did not like traitors, as he had a grudge towards many of the branch families, some individual aura users, and the whole of humanity.

Cyrus had done some things in the past to upset his father, but he had never broken those two taboo’s. He defended a human against his brother, he knew his father saw this as both betrayal and helping a human, since it was exactly that.

Before Cyrus could continue his fearmongering, he heard his mother’s voice from the other side of the door.

“Sweetie, we’re going to have breakfast, are you coming?”

Cyrus quickly got out of bed, before opening the door. He was greeted by his mother with a loving smile, and he followed her into the living room, where his brother and his father were already seated at the table.

He quietly walked over towards his seat, his brother and father didn’t spare him a glance as he took his place at the table, and started eating. His mother shot him one more affectionate smile, before starting on her own meal.

The family continued eating in silence, they cleared the table and cleaned the dishes in silence, and as Cyrus was about to head back to his room, his father spoke.

“Cyrus, stay.” He said with a calm yet commanding tone.

Cyrus quickly obliged his orders, turned towards his father, and moved back to the table. His father had a serious yet sad disappointed on his face.

“Cyrus, you know what you have done. You know how we think about humans in our family, and you know how we think about betrayal. Is there something you wish to say in your defence?”

Cyrus made a fist as his fingers dug into his own skin. He didn’t have anything to say. The only thing he could say is that he did not regret it, he did not regret betraying his brother, and saving his friend. He did not regret betraying the family that had only looked down upon him because of his preferences and his body, he did not regret saving his first real friend, he did not regret choosing his own happiness over the grudges the family harboured. He did not regret any of it, and so he voiced his thoughts with a nervous yet steadfast voice, as his expression was one of defiance.

“I can only say that I do not regret it.”

Silence reigned in the room for several seconds, both his brother and his mother looked on in shock at his statement, while his father’s expression remained stoic.

Cyrus knew they would be shocked by his proclamation, but he did not care. If he was to face punishment, he would do it with pride, as he did not regret defending his friend from his enemy.

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Before Cyrus could continue his proclamation, Eldrin interrupted him.

“Cyrus, you have betrayed this family in favour of a human. You have nothing to say in your defence, except that you do not regret it?”

“Yes.”

“In that case, the punishment is decided.” Eldrin said with a heavy yet calm tone.

The room became shrouded in silence as they waited in anticipation of the punishment. They felt the atmosphere tense up, as everyone awaited the next sentence to leave Eldrin’s mouth. When it finally did, it was like a hammer struck them from the heavens.

“For betraying the family, you are no longer a part of it. You are no longer our son, our brother, or our child. I disown you from everything but the clothes on your body, food supplies for one week, and three of your personal items. You are hereby banished from the family.”

The room was completely silenced as even the birds outside of the house seemed to understand the situation.

Every member of the family had a different reaction towards the judgement.

Avary formed an expression of shock, and grief. She fell to her knees as she could not believe her husband’s judgement. She was going to lose one of her children again, she lost one to war, one to those damned humans, and now she lost another one to banishment. The tears streamed down her eyes as she realized that Cyrus had been her only respite, her only relieve form her grief of the loss of two of her children. She would lose him, she would lose her youngest not to some external force, not to war, not to humans, not even to another family. She would lose her son, because of her own family.

She made no sound as the tears streamed down her cheeks, and as her eyes became lifeless at the thought of losing another one of her children. She had only Minos left, who was more interested in training and hanging out with his friends than anything else.

She was once again alone surrounded by her relatives.

While Avary was devastated at the news, Minos released a smug expression. That would teach the little rat to help a human, he would be banished! He would be banished for betraying the family! He would be banished for defending another person!

Minos seemed happy at first, but a feeling of sadness started to creep up from within. He quickly suppressed it, as he believed that his father’s orders were absolute. But he couldn’t withhold form his right hand shaking, from his fingers feeling an odd numbness, and from his hart being filled with grief.

Minos’ mind became more and more filled with the pleasant memories he had with his little brother, and the numbness started spreading. His whole body started lightly shivering, and the feeling inside his chest grew and grew as more and more memories flashed by.

Before they could continue their thoughts, their father stood up from the chair.

“Cyrus, you have until noon to gather your items, and leave this house. You’re not allowed to converse with anyone of this household after you have left, and if you do, they will face the consequences. Let that be a warning to everyone present.” Eldrin said with a cold and emotionless voice, as his glare passed every person in the room.

He calmly walked away, as he made his way towards his office. Every step resounded throughout the house as it was the only thing that broke the silence.

While everyone in the house was shocked, both the family and their servants, Cyrus wasn’t. His sleepless night hadn’t gone by fruitless, and he had prepared himself for every possible punishment, from torture to intensive training, and banishment.

While preparing did help, he was still aghast that he would be leaving the family home. He did not know where to go, as he doubted that most families would take him in, and the few that did would likely require a lot of him, abuse him, or one of the goons of Minos would live alongside him.

While he did not know how he would find a new home, or even survive. He did know that leaving this family would be for the best, as they had discarded him, and he had discarded them.

The only person in the family he would miss, was his mother. She would always smother him in affection, and they would play happily together. She hadn’t cared that he was weak, she had adored him for who he was, and she had loved him as her son.

Cyrus took several moments to process the judgement, before walking over to his room with small and trembling steps. He had prepared his mind for the grief, but it still affected him greatly, as being thrown out by your family was no small deed.

He opened the door to his room, and quickly closed it. He gathered the three items that would be useful to him.

He grabbed a small hunting knife, a ring which contained a spatial distortion, consisting of a hundred 225 cubic metres, and a book on mana manipulation.

As he gathered the three items, he went over to the kitchen, grabbed a weeks’ worth of food, and made his way to the living room.

As his father had already retreated to his office, he could not say farewell to him, and so he made his way to the living room, where his former mother and his former brother still stood entranced, processing the information.

He saw his mother sitting on her knees, and he saw the tears flowing down her cheeks. He felt a pan of sadness as he saw his mother taken by such grief, and walked over to her.

He dropped the food he had in his arms on the table, stood in front of her, and hugged her. He felt the warm tears on his shoulders as he only measured up to her chest event though she was on her knees.

He felt his mother shudder as he wrapped his arms around her, and pulled himself closer. He saw her eyes widen in surprise before he planted his head against her shoulder. He could feel the shuddering movements of his mother, as she slowly but surely lifted her arms upwards, and placed them around him. As her arms finally closed around him, she pulled him closer, pulling the small body in, and burying it in her own. She cried even more as she felt the warmth of her child flow through her, she could no longer hold in her wails as she screamed at the top of her lungs, and sobbed. She sobbed for at least a dozen minutes with the child bound by her embracement.

The emotions rushed through her mind as she held her child close, not willing to lose another one. Her grief of losing another child was paramount to the orders of her husband, the love she felt for the family around her, and the comfort she gained from this household. Her love for the child in her arms was paramount to anything else, as she had a budding thought of leaving the household together with Cyrus.

It started as a thought born from her desperation, but it was quickly reinforced by both the grief of the loss of her other children, and the love for her son. The thought became more and more intricate as a plan was being formed. A plan to leave this household which had left her all but one child, a child which had no eye for her except for seeing her as the woman he was birthed from, a child which would likely discard her as soon as he had the power to, a child of arrogance, created by her husband’s lunacy, and her desire for revenge.

She knew her part in the creation of that child, and could only pray to Eleanor to forgive her. However, she would not let the only child that wasn’t corrupted by his ways die in the wilderness, she would rather go blind, deaf, and stupid than to suffer such a fate.

The love for her child and desire to relegate the loss of another child stood far above anything else. Her desire was so that she wouldn’t lose any of her children anymore, but she knew that wasn’t possible. She would have to choose for either Cyrus or Minos, and her decision was quickly made as she felt the warmth of her son persuade her. She remembered every fond memory of the two of them shared, and would give anything to continue making such memories.

She knew the wrath of her husband would eventually catch up to her, but she wouldn’t send her child out to die, and neither would she let go of the one thing that she loved in this life. She would rather dig her own grave, and drop dead in it than abandon her child. She would not abandon the only thing that her husband hadn’t corrupted, she had already abandoned her thoughts, her morals, and three of her children. She would not let the only thing that gave meaning in her life be corrupted.

As the plan grew from a budding seed to a beautiful flower, she leaned in, placed her lips right next to his ear, and whispered to Cyrus: “You will not be alone.”

Cyrus looked up to his mother in surprise as she whispered that into his ear. What did she mean by it? Was she going to join him? But father would never allow that, he would order one of the servants to retrieve her, or go get her himself.

While banishing a child is acceptable, if a parent follows that child, it will surely lead to embarrassment in the community, and their standing would drop even lower. They would be seen as fools! Father would not let that happen!

While Avary knew this, she would not let her child go and die in the forest, and as such, she realized that there was only place where she would be safe, and where Cyrus could grow up to become a functioning adult. She had already thought of multiple plans, and discarded all but one of them. She had one plan that could work, and it involved one particular family.

She knew the branch families would reject them, the nobles of this land didn’t care for their family, she had no one that owed her a favour, so she could only think of one family that was strong enough to protect them from her husband’s wrath, and help Cyrus grow up.

She started whispering commands into Cyrus’ ear to make sure that her plan would succeed. Her target might not be very far away, but she still needed a secure foothold, and there was a chance that they would reject her.

After Cyrus listened to her instructions with an amazed expression, he quickly regained his composure, and wiped the remaining snot and tears of his face.

As he turned away from his mother, he came face to face with his shivering brother. His brother seemed like he was holding himself in, trying to hold back his tears, and his sadness.

As Cyrus approached his brother, he tried to stand in front of him like he did with his mother, and hug him, but his brother did not like the idea of it. He quickly retreated, before saying with a weak and almost crying voice: “Ju-just go! We don’t want you here anymore!”

Before he stormed off to his room, and left the Cyrus and his mother alone.

With a reassuring smile from his mother, Cyrus opened the door, and walked out. The first step he set outside the door, was the first step of his new life, the first step towards a future without the influence of his family, and the first step towards his new home.