Fatherly Advice
*****Somewhere in the South of England*****
Cyrus sat on a small wall outside his father's temple, looking out at the slowly setting sun and sighed gently. It had been a long month since he had left Brenna and he now felt a deep longing to feel her cool scales upon his skin once more. He lightly skimmed stones across the wide pond in front of him, watching them hop along before sinking into the murky depths. In his mind, thoughts of Kennice once more played across his vision.
Isaac looked at his son as he approached from the west. "Heavy thoughts again, my son?"
Cyrus nodded and stared at a pebble in his hand, slowly turning it over a moment. "Yes Father. I can't stop thinking about her, or about Brenna."
"Ah, the two women in your life. What exactly were you thinking?" Isaac inquired as he sat down and picked up a pebble.
His son was quiet a moment as he thought and spoke with what seemed like a tone ages old. "About how I should've treated them better, maybe then this whole fiasco wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't be ready to erupt like Vesuvius every time I heard that bitch Erykia's name."
Cyrus suddenly lobbed the pebble hard across the pond, his arm blurring with supersonic speed. There was a dull ricochet and the sound of a window smashing far off.
Isaac chuckled. "Do you feel better now?"
Cyrus sighed and let his shoulders sag. "Unfortunately not father. I find myself wishing it was her head I had thrown it at. I don't see why no one does anything about such injustice. Rhys is a rapist for crying out loud and Erykia is a torturer. Why can no one see this?"
"Have you learned nothing of this world, my son? Nothing is ever fair. You must remember that evil begets evil. The more violence you do, the worse things will get. Erykia and her kind thrive on the negative. You have to defeat the negative with positive."
Cyrus glared down at the pond, letting his anger cool a moment and once more sighed. His sighing was becoming a bad habit for him. "I know that father but it never works for me. I try to be nice and almost everyone stabs me in the back for it."
"Did Brenna and Kennice stab you in the back for it?" Isaac gently asked. He felt sorry for his son and wished only the best. But there was much corruption in the druidic circle and it was hard to stop it.
Cyrus shook his head slowly and turned another pebble over in his hands. "No father, they didn't. But many others have, and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to tell the difference."
"Trust your instincts as well as your heart. Your heart is usually in the right place and can help you. Just remember that you aren't alone, Cyrus. You have a bad habit of trying to take on the world by yourself and not letting others help that can do so."
Cyrus lightly tossed the pebble into the pond, watching the ripples. "I know father, but my instincts always tell me to do it on my own because that seems to be the only way things get done. Too many people today are either living in fear or are corrupt. Someone needs to weed out the corruption...like a cleansing firestorm." His eyes glazed a moment as what could only be called a vision crossed his mind. The demon on his shoulder was back and whispering in his ear, the link to his dark side.
Isaac felt the presence of evil surround his son and he did what he thought would work best, he decked him. He would apologize later. Right now he needed to save his son.
Cyrus was knocked backwards off the wall and cracked his skull on a large rock. If the air had been magically charged then it would've turned blue with the sheer volume of curse words erupting from his mouth.
"Cyrus, who are you calling to that fills your mind with so much hate and self-loathing?"
Cyrus sat up, his face scarlet with rage, his nose a flowing river of blood. He brought his hand forward from the back of his head, finding it coated in blood also. "What the hell did you hit me for?" He shouted and winced heavily for his whole head throbbed now.
"Am I talking to my son or to the evil one who decided to grace us with its presence?"
Cyrus shook his head a bit and frowned in puzzlement. "Father, it's me of course. What evil one? I don't see anyone but us here. Now why'd you hit me?"
"Ah, so you're oblivious to the evil that darkened your soul a moment ago. That is interesting. Interesting indeed. Come, my son, let's go get you cleaned up."
Cyrus was becoming irritated. The demon on his shoulder was now filed under less important matters, but its whispers could still be heard softly. "What evil? Like I said I don't see anyone but us here. Why did you hit me, father?"
"Cyrus, while you were in the middle of talking about changing the world, I felt an evil presence surround you, especially when you talked of destruction. It caused me concern and so I did the only thing I could think to do to snap you out of it. I didn't mean to hit you that hard but at the time it seemed like a good idea."
He gave his father a look of disbelief and shook his head slowly while feeling his nose a little and wincing. "And they say I don't think before I act. Did shaking me not cross your mind?"
Isaac gave him a sheepish look. "Actually no. I will remember that as an option for next time."
Chuckling a little, Cyrus shook his head and began to wipe up the blood from his nose with a tissue from his pocket. "Next time I'll remember to keep my guard up. Now I know where I get my temper from."
Isaac helped him to his feet. "Let's go. I do believe Martha has got lunch prepared and the other lads should be getting there as we arrive.
Cyrus nodded and gratefully took his father's offer of support as he walked. "New recruits eh?"
"Some yes. A few rich ones in the bunch who were sent here to learn the meaning of piety."
Another chuckle was heard as this sunk in to Cyrus' mind. Dark thoughts of pranks filled his thoughts for a moment, the demon on his shoulder whispering at a quicker rate now. "Oh really? This could be interesting."
"Cyrus, the intent is to teach moderation and tolerance, not hurt or scare people into following rules."
Cyrus couldn't help the next words that flowed out of his mouth. They seemed eager to come out with every whisper the demon on his shoulder spoke. "Oh really? So that's why you sent me to the monastery is it?"
"Nope. I thought you might like to travel and see parts of the country I didn't get to see when I was younger."
"Well personally I'd have preferred not to see those parts of the country. All they did was bring trouble overall."
"Perhaps it wasn't the scenery but the actions of some who didn't like the rules?" Isaac countered slyly as he opened the door that led to the kitchen.
"Well those rules were meant to be broken. I was there only to learn to use my powers not to become priest of the year."
"You shouldn't break the rules, my son. They are put in place to help mold and guide us. Sometimes the rules aren't very well written and cause trouble but that doesn't mean they should be broken."
"They are when they aren't supposed to be applied to you. Like I said, I wasn't there to become priest of the year."
Isaac sighed. His son was so headstrong and it worried him. He decided to change the subject for the moment. "Look, I need you tonight. We are having a special visitor that I would like you to meet."
"Who?" Cyrus paused a moment and raised a suspicious eyebrow. The last time father had a special visitor he had spent the rest of the night playing cribbage with his Aunt Samantha.
"My surprise. You just have to behave and leave my new recruits alone."
Cyrus spoke cautiously and agreed. "Alright Father...but if it involves cribbage I swear I am going to scream."
Isaac only laughed and turned to give Martha a hug. "Smells wonderful."
"I know. It has to for the men you bring here are bottomless pits," she teased.
Cyrus took a deep breath and let his feet guide him over to the large stew pot and tray of cookies lying on the counter to cool. "Mmm chocolate chip, my favorite." He eagerly reached out to grasp one.
Martha swatted his hands. "Oh no you don't, Mister! Go get cleaned up and ready for dinner. After you eat it, then you may snack." She shook her spoon at him but her eyes twinkled.
Cyrus chuckled, gave an innocent look and walked towards the door. "Of course Mother."
There was a breeze in the kitchen as Cyrus left and suddenly one of the cookies was gone followed by frantic blowing from him. He muttered, "ah, hot!" as he made his escape.
"CYRUS!" Martha shouted but had to laugh as she turned to look at Isaac. "I swear he is still full of himself."
"Yes, that he is," Isaac replied distractedly.
Martha frowned. Something in Isaac's tone worried her but she said nothing as she finished preparing dinner.
Cyrus wandered along the corridors to the front room to sit and meditate for a few minutes while he waited for dinner to be ready.
"Yo, Cyrus! What's up?" Allan Bradshaw hollered as he came around the corner and spotted his friend. "Finally decided to show your ugly mug?" he joked as he held out his hand.
Cyrus looked up as his name was called and smiled as he saw his old friend Allan Bradshaw. "Hey man, what rock did you crawl out from under?" He shook his hand firmly.
"I've been in America trying to learn how to communicate with werewolves," Allan replied.
"Werewolves? Well that is interesting. I can top it though. I've been dating a future high priestess and have a DRAGON."
Allan gawked. "No way! Are you serious?"
Cyrus nodded and stretched, "Yeah man, a big onyx girl."
"Dang, maybe I should ask to be assigned to your missions. Life would never be dull."
Cyrus chuckled as he stood up and patted his friend on the back. "Trust me you don't want any of what I've got. Evil high priestesses, evil sadist high priests and a damsel in distress and an evil dragon after my soul."
"Sounds like those fairy tales Martha used to read to us when we were small. I kinda liked those tales and if I remember correctly YOU were the one who said you were the hero charging to the rescue. I wanted to be the faithful sidekick. Man those were some cool times."
Cyrus nodded once more and grinned from ear to ear. "Well it's sort of working out like that. Almost killed the bad guy a few months back, pity Elizabeth caught that arrow..."
