The years melted away as Cypher dedicated himself to his training. With the events of his early childhood now far behind him he had truly grown into his own. He was eleven now, and his skills with a sword were far removed from those of the young boy waving around a wooden replica so long ago. Not only that, but his skill with various other weapons had improved as well.

That said he was most fond of the sword. Maybe it had something to do with the gift Molly had given him, or perhaps it was something from those old stories he used to read. Whatever the answer it didn’t matter. He had grown more skilled than many of the guards around the manor, and was feeling a bit full of himself.

Through his diligence, he had come much further than anyone had expected. There had been several times when Eiden became annoyed or outright angry that Cypher had in some small way bested him in either combat or their studies. Those instances had built up a lot of resentment inside Eiden. But all of them were resolved somewhat peacefully because Galex had been nearby or watching firsthand.

Still, constantly building resentment and never having a way to vent those feelings would only serve to distract Eiden and wouldn’t allow him to reach his full potential through training. Galex knew this well, but he also needed Cypher to remain an obstacle for the betterment of Eiden’s growth.

It was because of this fact that Cypher was left to watch carefully from the sidelines as Eiden was instructed. Furthermore, he was limited to only learning basic forms and techniques to help the heir, Eiden, grow stronger. In this way, Eiden could still maintain his feeling of superiority and Cypher could avoid coming to harm at the hand of the young heir. However, Cypher was still needed as a sparring partner for Eiden, and having his skills dip to a point of worthlessness wouldn’t help push Eiden hard enough to grow.

Jelroy was indeed quite skilled and even though Eiden had learned a lot and come a long way, the distance between the two was simply too vast for the young heir to learn anything meaningful, and that was where Cypher came in. However, it was during one of these sparring matches that Cypher made a critical error.

Things were going well, the two young boys battled it out and were showing off their skills to Jelroy. But Cypher had been having a particularly bad day. Eiden was up to his old ways, belittling and making fun of the things Cypher had no control over. With Galex visiting a nearby city he wasn’t there to keep his son in check and so Eiden had been more ruthless than normal. In a moment of carelessness, Cypher let his anger get the better of him and, just for a moment, released the limits he usually kept on his skills in combat.

In that one tiny moment, Cypher managed to deflect one of Eiden’s incoming attacks, cracked his wooden blade against the heir’s head, and sweep the boy off his feet in one fluid motion. It was a simple mistake and a quick lapse in judgment but there was nothing Cypher could do to stop what happened next.

“How DARE you!” bellowed Eiden as he clutched his head and glared up at Cypher from the ground. The movements had been so quick even Jelroy was stunned into silence for a moment.

“Guards! Guards!!!” Yelled Eiden at the top of his lungs. Three of the guards nearby quickly rushed over to help the young heir to his feet and, leaning against his wooden blade Eiden pointed at Cypher with his free hand. “Seize him!” With that command the guards moved to grab Cypher’s arms and held him in place, knocking his own weapon to the ground.

Eiden shuffled over to Cypher, rage burning in his eyes, and Jelroy placed a hand on Eiden’s shoulder to stop him.

“No Eiden, stop. Do you not think it best to consider this loss as a lesson? Surely you can see that it was a lucky strike. Perhaps there is some insight to be gained. Is all of this really necessary?” asked Jelroy.

“Silence! I won’t hear anything from you or anyone else! This bastard has grown too comfortable over the years and I think it’s high time he learned his lesson!” roared Eiden. He then jammed the pommel of his wooden blade into Cypher’s gut with great force. Cypher grunted as the air was forcefully pushed out of his body and felt his legs go limp.

The guards held him up, his arms locked in their iron grips as Eiden continued to pummel Cypher repeatedly.

“You. Will. Learn. Your. Place. Bastard!” said Eiden, punctuating each word with another blow to Cypher’s gut. Cypher could only look up at Jelroy who held a look of disgust and pity on his face at the actions of the young heir. In the past, he would have put his foot down and stepped in to stop this from happening. However, over the years Galex had strong-armed him into a certain position.

The man had lost a lot of respect for Galex, even Cypher could see that. Although he didn’t know what the head of the Galvan family had said or done to Jelroy, he could tell that things had changed dramatically when it came to Jelroy’s general attitude and way of doing things.

As it was, he only watched as Eiden beat Cypher with the wooden sword.

Blow after blow rained down on Cypher’s defenseless body. Blood dripped from his lip and bruises began to form all across his body as the young heir vented his frustration. Even the guards grew uncomfortable after a few moments of this relentless beating but they were sworn to obey and could do nothing to stop what was happening.

After a few minutes, Eiden backed off and spat, tossing his wooden sword to the ground. He stormed off and returned to the mansion without another word. The guards lowered Cypher to the ground and returned to their posts as well, leaving the boy on the ground gasping for air and shuddering under the immense pain shooting across his body.

Jelroy knelt down by his side and reached into his pocket. “Forgive me, Cypher…” Without another word, he slipped a small bead into Cypher’s mouth and after a moment the young boy lost consciousness as the pain drifted away and darkness claimed him.

It was several weeks before Cypher could return to his training. It seemed as though nobody who witnessed that event wanted to talk about it at all. Even Cypher had nothing to say on the matter. He knew what he had done, and while there was no excuse for Eiden’s actions, he knew that it was his own fault for damaging the ego of the young heir.

Over the years his attitude and demeanor had only gotten worse. To call Eiden spoiled, or rotten was an understatement and Even Galex knew that his son was growing out of control. Still, the head of the Galvan family did nothing to remedy the situation aside from issuing light admonishments that went unheeded by his prideful son.

Cypher was used to this kind of thing by now. He didn’t enjoy it. Who would? This time the injuries he had sustained were quite intense. Two broken ribs, a fractured ulna in his left arm, a ruptured spleen, and countless bruises covered his body. The healers had been forced to resort to magick to heal the more serious injuries but only time would heal the others.

Cypher was angry. No, that was putting it mildly, he was furious. But, in the end, there was little he could do about it. Eiden was a lord of this estate, even if only by birthright. Cypher bit his lip and clenched his fist as he stared out the window from his room as he recovered. During this time an idea would cross his mind on more than one occasion; What if he fought back? What if he put Eiden to the sword and showed the young boy who the better fighter really was? What would happen if he unleashed the power of his magick and skill upon the young heir?

Would the boy crumble? Would fear and jealousy get the better of him and send him scurrying to his mother? Would it finally be Cypher’s turn to inflict pain and humiliation upon the young heir at long last?

As amusing a thought as that was, it was something that Cypher knew would only cause more harm than good. He was, after all, at the mercy of the Galvan family. At the end of the day, there was nothing he could do about Eiden’s behavior. Besides, actions like that went against his own morals and beliefs. Just because Eiden was low enough to treat Cypher the way he did, didn’t make it okay for Cypher to act in a similar manner.

“Tch…” Cypher looked away from the window in disgust. Pettiness. Jealousy. Hatred. These were the emotions welling up inside himself and he despised how ugly they were.

He could tell that his own thoughts were being colored black by such filthy emotions. He reeled himself in and tried to calm down. He refused to stoop to Eiden’s level. For now, all he could do was silently take it and hope that one day, he could break free of these bindings using the very skills that outshone those of the young heir.