Another day broke and another person ambushed Cyrus upon waking, grabbing him and bringing him to an open spot. Or so he thought but instead of an open space he was ushered inside a large tent, of which was most assuredly not there before.
Once he was inside he saw Unas and Tribum hunkered around a table, extremely focused on a game in front of them. All around him were more tables with other various things on them, such as musical instruments and artwork. Up above the entirety of the tent was lit in yellow hues by a small crystal in a jar, that was constantly emitting gentle but bright light that shone down. Once Cyrus was inside and the tent flap was closed by Dues, whose identity has been guessed through process of elimination, he noticed that all the ambient sounds of the outside world had suddenly gone quiet. Leaving himself with no time to marvel at the fact that this tent was able to block out outside sound, Deus yelled to his brothers
"Brothers, I brought him!"
The two looked up from their game, the same that Cyrus had seen before, and beckoned them over.
"All right. Today is our turn to teach you something" opened Unas
"While the others have no doubt taught you important things, what we have to offer you is equally important" continued Dues
"We will teach you the value of entertainment and how despite some might tell you, is important for all!" finished Tribum.
"Even for a mage like you, especially for a mage like you" said all three in unison, then breaking into a laughter and patting each other on the back. Cyrus heard one of them mutter, "Good job brother, we nailed the speech on the first go" to which the other responded "Yes brother indeed. I am sure he is awed by our brotherly connection"
After finishing their congratulations to one another, Unas and Tribum went straight back to their game while Dues pulled Cyrus over to one of the tables nearby. This one, in fact, had an unopened box on it.
"Mages are the busy type, that I know after spending so much time with one. Always thinking and pondering, buried in their research and chasing after the next test subject. Most of them whittle themselves away in their pursuits; eventually they go mad, insane, or become so detached from others that they lose part of what makes them human. Cato had this problem badly which from what I and my brothers have seen, you have inherited his bad habit."
He then opened the box on the table and said, "Today I will teach you how to have fun" ending with a toothy grin as he unloaded a board game, starting to set up the pieces in front of Cyrus.
Whom was not very amused to say the least. Respectfully, but the doubt in his tone was plainly obvious, Cyrus said "While I respect your opinion, I do not agree. To me, time spent on having 'fun', as you put it, is time that could be better spent studying, researching, or practicing the many things I have on my plate."
Dues, who had expected such a response, plainly responded "That is exactly what Cato had told me when we first met, and time proved him wrong. So much so that he specifically approached me when we arrived to pick you up and asked me to do what me and my brothers had done for him for you as well."
Hearing that his mentor had arranged this for him, Cyrus immediately became slightly more receptive but was not fully convinced. Noticing this slight change with an eye that only a master of reading others could possess, Dues pressed his attack.
"You could visualize yourself as a bow, always notched and ready to loose. The more you study, research and experiment the stronger the bow becomes and the more weight the bow can handle. The downside should be apparent, that if the string is forever taught then eventually it will snap. Having a healthy amount of leisure time will allow yourself to unwind for once, preventing a future tragedy."
"That does make some sense. Not to mention that perhaps this could be a good tool for stealthily getting to know others, to eventually figure out their aims and desires… making them easy to manipulate and dance to my tune" thought Cyrus, unbeknownst to him that what was exactly being done to him to a certain degree.
"Not to mention, its fun!" finished Dues as he had finally set up the game fully. Seeing that Cyrus did not raise any further complaints, and looked to be finally on board, Dues began to explain the game.
"This game is called Ur, an old one from a forgotten kingdom of long past, but survived on its own allowing us to enjoy it on this very day. You have the board, with two opposing tracks, and pieces that must reach the start of the track and then exit off the end. All of them must reach the end for you to win, and the method of moving them is decided by these three dice…" explained Dues, with a level of fanaticism that rivaled even Adara's for magic.
Thus for the rest of the day, Cyrus found himself immersed in the game of Ur. Going from skeptical, to intrigued, then finally he became so engrossed in the game that he fully lost track of any inner complaints and time itself.