The second half of the trip home seemed much longer than the first and for a good reason too; this time, Cypher was awake for its duration. However, it appeared that Tyr still refused to be watchful for even a second of it; this prospect didn't go unmentioned either Cain and Anna made their opinions known about the situation. Though Cypher himself was half asleep during most of their conversation, regardless, the remainder of the trip was spent in relative silence. As the moon began to fall and the sun began its ascent, the carriage ride had finally come to an end; the sound of the horse's hooves mirrored the carriage's slowing pace and, with it, everyone's awakening. Cypher leaned forward and took a deep breath, he watched as Tyr was the first to exit, and everyone watched him leave; Cypher stood unwilling to be seated any longer and was the next to leave to the carriage. The sight showed to him as he existed was a large gathering of parents excited to see their children coming back from the academy; Cypher looked around and found that Tyr had primarily disappeared within the crowd and his parents nowhere to be found.
Cypher continued forward and decided to check his phone, and as he thought, he saw a message from his mother. "You knew how to get back." He sighed at what this meant and waited to see if his legion had anything to say before they split; he watched as Cain looked him in the eyes and realized why Cypher turned back to him and just showed a sly grin walking away without a word; after that CYpher just sighed and decided to go ahead and start on his way home."Ay Cypher." Cypher paused in his stride and glanced behind him and saw Cain throw up his hand in a loose manner waving him off, Cypher shook her head, but before he could turn around, he saw Anna waving goodbye but in a much more formal way; Gallow, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. Cypher waved back to Anna and left his interaction there. The walk home was a daunting task, and it took him the better part of the day to get there; Cypher wondered if he hadn't trained his endurance that he could have even made it home the same day he arrived in the capital. Regardless, when he finally got through the forest and up the stairs of his house, all it took was a simple knock for the door to throw itself open and his other to envelop him into her arms.
Cypher let out a laugh at his mother's excitement. His inability to break free of her grip no matter how much he'd tried, looking behind her Cypher could see his father standing a ways away looking over his wife and his son with a joyful face masked with stoicism Cypher smiled at his presence and was even happier when his mother finally released him, "I'm so glad to see you!" As Cypher was about to pull his eyes away from his father to his mother, the frame of a man pulled itself from the kitchen and stood next to his father. "Same to you, mother." Cypher's mother seemed to notice hesitation in Cypher's words and looked behind her, "That right, he did come early." Cypher's mother turned back towards him, and Cypher did the same, and only now did Cypher realize how much shorter his mother had gotten before she stood at almost the same height as him, but now there was a massive gap between them. "Come on, let's get inside." Cypher's mother grabbed him by the hand and led him inside of the house, closing them or behind them.
Cypher tried to pull his hand out of his mother's grasp, but she seemed content on squeezing it as hard as she could; Cypher was just glad she had chosen his right instead of his left. As Cypher walked closer to the man, he noticed he held dark blue eyes and solid black hair, he and Crow standing next to each other almost seemed like a familiar sight, but Cypher couldn't put his finger on why; However, he could still see that his father even towards over him, Crow stood almost as tall as Gallow, and it didn't seem like Cypher was ever going to reach his father's height. The man next to him stood a few inches shorter than crow but had a much more instinctively passive aura than his father. "It's good to see you again, Cypher," Cypher's father spoke, and Cypher nodded as he finally managed to pull his hand away from his mother; Crow stepped to the side and waved his hand to almost present the man next to him to Cypher. "This is Martyr; he's an old friend."
As Crow spoke, he seemed almost bothered by the fact that he was here; Cypher, on the other hand, didn't know what to say or do; he stared at Cain's father unsure of what to say, the realization of the picture that seemed so familiar now made since. Though Cypher could see that Martyr didn't share many of Cain's features other than his hair and eye color, Cypher guessed Cain must have taken more of his mother's features. "His son should have been in the academy with you." Cypher looked up at his father and nodded, "I know, Cain is a part of my legion." At Cypher's words, both Crow and Martyr's eyes widen, though Crow seemed more surprised and Martyr just seemed interested. "Is that so," Martyr spoke with a broad smile spread across his face. "How in the hell did you manage to get in on your legion?" Cypher felt all the tension building within the room fade in its entirety as Martyr spoke; at that point, Cypher understood now where Cain got his positive side from, though with that realization, he wondered what kind of man Martyr indeed was given the fact a lot more comprises Cain than being joyful.
"We just happened to become friends," As Cypher spoke, all the stray bits of information he'd forgotten about Martyr flooded back to the forefront of his mind causing Cypher to say before he thought about his words, "And so you're the one that causes he's gambling addiction." Cypher's eyes widened when he realized what he said, but Crow and Martyr both just began to laugh; Cypher glanced at his mother, who seemed to have a smile on her face; after a while, they both seemed to calm down, and Martyr spoke. "Oh no, that wasn't me. That his mother's side." Cypher showed a small grin and nodded his head. "Come on, Cypher; the food is already prepared; I thought you'd get here early, so a lot is waiting for you." Cypher's mother led him to the kitchen table, where everything from breakfast to dinner time foods laid across the table or on the stove to keep them warm, "What time did you expect me to arrive?"
"It doesn't matter now; just sit and tell us about your time at the academy." His mother placed her hands on his back, forcing him to either move forward or be thrown to the ground; they all sat, speaking to each other as they ate for the next few hours to come. Cypher told of his days in the academy and every interesting scene that came from it, but when it came to his injuries and a few other choice topics, he chose to keep them to himself, and he made the scars seem less impactful than they indeed were. Cypher spoke carefully and did not raise his mother's alarm, and decided not to worry about his father since his help couldn't be accepted regardless. "Oh, and I apologize for not giving you your birthing gift. I was busy with my son," This time, Cypher understood what Martyr was talking about; this was information his mother had given him that he didn't even think his father knew he knew. "But I have it now."
Martyr reached towards his side and pulled out what seemed to be a jagged sickle like a dagger and handed it to Cypher; as Cypher reached out for the weapon, his father quickly spoke up. "Martyr, remember what I told you. My child and I have an agreement, and he can't get any help through me." Once the last words left Crow's mouth, the expression of Martyr's face turned from peaceful to almost murderous, "You know the one thing I hate about you the most is when you can't put two and two together before you speak. This isn't a gift given to him by you, and you already know your wife helped train him already, so why did you see the need to speak," When Martyr finished speaking, he finally turned to face Cypher's father, and when he did they looked Crow showed him changed Martyr's tone. "Oh, my apologies, I forgot what we agreed on. Regardless, you understand my point." Cypher was stunned at the exchange and didn't understand what had just taken place; the only thing he could register was that Crow then let out a heavy sigh and nodded his head, and that Martyr seemed pleased and handed him the weapon. "And if that's the case, then you can have the rest."