"You said you wanted all youngsters in your team."
I huffed doing crunches with our sweet bitch glaring at me from a corner of the gym while being a punching bag for Kelly.

"I still say that."
Neil defended himself strongly.

"Then what is Instructor Charles doing amongst us?"
I whispered not wanting the old man hearing me and pulling my name up on his hit list.
"He's here to monitor us. Young blood needs an older whip. There has to be someone to keep us all in check."
Neil said panting doing burpees.

"And you decided to appoint the most merciless man on earth for this job?"
My hands were on my chest while I continued with my crunches.
I wanted to punch him for this.

"Hardest men produce strongest warriors." He replied with a grunt.
"Yeah. Hardest. He's so hard to please we'll die waiting for the day he says Well done. "

"But the day he'll say that, you'll know that you've actually done well." He stopped and waited for me to finish my counts.

"Are you not scared of Charles? You tend to get on his nerves when we try to stay at a distance from him. Well you do that with everyone, but I thought you were smart enough to not mess with him in particular. Doesn't look like you're even a bit afraid of him."

"That's because I'm not."
He replied confidently and turned around. I had to confirm whether he was a human or a robot.

"Do you fear anyone here?"
"No."

"The Commander?"
"No."

Well ofcourse. If he had even a pinch of fear from Commander, he'd never gift him a lip cut. I should have seen that answer coming.

"Is there anyone on this earth that you're scared of?"
I asked him getting up and he stopped walking.
He turned back to me with a serious face.

"My Valazire."
His voice was a whisper.

"Lazy, what?"
I asked and Neil held his breath.

And then he laughed - loudest that I had ever heard from him.

"La... Laz..."
He couldn't complete the word without controlling his laughter and clutched his stomach tight.

After an eternity, he took a few deep breaths and then said "Anything, but lazy."
Then he got serious as if he didn't just have a heart wrenching laugh.

"Who's he?"
"My trainer, teacher, mentor, guardian.. anything you want to call him."

"I thought princes get to enjoy their parents' powers."
I asked pulling his leg.

"At other places - may be. But at my place - it's a cursed thing to be born as a prince."
He sighed.

"Is your kingdom that bad?"
I mean why would he call it cursed, leave his throne and join military?

"No! The kingdom is great! The people are pure hearted and loyal. The king and his men are committed towards the common folks."

"Then what's wrong with being a prince?"
"Preparation to become the next king."

"And this lazy guy taught you how to be the king.. What did you say... Valazy?"
"Valazire. Yes he did."

"And I have a feeling that he's not a very sweet person."
"Opposite. He has more power over the prince than king himself. He'll mould him, teach him every single thing a king should be doing, train him to become the strongest fighter in the entire kingdom, detach him from all personal feelings and drown him completely into committing his people, all the while keeping him in his place, but not letting the crown get into his head."
He said last part with closed eyes.

This has to be the biggest piece of information he has ever given me about his personal life. Either he trusted me too much or I was just hallucinating.

"That sounds like a lot of commitment from one person to another."
"More than half of his lifetime."

"That's why you have been into fight training for years straight?"
I repeated my question of him not attending school. I could have never imagined the kind of schooling he got.

He just shrugged his shoulders as an answer.
"Damn it! Where do these Valazires come from?"
"They are mostly the King's younger brother. If not him, then any of his or the queen's cousins. In my case, it was my father's brother, An.. Ans.. Ansel - my Valazire."

There was something about this Ansel man. Neil pissed in his pants to even say his name.

"Why are you so scared of him?"
"He made me who I am, James. All my knowledge, all my strength, my skills- I owe it all to him."
He answered with raised eyebrows.

"So do I, to my teachers and Beta. But I will not hesitate before saying his name. And I'll feel like the luckiest man on earth if he calls me over for a drink. But I'm pretty sure you'll pass out before that even happens in your case."
"He'll kill me for just thinking that."

I laughed loudly making him snicker.
"That's my point. He's that Hitler persona?"

Neil stayed shut this time looking at the ground.
I took off from there.

"Understood. He was a strict bitch with you. And stayed like that for years straight. You developed fear for him because you were practically living under constant monitoring and mending. Please tell me he never did something that stayed with you permanently?"
Now I was scared. Trainers like these are so heartless to even care about any emotional trauma they cause

Neil hesitated for a moment. Then he took off his t shirt and pointed towards two scars over right side of his chest. I've seen them quite a few times during our swimming and fight sessions.
I looked carefully today and realised that both scars had similar pattern.
Fuck! It was the same impression!

"The heck, Neil!"
I jumped up feeling insects crawling up my neck.

"I committed four mistakes in the very beginning of coming under his wing. Three months into the mentoring and I was given this. That was the last day I looked into his eyes."
He said putting his tshirt back.

"I feel like puking already but I want to know what the hell you got punished so severely for?"
"You're only going to laugh at me. You won't believe it."
He said chuckling.

"I want to hear even if it's the silliest thing. Now tell me."
"I swore on a woman who stopped me from stepping out of his shelters I was ordered to stay inside. Called her a b.. bitch."

"Okay. Let's stop lying now. Tell me the real answer."
I said.
Neil laughed loudly.

"I told you, you won't belive me."
"I've never heard a single foul word escape your tongue and never heard a female's name without the 'lady or miss or milady' regard. How's that even possible?"

"The first seal impression turned me into who you see today."
He said.

"Damnit! What about the second?"
"Upon confrontation with Valazire, I told him that I'm the future king. He can't restrict me from going, eating, drinking, talking whenever and wherever I want. Also told him to know his place, that he is nobody to order me. I'll only listen to my father."

"Fuck! The second seal was for misusing authority and belittling him!"

That's why he was always so gentle with his words! Never heard him calling himself Prince!

"Darnit man! That was the cruelest way to teach a kid manners!"
I exclaimed.

"As long as he doesn't repeat it ever in his life - it works. Plus that was the first and last time he had to use anything other than his voice. I listened to every word he said that moment onwards."
Neil said looking down again.

"It must have burned like a bitch! Thank god he stayed at two faults per burn. Four would have been death!"
I said imagining the horror.

"He had plans to seal me once for each of my mistakes. I nearly fainted after the first one. Everyone, including my mother, knew I won't survive three more. She went and pleaded him to stop it, made me promise him not to repeat it ever - in my howls of pain. Even then I had to go through it the second time. He wanted to make sure that I never think about going against him or the rules of the Fermin family, ever again in my entire existence. At that age, I promised my last cell to follow his commands even if he asks for my life. The feeling stays forever."
He spoke with his eyes closed and his voice lower than I've ever heard.

"The heck Neil! He practically owns you emotionally!"
"Owns me emotionally. I've been looking for these words all my life."
He looked at me with pain in his eyes.

"Is he the reason why you're here?"
I asked bringing him towards the series of questions that have been ringing in our ears for months.

"No. I took that decision myself despite my father telling me not to. And Valazire was strictly against me in that regard. He hates me for going against the kings wish, dumping all his efforts into garbage and leaving the kingdom."
He spoke apologetically.

"Well I'd like to call him here and show him how you're proving to be the best and riding everyone's assess! His efforts clearly haven't gone anywhere but exactly where they should be!"
I pointed at him trying to break some guilt for him.

He laughed timidly.
"But why did you leave the kingdom?"
I asked him the most important question.

"Because I didn't want to be a king."
He said and turned around.

"But why-"
"That's enough opening up for one day. You want to spar or should I call someone else?"
He challenged me.

"If I were you, I'd say - you won't need anyone else. But I am me, so my answer is- call someone else."
It ticked him because I read his mind.
He challenged me and I caught it.

"Kelly?"
He called the best fighter looking into my eyes.

"Yes sir?"
Poor whoever gets the first punch.

"Want to spar?"
"Sure sir!"

I snorted.
Kelly waits for such moments of revenge. But he doesn't know that it's not Captain Neil he's fighting today. It's prince Neil Fermin.

It's going to be an interesting session so I stayed back.
And it indeed was.

Neil's punches were measured and so was Kelly's defense.
Nobody could root for either because both were just too good to put money on.

Apparently Valazire never taught him to lose. That's the only reason why Kelly lost that fight.

This Ansel guy was definitely something. Neil suddenly turned all serious and disciplined just at the mention of his name.

I need to get him into talking more about his life. That's the only way we're going to understand his miserable situation. This beginning itself was a trauma to my ears. Or may be I should talk to Ansel someday myself. He has to realise that he has ruined Neil's life!

"Dwight!"
He called my name unwrapping the bandages from his hands.
I went and stood in front of him.

"If I hear anyone, including you, whispering my Valazire's name, you'll be dead. And if I get to know that you even thought of contacting him, you'll wish you'd be dead. Clear?"
Damn that was a fucking threat to my life!

"I won't."
I promised more to myself.
Neil's past was dark and I did not wish to enter that danger zone.

************************************

And what the freak?
Neil's past is more mysterious than any other character in all the books!
He gave little information but even that's too much! Don't you think?

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What are your views about Neil slowly opening up with James?
Being the creative curious and imaginative readers - is there anything you find relatable to their future selves?

Vote and COMMENT and let me hear it out!