As usual I wake up in my cold square stone room opposite me is the great flag of the red Merlin dragon on a back background, which adds little colour to the otherwise grey walls of the large room.
"Good morning young master." said a maid as she bowed to greet her 4 year old master.
"Morning, Shera!" I reply as I jump out of bed excitedly anticipating the day to come.
Shera walks over and makes my bed as the other maids walk over to dress me for the day. "Why are you dressing me in my normal clothes? I'm supposed to start training with the knights today." I enquire filled with confusion.
"You are dressing for breakfast first young master then we shall dress you again for training." replied Shera as the other maids continued dressing me.
"Ahhh….. right breakfast."
"Haa, Young master were you that excited to train with the knights that you forgot about breakfast?"
"Nnn-no" I respond turning my head away from Shera which is followed by more chuckling from her and the other maids. "This way Young master" says Shera as she opens the door.
"Thank you Shera" I respond with an emotionless voice as I change my mind-set for dealing with my family. I walk out the large wooden door as the maids flanking it bow to me; I walk out of my room onto the lavish red carpet in the hallway the walls in the hallway were covered with portraits with gold frames which show off House Merlin's wealth, prestige as well as doubling as intimidation to guests of humble or lesser noble backgrounds to give an edge in negotiations or so maid Shera says.
After a few minutes of walking at the pace maid Shera says won't shame the Merlin House I arrive at the dining hall the butlers standing outside open the doors for me then bow in cinque as they greet me with the usual flat toned "Good morning young master."
I ignore them as I was trained and walk to my place at the grand oaken table in the centre of the room and sit down, as there is no-one else of higher rank joining me other formalities are unnecessary. After I'm served I eat with the same etiquette that maid Shera said 'is polite and won't shame the household' which is good because I don't want to be bad, I want to be a knight of justice and Shera said 'You can't be a knight of justice without good manners.'
After eating I wait for my plates to be taken from me and to be helped out of my chair before I move to exit, the servants open the doors bowing to me as I leave. As I turn to walk down the hallway back to my room with a slight hurry in my step I see first minister Marcel Merlin, quickly I step aside and bow "Gggood morning First Minister" I stutter as he walks past, I keep bowing until he disappears into the dining hall as much out of etiquette as fear of being reprimanded, as despite never talking to him I'd been told of his 'epics' on the battle field.
Straightening myself out I walk the rest of the way back to my room without incident.
…
Out on the training field I look up at the amazing knights in their shining armour as they spar with all sorts of awesome weapons. "Hey kid pay attention if you want to be a knight"
"Sorry lord guardian" I reply to the knight captain as he stands over me in his shining armour with the epic enchanted glow.
"It's fine kid and just call me sir I'm no lord." he responds looking down at me with a weird look in his eye. "Alright kid if you're going to be a knight, first things first we've got to temper your body" he says looking down at me with a new excited look.
"What about awakening my Aura?" I ask confused as all the knights I've heard about use their sword skills and aura to fight off hordes of enemies with little to no help braving even the fiercest of enemies.
"Haaa, don't be to hasty kid, if your body is weak your aura will not awaken, to awaken your aura you need to push your body and mind to the limit through training and combat." explained the knight captain with a chuckle.
Red from embarrassment I stutter "Wwhen wwill I bbe aable ttto aaawaken mmy aaaura?"
"hmm, if you train hard before the end of the year." responds the knight captain.
"awww so far away??" I mumble disappointed.
"Don't rush kid, the first rule of being a successful knight is always preparing to the upmost of his capabilities" lectured the captain.
"yes sir" I respond flatly not really paying attention to his lecture.
"Okay since your sooo full of energy jog 10 laps" said the knight captain in a weird tone.
"what I can't do that it's so far."
"START!!!!" he yelled like one of those evil demons from the fairy tales Shera reads me.
Startled from his yell I start running as fast as I can around the dusty packed dirt courtyard, before I even make it to the first turn I already feel my legs trembling and my chest burning as my breaths become faster and faster. not being able to bare it any longer I stop and turn back only to see my guardian jogging towards me slowly.
'he's going to be mad that I stop, what if he hits me?'
With those thoughts I turned ran desperately towards the first corner away from the scary man chasing me. As I turn the corner I trip and tumble into the dirt, where I lay crying as the pain shot out of my now wet feeling knees.
THUD THUD.
I hear my monster guardian approach and stop next to me, 'will he kill me for failing?'
"Get up kid."
"bbut it hurts."
"Training hurts but you do it to improve yourself so that one day it'll save your life."
"It really hurts though."
"I guess you will be weak forever and never be a knight then." he says turning away from me as I lie their face first in the dirt.
"Wwait" I say desperately pushing myself up to run after him. "i i I really want to be a knight and save people."
"Then get up and stop being so weak."
Desperately I start to push myself up to chase him before he takes back his offer tears streaming from my eyes as I bare through the pain in my legs.
I quickly catch him as he's running really slowly. I move to overtake him.
"Slow down, you've proven your resilience now pace yourself to make it to the finish." said the knight captain.
"bbut I want to train to be a strong knight?" I say tilting my head in confusion.
"You Idiot" he says. I flinch thinking that he'll hit me. "The goal is to make it round 10 time... or at least work up to that, but you didn't even make it half way round one going full speed. Being a knight will require you to think as well don't just charge at things without a plan, that's how you die quickly."
"Really? But the heroic knights in the books always charge straight ahead into the enemy without a plan and win gloriously."
"haaa, those are either the strongest knights in history or random bards tales."
"Wow, could I get that strong?"
"Maybe, who knows, it depends how hard you train kid."
"Awesome, I'm going to be the strongest knight in history and destroy all evil to defend everyone."
The knight captain just chuckled at my dream but I ignored him determined to prove him wrong 'I will defiantly become a knight of justice!!!' I scream to myself in my head as i push through the ever growing pain in my legs as we turn the final corner.
Despite pushing myself to the limit I felt my legs giving way as I approach the end of the first lap. I continue pushing forward with a distinct metallic taste in my mouth and tears still flowing down my cheek.
As I approach the end of the first lap I collapse as my legs won't listen to me anymore, as I fall I hit my head on something metal and fall unconscious.