Neith

Without Pain There is No Gain

Some believe its destiny some believe its fate, but I believe that happiness is something we create.

Neith's Pov

I swallowed hard. I could feel Ammon's murderous aura lingering in the air, making it hard to breath. It was my first time seeing him like that. He really was very angry.

Even though I was terrified, I also felt slightly happy. He cared about me even after what I had put him through.

“Spill it Neith, what happened?” his voice commanded but was also laced with concern.

“Its nothing, I just had a fight with Aahotep that's all,” I said, looking down as I played with my fingers. I couldn't look him in the eye. If I did he would definitely know I'm lying.

“Your lying. Tell me what really happened. Come on Neith, you're making me really worried,” he said as he took my hand in his.

I looked up and saw his face looking really pale. The charm his face once possessed was long gone only to be replaced with wrinkles and bones. He looked like he could be my grandfather.

This made my heart contract. This whole mess was all my fault. Me and my stupid mouth and no one else.

What should I do?

If I asked him about Aahotep, it would only make him worry more.

I made up my mind. The only way I was going to get answers is from Aahotep. I will not bother Ammon or anyone else with my problems anymore. It was time I started acting like a woman instead of a whiney little child. I got myself entangled in this mess and I intend to get out of it by myself.

“I am not lying, I did fight with Aahotep over something silly and I remembered father so I kinda broke down. Nothing more,” I said, looking Ammon in the eye and gave his palm a gentle squeeze. I won't cause him anymore pain. I wanted him to return to how he was before. The charming and witty big brother I always admired. I grinned at him and got up.

He was surprised at the sudden change.

But... he started but I cut him off saying that I was sleepy and wanted to go back to my room.

“Let me walk you to your room at least,” he said as we both stepped out of his room. I rolled my eyes at him but agreed.

We walked silently throughout the way. When I reached my room I gave Ammon a big hug which he returned after a second or two.

Before I entered I remembered something.

“Ammon, if you're free tomorrow could you help me train?” I asked.

“Why?” he asked, looking confused.

“Cause you haven't trained me in a long time. It's so boring to do the same old routine. Come on, please,” I asked, pouting.

He smiled, “Oh alright, but only for a week. After that I'll be busy. Come to my room as soon as the sun rises. If you aren't there then am not gonna teach you,” he said with a smirk.

I groaned, he knew I hated getting up in the mornings. He did this on purpose.

“I hate you,” I said groaning.

“Liar,” he said as he patted me on the head and left.

I entered my room with a huge smile. I will get stronger and I will defeat Aahotep. Maybe not anytime soon, but I will someday and then he will have to tell me what really happened to father. I got into my bed and dossed of immediately. That night I had a nightmare, an ugly too.

**********

I woke up to hear birds chirping outside my balcony. This had to be the earliest I had ever woken up. Glancing outside I could see the sun would rise in a bit. I quickly pulled myself off the bed and bolted into the bath to get myself cleaned as quickly as I could.

Knowing my brother, he would keep his word and not teach me if I wasn't on time.

I quickly dressed before running down the stairs. On my way I stopped at the royal kitchen and grabbed a piece of bread before running off again. I was pretty sure I gave Maiu a heart attack as I ran past her in the corridor. Poor girl had never seen me up so early.

I was already sweating by the time I made it to Ammon's door. Looking towards the horizon I saw I was early by a minute or two. Feeling relieved I knocked on the door and waited patiently.

“So you really did come,” Ammon said, slightly surprised. My inner self wanted to smirk at him and brag about it but I ignored her. Wouldn't want to anger the teacher now would we.

We headed towards a part of the ground that seemed quite deserted.

“Alright, since you seem to have grown quite a bit, I think we take the next step in your training,” Ammon said seriously. He never took my training lightly. Even if I was his sister or sparring partner. He was always hard on me. Perhaps he wanted to see where I could really go if I tried my best.

This was why I liked training with him. I knew no matter how hard it was or how impossible his methods seemed, at the end I would become stronger.

I was both excited and slightly terrified to see what he meant by taking the next step.

“In any fight the first thing you need is stamina. Without it you have already lost the fight. Even if you're not as skilled as your opponent, if you have more stamina you're changes of winning is high. In order to achieve this you need to do a set of exercise routines to help with that.

Now your stamina isn't bad but it isn't great either. If you were to fight seriously with a much larger opponent than you will definitely not stand a chance.

It may take a while for you to get used to it since you only practise your sword movements. So are you sure you're ready for this?” he asked looking at me.

I nodded as I tried to process what he was saying. I'll do whatever it takes to defeat Aahotep, even if it means breaking myself doing so.

Ammon grinned and processed. He showed me a few simple exercises, each of which I practiced a few times so I could get the hang of it. 

This isn't so bad. I don't know why he acted as though I would die after today's session.

“That's enough warmup. Lets get to the actual training,” Ammon said.

Wait what! This was just warmup? 

I was already dripping with sweat. How could this just be warm up? He was joking right?

“Ok I need you to run around this section of the ground ten times and between every round you need to do all the warm up I taught u now,” Ammon said as he pointed to the outline of the ground I had to run.

I looked at him and gawked. There was no way a human could do that.  

“Can't do it?” he asked in a tone that made pissed me off. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and started running. I wasn't gonna let him have his fun.

I was about five rounds in when I began seeing stars. My legs at this point had already turned to jelly. I knew I wouldn't be able to complete this course without passing out. I slowed down to a walking pace just so I could try and cool down my burning lungs. 

“Giving up already?” Ammon shouted from where he sat. I looked in his direction. That i***t was sitting under a tree and looked like he was eating something. This instantly made my blood boil.

How dare he?

“Where's that fiery spirit of yours gone to?” he shouted again.

The thought of picking up this very shiny stone that was in front of me and throwing it at him gave me happiness, I knew I would collapse the second I bent down.

Perhaps another time to watch my brother bleed away would come but it wasn't going to be today.  

About eight rounds in when I started to see a black fog appear in my vision, Ammon called it a day and asked me to go back and rest.

I would have kissed the man for saying those words. Well... not really.

I barely made it to my bed. I collapsed three times on the way to my room, giving the servants in the hallway a scare.

I couldn't describe the happiness I felt when I saw my bed. It was like love at first sight. 

I just fell onto the soft cloud, unable to turn to a more comfortable position. My hands and legs felt like stone, making me unable to bend them. The pain was excruciating. Almost unbearable, almost.

This was a pain was a sign that told the training was working. I would just have to endure it for a little longer, till I get used to it.

I was sweaty and smelt of dead fish. After about half an hour of lying down lifelessly, I managed to pull myself to a sitting position.

I tried to minimize my moments as much as possible but found myself doing the exact opposite. I sighed, now I had to take a bath before going down to eat.

My stomach was twisting and turning with hunger. Just as I was about to get up, I heard a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” I asked, without turning my head.

“It's Maiu. I brought something for you to eat,” she said, her voice barely audible.

“Come in,” I said almost screaming with joy. Her timing couldn't have been more perfect. She entered the room and made her way toward me.

“Just keep it by the table. I will eat it later,” I lied.

“Sure. Would you like anything else you highness,” she asked eagerly. 

"No, this is fine and please stop calling me your highness, it makes me uneasy,” I said, not taking my eye off the colourful food that laid in front of me.

She looked uneasy for a few seconds and then nodded and with that she left. I limped slowly toward the food placed on the table. Each step made me feel like my ribs poke my insides and my legs felt like they had no flexibility in them.

I sat down as slowly as possible. I wanted to just dump all the food down my throat but I couldn't move my hands as fast as I wanted to. Even lifting a piece of food felt like I was lifting an entire building.

Ugh! So frustrating.

But I slowly managed to eat everything on the plate, down to the last strand of ox meat.

I let out a large burp, which wasn't ladylike at all. I wanted to giggle but knew that it wasn't worth the piercing pain I would feel at the side of my torso.

My father would have defiantly giving me a good lecture on how to act like a lady. Even though he would lecture me all the time I knew he didn't actually want me to change.  His memories made me smile and feel sad at the same time.

Trying not to think about anything I made my way to take a nice soak in some hot water and let my muscles relax under the steam.

Guess I should probably ask Maiu to bring me food everyday since this pain would go away anytime soon.

A/n:

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