‘Where am I?’ the man tried to voice out his question, but he couldn’t move his mouth

“Are you sure about this,” a voice could be heard,

‘Hello, who’s speaking? My throat is in pain, help, there is something in my throat, help’ it was dark where he was, he could feel something lodged down his throat, he tried opening his eyes, and found him submerged in water, ‘help, I’m drowning,’

He tried struggling but something was strapping him down,

“This is my Families work, I will not bury it, and I certainly not let those bastards have it,”

“This is crazy, these people are not your family,”

The man in the water struggled for a bit, but soon realised he wasn’t losing air, once his nerves settled, he took a good look at his surroundings, he noticed there was a pipe leading from above to his mouth,

where his mouth should be, was some sort of cream coloured mask of sorts over the nose, he looked further ahead and noticed there were overs,

He could see two men in white coats, one with dark hair and light skin colour, the other a blond with light skin colour and half a head shorter than the other, they were stationed around a table, ad on that table, was a dark-haired fair woman probably in her twenties, with a protruding belly,

However, the people didn’t seem to be wet, in fact, there was some sort of see-through barrier stopping the water.

He seemed to recognise all three, the woman on the table had a similar-looking tube connected to her mouth.

“This girl is not your wife; your wife has passed.” The shorter man said. “The child in her is not Nikola,”

“Enough, I know that” *cough* the man spat out blood, “We cannot last long in this world, please, just help me this last time,”

“The procedures are dangerous, we hadn’t even left the testing stages to the adept program,” the short one said.

“My son said it was ready, I believe my son,” the taller one replied, heavy emotion in his voice.

The shorter one looked at the man in the water, “He’s awake, we need to up his morphine dosage,”

“No, let me say my goodbyes first, he probably won’t wake up again in this body,” the taller one walked over to the man in the water, and placed his hand on the barrier “Son, I love you, I hope for you to have a safe and fulfilling life, better than this one, you will see my face again in the future, but I will not see yours…” the man went silent, the ‘son’ in the water could see a tear roll down the left side of his ‘dads’ face,

The ‘son’ didn’t know where he was or who he was, but right now, that didn’t matter, all he could focus on was the strong emotions welling up in his chest as he looked into the eyes of them man proclaiming to be his father,

The shorter man behind pressed some sort of device on the left, and the ‘son’ started to lose the pain he felt in his throat from the pipe.

“This procedure may have worked on grown adults, but this kid will be born with this condition, it may cause a lot of issues with his development both physically and mentally,” the shorter one said,

“I know, but I believe my son, he and my wife have worked on this for years, I can only have faith in them.”

The ‘sons’ vision started to go dark, causing his anxiety to skyrocket,

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Suddenly he sat up taking an audibly loud breath, it was dark, with the moonlight seeping through the wooden shutters, he was sitting upright in his bed drenched in sweat, he sat there rubbing his head, trying to remember what he had dreamt about,

The maid, sleeping on the floor next to him was stirred from her sleep, “Young master Nikola, are you having those nightmares again,”

“Yes Emma, pass me the water… please,” he spoke,

The maid got up, “My lord, it is beneath you to be so polite with a lowly maid, others may gossip about it,” she moved over to an old bed table, where a rustic metal pitcher and cup were placed.

Nikola could hear the sound of pouring water behind him as he just stared towards the end of the bed, “It doesn’t matter,”

His room was a small box room, with old, rustic furniture, the bed creaked every time he moved on it, and last month he had to get a slat replaced. Glass windows? Mentioned only in fantasy tales. He was living in luxury according to the village folk,

“Here is your water, Master Nikola,” she handed him the cup with two hands,

“Thanks,” he took the cup, and gulped it down,

“Again, young master Nikola, I am just a maid, you shouldn’t be wasting your words, using manners with me,” the maid reprimanded again,

Nikola felt a chill coming from the poorly insulated shutters, “it will be winter in a few months, make sure you sort yourself some warm blankets,”

“Yes, young master Nikola, your father and the lady of the house should be arriving in 2 weeks with your siblings, they will be here to witness your baptism,”

The maid was a little afraid of Nikola, although he was overly polite to her considering his status, his eyes reminded her of that of a wolf that had once broken into their house and attacked her father,

This wasn’t solely her, a lot of people around Nikola felt the same, and yet he was probably the most mannered person in the village.

“More like my sister’s baptism,” he let out a sigh, “So, I will be turning 10.”

“I am sure your father wants to be there for your baptism too, otherwise they would have done it in the capital,”

‘They are coming to inspect the harvest, and won’t be able to leave until spring,’ Nikola didn’t voice out his criticism to her, she was only trying to cheer him up.

Nikola was a bastard son of a count and a knight’s daughter, the knight was a retainer of the Count’s father, and a guardian of the Count when he was younger,

The Count and the knight’s daughter had a thing for each other, but due to the difference in status, the Count’s father, Viscount of Rotherham didn’t want to see Nikola, and so, Nikola stayed in the barony of Brinsworth, his Father’s fiefdom.

___

The next morning, Fred began his usual routine of running 3 laps around the manor, once he was back in his room he would do sit-ups, push-ups, planking, and squats. Although, he didn’t know the names of these exercises, he also didn’t know why he did this, it was just something he felt was a good idea.

He started doing them in the training grounds when he turned 5 but kept getting weird looks from the garrison recruits, so now, he only did them in his room. He had a post with rope wound around it in his room, which he would punch and kick in a kickboxing style, this had worried his mother, as when he first started doing it his hands would bleed.

He had a few issues with his mother over the training, however, his father, a man of the military, for the first and only time, in Nikola’s life, approved of it, causing his mother to get upset. His father didn’t understand Fred’s methods but agreed with its principle.

Only Emma would stay in his room when he did this, she was used to this or perhaps too scared to question it. On his way down to breakfast, Emma in tow, when he noticed his father’s portrait on the wall, he stopped to take a look, “You will see my face in the future, but I won’t see yours,” the man in the portrait looked identical to the man in his dreams.

“Sorry, Young Master, I did not understand what you said,” the maid behind him commented.

He didn’t turn to look at her and remained fixated on the picture, “Don’t worry about it, I was talking to myself.”

He carried on walking to the dining room, “Morning mother,” he greeted,

His mother was the same girl he saw in his dream that was on the table, only older and without a protruding belly, dark faded hair, fair skin, and rich blue eyes. For some reason, Fred just felt her eye and hair colour combination was off, she was currently talking to one of the butlers. His 8-year-old sister, of the same mother, was already sitting down eating breakfast.

“Oh, good morning, Nikola,” His mother, Catherine greeted.

“Good morning, young master Nikola,” the servant bowed, Nikola could tell the greeting was out of decorum over choice.

“Morning Mother, What seems to be the matter?” Nikola asked his mother,

“Oh, the farmers are complaining about the recent beasts again,” she sighed in frustration.

“About the missing chickens again?” Nikola asked, trying not to make eye contact,

“Yes, another chicken went missing a few nights ago, but just like last time, no animal prints were found,” Catherine sighed.

Nikola shrugged and sat next to his sister, Isabella, to eat breakfast.