6. Friend

Being the youngest of the royal siblings, Vinasaka was immensely spoiled and pampered by his parents and his older siblings, especially his oldest brother, his highness Crown Prince, Amir. The king would often be busy with the kingdom’s affairs and the crown prince would take that opportunity to act like a father to his sister and brothers.

Vinasaka always dressed in red, his robes in hues of scarlet and golden and would always wear a ‘kara’ in his right hand which was his first birthday gift from Guruji, precisely to help him refrain from losing control of his inhuman strength. As long as the kara was there, it would help him control his emotions and every time he loses control, the kara would tighten its grip around his wrist to bring his consciousness back.

The kingdom of hearts had no idea of the curse of the third Prince. However there were substantial rumours regarding him and his name.

“Why did the royal highness name his own son like that?”

“It is scary indeed, I have heard that he is cursed!”

“Really? No wonder the birth of the third prince is considered a bane to the royal residence.”

Since it was a name marked by the demon king himself, there was no way they could change it, so they all called him ‘Vin’. He knew about himself, the curse and everything; probably that was one of the ways to reduce damage. But he still hated how he was not allowed to leave the royal premises without his siblings or his parents. When he was that age, like many others, he also wanted to go to gurukul, but allowing that would be shouldering a tremendous amount of risk. Thus, under the orders of the royal highness, the gurukul was shifted to the royal premises.

Vinasaka had a lot of friends and as mischievous as he was, he would often sneak out of the premises disguised as a student of the gurukul and would end up getting caught by one of his brothers and letting himself dragged back to the residence. One such day when he managed to escape the watchful eyes of all the royal guards, Vinasaka and his friends stopped running when they found themselves in the woods. The plan was a success and they all started laughing as if they had attained huge victory. I mean they were all ten year olds. No wonder this was a huge feat for them.

But it looks like their celebration is short-lived. When they turned back to look at the sudden strange presence behind them, they were stunned. A huge wolf, white as snow, with looming red eyes was nearing them with slow steps. It was not difficult to understand that it was no ordinary wolf. It was a beast- a demon beast and it looked like a feast to it. It lowered its head to pick up something from the ground and when Vinasaka realised what it was, he almost tried to reach it by reflex but immediately fell back, “Noo, my pendant!!”

All the other boys started running the opposite way. Vinasaka kept holding onto their clothes, begging them to help him, not leave him alone but not a single soul was willing to risk it all.

“Please, don’t leave,” he cried as he clutched his ‘best friend’s’ sleeve, “Please, the pendant!.....It is very important. My father gave that to me....listen to me. HEY don’t go away. Hey!” Tears rolled down his cheeks as he kept hollering and screeching. The wolf came running to his direction and he covered himself, scared that it was the end for him, but there was nothing. He peeked from behind his arms and found the wolf cowering behind a tree almost quivering as if it had been blocked by something terrifying. As he shifted his gaze, there he saw him for the first time; standing there was a boy about the same age as him with a written spell in his hands and a small sword at his back looking at him with a smile and his hand extended for him to take.

Vinasaka didn’t think twice before he took the hand and as he helped him up, the boy handed him the jade pendant quietly in his hands. Vinasaka looked at the pendant and then looked back at him in surprise. The boy smiled and was about to leave when Vinasaka called from behind, “Why....,” but he stopped immediately the moment the boy paused in his steps and was about to turn around. He didn’t though, he just titled his head slightly to the side and said, “You are welcome.”

“I-I-I.. am sorry...I mean th-thank you...?Umm...”

“Mir, call me Mir,” he smiled and finally turned around with a smile. Vinasaka couldn’t stop himself from smiling too.

“I am Vinasaka. You can call me Vin,” he cheerfully put his hand forward as a gesture of friendship but suddenly as if he heard a blow of thunder, Mir took a step back and bowed, “Third prince!”

“Ahh...shhhh,”he whispered the words after that, “You see I somehow managed to sneak out. Keep it low, will you?”

Mir chuckled, “But your highness, the forest is very dangerous as you can see. I have to hurry back. It’s better if you go back as well. It’s going to be dark pretty soon.”

Vinasaka said, grumpy, “Why don’t you call me by my name? Why do you keep calling me some highness?”

“Your name...I don’t like it. It doesn’t suit you,” he said in a very matter of fact way.

Vinasaka shook the thought away and asked, “Then, can we meet again? .....Tomorrow?”

Again that smile, Vinasaka felt like he was getting used to it and he really liked it. They parted with the promise to meet again the next day and Vinasaka was way too happy with the new friend that he had made, that made him hardly feel all the scoldings that he received that day after he went back. He just wanted the sun to rise again as soon as possible.

The next morning when he met his peers at the gurukul, he was visibly indifferent to them. After classes just as he was about to carry out his plans of escaping, all the kids came to him presumably to apologize for the last day but when they saw the jade pendant still intact and him without any injuries at all, a boy ended up asking instead, “How did you manage to beat the demon yesterday?”

“Yes, yes, didn’t it take away your pendant also?” another boy added.

The expression on Vinasaka couldn’t be more decisive. He flaunted a big fake smile and added before running away, “My friend saved me.”

They all kept looking at each other thinking of which friend he might be talking about and on the other hand, the little ball destruction had long fled away to meet the said friend.

Like an expert in the field, he succeeded at sneaking out of the royal premises once again, but when he reached the woods, the steps paused in its place. The white robe fluttered in the wind as his every move clean and sharp with his sword cutting through the leaves, even the smallest and the thinnest ones into several threads neatly. It looked as if a painting in action that he couldn’t look away from. When Mir realized the second presence, he looked at Vinasaka’s direction and smiled again.

“You came.”

“Obviously, I am the one who called you in the first place.”

“Isn’t it a lot of trouble though?” Mir asked cheerfully.

“Not for me, I’m kind of an expert at this. I really like to go out but they don’t let me...” Vinasaka became sad at his last words.

“Why?”

Is it too soon to let him know everything?

He remained quiet for a little while and then said, “I don’t know...”

“Maybe...they don’t want you to get hurt, you are the third prince after all.” Mir said, trying to cheer him up.

“Maybe...who cares about that! Teach me what you were doing just now. Please?” Vinasaka’ eyes were like that of a fan talking to his hero.

“What I was doing just now?... You want to learn sword?” he peeked to look around Vinasaka and stifled out a laughter, “But you don’t have a sword! Aren’t you supposed to learn this at the royal residence?” Mir looked confused now.

“No they only give me bundles of ancient texts. I am so tired of reading them.” Vinasaka was sulking but he remembered something and suddenly brightened up, “How about a spar? I know some magic spells for sure.”

“Fighting? But why?” Mir asked.

“I thought I was stronger than everybody, so they don’t let me compete with anyone. Too scared that I might end up killing them. But yesterday I couldn’t even protect....anyway help me become stronger... like you!”

“Aaaa... but I?”

“Please Mir!”

Thus that day, they spared for the first time and the destruction was inevitable. Trees fell left and right but what was shocking was that not a single scratch on Mir was visible. He successfully dodged all of them and just as he found an opening, he launched an attack and managed to bind him in his spell of water drawn cord.

Mir heaved a sigh as if it was kind of tiring. As the winner was clearly determined, he freed Vinasaka from his magic and said, “Your highness, you are quite powerful but, ....you need to learn to be able to use it to your advantage.”

“Will you teach me?” Vinasaka messaged his wrists while standing up.

“I am no one to teach your highness,” Mir was flustered but after looking at the sulking Vinasaka again, he added slowly, “Maybe... I can help you practice?”

A wide grin instantly appeared on Vinasaka’s face and even if they didn’t word it, they both knew they were supposed to meet each other again the next day, and the next day and the next day. Vinasaka couldn’t be happier. There was finally someone who wasn’t stopping him anymore.