Chapter I|II|III|IV|V|VI|VII|VIII|IX|X|Setting
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In a possible future, in a world not unlike our own, one single kingdom rose as the dominant and only power. It was an ethereal realm with castles made of gemstone and technology so great it was indiscernible from magic. A land where humanity had advanced so far that to live in comfort and excess was the standard, and a life of hard labor and servitude was a rarity. It was known as the kingdom of Celene.
To be a worker or servant in this kingdom was a special privilege. They were the 1% who slaved their lives away so others may prosper. Alas, to be a worker was not a simple choice but a burden granted at birth. As in our time, where to be noble meant to be part of a family lineage, in this kingdom, a worker was a sort of birthright. Grand worker families spread their branches across the domain. To be born in one meant a life of hard work and labor, no matter your personal opinion.
However, their best and brightest were chosen for the highest of honors. To be personal servants for the eternal royal family that ruled this ethereal kingdom. Among those best and brightest exists one family. For generations, that family has held the grandest honor of being the only ones allowed to attend the Queen and her daughters. However, such an exclusive honor can create odd results in exceptional circumstances. Such abnormal results greatly influenced the life of the young woman Serena Diane. Suddenly thrust from her life as an average girl into one as the personal maid to the kingdom’s youngest princess. Such a life should be one of poise, elegance, and formality. Alas, Serena is not so lucky, as the Queen, princesses, and high nobles are anything but…
~--~
Previously on Maid in Fantasy: A simple scientific demonstration held within the palace and headed by the kingdom’s lead scientist, Lady Herme, showcasing the newly invented Graviton Ray went horribly wrong within a half-hour. The gravity manipulating device worked perfectly safe until its beam accidentally struck a wall, altering the gravity of the palace itself. The whole auditorium was thrust into a state similar to zero gravity, causing all the gathered nobles and servants to float into the air. All attempts to calm the crowd failed as everyone erupted into panicked screams.
How will Serena and Orion save the princesses from this mess? And who are those two jerks in the corner who’ve been sneering at them since this morning? Does anyone in this story actually know how gravity works? And what is the Queen having for dinner tonight? Most of these questions will be answered today on Maid In Fantasy.
~--~
Orion had attentively followed the entire demonstration, as it was rare that he had an opportunity to dive so deeply into the sciences. Just when it was getting to the good part, the Graviton Ray had to misfire, and now he was floating a good half-meter above the ground. Amid the screaming and panic, the young butler moved on instinct and grabbed Princess Atlanta’s hand. He tried to pull her back to the ground but quickly realized that zero gravity didn’t work that way. Instead, he settled for pulling her closer to himself to ensure her safety.
“Orion, Aphros, do something, anything!” The first princess cried. The feeling of weightlessness had clearly disturbed her. At the same time, Serena was grappling with Irene, but the young princess was delighted by the sudden shift in gravity and tried to “swim” through the air.
“Don’t worry, once Herme gets ahold of the controls,” Aphros tried to assure. A wave of anxiety flooded over Orion as his danger sense alerted him to Lady Herme’s actions. The scientist was still fumbling with her gravity device while still trying to assert that everything was under control. Alas, the woman was slowly floating away from the control panel and only managed to fumble it again. Another beam shot out of the Graviton Ray, striking the wall, and Orion felt the center of gravity shift again.
“Everything will be fi-” Lady Herme exclaimed right before the shift caused her to slam her head against the device, knocking her out. The limp body of the scientist floated up while her assistants scrambled to help her to no avail. Their bodies were pulled away to the now unknown center of gravity.
“Change of plans,” Aphros’s demeanor shifted. “Serena, Orion, take the princesses and shepherd all the guests out to somewhere with a lower ceiling. Atlanta, put on your best authority voice and get the people to follow you. I’ll go help Herme.”
“How will you-?” Serena began to ask before Lady Aphros pulled out a coiled-up chain. The yellow and gold jeweled item unfolded like a whip, gliding through the noble’s hand like silk. With a flick of the wrist, the chain flew through the air, unaffected by the altered gravity before wrapping around a light fixture on the ceiling. Aphros tugged on her end before swinging across the entire auditorium. “A magic chain-whip. Now I’ve seen everything,” the maid commented.
“And she wonders why people spread vulgar rumors about her,” Atlanta finally managed to settle herself on the ground with Orion’s help. “Attention everyone, please float in an orderly…mass towards your nearest exit.” The entire room complied by doing anything but.
~--~
After a particularly hair-raising evacuation, Serena, Orion, and Atlanta managed to guide all of the guests out into the nearby hallway. The gravity was a touch greater, allowing people to return to the ground more easily. It was an exhausting endeavor, but Serena and Orion took pride in the fact they managed to get everyone out without too many people getting hurt[d1] .
Aphros returned shortly after, an unconscious Herme carried in her arms and the scientist’s assistants following after, each clutching onto her chain. The noble tried to set the other woman down gently on the ground before realizing she would only float wherever she was placed. After a minute of trying, Aphros shrugged and left Herme to float slightly above the ground.
“Well, that was a mess,” Atlanta commented as she discarded her protective gear. “I can only imagine what mother is thinking right now.”
“Knowing her, she probably hasn’t noticed [d2] yet,” Aphros whispered as she took off her goggles. “Regardless, I say we resolve this crisis now if we can. Lady Ze is out on patrol at the moment, and General Chrona is several days travel away. Serena, Orion, can you two-?”
“Oh no,” Serena interrupted as she realized Irene had been suspiciously quiet. As she feared the princess was gone, her voice echoed from a nearby hall. “Princess, why?” Serena scrambled to follow, tumbling through the low gravity hallway.
“Um…” Aphros watched Serena race off. “As I was saying, Orion, would you be a dear and help me fix this mess?”
~--~
Watching from the shadows, two figures observed the goings-on. The first, a young man with a smug look on his face, grinned widely as he clutched onto a nearby pillar for dear life. The second, a young woman with a ponytail, looked on apathetically.
“Now’s our chance, while those two makes fools of themselves, we can swoop in a save the day,” the young man proclaimed. “I’ll go after the princess. Once I save her, the Queen is certain to reward me greatly.” He let out a hearty laugh before realizing he had let go of the pillar and scrambled back to it.
“Do whatever makes you happy,” the young woman rolled her eyes. “I’ll be actually solving this problem.” Alas, her words fell on deaf ears as the man moon jumped away, ignoring her completely as he crashed into the ceiling. “Idiot,” the woman turned away and moved back into the auditorium.
~--~
Serena chased Princess Irene through the almost zero gravity palace. The maid was forced to bounce from wall to wall, lest she float aimlessly. Even then, the gravity was never consistent. Through some halls, she felt almost weightless, and through others, it was like being on the moon. The rest of the palace staff and guards were in complete disarray, most of them either trapped in mid-air or too afraid to move. The maid typically would have helped them, but the princess’s safety took first priority at the moment.
Despite everyone else being almost completely disabled by the shift in gravity, Irene bounded through the palace with absolute ease. Almost as though she was already used to it. Barely able to keep up with the princess, Serena concluded this would be a very long day.
Unknown to the maid, the mystery man watched them both from the shadows. ‘Run, run as fast as you can, girl, but I will be the one to rescue the princess. Not you,’ the young man smirked to himself as he tried to jump after them, only to crash into a nearby wall. ‘Just you wait, you’ll rue the day you ever crossed me for…uh,’ he thought to himself while his head was spinning.
~--~
Aphros gently nudged the unconscious Herme, hoping to rouse the scientist from her stupor. Alas, the navy-haired woman could only mumble, “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.” Orion and Atlanta looked on with a mixture of concern and, in Atlanta’s case, exasperation.
“Lady Aphros, are you sure you should send Orion, alone nonetheless, into that room?” The princess asked. “Does he even know how to work that thing? Do you know how? Wouldn’t that be a job for the Lambros engineers?”
“Princess, you worry too much,” Aphros rested her hands on Atlanta’s shoulders. “Listen, we need to stay out here and coordinate the evacuation. Orion is a capable young man. I’m sure he can figure it out. Besides, the Lambros are busy at the moment…” The blonde looked to the side, Herme’s assistants were currently floating helplessly in mid-air. Most of them were rendered dizzy by their panicked flailing. Astronauts, they were not.
“Okay, you got me there. But, wouldn’t coordinating the evacuation be the palace guards’ job?” Atlanta pointed out.
“Normally, it would be, but…” Aphros looked to the other side. A squad of guards who had come to help were also floating helplessly, only able to flail about. One looked ready to vomit while the rest were already seeing stars. “Let’s just treat this as an impromptu lesson in leadership, okay?”
“Very well,” the princess sighed. “Orion, please fix this mess to the best of your ability.”
“I’ll do what I can, princess,” Orion bowed as best he could in the odd gravity. “Although, I really don’t know how to work the Graviton Ray. What if I make things worse?”
“Just smash the console. That’ll fix it,” Aphros suggested.
“No, do anything but that,” Atlanta countered. Orion looked back and forth between the two ladies, uncertain how to process the conflicting advice.
“I’ll get right on it,” Orion went with the flow.
“…Must turn off Graviton Ray…” Herme mumbled, her eyes fluttered open, but they were dull and unfocused. “Device settings…reverse switch…proper steps…”
“Save your energy Herme. We’ll get you to a healer soon,” Aphros patted the scientist’s head. “Orion, take this,” the blonde flicked a small object in the butler’s direction.
“What’s this?” Orion caught it with his palm. It was a small wireless earpiece, no bigger than a hearing aid.
“A simple communicator, it’s a bit of an older model, but it should work fine,” Aphros explained. “Just put it in your ear and tap it to transmit your voice. You know, like in movies?” The noble put her index and middle finger to her ear.
“Thank you, Lady Aphros. I’ll keep in contact,” Orion popped the device in his ear before bounding back into the auditorium.
“You just carry one of those around with you?” Atlanta asked.
“Nah, I just remembered I forgot it in my pocket,” Aphros explained as she checked her wrist. What at first looked to be an ornate watch was actually another communicator, far larger than Orion’s earpiece but with more features.
“Hey, why haven’t you given Serena and Orion communicators already?” The princess inquired. “I’m sure that would have been really useful last year when you were dealing with Adonis.”
“Well, I couldn’t. He could have been listening in on our communications for all we know,” Aphros defended herself.
“Okay, then why not after?” Atlanta pressed the subject further. Aphros had no immediate reply and refused to meet the princess’s gaze. “You forgot, didn’t you?”
“I sure hope the Graviton Ray doesn’t have any scary security features. Chrona wouldn’t do that, would she?” The blonde asked rhetorically. “Okay, she would, but I think it’ll all work out.”
“How the hell did you rise to the second-highest position in the kingdom again?” The princess asked, a suspicious scowl on her face.
“I sure hope Serena and Irene are okay,” Aphros continued to dodge the girl’s questions.
~--~
Serena finally caught up to Irene. The youngest princess had decided to stop and play on the ceiling of the palace ballroom. It was a massive circular room with two levels. Supported on all sides by giant marble pillars adorned with enormous topaz and amber gems, giving the mostly white room a yellow tinge. The many tables and chairs meant to fill the space were currently floating in the air. It was all topped off by a series of massive chandeliers, thankfully all bolted to the ceiling. Irene currently skipped around the largest center one.
“Princess, come down here this instant,” Serena pleaded, knowing full well Irene would never come down of her own accord.
“Hey Serena, you’re upside down,” Irene commented.
“You’re the one who’s upside, Princess,” Serena corrected. “Now, would you please come down?”
“But we haven’t finished our game of tag,” the princess argued.
“Game of tag? Princess, we’re in the middle of a crisis situation. There’s no time for games,” Serena exclaimed.
“You’re it, you’re it,” Irene ignored her and danced around the ceiling. Apparently completely unfazed from being inverted.
“Why do I even bother to ask?” Serena sighed and leaped towards the ceiling. Normally, a jump to such a high ceiling would be impossible, even for some of the inhumanly strong people in the palace. However, the altered gravity allowed Serena to sort of glide her way towards the princess. Alas, not even halfway into her journey, the maid was interrupted. “The hell?” Serena dodged a candlestick that was suddenly hurtled in her direction, nearly crashing into a nearby floating table.
“Whoops, my hand slipped,” a male voice stated, which belonged to a blonde butler who stepped out of the shadows on the other side of the ballroom. He was a young man, likely a year older than Serena, and wore the same uniform as Orion, although without the royal family’s seal etched on the collar. The mystery man also had medium-length blonde hair, similar to Orion. However, it was a dirty blonde and far messier than Orion’s bright and neatly kept hair. “So, we meet at last,” the mystery man said, a smug grin plastered on his face.
“Who are you?” Serena asked.
“Wait, you don’t know,” the mysterious blonde went white from shock.
“Nope,” Serena replied as she regained her footing, which was tricky on top of a floating table. ‘He looks kind of familiar, though,’ the maid admitted internally.
“I am Jace Regas, legendary gentleman[1], you should have heard of me,” the man, Jace, introduced himself.
“Well, I’ve heard of the Regas, but you...” Serena paused. “Wait, you’re the jerk who was sneering at Orion this morning and didn’t help us when we were struggling with those crates. Some gentleman you are.”
“Ack, well,” Jace seemed almost physically hurt, his expression wildly shifting between aghast and furious. “Anyway, Diane maid, I challenge you. The first to catch…err rescue the princess will prove their family more worthy of serving the royalty.”
“Are you seriously doing this right now?” Serena’s asked, her patience wearing thin.
“Is this another game?” Irene chimed in.
“Y-yes, yes!” Jace jumped on the prompt. “It’s like a game of tag, with two people it. The winner is the one who catches you first.”
“You got to be-,” Serena began.
“That sounds fun. Let’s do that,” Irene chirped.
“There, the challenge is official now, no take-backs,” Jace proclaimed. Serena couldn’t help but overlay an image of a few of her particularly dim childhood bullies over the blonde young man’s face.
“This day could not get any more ridiculous if it tried,” Serena rolled her eyes. “Shit, did I say that out loud?”
~--~
Orion burst into the auditorium. The whole room was an even worse mess than he remembered. Items discarded and dropped in the evacuation cluttered the air, watches, phones, pieces of the protective gear, goggles, and even the occasional shoe. Most of it was clustered around the stage. A mass of random objects floated around a point just above the stage, like an asteroid belt of garbage.
“You know, Orion,” Lady Aphros’s voice came in over the earpiece, “if you want to wait for Serena or even Lady Ze, you can. I might have been a little too eager to toss you into the deep end.”
“It will be fine, Lady Aphros,” Orion assured. “I can…” The butler gulped as he glanced at the mockery of physics before him, “I can handle this. Hmm?” The blonde youth looked up to see an unconscious maid floating amid the clutter. “Someone got left behind,” Orion exclaimed.
“Really?” Aphros replied. “Who is it?”
“A maid, I can’t see her face, but I’m moving to help her now,” Orion replied before taking his hand off the earpiece.
“Alright, just be careful,” Aphros warned. “Oh, and by the way, what does the room look like? Is it really bad? Orion?” The butler ignored the blonde’s questions for a moment as he leaped into the air. Unlike the hall, the auditorium didn’t simply have low or even zero gravity. The butler was almost weightless, but he could feel the pull of that mass of objects. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be trapped in the air too.
“Are you alright?” Orion asked as he grabbed hold of the unmoving maid. However, his danger sense suddenly triggered, not the one that told him the princess was in danger, but his regular survival instinct. Almost as though he had picked up a bear cub in front of its mother, or Lady Aprhos telling him she had a new training regimen.
In a single swift motion, the seemingly unconscious maid sprang to life a swung at Orion with a chop. Thankfully, the blonde youth was already pushing away from her, and she only succeeded in knocking out his earpiece. The communicator floated away with a nasty crack in it.
Orion and the mysterious maid both made their way back to the ground and landed softly. The maid was a brunette with green eyes who wore her hair in a ponytail. She smiled maliciously as she faced off against Orion.
“So, we meet at last,” The maid curtsied, “I am-.”
“Medy Regas?” Orion exclaimed.
“Y-yes, how did you know?” Medy was stunned.
“We had several training classes together when we were younger,” Orion explained. “You borrow my eraser almost every other day. You used to sneak into Lady Aphros’s office to steal her…”
“That’s enough, I get it,” Medy held up her hand. “In any case, Orion, I challenge you. The first to shut off that gravity device and save the day will prove their family more worthy of serving the royalty.”
“Why make a challenge out of such a dire situation? This is no time for such things,” Orion pointed out.
“Dah,” Medy was taken aback again. ‘I didn’t expect him to be so…strait-laced. I’ve been hanging around Jace too long,’ the brunette realized. “Fine, forgot the challenge,” Medy clutched her forward, “I’ll just…Aha!” The maid chucked the nearest and heaviest thing at hand, which turned out to be a particularly large shoe.
“Why?” Orion ducked as Medy turned on her heel and bolted towards the stage. “Wait, what’s this all about?”
“Orion, hello? Respond, won’t you? At least scream if you’re in danger?” Aphros’s voice continued to come through the earpiece. Alas, neither Orion nor Medy could hear it as the device floated away amidst all the junk. “I just wanted to warn you that there’s a small chance Chrona has some weird security set up in the ray. In case it was left alone for too long. You know, like a screen lock for a computer, but it electrocutes you if you put in the wrong password. That was just an example. It’s probably a lot worse.”
Medy dived towards the Graviton Ray, completely oblivious to Aphros’s warning. However, as she crossed over the threshold of the stage, the maid noticed something. The device itself remained fixed on the ground, uninfluenced by the altered gravity. It didn’t appear to be bolted into the floor or anything, so Medy wondered if it was really that heavy. Then as she felt a light tug from the ball of random trash, she suddenly felt an even stronger pull downward.
“What the-?” Medy felt the strong pull of normal gravity and crashed onto the stage in front of the ray.
“Are you okay?” Orion quickened his pace. He attempted to heed her example and carefully enter the threshold to normal gravity. Alas, the shift was so sudden and great even the butler was slammed into the ground. The youth bounced back in an instant and ran to Medy’s side. “Did you hurt-?” Orion tried to aid her before reflexively covering his crotch. The maid spun around and tried to kick the blonde youth right in his privates, but her blow was deflected.
‘That’s twice now. How’d he see that coming? What the hell did Aphros do to him?’ Medy thought to herself.
‘What is with people trying to hit me there? Don’t they know that it hurts?’ Orion wondered.
~--~
Serena and Jace began the informal “race” to rescue Princess Irene. Serena was concerned for a moment as Jace bolted ahead of her, leveraging his longer legs to make larger bounds in the altered gravity. She was instantly relieved to see Irene practically pirouette out of Jace’s grasp as he closed in.
“Hold still,” Jace roared as his head bumped the ceiling.
“You can’t catch me,” Irene stuck her tongue out at the worker. The princess was still inverted yet stood on the ceiling like it was the most natural thing.
“I got you now,” Jace clambered after the little girl. He grabbed at the bulky protective gear the princess was still wearing, but she just slipped out of it like a sweater. Chucking her goggles at him for good measure.
“You stink at this game,” Irene commented.
“You little…” Jace bit his tongue as he knocked the princess’s thrown goggle away. “I’ll-” he was interrupted by Serena bouncing off his head. With his attention focused solely on the princess, he never noticed the maid positioning herself below him.
‘Idiot hasn’t adjusted for gravity at all,’ Serena noted. ‘He’s acting like everything is the same, but we can jump higher. Truth is, as the princess showed, what counts as the floor is more of a state of mind. Got to think three-dimensionally.’ The maid had also inverted herself and dashed across the ceiling.
“Can’t catch me,” Irene bounced away. Serena got in close, but Irene ducked and weaved through all of the maid’s grabs. Even with Serena’s realization, Irene was still far more agile in the altered gravity.
“Princess, please,” Serena pleaded as she turned on her heel and jumped for the princess.
“One, two,” Irene counted.
‘What is she…?’ Serena wondered.
“Now I’ve got you!” Jace shouted as he also humped for Irene. The princess was right in between the two.
‘Oh sh-!’ Serena swore internally.
“Three,” Irene twirled away as the two servants crashed headfirst into each other.
“Oh, my aching head,” Serena rubbed her forehead.
“Sorry ma, didn’t know that was yours…” Jace muttered incoherently before shaking himself back to his senses. “Curse you!” He took a fighting stance, ready to duke it out with Serena.
“Could you not?” Serena scolded. “Why don’t you focus on catching the princess before something worse happens!” Immediately after she finished speaking, as if to taunt her, something worse happened.
~--~
Medy and Orion continued their fight on the auditorium stage, or rather Medy continued to attack while Orion dodged and pleaded for her to stop this nonsense. The butler proved to be more than nimble enough to avoid the maid’s assault, albeit barely. However, Orion quickly realized that sooner or later, he’d get hit.
“Can we please focus on solving this crisis first?” Orion proposed as he continued to dodge.
“Sure, after your face is in the dirt,” Medy replied. “Don’t worry, I’ll spin a yarn that you got hurt trying to help me.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Orion exclaimed as he jumped back, closer to the Graviton Ray. As the youth approached, he felt a sudden pull on his backside. Orion soon discovered the immediate area around the device had much stronger gravity. Sadly, he only made this realization because he couldn’t force his legs to move in time to dodge Medy’s next blow. Forced to block, Orion put up his arms to deflect a punch to the head. Alas, Medy feinted and swung low, striking the blonde in the stomach and sending him flying back.
“Sweet dreams,” Medy moved to deliver another strike, but Orion flung back far faster and further than she intended. As though the Graviton Ray was pulling him in.
‘Ow, she hits way harder than Serena,’ Orion noted as he fell back. ‘Not as bad as Aphros or Ze, though.’ Before he could ponder this further, his back slammed right into the Graviton Ray’s control panel. The butler heard the click of several random buttons before he slumped to the floor like a lead weight. ‘I’m going to feel that in the morning,’ Orion thought before he felt all the weight on him suddenly vanish. All the weight. “Now what?”
“Uh, oh,” Medy muttered as her feet lost touch with the ground.
To Be Continued…
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Writing fight scenes is hard, especially when you involved 3-D space. It's a good mental exercise though.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
