Story Hub: [link]
\\~~~\\
I //~~~//
Maia 22nd 758
Serena spent her day off alone,
clutching a tear-stained pillow, waiting for a punishment that never came. She
was certain Aré, Aphros, or someone else would give her hell for what she said,
but nothing happened. It was almost worse in a way, a punishment Serena could
handle, but this uncertainty did nothing for her anxiety. For all she knew, Aré
was preparing a long-term plan to make her life miserable or, even worse, the
noble would have things continue on as normal and pretend they didn’t have a
screaming match.
The following morning, Serena
prepared to return to work, braced for whatever terrible fate awaited her.
However, instead of the usual trade-off with the guards in front of Irene’s
room, the maid was met by Lady Aphros.
“Serena, I’m glad I caught you,” the
blonde hopped up to Serena excitedly. “Come with me. There’s been a change in
itinerary next week.”
‘Great, here’s the part where
they…wait, what?’ Serena was taken aback. “Lady Aphros, what about Princess
Irene?”
“Don’t worry. I called Dusa over to
watch her this morning,” Aphros assured her. “This is kind of an
all-hands-on-deck situation, and I need to brief you on the details.”
‘I’m not in trouble?’ The
raven-haired maid grew more confused. ‘No, wait, jury is still out on that.
This whole thing reeks of trouble already, but better play along,’ Serena
resigned herself. “Of course, Lady Aphros.”
\\~~~\\ //~~~//
Aphros directed Serena to an
office-like meeting room with a decently heavy door and no windows. The setup
felt suspicious until the noble flipped on the lights to reveal the art deco
décor. Aphros
glanced over the room a couple times before dimming the lights slightly,
prompting an eye roll from Serena.
“Let’s get down to business. Aré is
already debriefing the others,” Aphros revealed a thick folder that she placed
on the center table.
“Others?” The maid commented.
“Like I said, all hands on deck, and
normally we’d do this all together, but…” Aphros paused and not so subtly
glanced at Serena. “Anyway, I’m sure you’re well-versed in how we power our
fair kingdom.”
“If by well-versed you mean read
about it in a textbook a couple years ago, then yes,” Serena replied. She
recalled something about a grid and crystal and the energy being clean.
“Um,” Aphros sucked in her lip.
“Well, let’s see, we use an infinite clean energy drawn from the multiversal
power grid that flows through all of reality,” Aphros read off a brochure she
pulled out of the folder. “This energy is drawn and collected at specialized
power stations which connect to the city’s power grid. It can also be used to
energize the patented Xe Crystalstm to power individual devices and machines,
like vehicles and computers.”
“So, what does this have to do
with…anything?” Serena asked.
“Well, in a week’s time, all three
princesses will be touring our latest Multiversal Power Stationtm as
part of a standard marketing and press event,” the noble explained.
“That’s news to me,” the maid was
concerned. She’d usually be given Irene’s schedule at least a month in advance.
“Like I said, a last-minute change,
decided a couple days ago,” Aphros glanced away as if guilty. “But yesterday,
we received a cryptic threat directed at the princesses, not long after we
announced their visit to select news publications, but right before they
published their articles.”
“What kind of threat?” Serena
pressed.
“Oh, the usual, death to the
monarchy; we’ll blow up the facility if you don’t take us seriously, kind,”
Aphros answered.
‘That’s the usual?’ Serena
shuddered. “So why are you going through with the tour if someone sent such a
threat?”
“Well, we get all sorts of crazy
messages, so we can’t back down after every little threat to our lives,” the
blonde laughed. “But it did come very quickly, so it’s likely whoever sent this
is either well-informed or at least has a mole in the publications we sent the
announcement to. Which means this might be more serious than the usual nutjob
raging against the machine. And if they’re after the princesses, they could
just as easily be after our precious energy. Which is why we’re bringing on
extra help.”
“Especially since the second
princess doesn’t have a regular attendant,” a familiar voice continued, causing
Aphros to jump.
“Gyah! Ze, when did you get here?”
Aphros sprang to the side, allowing the captain of the guard to step forward.
Lady Ze was decked out head to toe in her emerald and black armor as usual and
still emitted that field of unflinching authority.
“The whole time, actually, you were
too busy focusing on your mood lighting to notice,” Ze revealed. “You’re
slipping, Aphros. Aré would be very upset.”
“I’ve…got a lot on my mind,” Aphros
excused herself. “Do you want to explain the next part?”
“Certainly,” Ze stepped up to Serena
and nodded at the maid. “Serena, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, despite someone
neglecting to inform you,” Ze glanced back at Aphros, who let out a meek
whimper, “most workers, especially those in the palace, are quite physically
capable compared to the low nobles.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed. The same seems
true of high nobles as well,” Serena replied.
“That’s another matter, but as for
workers, it’s because the families, especially the Diane and Regas, are more
guardians than servants at the end of the day,” Ze revealed. “While the Diane
do attend to the royal family and the palace’s needs, their primary purpose and
highest duty is to protect the royal family and strike back against those who
would do them harm.”
‘That explains the superhuman
strength and intense training,’ Serena thought. ‘Although, at this point, it’s
hardly a surprise. But does that mean the regular guards are mostly for show?
Wait, since the Diane are technically guards, is that why Ze is so invested in
my and Orion’s training?’
“The Regas act in a similar capacity
to the high noble families, as do most other families for their respective
fields,” Ze continued. “The Gataki preserve the sewers, the Filo defend our
farmland and food supply, and so on.”
‘That explains the farmer from back
then,’
Serena recalled.
“The only exceptions to this general
rule are the Vassos,
who are not expected to be so strong. Although, it’s more of a lack of required
training than a fault on their part. We still see plenty of strong members of
their family, just not as frequently,” the noble explained. “There’s also the
Makris, but
their strength is not a secret.”
“So, we’re extra security hidden in
plain sight?” Serena summed it all up.
“Precisely,” Ze nodded.
“And that’s also why we give you
guys the maid and butler uniforms,” Aphros chimed in. “No one ever expects a
maid to jump in and throw hands…well, some people do, but don’t worry about
them.” Ze glared at the blonde, who quickly retreated.
‘Also, it’s your fetish,’ Serena
added mentally. ‘Don’t think I haven’t noticed.’
“Regardless, your strength is not
common knowledge, even among some high noble circles,” Ze revealed, “thus even
traitors tend to underestimate you.”
‘Are all the other high nobles as
dumb as Bellero?’ The maid thought and was almost sickened by the possibility.
“So, we’re bringing on a few people
you might know onto this little tour as an expanded roster of servants,”
Aphros emphasized the last few words with air quotes.
“Oh, so some of the other Diane
members?” Serena asked. She was hoping they could get someone reliable like
Orpheo.
“Let’s see here,” Aphros pulled out
a little note. “Penelo.” Serena’s eyes bulged. “Jace.” The maid’s expression
soured. “And Medy.” Her jaw hit the floor.
“Why them?” Serena exclaimed.
“Penelo is…useful if a bit destructive, but Jace and Medy hate my and Orion’s
guts.”
“All the more reason for you guys to
learn to get along,” Aphros declared, but Ze slapped her on the back. “Ow!
Okay, everyone else was busy…Ow! Fine! No one else wanted to do it because
Irene will be there.”
“Great,” Serena rolled her eyes. “I
guess the second princess will be stuck with the worst kind of help.”
“Oh no, don’t worry about that,”
Aphros assured. “Those three are still just extra security, hiding among the
general staff we’ll send along. We have a Diane attending the second princess
for this excursion.”
“Really? Who?” Serena was confused.
‘I was under the impression the attendant had to be someone close in age, but
they were pretty clear that Orion and I were the only teenage Dianes.’
“You’ll see very soon,” Aphros
grinned dramatically as her wrist communicator beeped. “Oh,” she checked the
device, “right now, in fact. Aré finished her debrief. So, we’re all going to
meet in the training chamber on the fort to welcome the newest attendant.”
“What?” The maid’s confusion grew.
\\~~~\\
II //~~~//
Maia 22nd 758
Aphros and Ze led Serena to the
training chamber. It had been a while since Serena had been on the fort just
outside the palace, and for good reason. It dug up bad memories of her first
weeks in the service of the palace. While they called it a “training chamber,”
the building was more like a cross between a large warehouse and a gymnasium
(it even had bleachers). While the actual floor was hardwood, the mountain of
foam pads in the corner, among other structures, implied the interior had a
flexible setup for any type of training. ‘Ze must love this place,’ the maid
decided.
Orion, Jace, Medy, and Penelo were
sent in a few minutes after Serena’s group arrived, looking just as confused as
Serena. Aphros practically leaped in joy at Orion’s presence and raced over to
the group but stopped when she noticed something amiss.
“Where’s Lady Aré?” Aphros asked
Orion.
“Huh?” The blonde looked behind
himself and back at the noble. “She was just here, she led us in, when did
she…?”
“Is she still…?” Aphros began but
then looked back at Serena. “Never mind,” the noble changed the subject. “Well,
I’m sure Aré gave all of you the details before you got here, so we can cut
right to the chase. Since you’ll all be part of the staff surrounding the
princesses next week, it is best you grow more accustomed to each other and the
new attendant to the second princess.”
Orion absorbed everything she said
eagerly, Jace rolled his eyes, Medy held back laughter as she stared at both
Jace and Orion with malicious intent, and Penelo stared on blankly. Serena
suppressed the urge to gag as she waited for whatever stupid thing Aphros had
prepared for them. Maybe it would be a talking monkey smoking a cigar, an army
of flying turtles, or something equally ridiculous. Or perhaps if they were
extremely lucky, Aphros made a logical choice for the attendant, but that can’t
be right. Even Aphros admitted no one wanted this job.
“Ze, is she ready to come in?”
Aphros asked.
“I think she’s been ready for a
while,” Ze replied flatly.
“Fantastic,” Aphros did a twirl and
stuck out her open hand towards the entrance, “please welcome our special
guest, returning after a short absence.”
‘Short absence…? Return…? No, it
couldn’t be?’ Serena’s eyes widened in realization. Entering in came a maid
only a couple years older than Serena, with short and neatly brushed
silver-blue hair that fell just above her shoulders. Her deep blue eyes penetrated
the soul of any who dared to meet her gaze, while her form and posture were
beyond perfection. She walked into the room as naturally as the tide rolling in
and came to a graceful stop in front of the group, her hands together in front
of her apron. She was nothing short of a perfectly elegant maid. Which made it
all the more shocking when Serena confirmed who it was.
“While you’ve likely never met her,
I’m sure you all know her by reputation,” Aphros continued. “Young servants of
the palace, this is Caenia Diane. She shall be attending the second princess
from now on and will act as your superior during the Multiversal Power Stationtm
tour.”
‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’
Serena did a double take. ‘How in the holy mother of the lord did they pull
this off? Drugs? Hypnosis? Does she have a twin sister? And what’s with the
hair? Did she dye it, or was it already dyed before? She
looks like…Penth…I guess that answers what side of the family tree she’s on.’
Caenia did not even glance at Serena. Instead, she curtsied to the group.
“It is my pleasure to return to my
duties in service of the palace, Lady Aphros,” Caenia spoke the noble’s
name with all the warmth and comfort of a snake injecting you with its venom.
‘There it is,’ Serena felt a little
relief. ‘So not drugs or hypnosis. Maybe it’s just good old blackmail or
bribery. They must have offered her the secret to immortality or the legal
right to punch Aphros in the face 500 times.’
“Um, anyway,” Aphros was not
oblivious to Caenia’s tone, “Caenia agreed to return to the palace’s staff on
the condition she’s never assigned to Princess Irene again…among other things…”
‘Like 500 punches to your face? Can
I take that offer too?’ Serena fantasized.
“She’s the special guest you brought
us here to meet?” Jace scoffed. “Hasn’t she spent the last nine months drunk in
the old city? Why do we need the help of such a has-been?” If Jace was paying
attention to Caenia, he’d have noticed her glare towards him was strong enough
to extinguish flames.
“Oh, so you consider yourself a
comedian? You’re first,” Caenia smiled evilly.
“Wha?” Jace finally realized his
peril.
“Don’t spoil the surprise, Caenia,”
Aphros huffed. “The reason I brought you all here was so the six of you could
engage in a friendly spar and ‘learn about each other through combat,’ right
Ze?”
“Please do not simplify my
philosophies like that,” Ze sighed. “But for all intents and purposes, that’s
why you are here. Please go easy on the Regas servants, Caenia. They’re still
fragile.”
“I just wanted to see how the
generation was progressing in my absence,” Caenia replied. “I must give them my
all. Anything less would be an insult, no?” The silver-haired girl grinned
aggressively in Jace’s direction. Jace took a few stumbling steps back.
“Do we have a say in this?” Serena
asked, already knowing the answer was no.
“Ah, don’t be like that. You guys
spar all the time,” Aphros assured.
“Me and Orion spar all the time,”
Serena corrected, “those three attacked us with varying degrees of malicious
intent.” The maid wisely left out the time she jumped Jace in the garden (it
was for a good cause, honest).
“Well, I’m sure it’ll all work out
regardless,” Aphros deflected, much to Serena’s irritation.
\\~~~\\ //~~~//
The training chamber was quickly
reconfigured to suit their “friendly spar” with Caenia, primarily by laying out
plenty of soft padding along the hardwood floor and placing a few wooden
obstacles sporadically to act as cover. In addition, the five servants were
given a selection of genuine weapons. Serena and Orion used their personal
halberd and rapier, respectively. At the same time, Jace picked out a short
sword, and Medy grabbed a long staff topped with a thick golden ring. Penelo
looked at the gathered weapons with little interest.
“No, thank you,” the silver-haired
girl rejected the items. “I don’t need them.”
“Acting awfully cocky, aren’t you?”
Jace commented.
“Nope,” Penelo denied, “just don’t
need them.” Jace looked at her like she was insane, and Medy snickered.
“I like her already. She’s the new
Gataki girl, right?” Medy inquired. “While the whole family does live in those
stinky sewers, they are supposed to be fairly strong.”
“They’d have to be,” Jace went pale
at the mention of the sewers. Serena sighed at the exchange and turned to
Orion.
“Are you ready for this? I’m not
exactly eager to fight against Caenia,” the raven-haired girl admitted.
“The way I see it, Caenia is
supposed to be the best of our generation,” Orion explained his view. “It’s an
honor to spar with someone like her. I could never in my wildest dreams imagine
I’d get a chance like this before today.”
“Well, at least one of us is excited
about this,” Serena sighed again.
“Let’s do this!” Penelo pumped her
fists into the air.
“Make that two,” the maid sighed but
couldn’t help but smile.
“Are you five done chatting, or do
you want that blonde one in the back to finish his panic attack?” Caenia
shouted from across the room.
“I’m fine,” Jace grit his teeth.
“Don’t give yourself too much credit. I’ve dealt with things far scarier than
you.”
“It’s cute that you think that,”
Caenia laughed at him. “Is this really what the next generation has come to,
Lady Ze? Some of them look rough around the edges, and I think they hate each
other.”
“Training is a lifelong process, and
we’re still searching for fresh talent,” Ze explained. “Even Penelo over there
only recently joined the palace’s ranks. I found her being wasted on toilet
cleaning duty, so I brought her along as extra muscle.”
“Apologies, Lady Ze, but that
doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence,” Caenia could barely keep a
straight face. “Haha,” she broke character, “I can’t keep that act up, but
seriously, let’s get started. I’m a busy woman.”
‘Dibs on not going first,’ Serena
crossed her fingers.
“I think you should draw straws.
That way it’s-” Lady Aphros began.
“No need to drag this out,” Caenia
shook her head. “You five, come at me, all at once.”
“You want to go 5v1, forget what I
said earlier, aren’t you being awfully cocky?” Jace laughed.
“I hope you didn’t forget what I
said earlier. If you don’t come at me together, then you’re first,” Caenia
pointed out.
“Uh…5v1 is fine,” Jace squeaked, “is
that fine with the rest of you guys?” He laughed weakly.
“Gladly, getting one over on the
great Caenia will boost my reputation among the Regas tenfold,” Medy twirled
her staff in anticipation.
“I’m ready for anything,” Penelo
affirmed.
“It doesn’t seem fair, but if it’s
what you want, then I shall accept,” Orion nodded.
‘I don’t even need a sixth sense to
know this is going to end badly, but the fact I have one just adds insult to
injury,’ Serena lamented. “Let’s do this,” she agreed hesitantly.
“Good, now, Lady Aphros, Lady Ze,
clear the way, please. You’re in the splash zone,” Caenia took a fighting
stance.
“You can do this, Orion,” Aphros
retreated to the sidelines posthaste, followed by Ze, who casually walked
there.
“On my signal, you may begin the
spar,” Ze announced. “Before then, I will lay down the ground rules. While this
is a spar, you are to fight seriously. While your goal is not to kill your
opponent, serious injuries are a possibility. The spar is over when one side is
incapacitated, surrenders, or I declare it so. Understood?” The whole room
nodded. “Very well, begin!”
The five servants stood at
attention, facing down their singular foe. Serena, Orion, and Penelo,
respectively, stood in front in a triangle formation, while Medy and Jace stood
behind them. Jace cowering in Penelo’s shadow. Their side of the chamber had most of the
wooden obstacles. Meanwhile, Caenia stood about 15 meters away with almost no
cover around her.
‘If I had to guess, Caenia’s going
to single out Jace first as the weakest link, among other reasons,’ Serena
thought. ‘If that’s the case, I can capitalize on her obvious attack and
hopefully score a hit. If not, then I could at least put her on the backfoot
long enough that someone else can.’ By the time Serena finished having this
thought, her danger sense went haywire. She could sense the flow of Caenia’s
soon-to-be movements. Jace was about to take a mean hook to the chest. Serena
began to act on her prediction, but in a literal blink of an eye, her vision
had already come true.
“Wh…?” Jace didn’t even get to
finish his exclamation of confusion before crumpling to the floor. Penelo and
Medy had only noticed Caenia was missing from her starting position. Orion had
realized what had happened just as quickly as Serena, but it didn’t matter.
None of them could act in time to deal with Caenia’s follow-up.
Before Jace could hit the floor,
Caenia jumped at Medy. The brunette had only an instant to defend herself from
her assailant. Unfortunately, it took an instant for her to realize she was the
target. Medy began to swing her staff, but Caenia had already planted a punch
in the younger girl’s stomach and knocked her off her feet. That’s when Penelo
caught on to the fact their backline had already been eliminated.
“Cheater, you’re supposed to fight
me first,” Penelo swung at Caenia.
“All is fair on the battlefield,
kid,” Caenia effortlessly dodged, “it’s your own fault I got past you three so
easily.”
“Why you!” Penelo tried to tackle
Caenia, but the latter just danced past her like a matador. What Caenia didn’t
expect was for Penelo to turn on a dime and shift into a shoulder tackle aimed
at her elder’s back.
“Sh-,” Caenia nearly swore as she
did a backflip over Penelo, using the smaller girl’s shoulders like the handles
on a pommel horse. This time, Penelo couldn’t stop herself and careened into
one of the obstacles, which burst into a cloud of wood chips as the tiny girl
collided with it. “My mistake. I thought she was just an idiot like the other
two. Turns out, she’s a dangerous idiot…relatively speaking.”
“Orion,” Serena looked to her
friend.
“Got it,” he nodded, and the two
attacked Caenia in sync. Serena came from Caenia’s left but used the reach of
her halberd to attack across towards the other girl’s right.
“Very creative offense,” Caenia
dodged backward, “so is blocking your friend’s angle to attack part of your
plan or…?” As the silver-haired girl taunted, Orion made a short hop over
Serena’s halberd. He stabbed forward with his rapier, but Caenia made an angled
side step forward and to the left. The tip of the rapier passed right over her
while her arm went out to grab Orion’s waist. In a single swift motion, she
snatched the boy out of the air and used him as a club to knock Serena onto her
back. Both servants collapsed into a heap on top of each other. “Sneaky tactic,
pretending to make a poor move, but that only works if you’re close in strength
and skill with your foe and you two are not.”
“Damn it,” Serena coughed. At this
point, Medy finally hit the ground, and Penelo came to a stop a few moments
later. Even though Serena still had fight left in her, she could feel the
outcome of this battle was already decisive. Caenia was faster than them and
way more skilled to boot. And this was after she had spent nine months
neglecting her training and being a drunkard. It terrified Serena to imagine
what Caenia would be like when she got back her edge.
“Now I’m mad,” Medy forced herself
to her feet.
“I’d stay down if I were you,”
Caenia advised her junior.
“Zip it, Deep Freeze!” Medy’s staff
glowed with a pale blue light. Then it fired the light at Caenia, the blast
transforming into a cluster of jagged ice crystals and freezing air.
“You can use a basic ice spell,
congratulations,” Caenia laughed and jumped behind one of the obstacles, which
was frozen solid by the spell. “Of course, the problem with ice is that it can
be used against you if you’re not careful,” she kicked the frozen block of
wood, which skidded across the ground in Medy’s direction.
“You!” Medy dodged the return to
sender, but it clipped her leg, forcing her back to the ground.
“Next?” Caenia offered.
“Individually or together, we’ll get
our butts handed to us on a silver platter,” Serena admitted as she and Orion
untangled themselves.
“But together is better than
nothing,” Orion pointed out.
“Yeah, but the two of us won’t be
enough. Thankfully, we still have some help,” Serena stood up. “Penelo, I bet
you can’t beat her before me!” She shouted.
“You’re on!” Penelo exploded back to
her feet, a fire in her eyes.
“Oh, three on one, more clubs to hit
you with,” Caenia chuckled. Off to the side, Ze and Aphros watched the spar
with mixed feelings, mostly Aphros.
“This isn’t going how I hoped,”
Aphros noted nervously. “Caenia is mostly lording over them.”
“She has far more real experience
than all of them put together,” Ze pointed out. “I’d say that Penelo girl
probably has the most experience out of the five, but it’s clear she’s used to
fighting mindless monsters, not people. That leaves Serena and Orion, who have
had a few real fights but never against someone of Caenia’s skill.”
“What about when they spar against
you?” Aphros asked.
“I’ve never fought them seriously
before,” Ze clarified. “Perhaps I should have pushed them harder…no, I’ve
already pressed them to their current limits. Caenia is just so far ahead…”
Serena, Orion, and Penelo attacked
Caenia from all sides. The eldest worker stood on guard but was not threatened
by their advance at all. Penelo swung for Caenia’s face while Serena and Orion
attacked her left and right side, respectively.
“Too slow,” Caenia leaped above the
group, intending to have all three crash into each other.
“As if,” Serena used Penelo as a
springboard to jump after Caenia. ‘I figured she’d try something like this, and
lucky for me, I have more experience fighting in the air than I care to admit.’
Serena thrust her halberd towards Caenia, who had reached the peak of her jump.
“Fighting me by yourself? In the
air? Not smart,” Caenia scoffed and avoided the strike, demonstrating her own
airborne mastery. She prepared to clothesline Serena and bring her crashing
back to the ground.
“Who said I was by myself?” Serena
countered. ‘Please, work this time,’ she gathered her magical energy into her
free hand and released a small burst of flame to redirect her trajectory
sideways.
“Dang it, Serena, no hogging the
fighting for yourself,” Penelo thundered into the air like a missile. Now, she
was on a collision course for Caenia.
“Clever little-,” Caenia grit her
teeth, yet also smiled. Taking someone like Penelo head-on wouldn’t be wise,
even for her. So, she’ll have to use the situation to her benefit. She spun her
whole body, narrowly avoiding Penelo’s impact, and then grabbed onto the
smaller girl, riding her momentum. “Like I said, more clubs for me to use,” the
elder worker grappled Penelo, now at the apex of her own jump, and put her in a
hold. In this position, Penelo would absorb the brunt of the fall when they
returned to the ground.
“I was afraid of that,” Serena
sighed as she landed on the ground first. “Orion, ready?”
“At once,” Orion jumped into
position.
“What are you two up to now?” Caenia
noticed the movement and quickly realized their plan. It was a trap within a
trap. Serena wasn’t the bait. Penelo was. Now Caenia was returning to the
ground in a very predictable timeframe, and waiting there on both sides were
Serena and Orion in a pincer formation. “Thinking two steps ahead, I see,”
Caenia complimented. “Too bad for you, I’m four steps ahead.”
The two silver-haired girls came
crashing to the ground, Serena and Orion waiting until the last second to
strike. On impact, Serena attacked from the left side with a sweeping motion
while Orion stabbed straight at Caenia from the right. For a brief instant, a
cloud of dust kicked up by the crash obscured the encounter, and in that
moment…
“Huh?” Orion felt something was
wrong. His rapier should have made contact by now. “Did she-?” He didn’t get to
finish his thought before a kick to the chest sent him flying.
“Orion?” Serena sensed what happened
an instant too late to intervene, and by the time she could help, her danger
sense alerted her to her own peril. A slightly delayed kick from the dust cloud
collided with the shaft of her halberd and then her chest, which knocked her
off her feet and disarmed her simultaneously. “Too fast,” she muttered as the
world went hazy.
“Nice trap, but like I told you
before, relying on tactics that assume we’re close in strength won’t work,”
Caenia, standing on her arms, reminded them. “Besides, you’re not the only one
who can glimpse the future, kid,” she nimbly rolled to her feet like a gymnast.
“Why you!” Penelo flipped back to
her feet.
“You’re still conscious?” Caenia
asked.
“I’m not done with you,” Penelo
flared her nostrils.
“So, do you feel pain or not?”
Caenia inquired.
“Pain…? Pain…What’s pain?” Penelo
looked at her like she had two heads.
“That explains a lot,” Serena
commented with a groan from the floor.
“Got it, proper knockout then,”
Caenia dashed at Penelo, who took a wide swing at her foe but missed. “Night,
night,” Caenia pinched Penelo’s shoulder, and the petite girl went down like a
rock. “Okay, I take it back, I see a couple of them have potential,” Caenia
admitted with a smirk.
‘I’ll try to take that as a
compliment. Once the blinding pain passes,’ Serena tried to get up, but
Caenia’s kick felt like being hit by an armored hovercraft.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Ze called
an end to the spar.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Aphros
breathed a sigh of relief and ran to check on Orion. He was still conscious but
still struggling just as much as Serena.
“I must admit, Caenia, you haven’t
lost your edge,” Ze complimented.
“It is nothing, Lady Ze. Keeping a
sound body and mind is the least of what is expected of me,” Caenia shifted to
more polite language and curtsied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have much to do
in preparation for my duties.” Caenia left the room without fanfare. Paying no
mind to the destruction she wrought or the crumbled bodies of her fellow
workers.
“Thank the Lord, she’s gone,” Medy
picked herself up from where she fell earlier. Clearly having chosen to stay
down.
“Okay, I admit it, she’s tough,”
Jace coughed. Penelo remained unconscious, only snoring softly.
“What even was that?” Serena still
struggled to move until Ze came around to help her up.
“You noticed, Serena? I’m pleased
you were so attentive,” Ze nodded.
“She didn’t use magic at all, and
her strikes, they felt…mundane, yet so powerful,” Serena explained.
“Of course they did. She used very
little of her inner strength,” Ze confirmed. “That’s just how strong Caenia
is.”
‘And she gave up on Irene after
three days? Irene put me through some shit, but nothing that Caenia couldn’t
handle,’ Serena realized. ‘Was it really the abandonment then? Well, yeah… but
there’s some context I’m missing…I’m starting to think Irene was the straw that
broke the camel’s back. What else did they do to her?’
\\~~~\\
III //~~~//
Maia 22nd 758
Serena stumbled back into her room
and gently lowered herself onto her bed. At this point, not even all the
panacea in the palace could cure her soreness. It was bad enough to get her ass
beat by Caenia, but then Lady Ze decided the five of them were clearly lacking
in training and dragged them all along for a “quick workout.” Four hours later,
she finally escaped that mess (thankfully, Penelo was ready to go another four
hours on her own and drew Ze’s attention).
“I hate everything,” Serena
lamented. “Now all I need is Aré chewing me out for no reason, and the
experience will be complete…where is she anyway?” The maid wondered until the
pain in her chest distracted her.
“Forget it. More importantly, how
the hell did they get Caenia back?” She wondered aloud. “She was pretty
hellbent on never returning and had nothing nice to say about any of the
nobles. But now she’s all smiles and politeness…okay, that’s not entirely true.
Her façade was slipping more than Atlanta’s, and she obviously still has
contempt for Aphros.”
“Actually, how’d they get Aré to
approve bringing her back? I suppose my ban on talking to Caenia is null and
void?” Serena realized. “And this all happened the same day they got the threat
on the princess’s life? What the heck happened yesterday? There’s something
they’re not telling me. That, and I’m probably missing a lot of context…maybe
someone in the palace still likes Caenia? She acts like she was abandoned, but
I doubt everyone wanted her gone. Someone might have been pulling strings, but
who could have more sway than Aphros and Aré? Was it the Queen?” Serena fell
back on her bed. The questions circling her mind drove her up the wall, the
aches in her body doubly so. Thus, she decided to shift gears and think about
something more personal.
“Lord, what a wonderful way to
return to work, diving right into another loss,” the maid griped. “First that
giant cow, then Aré, Alcim, Penth,
the sewer monsters, freaking Bellero, and now Caenia. I just can’t stop getting
my ass kicked. At least I won the competition against Aré, but that had more to
do with the Queen’s whims than my own skill. I had to manipulate Penelo into
defeating the sewer monster for me, and Orion is the one who figured out how to
defeat Bellero. The only person I’ve reliably beaten was Jace, and that’s not
an accomplishment.” Serena sighed into her pillow.
“After all that training and
suffering, am I still that weak?” Serena considered. “What happens if a real
threat actually shows up next week to threaten Irene again? Last time, I got
lucky, but will I be able to stop them this time? When push comes to shove, can
I actually do my job?” The question hung in the air, but no answer materialized
to match it.
“Stop it. You’ve got a crazy day
next week, and you should focus on recovering for it in time,” she affirmed as
she shut her eyes. “But who knows? Maybe the threat will be a hoax, and the
tour will just be the most boring day of my life?” The maid tried to be
optimistic. “Ha! As if.”
\\~~~\\
IV //~~~//
Maia 22nd 758
Caenia strolled alone through the
streets of New Celene while the waning half-moon hung high in the sky. She
basked in the simple comfort of her plain white shirt and ripped jeans, for it
would be the last time for a long time that she’d get away with wearing them.
The glitz and lights of the city felt almost alien after spending so much time
in the underground. Still, there was a certain familiarity that refused to go
away.
‘One last night of freedom, and I
have no idea how to spend it,’ she mused. It’s not like she could drink the
night away as usual. ‘I need a new hobby. Something to call my own for once.’
She glanced at a few nearby businesses, a music store, a book store, and a
kitchen supply store. ‘Maybe I could…’ She whipped around and spotted a shadow
disappear into an alley. ‘So much for enjoying myself,’ Caenia picked up the
pace and got off the streets.
The source of the shadow peaked back
around the corner and silently cursed as the young woman disappeared from view.
He pulled back into the alley and turned towards his small group waiting with
him.
“I told you she was onto us,” he
squeaked.
“Just keep an eye on her,” the
leader of the group ordered. “If she’s in play, we can’t afford any mistakes.
We will not fail this time,” he declared. A large, stoic man stepped forward
from the back of the group, a hint of annoyance across his face.
“Then let me at her now, and let’s
get it over with,” the man demanded.
“You’ll get your chance. Just be
patient,” the leader assured. “We’ll all have our moment, and the palace will
know our power.”
“I don’t care about any of that,”
the large man replied, his voice did not raise, but his tone became more
hostile.
“Fighting her here will mean
nothing, but when the plan is executed, you’ll have your bout with no
interruptions,” the leader promised. This seemed to sate the large man, but his
expression didn’t waver. The group disappeared into the shadows, ready to enact
whatever schemes they planned.
To be Continued…
>>>~~~~<<<
Returning to your former workplace after a long absence can cause some friction with both old and new coworkers. However, it is still important to work on bridging the gap between you and your peers, for the sake of future endeavors.
Author's Note: And now we reach the reason for this chapter's title, Caenia has returned. What will this mean Serena and friends? Well, just keep reading and we'll get to that.
As for this chapter itself, it's always fun to write some scenes of Aphros being herself and I find Caenia bounces off all the other characters very well. The fight scene was also fun to create, although it deviated from my original outline.
I'm also planting seeds for the character arcs, while tending to what has already been planted (that metaphor sounds kind of funny when I say it out loud). The long and short of it is, this will be a fairly long story arc, and if you think Serena has gone through the thick of it before, you haven't seen anything yet.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
