Story Hub: [link]
\\~~~\\ 0 //~~~//
Previously on Maid in Fantasy: A
simple scientific demonstration 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 was perfectly safe until its beam
accidentally struck a wall, altering the gravity of the palace itself. The
auditorium was thrust into 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? Find out today on Maid in Fantasy.
\\~~~\\
I //~~~//
Ares 15th 758
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 instinctively
grabbed Princess Atlanta’s hand. He tried to pull her back to the ground but
was quickly reminded 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
fidgeting Graviton Ray, striking the wall. 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 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 drew a sword from her pocket like a magician. The yellow and
gold-hilted blade then unfolded into a chain whip, and with a flick of the
wrist, the chain flew through the air, unaffected by the altered gravity. It
wrapped around a light fixture on the ceiling. Aphros tugged on her end before
swinging across the entire auditorium. “A magic sword-whip. Now I’ve seen
everything,” Serena commented.
“And she wonders why people spread
vulgar rumors about her,” Atlanta finally settled herself on the ground with
Orion’s help. “Attention everyone, please float in an orderly mass toward your
nearest exit.” The entire room complied by doing anything but.
\\~~~\\
//~~~//
After a particularly hair-raising
evacuation, Serena, Orion, and Atlanta managed to guide the guests out into the
nearby hallway. The gravity was a touch stronger, allowing people to return to
the ground more easily. It was an exhausting endeavor, but Serena and Orion
took pride in getting everyone out without too many people getting hurt.
Aphros returned shortly after, an
unconscious Herme carried in her arms and the scientist’s assistants following
after, each clutching onto her whip. The noble tried to gently set the other
woman down 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 yet,” Aphros whispered as she removed her goggles. “Regardless, I say
we resolve this crisis now if we can. Lady Ze is currently out on patrol, 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 blonde man with a smug look
on his face, grinned widely as he clutched onto a nearby pillar for dear life.
The second, a young brunette woman with a ponytail, looked on apathetically.
“Now’s our chance. While those two
make fools of themselves, we can swoop in and 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
toward the auditorium.
\\~~~\\
//~~~//
After discarding her protective
gear, 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 was her first priority.
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 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 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 while his head spun.
\\~~~\\ II //~~~//
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 certain you
should send Orion, alone nonetheless, into that room?” The princess asked.
“Does he even know how to operate 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.
“I will concede to you on that
point. 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 rectify 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, half the size of 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.
“Do you always carry a spare
communicator 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 and 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.
\\~~~\\ III //~~~//
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
skipped around the largest one at the center of the room.
“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. This is 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, jumping to such a high
ceiling would be impossible, even for someone inhumanly strong like Serena.
However, the altered gravity allowed Serena to simply glide her way toward the
princess. Alas, not even halfway into her journey, the maid was interrupted.
“The hell?” Serena dodged a candlestick 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 but without the royal family’s seal
etched into the collar. The mystery man also had medium-length blonde hair,
similar to Orion. However, it was a dirty blonde, far messier than Orion’s
bright, 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 atop a floating table. ‘He looks
familiar, though,’ the maid admitted internally.
“I am Jace Regas, legendary
gentleman. 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
yesterday 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 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?”
\\~~~\\ IV //~~~//
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
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 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 noble’s questions for the 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
returned 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 borrowed 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…straight-laced. I’ve been hanging around Jace too
long,’ the brunette realized. “Fine, forgot the challenge,” Medy clutched her
forehead, “I’ll just…Aha!” The maid chucked the nearest and heaviest thing at
hand, which was 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?
Could 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, 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 of
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.
\\~~~\\ V //~~~//
Serena and Jace began the informal
“race” to rescue Princess Irene. Serena was momentarily concerned as Jace
bolted ahead, 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. 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 goggles 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 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.
\\~~~\\ VI //~~~//
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 he’d get hit sooner or later.
“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
realized this 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
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…
>>>~~~~<<<
Workplace rivalries are often a difficult matter that create many
problems for all involved. It is best to have them mediated with a third
party or a superior to ensure they are resolved before things boil
over.
Author's Note: Another chapter I've only made minor revisions to. Often it's more of a debate which way a sentence sounds better or whether or not a character would actually say something that way.
I don't really have anything else to say right now so look forward to the next pair of chapters in a couple weeks.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
