Royal Reboot: Level up, Your Majesty!

Queen vs. The Handmaiden

Panic swept through the students. Their heads jerked upward in unison, mouths hanging open, but no one dared speak above a whisper; because surely, loud noises were what summoned the apocalypse.

Some of the girls sobbed. Silently, of course. The rest stood frozen, bracing for doom.

Except… doom appeared to be running late.

Above them, an enormous bloodshot eye pulsed against the blue. It did not blink. It did not move. It simply existed.

Then, the whispers began.

“Did the sky just… blink?!” 

No eyelid. Try again.

“Is this an alien invasion?” 

A fair assumption, if one considered Eydis an ‘alien.’

“Oh god, it’s the end.” 

What a fascinatingly oxymoronic statement.

“Quick, check Tweeter!” 

Yes, by all means, consult the…birds?

How utterly pedestrian.

Then, as if to grant their terror some validation…

The eye shed a single, tragic tear.

Eydis rolled her eyes.

She had barely begun to think when something small and fast slammed into her back. Warm. Clinging. Squealing. The impact was unimpressive but still managed to knock the air from her lungs.

She turned, only to come face-to-face with a grinning redhead, twin braids bouncing.

"Eydis! You weren’t in class! Did you finally snap and run away mid-pop quiz?”

Suppressing a sigh, Eydis straightened. Ow. “And who might you be? Some overly familiar koala?”

The girl gasped. “Oh, hilarious. Still sulking about coming dead last in PE, huh?”

Eydis scoffed. “I do not come last. In anything. And certainly not in… Pee-E, whatever that is.”

A blink. Then another. “Okaay, you talk weird. Should I be worried?”

Eydis turned away, already walking off. “You should be worried about the celestial eyeball currently looming over your world rather than fussing over some bespectacled social outcast.”

“Worry?” The girl said breezily, following behind. “Why?”

That stopped Eydis.

She took in the rest of the students, who were still standing frozen, still gaping at the sky as if reality itself had glitched. Yet here was this one…

“You’re not concerned?” Eydis asked.

“I’m sure the government’s got a whole team of… well, government-y people on it.” The redhead waved a hand vaguely before her gaze flicked to Eydis’s face. “Now, hold still, something slimy is smeared across your cheek.”

Eydis swiped a finger over her skin. Black. Her mood soured. “Ah. Tiffany’s handiwork.”

“What’s her problem?” the redhead muttered, frowning.

“Jealousy? Insecurity? A tragic combination of both, likely made worse by the lifelong misfortune of being named Tiffany.”

The girl chuckled, then snorted. “Washroom. Now.”

Washroom? Right. Because, in the midst of what appeared to be an alien invasion, this girl’s primary concern was Eydis’s lack of personal decorum.

Eydis wasn’t that interested. Just… mildly curious. And, fine, intrigued. She tilted her chin. “After you, handmaiden.”

The redhead froze. “H-handmaiden?!”

“You’ve yet to offer another title,” Eydis said, amused. "Though 'handmaiden' does have a certain charm, wouldn't you agree?"

"Natalia," the crimson-eyed girl huffed. "And did you hit your head or something? You're acting weird-er."

Eydis halted, and the shorter girl crashed into her with a yelp. She grabbed the back of her head, fingers brushing a fresh, throbbing bump, thanks to her bully.

Tiffany...oh, Tiffany would dearly regret crossing a Queen, even a Queen in exile.

“A dance with death sharpens the mind,” she said.

Natalia squinted. “That’s a villainess line if I’ve ever heard one.”

The Queen’s lips twitched. “Flattering.”

Eydis followed silently through what the sign called the main hall, one of the campus’s many polished white buildings. She looked around, unimpressed, as she observed no towering obsidian pillars, nor any dark velvet banners, and certainly no sense of reverence.

Just… institutional oatmeal.

Beige walls, floors, and lockers, the latter of which were constantly being slammed by one of those green-clad gremlins. The corridor smelled of sweat, layered beneath a chemical scent meant to cover it up, which, of course, failed.

She wrinkled her nose. A fireball would’ve fixed it. Efficiently. Unfortunately, that option was no longer available.

Then, as if the eyesore and stench weren’t sufficient, the voices began to assail her ears.

“Oh-em-gee,” someone screeched. “Are we actually doomed?”

“What’s up, losers?” another shouted. A greeting as tired as the brain cells powering it. “Why the long face?”

“Don’t worry, y’all, I’m sure the Co—”

Her view was abruptly obstructed as a tall redhead confidently strode past. He wore an expression that could have meant deep philosophical thought… or mild constipation. When he caught her eye, he winked.

A bold choice, given the face he was working with.

In return, Eydis offered him a glacial smile that suggested she’d already imagined ten different ways to ruin him. 

His eyebrows rose, before he wisely retreated.

"Don't mind Joseph," Natalia teased. "He hits on anything that breathes.”

Eydis wasn’t paying attention. Natalia was still talking but her focus had already shifted to a bulletin board near the hallway junction.

“ST. KEVIN’S GIFTED PERFORMANCE 2050!”

Bold. Pink. In glitter. 

She stared at it for a moment. “A scheduled massacre,” she said. “Charming.”

Natalia glanced at her. “Massacre? Eydis, it’s just a competition.”

Eydis said nothing. Her mind lingered on St. Kevin’s. A name that suggested self-righteousness, or, in her case, a personal kind of hell.

2050. So… time travel. She exhaled.

They finally reached the restroom, its plain door as uninspiring as everything else they’d seen so far, but what lay beyond managed, against all odds, to fall even further below her expectations.

Unacceptable.

The reflection staring back at her from the mirror was undeniably her, yet not quite. Same jawline. Same high cheekbones, but younger. The eyes were now a shade of amber instead of her characteristic gold. A poorly cut side-bang hung awkwardly across her forehead, and her skin…

Her skin… had blemishes. Multiple. 

She stared, then recoiled. “Absolutely not.”

Rubbing at her face, she half expected the illusion to smear away. It didn’t.

Still, the resemblance was uncanny. Too uncanny.

Her fingers twitched, flexed, testing the sensation of skin that wasn’t quite hers. None of the books in her vast library had prepared her for this. No legend, no curse, no fragmented history of magic gone wrong could explain what she was seeing.

“Natalia, enlighten me. Who, precisely, am I?”

Natalia gawked at her. “Are you serious? You never talk about yourself.”

“Am I not entitled to an identity crisis?”

Natalia shrugged. “You’re usually too busy pretending to listen while I rant about boys.”

“Delightful,” Eydis muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. She shot the mirror one last unimpressed glance before turning away. “Anyway. Let’s leave and go solve the mystery of my entire existence.”

She paused, then added, almost as an afterthought, “Preferably over tea.”

Natalia let out a breathy laugh. “So, skip class, drink tea, and spiral into an existential crisis?”

“If you put it that way.”

Natalia’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Okay. That’s it. Who are you?”

Eydis smiled. “Oh, darling. If I knew that, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Natalia stared at her for a long moment before breaking into a grin. “Fine! Skipping it is. On one condition.”

“Go ahead.”

“Coffee.” Natalia pointed at her. “Tea is… well, tea. Ugh.”

Eydis considered this strange beverage for a moment, then nodded curtly. However, she made no move to follow Natalia.

"What are you doing, Eydis? Your face isn't gonna wash itself, you know?"

"Precisely," Eydis leaned in. "Wash my face for me, would you be so kind, handmaiden?"

Natalia leaned back an inch. "C-can't you do it yourself?"

Eydis blinked innocently. "I've never had to before."

Natalia huffed. “You are absolutely messing with me.”

“Am I?”

“Fine. Just this once.” Natalia let out a long suffering sigh. “But if you call me ‘handmaiden’ again, I swear—”

Eydis’s lips curled into a subtle smile as she removed her glasses, sweeping her bangs aside, her amber eyes locking onto Natalia’s.

Natalia flushed.

"Why are you breathing so heavily, friend?" Eydis asked, oblivious, her hand reaching out to feel Natalia's forehead. “Are you coming down with something?"

Natalia leapt backward so quickly she nearly tripped over her own feet. “L-let’s just get this over with.”

“Indeed. But unless you’ve recently developed telekinesis, you’ll need to be closer.”

Natalia huffed again but stepped forward nonetheless, yanking a tissue from the box mounted on the wall before dabbing awkwardly at Eydis’s cheek. 

“These blemishes…” Eydis murmured thoughtfully. “They’ll need to be handled. Strategically.”

“I see why Tiffany hates you.”

Eydis blinked. “And here I thought we were bonding.”

Natalia grumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, “bonding my a—” before she had the decency to censor herself mid-sentence.

How considerate.

Maybe this world had its moments.