Royal Reboot: Level up, Your Majesty!

Queen vs. Cafeteria

1

After weeks spent dodging homicidal textbooks and reclaiming shards of her magic, Eydis’s reflexes had improved from terrible to slightly less terrible. So when two koalas came rocketing across the cafeteria, she shifted left, leaving their true target to suffer the impact.

Natalia.

She was now playing an unwilling eucalyptus branch, while Colette and Birgit clung to her as if they had found their new forever home.

"Nat! Where have you been?” Birgit asked, tightening her grip.

Eydis could hear the sound of something cracking.

She puffed up like a startled pufferfish, finally prying them off and wheezing for air. Only then did the twins notice the pin glinting on her collar.

D-Class Gifted. Everyone knew the symbol.

"Is there something you forgot to tell us?” Colete asked.

Natalia’s gaze flicked to Eydis, then away. In a single, breathless sentence she unloaded the last two weeks: duel, secret Gifted status, forced family bonding exercise. 

Impressive. Really. Eydis was 100% sure Natalia could survive without breathing. She narrowed her eyes at the thought.

Predictably, the twins erupted. Scolding, mock betrayal, loud koala theatrics. It lasted maybe three minutes before worry elbowed its way in and claimed the spotlight.

Natalia’s well-being. That was what mattered.

Eydis’s mouth twitched. Definitely not because she found it adorable. Perish the thought.

“You’re… smiling.” Natalia did not just say that.

Eydis blinked. “Am I?”

“A real one. Not your usual… Eydis-ness,” Natalia clarified, blushing. “So, uh, I’ll be busy training. Gifted stuff.”

Was Natalia overheating? In autumn?

“Eydis-ness?” Eydis repeated, amused. She touched the back of her hand to Natalia’s forehead. Cool skin met fire. “Sure you’re ready to be back?”

Natalia swatted her hand away, blushing harder. “I just… I don’t want to be helpless again.”

Natalia swatted her away, cheeks now tomato red. “I refuse to be helpless again.” Then she burrowed between Colette and Birgit. “There are people I want to protect.”

Eydis nodded, but her attention drifted to the cafeteria at large.

Something felt off.

Forks scraped against plates. Food disappeared at an alarming rate. Students ate like they’d been starved for a fortnight.

Was the school spiking water with espresso?

To her left, Birgit provided a concerto of juice-box slurps. Six empties lay defeated; the seventh stood like a flag of victory, then flopped, of course. Because it, too, was emptied.

Eydis had a remark locked and loaded, but then something far juicier caught her attention: gossip.

“Ugh, Tiffany threw a fit and quit. Again,” a girl groaned around a burger.

“After all that begging and blackmail?” her friend muttered, demolishing a drumstick.

“Maybe the Ice Princess glare melted her brain,” a boy added, smacking his pizza down.

“Or that creepy magic she poked turned on her,” someone mumbled through rice.

Eydis smirked. A few weeks ago, these same people had been worshiping Tiffany. Now, they couldn’t distance themselves fast enough.

No wonder why Envy loved this place.

The Academy had done its best to bury the Tiffany debacle. In the grave it dug, conspiracy theories sprouted like mushrooms.

On the other hand, Envy’s search for anomalies within the academy walls had turned up nothing. No lurking Sins.

It was too quiet.

Then, as if the universe had taken offense at her observation, the cafeteria’s steady clatter screeched to a halt. Silence.

Followed by gasps. 

Followed by squeals.

Or not. Eydis sighed. She glanced up, half-expecting a cleansing fireball. Instead, most students had gathered around… Astra.

Astra had always attracted admiration, but her viral takedown of Tiffany ignited full-blown fanaticism. Real-life Wonder Woman vibes. Eydis hated how apt that was. Not that she’d ever admit to enjoying the movie. Especially not to Natalia.

Being Astra must feel like living inside a jar of fireflies, all that buzz and light circling endlessly.

Irresistible flashed across Eydis’s mind. She swatted the thought away.

Sure, Astra’s effortless deflection of Envy’s power had been impressive. Impressive enough that Eydis had spent a week dodging her own roommate. The last thing she needed was Astra noticing the faint stain of Envy still clinging to her aura.

The leak was sealed with a binding sigil reinforced by a sealing spell. Crisis averted.

Except for her current side effect: raccoon eyes. She pondered cucumber slices versus an ice pack as the fan club’s volume hit seismic levels.

Eydis groaned. But before she could act on her escape plan, which may or may not have involved a strategically placed banana peel (or two, for insurance), the cafeteria parted. In front of her.

A shadow eclipsed her lunch.

Astra stood there, gaze locked on Eydis.

Uh oh. 

This wasn’t good.

Could Astra sense Envy? Unlikely. Then what did she want? And, more importantly…

What did she know?

The streets of Alchymia’s central district were lively, bustling with the lunchtime rush, office workers weaving between one another in hurried conversation, sandwiches and coffee in hand. Professor Indigo Crane moved forward without pause, entering a towering skyscraper and passing a flustered secretary on his way to the penthouse suite.

Inside, golden sunlight cut through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Dmitri Romanov sat at his desk, staring out at The Eye on the horizon.

Adrian, relaxed on the couch, glanced up and gave Indigo a slight nod.

“How’s it going Professor?”

Indigo wasted no time. He crossed the room, dropped a laptop onto Dmitri’s desk with a thud, and cut straight to the point.

“Chief Advisor, I understand the urgency, but authorising a drone strike on The Eye without consulting me? I am still Head of Research, or has that changed without notice?”

The room tensed. Dmitri leaned back, steepling his fingers.

“A far more effective approach than your hesitance, Professor Crane.”

“That so?” Indigo pressed Enter.

The footage played, the screen illuminating with thick violet smoke billowing from The Eye, swirling and twisting.

Indigo said nothing, simply watching Dmitri. Waiting for the moment his confidence cracked.

“So, Chief… do you still believe this was a step forward? Because it looks more like you just made things worse.”

Dmitri’s jaw tightened. His fingers curled into a fist.

Adrian calmly slid a folder onto the table. Inside were photos and reports. Among them, images of Tiffany Blackwood, her hands wreathed in the same violet energy.

After walking Dmitri through the evidence, Adrian added, "We couldn’t connect the dots before,” Adrian said. “But the first choppers that flew too close to The Eye? They didn’t just crash. They were erased.”

“You’re saying every time The Eye was attacked…” Dmitri’s confidence wavered. “…it leaks these things?”

“We wanted to believe otherwise,” Indigo admitted. He pressed play again. The footage zoomed in on the violet smoke, curling slowly, almost as if it was aware it was being watched.

"This isn’t just smoke. It’s alive. And it’s escalating. Tiffany and her peers might be the first victims…” Indigo’s voice lowered, “but they won’t be the last.”

Dmitri leaned back, inhaling sharply. A second later, he reached for the folder, flipping to the approval form. With a firm stroke, signed off on the request.

“Interrogate Tiffany Blackwood. Find out everything.”

His gaze shifted to Adrian. “You are authorised to use your power on Senator Noah Blackwood and his family if needed. No exceptions.”

Adrian straightened, golden eyes gleaming.

“Understood, sir.”