Royal Reboot: Level up, Your Majesty!

Queen vs Password

Eydis rested her chin on one hand, the other toying the handle of a porcelain cup filled with untouched piccolo. Whatever that was. Across from her, Natalia was deep into a breathless retelling of the latest high school love scandal.

Eydis blinked slowly. She was trying to care. Truly. But one glance at the window, where a monstrous pink eye stared back, was enough to remind her she wasn’t here for teen gossip.

“And like, who doesn’t love a power couple?” Natalia rushed on, and Eydis was beginning to wonder if the girl ever breathed. “Theo and Athena are just—”

“Riveting,” Eydis interrupted. “Truly. Now, can we get back to someone who actually matters? Me.”

Natalia blinked as if emerging from a trance. “Oh! Sorry. Gossip just, like, finds me.” She grinned and wiggled a boxy pink object covered in glitter and what appeared to be a bedazzled rabbit.

Ugh… a crystal ball?

"Can you converse with anyone you desire through this… thing?” Eydis asked.

“It’s my phone. You have one too, don’t you?” Then Natalia swiped her thumb across the glass surface, tapping rapidly.

Before Eydis could answer, her blazer’s pocket buzzed. She startled, then glared at her hip like it had personally betrayed her.

This world possesses magic too, I guess.

She plucked the device out with a thumb and forefinger, eyeing it like a cursed artifact. It lit up, swirling with, of course, fifty shades of pink, then demanded a string of letters.

A password.

"ShadowShrapnelSwarm… GrotesqueMonstrositiesThatSpawnDecay… MoonlightConcertoForTheCursed…" 

Each incantation failed. The device blinked red in what she was certain was mockery. 

Clearly, this device was sentient, like her mirror. Probably evil, too.

"Uh, Eydis,” Natalia said, giving her a look somewhere between concern and secondhand embarrassment. “It’s your phone. You don’t need to like… hex it.”

Eydis sighed, as if she’d just been asked to clean her own dungeon. Honestly, the insult, as if her hexes were that simplistic. They were complex, intricate equ—never mind. Not important.

Surely, a more diplomatic strategy was required.

She closed her eyes, and summoned her best helpless maiden voice. “It appears… I’ve forgotten.”

Natalia’s eyebrows rose. “Wait, seriously? You forgot your password?”

Eydis nodded.

“But… You never forget anything. Did Tiffany hit you harder than I thought?”

Possibly. Or maybe this body’s original occupant had poor taste in passcodes. 

Eydis reached out and took Natalia’s hand. The girl squeaked. “Whoa! Personal space!”

She ignored the protest and guided Natalia’s fingers to the back of her skull. “Feel that? Concussion.”

Natalia's face shifted from fluster to anger. "That’s it. I’m reporting Tiffany.” Her voice softened. "But for now, FaceID it is. Let's set up a new password... Now! Put your face this way…"

Eydis released Natalia's hand and began fumbling with the strange device. From Natalia's crash course, this device stored messages, photographs, and possibly entire lives. If she was lucky, it could tell her everything about the girl she was pretending to be.

A shadow of concern crossed Eydis's features. What had become of the soul that once lived here? What was she truly like? Why would she tolerate such blatant disrespect from these… lesser beings? 

Eydis glanced at Natalia. “You don’t seem to know much about me.”

Natalia hesitated. “Honestly? No one really does. You’ve always been… kind of aloof.”

“And yet you call yourself my friend?”

The question was genuine. She couldn’t remember the last time she had one.

"You don't remember..." Natalia mumbled.

Eydis shrugged. Then, seeing Natalia eyeing the neglected coffee, she gestured graciously. “It’s getting cold. Help yourself.”

Natalia drained her cup. "People talk behind your back because you’re different. You never tried to fit in with the Gifted crowd. You don’t try to belong. You just are. Maybe that's why they..."

"Intensely dislike me?" Eydis asked. Schoolyard politics were beneath a queen in every sense. Still, the word "Gifted" piqued her interest.

Natalia nodded, already sucking in a breath for another long-winded explanation.

Eydis held up a hand, silencing her with a smile.

“I’m rarely concerned with the opinions of the uninspired, more with the weight of my own decisions.” Then, with a wink, “And fortunately, I’ve always been rather forgiving of myself.”

Natalia’s crimson eyes widened. “You said that back then too. When those girls were picking on me.”

Eydis paused. “Then perhaps I wasn’t completely unwise.”

Natalia grinned. “Definitely not humble, either.”

Eydis hummed in consideration. Then, the scent hit. She wrinkled her nose. “Speaking of dorms,” she said. “Would it be terribly scandalous to request a handmaiden for bath duty? I’d rather not spend the evening marinating in cleaning products.”

Natalia choked on her drink. “Okay, wow. No. No! You shower by yourself. Like a normal person. Or Goggle it. Actually… maybe don’t. The results could be cursed.”

Eydis nodded solemnly. “Then I shall locate a more cooperative guide.”

Natalia’s jaw slackened. She blinked rapidly, then recovering. “You know what? Astra. Ask Astra.”

“Astra?” Eydis repeated. “Is that my handmaiden?”

Natalia made a face like she was trying not to laugh. Rude.

Leaning in, Natalia whispered in Eydis's ear, "Don't you remember, Eydis? Your... roommate? Your crush? Ring a bell?"

Eydis froze. “My… what?”

“You don’t remember?” Natalia’s eyes widened. “You ranted about her after that party, like in verse, while drunk. Called her a celestial goddess and everything.”

Celestial.  

Goddess.

In verse.

Oh. Oh. She could feel a headache returning.

“I live to entertain,” Eydis said, trying to sound calm.

Apparently, being trapped in another world wasn’t punishment enough.

Perhaps this was karma.

Across the world, the night sky split apart.

A streak of searing white light punched through the darkness, striking the earth with a thunderous boom. Smoke and debris plumed into the air.

From the wreckage, a silver-haired man in gleaming armor rose, his blade buried deep in the ground, and as he straightened, the dust swirling around him, highlighting sharp, muscular arms.

Damien lifted his head, silver eyes burning.

“I will find you, Queen Eydis!” he declared, voice raw from cursing at the collapsing portal he’d just been hurled through. “This time, your reign of—” 

A loud clang rang through the air.

Metal tray. Food. Spilled.

Every head in the room snapped toward him.

No obsidian castle. No battlefield. No Eydis.

Just a room filled with women in orange jumpsuits. One of them arched a brow, gaze trailing over his charred armor before she slowly licked her lips.

“Didn’t know a stripper was on the dinner menu.”

…Stripper?

Wait.

What?