The Last of the Handmaidens Left strike … Lunge... Left strike… Right strike… Lunge … Right strike…
"Sister, you need to get over here now! Astaal wants us right now! There has been some disturbance on top of the academy!"
She knew to never interrupt when I practiced my fighting. She ran off quickly. How could anyone know about the academy? It was hidden in a mountain after all. Not that it was a real academy. It was just where Astaal, the historian, decided to keep her secrets. Everyone wanted the secrets of the Embassy now days. The Embassy used to be a group of people with special powers that used them to keep the peace. Sadly, the only reason they wanted the secrets was because the embassy had fallen around a decade ago. It was precious information.
It was probably just a hiker anyways. That is the only reason why people came to the Snow Region was to hike but I always wonder why people want to hike through miles of blizzards and mountains. I would rather much spend my time in the Water Region, Forest Region, or even the forsaken Fire Region. I hate this endless snow. I might as well go and help. That is what we handmaidens do after all. Follow Astaal's commands. I don't remember when my sisters and I came into service for Astaal as I was very young. The reason that we even had to become handmaidens was because our parents had died in the Great War. My sisters despised me so much that they referred to me as the "Last of the Handmaidens" and I have come to accept that title over the years. I really wished my sisters didn't despise me so much. It was not my fault that events came to pass as they did.
By the time I made it to the control room all my sisters were standing by the emergency entrance. "He is coming through here!" my sisters whispered. Another thing that makes me feel excluded is that they always speak in unison. All of the sudden, the door opened and a man walked in. He was tall, strong, and looked like he would kill you without a second thought.
"Put down your weapons and you shall not be harmed." They stated. He put them down cautiously. "Now we will escort you to our mistress."
They left without saying a word to me but that was expected. They never acknowledged my existence unless they had to. I went to the Council Room and waited. They took him to the Room of Mirrors, most likely to have Astaal confront. For some reason I wanted to see him again. I could hear words every now and then. Things like "traitor" or "betrayal". When he finally came out everything clicked. I remember the stories Astaal told me about him.
"You are the exile. The one Astaal warned us about." I said, more to myself than anyone else.
He stopped. Then he turned. The way he looked at me gave me goose bumps "Are you one of the handmaidens?" I nodded. He continued, "What did Astaal say about me?"
"She said you betrayed the Embassy by going to war when it was forbidden of you. You turned on your superiors, your teachings, and yourself."
Betraying the Embassy was beyond terrible. There was only one way to betray the Embassy, solving a problem with violence. When you betrayed the Embassy, you were exiled.
"Oh she is just teasing! I'm really not that bad of a guy." A smile came across his face. A smile that made my heart skip a beat.
"Astaal says you fell into darkness in the Great War because you gave into your lust for battle. Once you tasted war, you could not stop."
"Anything else she said about me?" His smirk remained. If anyone else had given me that kind of smirk, I would've snapped their neck. I could not muster up the proper amount of anger or bitterness for some reason.
"I believe that is the extent of her feelings toward you, but without seeing Astaal and you fight, I cannot say. Battle is a pure form of expression. It is heart and discipline, reduced to movement and motion."
"I do not wish to fight Astaal." His brow furrowed as he said this.
"Ah but in battle, the words are swept away, giving way to actions; mercy, sacrifice, anger, and fear. These are pure moments of expression." He thought about this for what seemed like hours. "I would like to ask you a question," He suddenly asked.
"You may ask," I said. What else was I going to say?
"Astaal said something about all seven of the handmaidens being sisters, but you look different from the other women here." This sudden observation made me want to cry. I guess I would look a little different. We all had white hair and blue eyes, but I had whiter skin and much higher cheekbones. I also was a lot shorter than my sisters. So instead of running away, I told him the truth.
"I honor the face of my mother. It is not something spoken of in the company of others."
I do honor my mother but why must my father have had to go have an illicit affair with a warrior during the war, instead of being with the woman whom he was married to. After I was born both my parents were killed in the war. Shortly afterwards my sister's mother died. I'm sure she died of shame and I was the living proof of it.
"I apologize. Is it a sensitive subject?"
"No it is not a sensitive subject, but a subject that requires trust. There is no such trust between you and I, and such trust takes time to ripen and then flourish."
"Thank for your time. I believe I must go."
He started to leave but he suddenly fell over. Fell over dead. I couldn't believe it. One moment I was talking with him and the next moment he was dead! I felt something inside of me break, something that I had never truly felt in my life. I felt heartbreak. I don't know how I fell in love with this man within one conversation but I did. Then so much anger came on that my vision tinted into the color of velvet red. Astaal did this. I stormed into the Room of Mirrors. There they were, those wretched murderers sitting there as if they did nothing.
"Is the exile dead?" Astaal said with so much complete normality that I thought my head might just pop off.
I could not look at these murderous harpies, let alone live with them. I wasn't going to wait for an explanation. Of course, I didn't want them dead either. I would put them in shock so I could finally leave this stupid academy. Astaal never let us leave nor would she in the f
Somehow Astaal anticipated and blocked my move. She nodded with her head towards me. My "sisters" came towards me. I knew that they had wanted to kill me for a long time. They thought they were more skilled then me, but they were wrong. I took all six of them down in a matter of minutes. Then I went straight for Astaal. It was a treacherous battle but she got the best of me. "How dare you betray me? I took you in since you were born! I was the only thing standing in the way of your death that would have been brought upon by your sisters!"
My response was to spit in her direction.
She looked horrified and then something extremely odd happened. Her eyes turned completely red. The next thing I knew was pain, unbelievable, indescribable pain. All I knew is that I wanted death but it wasn't going to come. She was torturing me. This could have gone on for years, decades, or centuries but all sense of time was gone as well. Then, in some miraculous way, it stopped. She was on her hands and knees gasping for breath. I turned around and there was the exile, completely unharmed.
"I thought you were dead!" She moaned.
""Die, no—became stronger, yes."
He had an unreadable emotion on his face, but I interpreted it as anger. Then a strange blue beam came out of his hand and Astaal perished.
"How are you still alive?" I asked.
"I was trained by the Embassy to resist poison. I guess Astaal's memory was fading. The real question is are you alright? "
"I am unharmed, but now I realize something. I am not a person created out of shame. I was created out of love, a love that had no right to exist, but love all the same. I am no longer the Last of the Handmaidens. I am Brianna and I will follow you anywhere, Exile.