Reborn As A Maid

Genesis has come back.

And the world started remembering its creator.

Zuko stood in the center of the ritual room, holding the golden sword he had taken from his chest. It lit up his pale face and cast unusual shadows on it, separate from the flame shadows—alive, breathing shadows.

Around him, there were six other Divine Swords.

Excalibur. Leviathan. Tempest. Eclipse. Gram. Aurelia.

Seven weapons, which held pieces of power, which once decided the fate of the world. Seven blades scattered around continents, hidden in ruins of antiquity and carried by both heroes and villains.

But none of them were able to resist Genesis’ presence.

Sword of Creation has come back to the world.

And it called its descendants back home.

Jennie was the first one who felt it.

Her five swords trembled violently from their restraints—not with defiance, but with some kind of recognition. Suppression formations, covering hilts, cracked—unwilling to hold back the resonance which spread across the chamber like fire in dry grass.

Lilia staggered as Aurelia’s light burst out of the ritual circle. It blazed with a glow, which tore apart reality itself.

Snow lifted his head. His injured body trembled. His nine tails were standing straight. His crimson eyes were fixed on Genesis with a look of ancient fear.

"No..."

The ancient Divine Wolf looked at the blade.

"He’s going to merge them."

Noctis bowed his head.

"Your Majesty, the resonance is unstable. Seven swords have never been united under one willpower since the era of gods."

Zuko glanced at him, smiling faintly.

"Is that meant to intimidate me?"

"No, Your Majesty."

"Good."

Zuko lifted Genesis and the golden blade captured the crimson glow of the World Tree above him.

"Because I have never been interested in what has already been done."

He looked at Jennie. His red eyes shone.

"Wouldn’t you agree?"

Jennie tugged at her chains. Metal cut into her wrists and blood started dripping from them in thin crimson lines.

"Put the sword down."

Zuko blinked and then smiled.

"Why?"

"Because you don’t know what you’re doing."

The whole chamber fell into silence.

Lokiar slowly turned his gaze toward Jennie. His silver mask did not conceal his bewilderment. Noctis shut his eyes for a moment, as if pleading Universe for patience.

But Zuko was elated.

"Wonderful. You really have inherited Leonis’s talent to say the most insulting thing to somebody who has power to erase you."

He lowered Genesis slightly and its light faded to soft pulsation.

"Unfortunately, you are wrong."

The boy’s expression changed.

Playful smile left his face and was replaced by ancient, cold and absolutely assured expression.

"I know exactly what I am doing."

He plunged Genesis into the stone floor.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The ritual chamber burst with light.

All seals broke. Seven Divine Swords tore away from their restraints and floated in the air, circling around Zuko. Their blades rotated slowly, each of them drawing huge glowing circles in the darkness.

Excalibur blazed with golden light—the light of kings and heroes, of oaths kept and promises fulfilled.

Leviathan was blazed with the blue light of torrents of water, infinite and endless, the memory of oceans existing before the first continent appeared on Earth.

Tempest let go of spiral lightning, which cracked in the chamber like fury of a hurricane.

Eclipse absorbed all chamber’s shadows. Its black blade sucked the darkness, making the darkness inside the darkness.

Gram blazed with crimson color and its surface was pulsating with so great rage, that it made the air to bend.

Aurelia blazed with second sun—a golden light, which was repelling the crimson glow of the World Tree.

And Genesis was right in the center of all. Its golden blade was extending toward all blades like tree’s root towards water.

Jennie felt something pulling on her soul.

Not her body. Not her memories. Something deeper.

Connection which she did not even know about.

The swords had chosen her. They listened to her willpower, helped her, recognized her as their bearer.

But now, in front of Genesis, they reacted on something else—an ancient power, older than their connection with her. Older than first bearer. Older than first kingdom. Older than Leonis KingHeart drew a sword.

"NO!"

Jennie threw herself on the restraints. Chains cut deeper into her wrists and blood spattered the stone floor.

"STOP!"

Zuko looked at her.

Their eyes met for a moment.

And then he smiled sadly.

"That’s the problem with being human, Jennie."

He raised his hand.

"You always think that because something loves you, it belongs to you."

Seven blades started moving. Their tips pointed to Genesis.

"That’s how creation works."

The swords crashed together.

KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH

The light devoured everything.

Outside the Black Capital, the world ceased to exist.

All over the Demon Continent, mountains shook as the ancient formations stirred deep underneath them. Rivers started flowing in reverse, rushing upwards to the crimson sky. Clouds started spinning and rising upwards, creating a great vortex over the Imperial Palace.

The World Tree shook violently.

It used to be a huge golden tree, but its branches now resembled a dragon flying high above the clouds. Two great, giant red-gold eyes opened in the middle of its enormous body.

The dragon stirred.

Its head lifted up from the clouds, and its giant wings unfolded across the sky. Branches were now rows of giant scales, covered with runic symbols that were older than speech.

Its roots freed themselves from the earth.

The whole Black Capital shook as the dragon rose high into the sky, lifting the weight of a thousand years of forgotten history.

Snow stared up.

"The World Tree..."

His voice cracked.

"It’s alive."

The dragon spread its wings.

Something started coming from its throat. Not roar. Declaration.

The sound of the world remembering the first living creature that had ever flown.

The dragon flew to the skies, leaving behind a trail of crimson leaves and golden flames.

While, in the ritual chamber, seven Divine Swords fused into one.

Jennie could see nothing.

She could barely breathe.

The light surrounded her from all sides, pressing against her eyes, her skin, her bones. Her swords disappeared into the radiance, and the chains on her wrists melted away.

For a moment, she had thought she had succeeded.

But then she felt the pressure.

Somehow, something enormous entered the chamber. It made Divine Swords look like fragments of broken toys.

The light started shrinking. Slowly. Reluctantly.

Seven blades shrank to six, six to four, four to two.

And eventually, the radiance shrunk to a single enormous sword.

It was several meters long, with golden blade surrounded by the spiral of white and red energy. On the surface of it, there were the same ancient runic symbols of creation, destruction, life and death.

The guard was similar to the branches of the World Tree. And the grip looked like it was made of some silver-white material that reminded her of ancient roots.

In the middle of the sword, there was a red jewel. Heart. Star. Eye.

Jennie looked at it.

The name rang in her head.

Astraeus.

The First Sword. The Sword Beyond Creation. The weapon from which the Divine Swords descended. The sword that existed before any distinction between gods and demons.

Zuko stretched his arm.

Astraeus lowered into his hand.

It was impossible to hold such an enormous blade for the person his size. But Zuko was holding it easily. The blade was much larger than him, but the weapon weighed nothing.

Zuko examined its blade. He saw himself looking back at him from the golden surface.

"Ah."

He smiled.

"Now this is more appropriate."

The chamber shivered.

The pressure grew so strong that even the attendants of the ritual were collapsing. Noctis bowed so low that his forehead touched the ground. Lokiar just stood there, stunned by what was happening.

Even the ritual’s crimson runes started fading. They were designed to contain the power of resurrection of the Demon Emperor.

They were never designed to endure the weapon that was used to create the world.

Zuko raised Astraeus. Its blade started scraping against the air.

A thin line appeared in reality itself. Beyond that line, there was the darkness. Not the darkness of the night.

The darkness that existed before the invention of light.

Zuko watched the rift being closed. Then he sighed.

"Still not enough."

Jennie looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Zuko turned towards her, almost apologetically.

"This body is not yet complete."

He touched Astraeus with his shoulder.

"The ritual gave me a temporary vessel, but the resurrection is not finished yet. My soul is still bound to the old seal, and the world does not accept my presence."

He smiled faintly.

"In order to complete it, I need the deaths of the remaining bearers."

Jennie’s stomach hurt.

Rudy. Lilia. And herself.

Three lives separating the Demon Emperor from his complete resurrection.

"You collected the swords," Jennie said slowly. "You awakened the World Tree. You forged the monstrous weapon."

She looked at Astraeus.

"Why do you need us dead?"

Zuko looked at her for a moment. Then he chuckled softly.

"Because even now, I am insignificant."

The word echoed in the chamber.

Insignificant.

Jennie frowned. "What?"

Zuko lowered Astraeus, and the blade pointed downwards, touching the stone.

"Tell me, Jennie. What is the most insignificant thing in the world?"

She did not answer.

A grain of sand? Dying insect? Single human life among billions?

He pointed at the blood on the walls—centuries of sacrifices, thousands of lives turned into stains on ancient stones.

"Maybe it’s the name that nobody remembers. The person who has lived and died without changing anything. The person whose existence has left no trace on the world."

His red eyes turned back to Jennie.

"What do you find amusing about it?"

He indicated to himself.

"I am the Demon Emperor. I have a weapon able to cut through the boundaries of the world. The World Tree acknowledges my presence. Seven Divine Swords fused together in my hand."

His smile got wider.

"And yet, without this ritual, I am nothing."

The chamber remained silent.

"I cannot return to life completely without the death of others. I cannot exist freely without being accepted by the world. I cannot break the seal that binds me, even after a thousand years."

He looked at his hands.

"All this power, and I still need permission from the universe to exist."

For the first time, a teenage boy looked genuinely angry. He clenched Astraeus with both hands so hard that his fingers turned white.

"I hate it."

His voice rose.

"I loathe a world that chooses between important and unimportant. A world that grants someone the ability to create life and then forces this life to fade into nothingness."

He lifted his head.

"Would you tell me why I want to obliterate the boundary between life and death?"

Jennie scrutinized him carefully. Despite her fright she felt within her chest, her voice remained firm.

"Because you are scared."

It was like stones fell into calm water.

Noctis lifted his head. Lokiar froze instantly.

Zuko didn’t move either.

Jennie proceeded with her words.

"You are afraid that one day everything will be over and no one will remember you. You are terrified that one day your power, your suffering, all the people whom you killed, everything you have built and accomplished will be wiped away and fade away into nothingness."

She looked at Astraeus – the weapon that created the world, the weapon that was currently wielded by the boy who wished to tear it down.

"You want to become something that cannot be ignored by the world."

Zuko’s expression changed; it darkened.

Jennie gazed into his eyes.

"But no matter what you achieve, you will never be able to make the world grant your life meaning."

There was silence for a few seconds.

Then Zuko smiled. It was a horrible smile, beautiful but broken and utterly devoid of any warmth.

"Maybe."

He turned away.

"Maybe I am scared."

He spoke softly.

"But at least I am brave enough to confess it."

He started to walk towards the center of the chamber and left behind him the trail of Astraeus – the piece of heaven.

"Tell me, Jennie. What gives your life its meaning?"

She was silent.

Zuko looked back.

"Is it your strength? Your swords? Memories of Leonis KingHeart?"

He nodded towards the Divine Wolf that was trapped under Lokiar’s chains.

"Your friends?"

Then to Lilia – the prisoner, the girl with disheveled golden hair and defiant blue eyes, held captive by two guards.

"The girl who was worth crossing a whole continent to rescue her?"

Jennie felt as if her heart was tightening.

Zuko’s smile disappeared.

"What will you do if you lose them?"

She stayed silent.

"What will happen if everyone whom you know dies? What if the kingdoms you protected become ruins? What if the stories about you become distorted, lost and forgotten?"

He approached her, every step purposeful, every word a blade.

"What will be left of Jennie Queens if the world forgets you existed?"

Jennie clenched her fists until her nails pierced her palms.

"I don’t know."

Zuko stopped.

She lifted her head.

"But I don’t have to know."

Despite the fright clenching her chest, her voice remained firm.

"I don’t need my life to last for eternity. I don’t need the world to remember me."

She gazed at Lilia. At the blood that covered the altar on which Rudy was lying. At the friends that followed her into hell.

"All I need is the opportunity to choose what I will be doing while I live."

Zuko gazed at her.

She continued speaking.

"I will probably fail. I will definitely lose some people. One day I may die without leaving anything that would matter."

Her eyes glowed with golden fire.

"But this doesn’t mean that my life is meaningless."

She moved forward as far as the remaining chains would allow.

"This means that it is mine".

Silence.

The body of the dragon-shaped World Tree traversed the heavens above the destroyed roof. Those enormous eyes of it watched the chamber with the intelligence that preceded thought.

Zuko lowered his head.

For a second Jennie thought she managed to reach him.

Then he laughed.

At first it was a soft laugh, then it grew louder.

"Ah..."

He pressed his hand against his face.

"That is what I hate about you people."

He glanced at her through his fingers – red eyes shone between his pale fingers.

"You take the most fragile, temporary and insignificant thing that exists, declare that it is precious just because it belongs to you."

His smile disappeared.

"And you call it enough."

He turned away.

"I once believed that as well."

Jennie’s heart skipped a beat.

Zuko stopped under the shadow of Astraeus.

"When I was born, the gods rejoiced."

He spoke as if reminiscing about his childhood, a memory buried deep underneath centuries of wrath and sorrow.

The heavens opened, the stars aligned, the first Divine Swords resounded, the World Tree was blooming with a thousand colors.

He gazed up at the crimson dragon.

"Everyone believed that I would become something special."

His eyes darkened.

"They were right."

A pause.

"But they got the wrong idea of what that meant."

Zuko turned towards Jennie.

"Do you know who my mother is?"

Jennie held her breath.

This name was mentioned in hundreds of prayers, carved in the ancient temples, told with respect by those who believed in divinity.

The Goddess of Creation. The creator of the Divine Swords, the protector of the world’s birth.

"Miasa," Jennie whispered.

Zuko smiled.

"Yes."

He touched his chest.

"I am the son of Goddess Miasa."

These words echoed in the chamber like the thunder.

Noctis lowered his head even more. Snow’s eyes widened. Lilia watched the boy, her face pale.

Zuko continued speaking.

"I wasn’t created as a weapon, I wasn’t summoned via a ritual. I wasn’t assembled from the remains of a dead god."

He lowered his voice.

"I was born."

He glanced at Jennie.

"I am her true son."

The silence that followed was absolute.

Jennie couldn’t comprehend the words.

Miasa created the world. Miasa created the Divine Swords. Miasa chose Leonis to reincarnate in order to give him another life as Jennie Queens.

And now the Demon Emperor stood before her and declared himself the son of the Goddess.

Zuko watched the shock spreading over her face.

"Surprised?"

He chuckled.

"Of course you are. Goddess Miasa should be the perfect being. Mother to all the living things, the guardian of the world, the creature that cannot be cruel."

His expression twisted.

"But even gods have children."

He looked down at Astraeus.

"But even gods make mistakes."

Jennie gazed at him. "What happened?"

For the first time the smile on Zuko’s face disappeared completely. His face became young – impossibly young, vulnerable in such a way that he seemed a teenage boy.

"She loved me."

His voice was barely heard.

"At least, I believe she did."

He closed his eyes.

"When I was young, I believed I was the most powerful entity on Earth. My mother was a goddess, and the world was formed through her hands. And because of this I believed I deserved to be in its center."

He opened his eyes.

"But the world was never mine."

He let his gaze move to the ceiling and the red dragon circling there.

"She loved the people on it. She cared about the kingdoms and their rise and fall. She loved mortals who cursed her, praised her, ignored her, and died without even knowing her name."

He clutched his fist around Astraeus.

"And when I asked her why she let them suffer, she said that it was impossible to exist without freedom."

He laughed bitterly.

"Freedom."

He spit out the word like it was poison.

"She said that a world where people cannot have a choice is not worth protecting."

Zuko looked into Jennie’s eyes.

"She loved them."

His voice broke.

"Over and over, she loved them."

Red light danced around him.

"And I was her son."

For the first time, Jennie saw the wound behind Demon Emperor’s cruelty.

Not an excuse. Not forgiveness.

A wound.

A child who believed that the fact of being the son of a goddess meant that he will never feel insignificant, and then found out that even the love of the gods will not make you the center of the universe.

Zuko lowered his head.

"I wanted her to look at me and say that I was more important than everything else."

He opened his eyes.

"But she told me that I am no more important than the tiniest creature she had created."

He smiled sadly.

"Just imagine that, Jennie. To be born from a goddess, and find out that you are one more insignificant creature."

He raised Astraeus, and blade shone with golden light.

"That’s why I decided to be the one she can never forget."

The glow grew stronger.

"I would become the lord of life and death. I would destroy all the boundaries she created. I would rule the world until even my mother will have to recognize me."

He looked into Jennie’s eyes.

"This is the secret of Demon Emperor."

His smile returned, broken and beautiful and absolutely terrifying.

"I was never trying to become a god."

He lifted his huge sword.

"I was trying to become the one who matters."

Jennie could not speak.

She wanted to hate him.

It should have been easy.

He had waged wars. His generals had killed innocent people. The chamber was bathed with blood, and Rudy was dying under the very sword he created.

He had built the resurrection on top of the suffering of countless people.

But behind all this cruelty Jennie saw a trace of something painfully human.

A child who wanted his mother to choose him.

A child who misunderstood love.

A child who decided that if the world won’t give him importance, he will force the world to give it to him.

Jennie swallowed.

"Your mother loved you."

Zuko froze.

Jennie spoke slowly, softly but firmly.

"Maybe she couldn’t give you what you wanted. Maybe she had made mistakes. But this doesn’t mean that you were insignificant."

Zuko stared at her.

Then his face froze.

"Do not pretend to understand my mother."

"I’m not pretending anything."

Jennie met his eyes.

"But I know what it means to get another chance on life."

For an instant, Zuko’s eyes flashed.

Jennie spoke further.

"I was Leonis. I remember the losses and people I wasn’t able to save."

She looked at her hands—covered in blood and bound with metal chains, but still hers.

"But Miasa gave me another chance of living because she wanted me to live. Not because she needed another weapon."

She steadied her voice.

"She gave me a chance to become someone new."

She looked at Zuko.

"Maybe she wanted the same for you."

The chamber fell silent.

Then Zuko’s face changed.

The softness left his face. The child vanished.

In its place stood Demon Emperor.

"You know nothing."

His words hit like a blade.

"You know nothing about her desires. About sacrifices she had made. Nothing about the things she had allowed while watching from above."

He moved towards Jennie. The power around him grew.

"Do not turn my suffering into another lesson about the beauty of life."

His eyes glowed.

"You were given another chance. You were allowed to return. You were permitted to love again."

Jennie froze.

Zuko raised his voice.

"I was not."

Jennie stopped breathing.

Zuko’s voice grew louder with each word.

"You stand there and say that life is precious because it ends. Choice is important because we can lose everything."

He laughed coldly.

"Nice words from someone who was given another chance of beginning."

He pointed Astraeus at Jennie, his blade hovering just above her chest.

"Tell me, Jennie Queens. Would you say the same if you had died before becoming Jennie?"

She had no answer.

Zuko nodded.

"Exactly."

He turned away.

"And this is the difference between us."

He looked at the altar.

"Now, enough talking."

Jennie’s heart started beating faster.

"No."

Zuko approached Rudy. His steps were slow and deliberate—steps of a man who had made his decision and saw no reason to hurry.

"Your friend served her purpose."

"NO!"

Jennie tried to throw herself against the chains. Metal pierced her skin, and blood flowed from her wrist in crimson rivers.

"ZUKO! STOP!"

Rudy woke up.

Her eyes slowly opened but couldn’t focus. She looked towards Jennie—her sister, her partner, the person who had dragged her across a continent and down into Hell.

And then at the boy standing next to her altar.

"Hey..."

Rudy’s voice was nothing but a weak whisper.

Zuko glanced downwards.

Rudy forced herself to crack a smile. Blood covered her teeth.

"If you’re going to kill me..."

Rudy swallowed painfully.

"...then at least give me the opportunity to say something."

Zuko looked at her for a while. Something lit up his red eyes—was it curiosity or even a bit of respect?

"Very well."

Rudy turned her head towards Jennie.

"You’re..."

She coughed and the blood splattered on her lips.

"...terrible at making friends."

Tears formed in Jennie’s eyes and her voice broke.

"Rudy, don’t say anything."

"Seriously." She forced herself to laugh. But it sounded like a gasp. "First, you drag me across a continent. Then you allow me to fight a giant monster. And then you bring me to a room full of weird people..."

Her eyelids trembled, breathing became shallow.

"...and now this."

Jennie desperately shook her head. Tears poured down her cheeks.

"I will free you. I promise."

Rudy looked at her. Suddenly her joking smile disappeared. The mask fell from her face and underneath there was only a scared girl, exhausted, hurt, but not afraid at all.

"You always say that."

Jennie could barely breathe.

Rudy smiled. It was a beautiful smile—with warmth, kindness and sincerity which she never showed to anyone.

"Then..."

Her voice became weak, fading, like a dying candle.

"...keep your promise this time."

Zuko watched them quietly.

For a while he seemed to be hesitating as well. The Demon Emperor stood silently, holding Astraeus in his hand, watching the two sisters with red eyes which nobody could interpret.

Then he raised his sword.

Jennie screamed.

"ZUKO!"

The Demon Emperor stopped for a second.

He looked at her.

Something almost intrigued appeared in his eyes. Some interest, some wonder, some reminiscence of a boy who believed that love could change the world.

"Yes?"

Jennie’s voice broke again.

"Take me instead."

Zuko raised his head in question.

"What?"

"Take my life. Take my swords. Take whatever you want."

She tried to pull off the chains, drawing the blood from her arms in streams. The chains creaked and moaned under the pressure of the force.

"Let her live!"

Zuko looked at Rudy. Then turned to Jennie.

For several seconds he remained silent.

Finally, he smiled sadly.

"That’s the problem, Jennie."

He raised Astraeus higher and the golden sword reflected crimson light of the World Tree.

"You still believe that your choices can make you significant enough to change the world."

The blade started glowing—became brighter and brighter until it was almost impossible to look at it.

"But the world doesn’t negotiate with insignificance."

SHING.

The sword fell.

Rudy’s eyes widened.

For a fraction of a second she seemed to be surprised—like she truly hoped that her sister would be able to save her.

Then her head fell from her neck.

The blood splattered on the stone altar, covering the ancient symbols and ritual circles, covering the chains which had bound her. It spilled to the floor like a river, approaching the feet of Jennie.

Her golden mark flickered twice.

And then went out.

Rudy Kiss was dead.

The chamber fell silent.

Jennie stopped struggling.

She stopped breathing.

She stopped hearing the screaming of the world outside, the roar of the World Tree, the praying whispers of the attendants who had witnessed the sacrifice.

All she could see was Rudy.

The girl who had followed her to the Demon Continent. The girl who had fought Grom almost to the destruction of her body. The girl who had joked about dinner, complained about awful dates and who had claimed to be a KingHeart and difficult to eliminate.

The girl who had believed that Jennie would bring everyone back home.

Her body lay motionless on the altar. The blood splattered hair framed her face. Her eyes were wide open—looking nowhere, seeing nothing, forever frozen in the last second of her life.

Jennie opened her lips.

Nothing came out.

Zuko lowered Astraeus.

For the first time during his resurrection process the Demon Emperor looked completely seriously.

The ritual circles burst into flames. One of the seven lights extinguished. And then a crimson beam shot from the mark of Rudy up into the heaven.

The body of the World Tree roared. Its red eyes glared and the huge wings beat the air.

The whole Black Capital trembled from the power of Rudy’s death which flowed into the ritual formation.

Noctis bowed his head. His voice was soft and respectful.

"The second bearer has fallen."

Zuko looked at the crimson sky. His face was blank.

"One more step."

Jennie slowly raised her head.

It was empty. There were no tears, no anger, no fear.

Only a complete silence which even Lokiar understood and moved back from her.

Zuko looked at her.

"Jennie..."

She looked back at him.

Her golden eyes had changed. The light inside them was extinguished. Instead something dangerous was burning in her eyes—something cold and merciless.

Zuko’s smile disappeared.

For the first time in his life the Demon Emperor felt that he had made a mistake.

Jennie said only one word.

"Rudy."

The five Divine Swords merged together into Astraeus and trembled in Zuko’s hand.

And somewhere deep inside the blade, the heartbeat started to emerge.