Servitude: The Hydrangea Chapters

Chp 1: The Servant

Someone who exists solely to serve another.

Depending on whom you ask who does not embrace this purpose, some might consider it an honor to live as a dutiful and valuable companion to another. Conversely, others may view it negatively, arguing that such a life renders one no better than a codependent servant to the person they dedicate their lives to, gaining little benefit from such devotion.

For someone who serves another as their purpose in life, either way can be true.

They can harbor scorn for those who look down on them, seeing and treating them no better than replaceable pawns, or feel admiration for those they serve who value them.

For the servant named Marlina, she hoped for the latter.

Why the name Marlina? Well, that's what the voice from the giant purple flower told her it was. Also, it revealed that her purpose was to serve someone else.

The giant purple flower? Yes, Marlina awoke one day only a few years ago, deep in a lush forest inside a gigantic purple flower bud. Once she awakened, a gentle and soothing female voice from the flower told her just those two things, after which the voice fell silent and never spoke again.

The only things Marlina remembers are from when she woke up in the flower until now. It includes Marlina traveling on foot from place to place, town to town, and castle to castle, trying to understand what the voice meant by 'serve another.' The explanations from those she asked clarified the basic meaning of the phrase, which is to work for another person and fulfill their wishes as commanded. 

There are a few things to note about Marlina. Overall, she appeared human. She walked, talked, and acted like a human, exhibiting emotions and independent thought. The most prominent feature that might raise some suspicions is her vibrant purple-hued hair. Her pale complexion also made her stand out among the people she encountered, who bore tan skin. Many described her as pale as a corpse. 

From the day she awoke, she learned that she had been traveling through the territories of the Empire of Urush, which occupies the western third of the continent and is home to the Urushians. As a proud and strong-willed race who wields the four elements, there is much to admire in their close-knit communities across their strictly segregated kingdoms.

For Marlina, despite her kindness and gracious offers to serve, she noticed that almost everyone who met her showed signs of contempt with little justification. That animosity would only intensify, sometimes becoming dangerous, whenever she ventured too close to Urush's capital city, forcing her to limit her search to the outlying regions. Regardless of the location, 'vile Colonial' was a common slur aimed at her. It was rare for an Urushian lord to allow her to serve them, as their treatment of her differed wildly from that of others in their employ. Without fail, she would soon be sent on her way again for whatever reason someone could invent.

With growing frustration over Urushian's treatment of her and how difficult it was for them to tolerate her, even allowing her employment, she felt she had exhausted her search in Urush. Branded as a Colonial, she sought out the other kingdoms said to lie across the desert wasteland known as the Everlasting Expanse, with the eastern third of the continent being the Colonies of Madrya. Since she resembles those from that side of the continent, perhaps her search would be more fruitful there.

Many have perished while attempting to cross the wasteland to reach the far ends of the continent, a desert stretching well over a thousand miles. With scarce water sources and little to scavenge or hunt for the naive traveler, it was a fool's errand if one lacked the means for such a journey. For starters, the western half of the desert bordering Urush is said to be home to fearsome creatures that lurk in the sand and attack unsuspecting travelers. Not to mention the sandstorms that frequently ravage the land; it wasn't worth the risk for those who lacked Marlina's physical advantages. To Marlina, this felt like an opportunity to broaden her world and perhaps find answers to many questions that had long plagued her and remained unresolved. 

The journey was uneventful in the first few days of travel; the only sights she encountered were dried shrubbery, small lizards, snakes crossing her path, and sandstorms looming in the distance. The days were blistering and the nights bitter, yet neither hindered her progress. Whenever she discovered the remains of travelers who hadn't completed their journeys, she took the time to create graves to lay them to rest. From others, she learned that they valued their lives considerably. They believed that those whose lives have ended deserve proper burial so their souls can find peace. Although small graves were all she could manage without tools, she still made the effort. While digging these graves, she wondered about the identities of these remains and the choices that led them to this place.

Five days passed before a sandstorm began to brew, appearing on the horizon in the late afternoon. For humans, the relentless barrage of sand wears them down. Marlina wasn't concerned about it, and so kept pressing forward. But as the claims suggested, the sound of the approaching sandstorm had distracted Marlina from being caught off guard by one of the fearful creatures that dwell within the sand.