Love Beyond Universes

3

Both of them came towards me, while my gaze was still fixed on that guy. His brown eyes glimmered with optimism and hope which was visible only to me.

"Here. Damien, meet one of my trusted guys, Austin here," Claudia spoke, thus breaking my chain of thoughts. "Austin. Meet our new citizen of Claudius, Damien," Claudia introduced me to Austin, and that was what the first time he saw me. He gave me a warm smile which forced me to smile back at him. And so I did.

"Damien will hereafter enjoy the resources and wealth of Claudius, Austin. Don't tell this to anyone, Austin. We are planning to get married in the next few weeks," she said proudly to Austin, while I cringed at her.

"Oh, wow! Congrats, ma'am," Austin congratulated in a soft voice.

"And Austin, it's your responsibility to teach Damien about us and our land, and how to cope with it," Claudia said, looking at me, while I gave a pretentious smile. "I need my boy to learn everything. Now, take him to your shop and feed him something. I'll pick him up at night. Okay, Austin?" Claudia was finally done with dropping another nuclear bomb of the day.

"Well, yes, ma'am. Your wish is my command," Austin obliged, bowing his head.

"What about you, Damien? Are you okay with this?" Claudia asked me with a demanding look on her.

I couldn't help but oblige, so I nodded a yes.

"That's good," she whispered. "Now, refresh and go along with Austin," she said and left with Austin. Before leaving, Austin looked back at me for a final time and delivered a warm smile.

I didn't know how fucked up my life will be hereafter.

***

"How did you become Claudia's trusted guy?" I asked Austin, who was baking choco chip cookies for me.

We were at Austin's bakery shop, which was two streets away from Claudia's castle. His shop was so small unlike Claudia's castle, but still, the smell of dough, chocolates and butter made me feel like I was at home. Which was something I missed at Claudia's place.

"I didn't know. My father was a devotee of Claudia. I was brought up hearing Claudia's praises and I was expected to worship her just like how my father did," he said, as he was placing the kneaded cookies in his good old oven. "Cookies will be ready in five minutes," he said and sat on the nearest stool.

"You say that your father worshipped her. But she is going to get married to a guy of your age. How is that possible? Was she some child ruler?"

"No, no! She is immortal," he said, which left me utterly shocked.

"Immortal?"

"Yes. Her immortality started just before my grandfather died."

"What? This... This is so, you know, this is--"

"Uncanny is your word. By the way, how did you land up here?" He asked, which triggered my memories of yesternight. I was lost in thoughts when he snapped his fingers and said aloud, "Hello!"

"Huh? What is it?"

"I asked, how did you land up here?"

Then I narrated everything that happened last night and this morning. Being a good listener, he listened to everything carefully.

"So, it was all because of one prophecy, right?" He asked while I nodded my head in reply. "You need to stay back here or escape?"

"I want to escape. No matter what," I said, with firmness in my eyes.

"Okay, fine! Then, you have one solution."

"What is it?"

"We need to travel to the four extreme borders of Claudius. Maybe we could find a way to escape through that, right?"

I thought of the plan, which seems like a good one indeed.

"That sounds good, Austin! But what is the direction of our location?" I asked, desperate to find a good way to start our plan.

"We are at the exact centre of Claudius."

"What is there in the four extreme borders?"

"We have Tropicus forest to the east, Serenus beach to the west, Enormis hills to the north, and Mortem beach to the south," he said, while I found out that the names were in Latin.

"Fine! Which one is the nearest one for us?"

"For us... It's the Tropicus forest."

"Oh! So can we go there tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, Austin. Tomorrow itself. I need to escape from Claudius as soon as possible."

"Fine! Tomorrow fixed."

Then we heard a sound from the oven.

"Ah! Seems like the cookies are ready," he whispered, rubbing his palms and went to the oven and took the cookies out. "Mmm! Looks yummy, right?"

I was already fixed to the yummy cookies and nodded a yes. He served the cookies on two small plates and brought them for us.

I took one small bite of the cookie and moaned. As I was done, I said, "So yummy, Austin! I loved it! Pack me a batch of cookies while I go to Earth. Sienna will love it," and munched more cookies.

"Ummm, Damien. I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Ummm, what's your sexuality?"

"Well, why are you asking this?"

"Just... Just wondering."

"Of course, I'm straight! Or else, how will I marry Sienna?"

"Hmmm!"

"What's yours?"

"Huh? I... I'm also straight."

"Wow! Okay, fine," I said, continuing to munch cookies.

I didn't know why but I feel like life would never be the same hereafter. Never.

Word Count: 910 words