162 – Moving in and on

They kissed and kissed and kissed. It was long, and passionate, and full of emotion. There was a well of emotions behind it, pent-up desire on one side and reciprocation on the other, and in moments it went from platonic to desperate, revealing a need that both of them struggled to contain. They were in public, and for a moment the thought crossed Albert’s mind that he should rein it in, contain himself. But they were both powerful, and neither cared about what they looked like from outside nor could they stop themselves, let alone the other person.

In a moment of clarity and with a snap of his fingers, they suddenly found themselves alone in his soulspace.

Elle felt the change in temperature, light and scenery but her lips lingered on Albert’s for many more seconds. It was yet another minute before she tore her eyes away from his.

“It’s gorgeous.” She said. “Where are we?”

“My private place.” He said, a playful smile appearing on his face as an idea crossed his mind. A snap of his fingers, and the hedges surrounded them and the fireplace roared bright. “Away from prying eyes.”

He could see the desire in her eyes. Hell, he would have given in himself, and even after all his training to resist his impulses he almost did. Almost. However, a playful smile appeared on his face.

“Why don’t you tell me about what happened?” He asked her instead, producing a frying pan and some meat. He placed a grill on the fire as well, heating it up.

“Aw, why are you doing this to me?” Elle groaned. Albert could see that she was burning with desire.

“Perhaps I am a sadist.” His devilish smile had not left his face ever since he thought up the idea to cook for her. “Perhaps I want to build real desire before we give in to our animalistic tendencies. No matter how gorgeous you are, Elle, it’s with the mind that I like to have sex. Don’t you also agree?”

***

They emerged – to any outside observer – what felt like a fraction of a second later. With how strong the time dilation was, and suffice to say it was much stronger than it had been when Albert was being attacked by the monster in the underground bunker, the time they spent together almost could not be measured.

Two immortals. Albert made sure to back up their mental states, so that he could restore them before they left his soul, or they risked not even remembering what they were there to do anymore.

Even after so much time; when they reappeared they were still holding hands, smiling at each other, lost into each other’s eyes like a newlywed couple. To think that Albert had never thought about Elle like that – she had only been a little child when he met her in the past. But when his eyes had seen her emerge from the elven village, all mighty and regal before her face melted into a smile, only a faint memory of the little girl remained. He had been smitten, there and then, and while Elle had had millennia to come to terms with her emotions, he had only seconds.

Now, however, they were both comfortable with each other. Elle knew of Albert’s plans, and they were going to go back to the past together. How would that affect the other version of herself? She didn’t know. Albert was one thing, he would only overlap with his older self for a while, according to his planned return date. But what about her?

“I don’t care,” she said when he asked her about it.

“Very much not mature, lady.” Albert chuckled. “I thought you were the old and wise one?”

“You are older than me!” She punched him.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“I spent most of that time frozen in an underground bunker. That’s not the place where you do character development.”

“Technicalities.” She winked at him, to which he shook his head. “I don’t think I was ever in love with you back then. It was only after you went missing that I, well… it was actually after Earth fell and we lost all contact that I went into what remained of your Lair to ask the voice living there about you.” She shook her head. “There was no voice anymore.”

Albert nodded. “I know. I think my mother transferred the AI to Sitea.”

“I spent a long time trying to figure out how to use your strange devices. Technology was alien to me.”

In the end, she figured it out. She had other goals, of course, far removed from investigating Albert’s life.

“I was not obsessed with you!” She said with a giggle. “I simply wanted to do what you promised you’d do and never did. Return the gift of eternal life to my people.” She smiled. “You can’t imagine the surprise when, after many decades spent learning to use your technology, I discovered that you had already delivered on your promise! I looked up into the sky, and the young Iperborea tree smiled at me with its radiant light. I ran back inside, and the face that greeted me in the mirror was not the old, wrinkled face I had come to expect, but a youthful one full of life. This one.”

She pointed at herself, and Albert caressed her face. Which devolved to tickling, play fighting, and a long delay in the recounting of events. It was after a few hours that they resumed talking under the moonlight.

“Anyway, with access to the database, I had pretty much everything about you up to the moment of your departure. Did you know that your mother backed up your childhood photos and videos to the Lair?”

Albert’s eyes widened. “She did not!” He said with mock indignation. “What a vile woman.”

Elle shook her head with a smile and a flutter of her eyelids. “It was what allowed me to… well, I admit, it gave me something to obsess over. With such a long life ahead of me, and no dangers threatening us on this planet… the reclamation of the land was going well, but slowly…”

She flushed. “Aaaanyway, I got over it, okay! It turned into healthy respect and admiration and, yes, a bit of innocent love. It’s not my fault I never found another one, and that the innocent love turned to lust and more!”

Albert shrugged. “I would never dream to criticize your millennial wisdom and profound knowledge of yourself.”

Her eyes turned dangerous. “Young man, do you wish to witness my wrath?”

Albert’s own eyes twinkled. “Why, yes, I do.”

“Mind explaining what’s going on?” Lina’s voice burst his memory bubble, thrusting him back to the present.

With a lingering smile, the two broke apart to each attend to their matters. It was no problem; they would see each other again. Elle went with the guards, disappearing back into the city.

Albert talked to his team. “That was Elle, a childhood friend. At least, I was hers. I don’t know, with time travel and immortality how does one even go defining these things? Weird.”

“She’s gorgeous!” Scrappy exclaimed, evidently uncaring about the complicacies.

“That she is,” Albert said with a nod.

“Ugh,” Lina pretended to gag. “I would have never, ever, in my worst nightmares imagined to see that sickening sweet look on your face. Look at you, all smiles and giggles! Where’s the real Albert?”

Albert shrugged. “What can I say? I’m better.”

“I’m happy for you, Sir!” Scrappy said enthusiastically.

“What now?” Lina asked, changing topics.

“Now we wait for her to come back. She caught me up to speed. Turns out she actually managed to open a portal back to Earth several centuries ago. It’s already tuned to send us to Sitea, although because of the shield deflecting the spacetime bridge she has never managed to land inside the city proper. I can change that.”

“Wait,” Lina held up a finger. “Is she the reason Elves exist on Earth?”

“Yup.” Albert nodded. “I was wondering why the Elves only colonized the forests in North America close to Sitea. Now I know. Several hundred years ago Elle opened the portal for the first time, expecting to find a barren planet, and instead found that magic had rendered Earth inhabitable again. She sent colonists through, and they spread into all the wilderness surrounding Sitea, settling most of the continent before they ran into humans. By then it was too late.”

“Sadly, yes.” Elle’s voice made them all turn.

“Elle, hello! I’m Scrappy!” A very excited catgirl said, running to hug the elf queen but only reaching her hips.

Elle smiled. “Hello little one, Albert told me a lot of nice things about you.” Then her smile faded a little. “To finish the tale: by the time I learned that humans were still alive and well, the first skirmishes had already created bad blood between us. I might be a Queen, but my rule is too vast to manage things, and elves can be ruthless. Especially the ones from the colonies, those born already immortal. Arrogant, born into power without having to earn it for themselves. I tried to keep peace as best I could, but someone escalated things.” She shot Albert a meaningful look.

“Ah well,” the man in question said without losing composure. “Not to worry. This timeline won’t exist for much longer anyway.”