113 The World Without Him (1/2)

The weather seemed particularly dreary outside when he'd stepped out to open up the shop. Dark, moody clouds ominously blanketed the skies above the little town of Cem-Elle.

More rain? It's really not letting up this week, huh. Just my luck…

It'd only be a matter of time before it would start raining, so he picked up his pace hurriedly started working. He grabbed his trusty broom and started sweeping, collecting every fallen leaf, twig, and petal he could find in front of the shop.

After he finished sweeping, he walked over to the floating chalkboard that was beside the shop's entrance and wiped it clean. He pulled out a small piece of chalk and rubbed his chin in contemplation.

What were we making this week? Shit. I already forgot. Something with chocolate, right? Or was it something else? I can't remember anymore…

He eventually gave up and popped his head back into the shop in resignation.

”Hey, babe! What are th—”

A gentle voice interrupted him and said, ”Chocolate croissants for ten credits. Caramel eclairs for fifteen. A slice of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for twenty.”

He thanked her and quickly wrote out the special offers on the floating chalkboard before he returned back inside the shop. It was almost opening time. Soon enough, the customers would start pouring in and they'd be up to their necks in orders as always…

For better or worse, the small bakery on Fargreen Avenue had become one of the most popular shops in Cem-Elle and a hotspot for the young people in town. It'd become the go-to place for fashionable youngsters to mingle with another, much to the shop owner's dismay.

Sure, he enjoyed the booming profits the youngsters had brought along with them, but he hated the reputation his shop had gotten as a result.

The calmer, older folk in town who'd once been his regulars during the bakery's heydays had now moved on to other bakeries and cafes in light of the recent influx of new blood.

He missed the early days when the bakery had once been a quiet little place for the elderly folk in town. They always had interesting stories to tell for anyone willing to listen to them… unlike the people who now frequented his bakery.

As far as Reed was concerned his beloved bakery, Summer's Ambrosia, had become something else. It wasn't the same place he once loved.

Lu'um, on the other hand, enjoyed the influx of youngsters or rather, what they sometimes brought out of Reed. She loved to peek out of her peripheral vision and catch his ever-so-slightly scowling expression whenever a random guy tried to flirt with her during work.

How his facade would crumble for the briefest of moments before he patched it back up and played it cool. It was the cutest thing in the world to her, or so she thought.

She was, in all likelihood, the main reason that the bakery had blown up into what it had become these days. Young men wanted to win the maiden's favor and young women wanted to hunt her down, the devious temptress that she was...

They had put down their lives and settled in a small town in the South, far away from any major city connected to the Grid — the Altar system. Cem-Elle was not part of the Grid and was, therefore, an isolated town that operated for the most part, on its own.

It was a small town of about twenty-thousand people that was located near the border between the South and the West. Simply put, Cem-Elle was a quiet town populated by mortals who lived normal, peaceful lives.

There were no Chosen here in the middle of nowhere, which was what Reed had desired the most.

Here he would not be bothered or reminded of what he really was and what he possessed. He could put down his heavy burden and live a simpler, slower way of life.

Of course, he knew that one day it would end. He would have to return back to that world, the one he had left behind. There was no running from that… inevitability. If there was one thing he was sure about, it was that fate itself would eventually pull him back into the fold, force him to keep walking forward…

But until then, he would reflect in peace and return to his roots.

He had come to realize much in the last two years about himself.