By the time they reached the top of the crystal rock, both Adam and Claudia were sweating.

     Claudia marveled at her own perspiration.

​     "Physical exertion," she said. "How novel."

     They took a moment to peer down at the grotto and all the people fucking below.

     "I can't see the water anymore," Claudia said.

     "Reminds me of a beehive," Adam said.

     "Is there any part of you that remembers what we once meant to each other?" Claudia asked.

     "That question scares the shit out of me. Yes. The answer is yes. I've never been to a therapist, and part of the reason for that is because I absolutely did not want anyone to know that I had a second personality within me, an Adam Forwarder that was me but that definitely wasn't, either."

     "You must have thought you were going crazy."

     "To tell you the truth, I didn't give it a lot of thought. My true self, my primal self, is pretty strong. I've lived an overstuffed and eventful life."

     "I know."

     "I created you to be my companion?"

     "No. That was something that just happened."

     "You loved me. though, didn't you?"

     "I still love you." Claudia sat on the edge of the rock so that her legs dangled over the edge. She patted the spot next to her. "Sit."

     Why not?

     He made sure not to accidentally graze her body as he sat next to her. He didn't feel sure their encounter had reached that level quite yet. Oddly enough, for Adam, his penis stayed soft. He wasn't sure about this strange, enchantingly beautiful woman who sat next to him. He felt a strong attraction for her, one could almost define it as love, but he didn't feel sure he'd define it as desire.

     "Infini made you immortal and gave you a mission," Claudia said. "Do you remember what that mission was?" 

​     Adam blushed. "I was so afraid you were going to bring that up. That's a wet dream that's chased me from the second I knew what sex was."

​     "You were missioned to become father to a Galatea, but, first, you had to seek out Galatea's mother, and, in your case, after you lost Myanna and were imprisoned for a thousand years..."

     "​What?!"

​     "You had sex with every woman you could get to."

     "The blue-skinned Myanna you're talking about. Not my Myanna."

     "The operative term there, for me, is 'having sex'. I stayed with you while you had sex with, literally, thousands of women."

     "And here I thought all this time that it was just my overactive imagination."

​     "I've loved you for hundreds of years, Adam, and now I want to make love with you. Again, with the operative term. I didn't say 'have sex'. I said, 'make love'."

     You know that got Adam hard.

CONTINUE