I didn’t know how to tell Eleni that I thought we were going to die. I sat there, sipping on my chai, but the sweet taste was soured by the truth. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but a fresh wave of nausea dizzied me every time I thought about everything that El and I had tried to build together, everything that was going to come crashing down, going to be snatched from us. My hand was slick with tears I had tried to desperately wipe away, but I could already feel more threatening at the corners of my eyes. It was just me then, in the disquieting silence of Rhodian’s café, the only sound a faint, half-hearted plunk of lyre strings from next door and the constant, soulless marching of a clock.

Eleni wasn’t more than ten minutes late, but even the familiar crack of the metallic heels of her boots on the grey flagstones didn’t reassure me like they normally did. She slung her sabre onto her shoulder and trudged over towards our table. I heard her breath hitch as she caught sight of me, my face pink and blotchy from my tears.

“Cal?” She whispered anxiously, taking my hand in hers. “What’s the matter?”

I didn’t know where to start. I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay, but…I didn’t think it was going to be okay. I listened to my breath quaking, and watched her through my blurring eyes, wondering whether I’d remember her, even if I never saw her again. I didn’t know how I was going to let go of her. Her perfect eyes, the way that her short ebony hair danced in the wind, how she kissed me every time we met, that cute little half-smile of hers.

I take a deep breath. “El… I need to talk to you about something. Something serious. But know that I love you, okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah…of course Callia. There’s nothing we can’t solve together, is there?”

“Eleni. That’s the problem.” I said. I didn’t want to tell her what came next. I tried to steady myself, but tears were running down my face. “Babe, we can’t…be together anymore.”

“Cal…why?” she says, her voice wobbling, her bottom lip quivering as she wills herself not to cry.

“Because El, I am Princess Callia of the 43rd royal regiment of Seraphim Vale. And you…who are you?”

“Commander Eleni, 1st legion of Cleotonia.” She recites.

“Well…Commander Eleni…” I shudder, a shadow of a smile forced across my face. “Seraphim Vale and Cleotonia…are going to…have…declared war.”

I watched her brow furrow, her face clouded with something that was almost anger, but disbelieving confusion flickered in her eyes.

“Your father?” she asked, her words breaking as tears jabbed at her eyes.

“Your Emperor, El. Your goddamn Emperor Vasilis.” I roared in distraught rage. I’d never shouted at her before. Part of me wanted to believe that she could convince Vasilis to have mercy, but I knew that she hadn’t had any part in his counsel.

Callia…I love you. I love you. I love you. I will get you back if it’s the last thing I do.”

“El-” I say, tears streaming down my cheeks. “I love you too. I will always remember you.”

I hugged her then. Her breath on my cheek. Her body against mine. I didn’t want to let go. I felt her hands trace mine, and then our lips were pressed together and we were thirteen again, nothing but us and the shared thud of our heartbeats. But this was goodbye. I got ready for the end of our forever. Commander Eleni of Cleotonia. My El.

“Will I ever...see you again?”

“Maybe. Maybe someplace else, once it’s all over.”

John is a binman, along with Derek the driver and Kevin a new guy. He is married to a carping wife Lulu and they have 3 kids, 2 from Lulu's former relationship with an estate agent who she continually compares him with, badly, and a baby, which is probably his. He works hard all week but finds peace on Saturday afternoon when the 2 eldest are at their dad's and Lulu and the baby visit her mother. Then he makes off to his local pub where he plays 'Sword of Cleotonia' on his tablet as he downs a pint. His rascally younger brother signed him up as a lark and at first he refused to play the character but now he is really into it, and has even found true love.

Bob lives alone since the death of his elderly father, his mother having run off with a condo salesman she met on a holiday in Tenerife when Bob was 10. He works in Tesco stacking shelves at night and by day sits at his laptop in his childhood bedroom eating pizza and playing 'Sword of Cleotonia'. It's his only escape from a drab, lonely world and he has chosen to play a character as far removed from himself as he could possibly imagine, but even he has found true love.

Two sad and lonely people looking for escape and finding... well, love is love.