Disclaimers: This is a work of fiction. Any similarities between the characters in this story and real people (appearances, names, etc.) are purely coincidental. This story may contain homosexual material, including love and sex, so if material like this is illegal in your region or if it discomforts you, please leave.
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"Thank you for coming, Anna," Ulysses said to the grey-haired woman. "I cannot express how much I appreciate your help."
Annabelle smiled at the endless witch and replied, "I told you decades ago that I would help any chance I can. Now, is this the mercenary that's created all this chaos?"
"This is Mark," Kiri told the woman, both looking down at the medical bed on which Mark lay. "He is the leader of the mercenaries, yes. He has taught his followers a very many powerful spells and curses, some of which I have never seen."
Staring intensely at the unconscious Mark before her, Annabelle said, "Interesting. Incredibly interesting. Will the two of you keep this witch restrained as I delve deep into his mind?"
Ulysses answered, "Yes, and our queen will teleport you in the small chance that Mark somehow breaks our restraints."
Fighting worry, Annabelle responded, "Well, we should get started. Even when he's unconscious, he gives off this eerie and dark energy."
Ulysses created a strip of magical binding around Mark's left bicep. He created another around Mark's right bicep. The last binding that Ulysses created was significantly larger, and wrapped around the entirety of Mark's torso.
"Mother," Ulysses said softly, "are you ready?"
Kiri linked and fortified billions of oxygen particles around the left side of Mark's body, immobilizing that half. Ulysses did the same thing on Mark's right side, and then he removed the spell on Mark's brain. Mark gasped violently as he regained consciousness.
"Well hello, everyone," Mark said with a groggy voice. "All of this for little old me?"
"Anna," Ulysses beckoned.
Annabelle sat on the stool at the head of the bed and planted her palms on either side of Mark's head. She closed her eyes and grunted slightly with the effort she put behind the penetration of Mark's mind. Mark gasped, his eyes unseeing, but only for a moment.
With her eyes closed, Annabelle said to the group, "He's scrambling his thoughts. It feels impossible to read anything clearly."
"Just keep trying," Ulysses gently requested. "Please. We need as much information as possible."
"Then I will need one of you to induce a blank sleep," Annabelle told the group, still mainly focused on reviewing Mark's mind. "And make sure it's a blank sleep. Even in a dream state could make it difficult to absorb his thoughts."
Mark gazed at Ulysses as he approached, and told him, "Even when you learn my thoughts, there is nothing you can do. My followers are stronger than yours, and are unburdened of the fear of death. They have nothing to lose."
Ulysses had heard enough, he reached into Mark's head and inserted millions of cells of melatonin.
"There we go," Annabelle said with much less tension in her voice. "I can see his childhood."
Urgently, Kiri asked, "Was he born a witch?"
"Let... me... see..." Annabelle said with some strain. "I... I don't see any indicators of childhood practice."
"He could be a late bloomer," Ulysses surmised. "Can you focus on today? What are the mercenaries' plans? What kinds of spells and curses have they learned? Who taught them?"
For a few moments, Annabelle hummed as she focused. "Mark did. But there's something different about this Mark. There usually is some sort of disconnect between a person and their child self, but this is a drastic difference. There must have been a huge traumatic experience at some point. I also cannot ascertain at what point in his life that he learned all of these complex spells and curses. It's as if Mark had forgotten how and when he learned magic, or these memories were erased. But that would require the work of another powerful telepath, and that leaves two options; Hassiba and Breanainn."
In thought, Ulysses responded, "I can't think of a reason either of them would remove memories from Mark's mind. Or why. I don't think Mark has even met them, either."
With her eyes still closed, Annabelle replied, "I don't see any memories of Mark meeting either of them."
"Those memories were likely erased as well," Kiri surmised. "Can you focus on their plans and strategies?"
Mark suddenly awoke with a slow, tired grunt. His eyes remained squeezed shut as his head lifted, and he groaned lowly. Mark slowly looked up at Ulysses, and he smiled minutely.
"Breaking through the sleep spell took everything I had," Mark stated with laboured breath. "But here I am. I wasn't ready to part ways with you, my love, even just in sleep."
Kiri, without warning, cast another sleep spell on Mark. She told Annabelle, "Work faster, Anna, he will wake again soon."
In concentration, Annabelle said, "I see... Queen Margrethe... and Emperor Naruhito... and the Pope. I think these mercenaries have infiltrated these governments and are waiting for commands."
Mark once awoke with a slow, tired groan. Kiri sighed, and Ulysses wiped his forehead in exasperation. Annabelle had asked if she should continue to try to scan Mark's memories again, but both Ulysses and Kiri responded that it would be pointless with such small windows of Mark's unconsciousness. Kiri also suggested that Mark be moved to a safe house to mitigate the risk of the mercenaries finding and rescuing him.
"Annabelle," Queen Sofi beckoned, "I must ask that you leave. We cannot allow anyone to know the location that we will imprison Mark."
"Please," Annabelle replied, "call me Anna. And I understand, Your Majesty. It was my honour to help as little as I did."
"You helped a great deal," Kiri told the telepath. "It may sound like very little information that you uncovered, but it will help us immensely."
And with that, Annabelle gave single nods to both Kiri and Ulysses, and curtsied to her queen.
The next day, the palace was attacked very brutally very quickly. Twenty-five to thirty explosive spells hit the palace shield all at once, decimating it. Thirty more explosive spells were cast immediately after, shattering walls and killing Guard officers and other palace staff.
Six mercenaries ran as quickly as they could down halls and corridors, killing or subduing any staff they encountered. These mercenaries were shocked and dismayed to find Mark was not imprisoned in the palace lockup. A male mercenary dragged in a Guard officer and questioned him. When the officer refused to answer, another mercenary tortured him. But no matter what, the officer said nothing, defiance radiating in his dark eyes.
A female mercenary walked right up to the officer and stared him down with her piercing ice-blue eyes. She then stabbed him in the left eye with a penknife, and then the right.
As the officer screamed and cried, the female mercenary asked, "Where have they imprisoned my king!?"
"I don't..." the officer said between sobs, "I don't know. But... if I did know... I would... I wouldn't tell you."
The mercenary screamed as she telekinetically raised the officer in the air. She summoned another penknife in her other hand and drove them both in the officer's ears. She slowed the officer to fall to the ground screaming.
Telepathically, the mercenary said to the officer, 'Are you sure you don't know where my king is being held?'
"Yes!" the officer shouted in pain and misery.
As she crouched down near the officer, the mercenary said to her companions, "The rest of you continue looking and questioning. I will see what I can extract from my new friend's head."
And with that, the mercenary glided the blade of a knife down the side of the officer's face. The mercenary, however, was then struck by a cell separation curse that caused a huge gash to form in her side and she perished within half a minute. Kiri rushed to the officer's side and healed the man's knife wound. However, when she tried to heal the man's eyes and ears, she found microscopic stumps instead of tissue to be repaired.
"Find a telepath!" Kiri told passing Guard officer. "Have them tell this officer that he will never be able to see or hear again and to teach him telepathy! Go!"
And with that, Kiri ran down the corridors, summoning and throwing daggers into the heads of any and all mercenaries she encountered. Her feet carried her fast and hard, zooming down the halls and past witches with unfathomable speed. As she ran past daggered mercenaries, Kiri threw small bolts of lightning at each blade embedded in heads to ensure complete and irreparable death.
When she caught up to the six colonels leading the mercenaries, Kiri summoned tethered daggers. She threw them all at once, embedding them into the backs of these colonels and through their hearts. Kiri thrust her arm back, pulling the blades out in a twisting motion. Kiri then summoned five individual gallons of lava that landed on the heads of the mercenaries, instantly killing all but one.
"Bind this one," Kiri told Guard officers, standing over a middle-aged man. "From neck to toe. And then heal him, can't have him dying on me.""Do you still love me?" Mark asked, only seriousness lacing his tired voice. "I still love you."
Ulysses sighed heavily and wiped both hands down his face. "Please stop speaking."
"I'm serious, Uly," Mark stated. "I still love you. We don't have to keep fighting. I've completed my objective. I don't need to carry on."
"And what was your objective?" Ulysses asked, bored. "The magical don't rule over the non-magical yet."
"My objective was to teach," Mark answered, as if the answer should've been obvious. "I wanted long-forgotten spells and curses to once again grace these lands. I wanted my students to know these spells so that we could rule the world, like we were meant to. Why do you think the universe gave us these illustrious powers? Now it's obvious to me that I won't be part of this world. And I'm okay with that. Like I said, my love, I've done my part."
"So, what now?" Ulysses asked pointedly. "Do you expect me to let you go? Forgive you?"
Mark laughed listlessly before he answered, "God no. Prison or death. I know those are the only two options at this point. And I am perfectly accepting of that. I know what I have done, and the repercussions of those actions. All I'm asking for is a day with you. Before..."
Mark swallowed audibly, his eyes reddening with tears. He stood from his chair and walked over to the window. Staring out into the sun setting over the Norwegian hills, Mark sniffled with a tear rolling down his cheek.
Ulysses walked over and laid his hand on Mark's shoulder. A tear slid down Ulysses' own cheek, so he pressed his lips to the side of Mark's head. Mark's lip trembled as he tilted his head firmer against Ulysses' lips. Ulysses slid his hand from Mark's shoulder down his back, resting on his hip, and pulled him in.
"When will it happen?" Mark asked with a broken voice.
This time it was Ulysses who swallowed audibly before he replied, "Your actions have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. We have no other option but execution."
"I know," Mark responded with tears falling silently down his face. "I know. Wh-when will it happen? It isn't- it isn't you executing me, is it?"
With tears falling from his own eyes, Ulysses asked, "Would you like it to be someone else?"
"Yes," Mark said with a broken voice. "It can't be you. It would break you, I fear. I want you to carry on without the trauma of executing your partner. Now give me today. Be- be with me. One last time."
With a trembling lip, Ulysses wrapped his arms around Mark's middle and pressed his nose to Mark's temple. Mark leant into the embrace, wishing he wasn't bound in a suppressant straight jacket.
"Gentleman," a male voice greeted.
Ulysses planted one more kiss to Mark's temple before he turned and greeted, "Good afternoon, Horvath. I checked and refortified the- who is this?"
The mystery woman quickly raised her hand and a giant pulse sent Ulysses flying through the wall.
Ulysses woke with a splitting headache and a ringing in his left ear. The sky above him was darkening, he guessed late afternoon. He brushed drywall, glass, and splintered wood off his front and sat up. Ulysses squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating on healing.
Ulysses teleported into the queen's office and said, "The Guard has been infiltrated. Horvath had assistance in ambushing me at the safe house."
"Horvath?" Queen Sofi asked, worried and confused. "Are you certain?"
Incredulous, Ulysses answered, "Yes! I recognized his voice immediately when he walked into the safe house. I saw his friend for maybe a quarter of a second before she blasted me through the wall. I only remember her brown hair tied in a high bun."
"Okay," Queen Sofi acquiesced and grabbed Ulysses in a hug. "Would you be amenable to Annabelle- Anna grabbing this witch from your memories?"
Ulysses readily agreed. Kiri teleported out, and teleported back in ten seconds later with Annabelle in tow. Annabelle greeted Ulysses with handshake that lingered. Their eyes remained connected for a long moment.
"That was Zorana Nogy," Annabelle announced and let go of Ulysses' hand. "Slovakian. She's well-known for botany and alchemy."
Queen Sofi stated, "This Zorana has chosen a side. Do you know where she lives or works?"
Annabelle replied, "She has a greenhouse in Zurich. Shall we pay Switzerland a visit?"
Annabelle implanted coordinates into the minds of Sofi, Kiri, and Ulysses. Together, the four of them teleported and found themselves standing amongst greenery and herbs. Ulysses' eyes scanned their entire surroundings, alert and ready.
"There are no other thoughts or consciences in the vicinity," Annabelle stated. "But these plants were watered very recently. I'd say in the last... maybe two to four hours."
Ulysses walked down the aisle with purpose. He walked through a set of swinging double doors and studied the table of ingredients and shelves of potions. Ulysses grabbed a vial of black sludge and shook it, observing the behaviour of the potion.
"That cures all intoxicants," Annabelle told Ulysses from the doorway. "The potion beside it cures muscle fatigue and stiffness. The orange-red one enhances auditory and visual senses. The reddish brown one enhances mental and physical reflexion. All potions to make the perfect soldier. And judging by the hundred or so empty vials, these mercenaries are equipped for something big. We need to go."
Ulysses teleported to one of the tallest skyscrapers in Hamamatsu, Japan. Captain Nilsson stood crouching over a great desk with Guard coins displayed over the entire surface. Isak turned to Ulysses, his bright eyes conveying both concern and fury at once.
"There is a massive attack in Mexico City," Isak said with utter reverence. "I've... I've dispatched three hundred Egil in the last four minutes. We need you there. Ulysses."
Ulysses teleported out, placed his hands on the shoulders of his mother and Annabelle. He teleported the three of them to Mexico City where it was nothing but chaos in sight and screaming from all everywhere. Mercenaries flew in the skies with spells and curses shooting out of their hands. Little fires burned everywhere, the stench of charred flesh hung in the air, and you could feel the pain the humans and the witches were experiencing.
Kiri raised both her hands high in the air and gathered trillions and quadrillions of particles above her. With a scream of great effort, Kiri shot out a giant wave of frost that climbed high in the sky and exploded across the air. The flying mercenaries were immediately completely frozen, unable to move, dying within seconds.
Ulysses shot an explosive curse at a fire hydrant and redirected the torrent of water in a hundred different directions. Ulysses then shot a bolt of lightning at the hydrant, electrocuting two hundred witches.
"Ulysses," Mark's voice rang through the air with a tone of excitement and wonder.
Ulysses turned and caught sight of Mark decapitating a Chinese female officer with a scimitar.
"Good afternoon, my love," Mark said with a small laugh as he slowly walked toward Ulysses. "You know, the thing I love about swords is the power you feel when you swing it. The devastation a blade can cause. Especially when you imbue it with magic."
And with that, Mark swing the blade upward diagonally. A streak of black whizzed toward Ulysses that passed through Ulysses' shield like water through a sieve. The streak seeped through Ulysses' shirt and stained his chest and abdomen. Mark then shot a slashing curse at Ulysses, who raised his hand to erect a shield but the slashing curse lacerated Ulysses from shoulder to hip.
"Zorana created a magic suppression curse," Mark told Ulysses with no small amount of amusement. "It is much quicker to summon, is fired and not placed so no need for contact, and suppresses magic instantly. And do you want to know the best part? Another practitioner has to remove it, and the process is not fast."
Mark swung his scimitar horizontally at Ulysses. Ulysses ducked, and connected a punch to Mark's chin as he shot back up. Mark staggered backward, and laughed as he wiped blood from his lip. Mark swung diagonally, and Ulysses hopped sideways with a roundhouse kick.
"My father also taught me combat," Ulysses said with alertness and focus in his green eyes. "I may not get many opportunities to utilize these skills, but my brain holds knowledge like none other."
Mark swung his scimitar again, but a pulse hit his midsection, sending him careening back. Kiri teleported in front of Mark, leapt forward with a string of luminescent particles wrapping around Mark's neck. As he was being choked, Mark turned his scimitar upside down and drove it upward, stabbing Kiri through the abdomen.
Captain Nilsson teleported to Ulysses and told him, "Tell me what to do."
"This is a new curse," Ulysses responded as he lifted his shirt. "It's magic suppression. We need to remove it. I- I- I don't know how."
Kiri stepped away from Mark and stitched cells back together to heal her wound. Fully repaired, Kiri fired a lightning bolt out of her left hand that Mark deflected easily. A quarter of a second later, Kiri threw a slashing curse that opened a wound the entire length up Mark's forearm. Mark dropped the scimitar and performed two pieces of magic at once; he telekinetically threw the scimitar at Kiri and healed his arm.
Captain Nilsson performed a nullification spell at Ulysses' torso, firing purifying particles for a very long moment. But the black stain on Ulysses' skin didn't even fade a bit.
Kiri teleported the scimitar that drove itself through Mark's back all the way to the hilt. Mark coughed up blood and teleported the blade out of his body. Kiri thrust jagged rock out of the ground around Mark, rock that cut and bruised Mark's flesh.
"Try this," Ulysses said with urgency, "try pulling the cells out of my body and regenerating them."
Mark disintegrated the rock and fell to his knees. His breathing was shallow, and his heart raced. He shielded himself against the spells and curses that Kiri cast his way, while regenerating his body as fast as he could. Mark was nearly fully healed when he had enough. He thrust trillions of linked oxygen particles down that hit Kiri and gave her a concussion. Dazed, Kiri's vision was blurry and seemed to be in slow motion. Her hearing was echoed and tinny. She told her magic to heal her, but lightning shot out of her hands and a pulse from her chest cracked the concrete under her.
"MOM!" Ulysses screamed.
Mark summoned a stream of lava that swirled in the air above Kiri. Ulysses looked down at his chest in time to see the last suppression cell leave his skin. Ulysses shot up to his feet and fought as hard as he could to pull some lava out of the stream. He successfully removed a drop that fell onto Mark's shoulder. Hurt and shocked, Mark lost control of his magic and the lava fell. Ulysses teleported the lava instantly and shot a fireball at Mark.
Captain Nilsson rushed to Kiri's side and healed every part of her body as fast as he could. Within four seconds, Kiri stood with zero impairment. She raised her arms high and pulled particles. The skies turned black and thunder rumbled loudly. A dozen bolts of lightning shot out of the dark clouds directly into Kiri's palms, and she created walls that deflected the bolts into thirty different directions. Together, she and Captain Nilsson went around to the felled mercenaries and decapitated them.
With a smirk, Mark split the fireball into two dozen little sparks that flew into the air and exploded into orange fireworks. Mark then ascended into the air, about ten feet high, and raised his arms out to his sides. Mark closed his eyes, concentrating. Fearful, Ulysses fire every spell and curse he could. But everything hit an invisible sphere. The ground under Ulysses rumbled and shook and rocks climbed out. The rocks formed a head, and continued to surface until they formed a titan. Ulysses had no chance to mentally process this beast before it leapt forward and swung its right arm. Ulysses erected a shield but the titan's punch shattered it easily and hit Ulysses' head.
Kiri flew forward at astronomical speeds and fired slashing curses and lightning spells while doing so. In a mere ten seconds, Kiri flew three kilometres and killed over a hundred mercenaries. Kiri then converted trillions and quadrillions of oxygen particles into carbon dioxide, and flames in the area depleted.
Ulysses skidded and rolled across the ground quite a distance from the blow he took from the titan. Ulysses stopped on his back and he was dazed momentarily. He slowly turned over onto his hands and knees while blinking, and he opened his eyes to find his senses more or less back to normal. Ulysses turned and stood, and instinctively erected a shield upon seeing the rock titan descend from the air with its fist falling first. At the very last millisecond, Ulysses remembered that the titan had the ability to tear through his shield so he jumped back and saw the titan's fist whiz past his face. Ulysses threw a beam of ice at the titan and was utterly shocked by the sight of the beam being deflected off the surface of the titan.
Kiri restored the oxygen and Ulysses teleported beside her. He asked for her help dismantling Mark's shield, and she easily agreed. Together, mother and son teleported and threw a curse each. Ulysses threw lightning and Kiri fire. Mark remained still, levitating, his eye closed and his face relaxed. Kiri said that they needed to strip Mark's shield particle by particle. The two raised their hands and pulled particles from around Mark as hard as they could, successfully extracting a single particle from Mark's shield after five seconds. The rock titan slid across the ground, its feet and arms swinging and connecting with Kiri and Ulysses. Both fell but quickly stood and froze trillions of particles around the titan. The titan was unable to move for a mere moment, but broke through and swung at the two witches again.
"You focus on Mark," Kiri told her son. "He's using some sort of spell to transfer intelligence to this rock formation. The rock is too powerful, we need it dead."
Kiri ran toward the titan, slid across the grass under its legs, and threw a dozen slashing curses at the right hip joint. The leg fell off and the hundreds of individual rocks fell as if a string holding them together became severed. Only a second later, the individual rocks pulled back to reform the leg, and the leg shot back to the titan, reattaching itself.
Ulysses remained standing under the levitating Mark with his hands working at the invisible barrier protecting Mark. It took a lot of magic and patience to dissemble even just a millimetre of the linked particles making up the shield. Five minutes in, Ulysses made a hole in the shield big enough to stick his finger through. Ulysses removed his finger, pointed his palm at the hole, and pointed his other palm to the sky. The clouds rumbled and roared, and a lightning bolt shot out. At the very last millisecond, the titan leapt at Ulysses, wrapped its arm around Ulysses' middle, and threw him away like a rag doll. The lightning bolt had already entered the portal in Ulysses' left hand and shot out of his right, hitting a Guard officer and killing him.
Kiri leapt into the air, kicked the titan in the chest, stood over its head and summoned forty-five litres of lava over the entire body of the titan. Kiri rushed over to the levitating Mark and began disassembling particles. Kiri didn't even successfully remove one particle from the shield before a different rock titan punched her hard in the middle of her back.
Ulysses looked around and saw two dozen new rock titans in battle with the Guard officers. Ulysses shouted as loud as he could, "EGIL! RETREAT!"
Ulysses stood back to back with his mother, and the rest of the Guard teleported out. Both Ulysses and Kiri created the darkest clouds in the skies and created hydrogen particles. Within seconds, lightning shot down a dozen bolts at a time. The mercenaries unharmed threw spells and curses at the two but were thwarted by a sphere of protection around them. A female mercenary got up to the sphere and began picking the particles apart, but was struck by lightning before anything moved.
Just as there were only two dozen surviving mercenaries, Mark dropped his shield and fell onto his feet. Mark pointed his palms out before him and pulled in trillions and trillions of particles. He screamed as loud of he could and threw a giant stream of flames at Ulysses and Kiri. Ulysses summoned a stream of water that swirled around himself and his mom, nullifying the intense beam of flames, while still maintaining his part of the shield. Ulysses also continued to summon more water, expanding the swirling water.
Just as the current was about to sweep Mark off his feet, Mark teleported. Mark reappeared above the shield and levitated there, and pulled giant boulders up from under the surface. A dozen boulders as tall as a man flew in circles around the shield encompassing Ulysses and Kiri, one by one veering sideways into the shield. Worried, Ulysses sped up his stream of water a hundred fold, and shot it at Mark. Mark linked particles before himself that deflected the deadly stream of water while still attacking the shield with boulders.
"I'm teleporting," Kiri whispered almost inaudibly.
A quarter of a second later, Kiri appeared above Mark and descended with an electrified blade in one hand. Mark noticed her in his peripheral and stopped levitating, turning to face Kiri as he fell. Kiri quickly caught up to Mark and thrust the blade forward. Mark altered the particles in his body and he phased through the ground, and the blade penetrated concrete.
Ulysses stopped his control of the stream of water and it all fell to the ground and sloshed about. He dropped the shield in favour of concentrating with everything he had on moving particles in the ground. All at once, a huge sphere of earth two hundred metres in diameter disappeared, and there Mark levitated. A half second after the earth teleported away, Mark fired slashing curses out of his left hand and used his right to deplete oxygen particles around Ulysses. Alarmed at the fact that he could not inhale oxygen, Ulysses teleported on instinct.
"We killed hundreds of mercenaries," Kiri stated softly. "The small victories matter as well."
Ulysses crossed his arms over his chest and responded, "Mark is just so powerful. How did I not see his magic before?"
"Stop beating yourself up," Kiri said. "I didn't see it either."
Queen Sofi walked into the room wearing a grin and she happily stated, "I hear the two of you defeated the mercenary army. I cannot thank you enough."
At the same time, both Ulysses and Kiri replied, "My queen."
"Now we need a plan for Mark," Queen Sofi said with a serious tone. "I think the only way is if the three of us take him on at once."
I hope that you are enjoying this series so far. I have been working on this series for about two years, it is so new to me. Listed below are my other works of fiction if you are interested.
Car Radio
Connected
Do Not Go Gentle
Near Wild Heaven
The Other Half of Me Unknown
A Quick Fall
Some You Give Away
Somewhere a Clock is Ticking
Strawberry Wine
Tearing Me Apart
You Call It Madness
You Don't Mean to Hurt Me