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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"My king," was what greeted Mark when he teleported back to his base.
Mark, exhausted and injured, fell to his knees and laughed. It was a laughter filled with wonder and awe. There he sat on his knees, his arms limp at his sides, and peels of laughter rang from his throat.
"My king," Fred Goya repeated as he knelt at Mark.
"I'm- I'm fine," Mark assured the mercenary around his laughter. "I'm fine, Mr. Goya. But that was quite the battle. Kiri the Endless and her son are much more powerful than anyone has told me. This will make for a fun adventure, conquering the world. Would you mind grabbing me an energizing elixir?"
"My king," Minato Goya said softly, "perhaps sleep would be a better solution for your fatigue."
"Perhaps you're right," Mark acquiesced. "Tomorrow we launch another attack. On Prague. Keavy, you will fight by my side. Together, you and I can defeat Kiri and Ulysses."
With a smirk, Keavy Doyle bowed her head and answered, "It would be my honour to fight with you."
Ulysses awoke slowly, allowing his mind to slowly come back to the real world. He relished the happiness and contentment that his dream had given him, easing that joy out of him before he opened his eyes. Ulysses stared up at the ceiling for a moment before he sat up.
His bedroom door opened and Kiri told him, "Mark initiated an attack on Prague ten minutes ago. We have to go."
Ulysses teleported his Guard dress shirt onto his body, and a pair of grey slacks, and he and his mother teleported to Prague. There, the situation was dire. More buildings were on fire than not. Two once towering skyscrapers were halved. There were almost no screams audible in this devastated city, just the cries of children.
Ulysses and Kiri looked to one another, and nodded their heads at the same time. They both raised their hands, and manipulated particles in the air to move very quickly. Five seconds later, gusts of wind swept through the city, gusts so powerful that everyone else flew to the ground. But the flames went out, and the spells and curses fired by the mercenaries stopped momentarily. Ulysses looked around and threw daggers and manipulated the air to embed those daggers into two dozen mercenary heads. Ulysses then pulled currents out of lamp posts, electrifying the embedded daggers, therefore frying their brains to a crisp.
Kiri raised her hand to deplete oxygen particles but she was struck by a slashing curse that split open her wrist. At once, Kiri threw half a dozen slashing curse of her own with her left hand while healing her right. The last curse that Kiri fired contained so much power and concentration that the offending mercenary's head was nearly completely severed, hanging by the smallest bit of flesh. Kiri then moved quadrillions of particles high in the air with every bit of concentration she could muster, creating conditions for the darkest clouds. With the skies nearly completely black, Kiri stopped her magic and inhaled three very deep breaths. She grabbed octillions of particles around her and rubbed them together, creating static. The static built so massively that small arcs of electricity buzzed around her, and she roared as she threw every last bit of electricity into the clouds. The giant bolt spread across the black clouds before four dozen bolts of lightning shot down. Kiri pointed her palms skyward and created four dozen minuscule shields that split each bolt into a dozen smaller bolts that struck mercenaries left, right, and centre.
"That stung a bit," the decapitated witch stated.
Kiri suddenly turned, startled, to see that the witch's head was righted and the wound stitching itself. Keavy Doyle fired an explosive spark toward Kiri. Kiri linked and solidified particles that redirected the spark skyward. A moment later there was an explosion so powerful that it ripped through Kiri's shield and knocked her on her back. Kiri sat up on her knees and flung ribbons of her skin toward Keavy that penetrated her flesh. Kiri pulled particles of energy out of Keavy, but only for a second as Keavy slashed the ribbons, surged forward and grabbed Kiri's shirt. Keavy inserted currents of electricity into Kiri's body and then planted her fingertips to Kiri's head. Kiri screamed as memories were forcefully removed from her mind, experiencing what felt like rose bushes scraping and scratching at her brain.
Captain Nilsson stopped levitating and fell to the ground, his feet making impact on Keavy's shoulder and chest. As she laid there on the ground, Capt. Nilsson fired pulse after pulse after pulse at Keavy's head, rendering her dazed.
"Are you alright, Regent?" Capt. Nilsson asked.
Breathless, Kiri answered, "Yes, thank you. Thank you. I need to know how this witch healed from a decapitation, so do not kill her."
Not one second after Kiri had said that, Keavy stretched her arm out to her side, pointed her palm at Capt. Nilsson and threw flames at him. Capt. Nilsson teleported and Keavy did not falter in her flamethrowing, even as she rose to her feet. Kiri erected a shield, but was still feeling the pain of the heat so she summoned a stream of water that swirled around her. Keavy only magnified the beam of flames so much that Kiri's river evaporated faster than she could summon some more. Kiri performed a teleportation but at the very last millisecond, Keavy telekinetically grabbed every single particle in Kiri's body and kept her in place.
Angry and frustrated, Kiri took hold of the particles making up Keavy's heart and put them in stasis. Keavy's eyes grew wide and she began to panic, unable to breathe or feel her blood moving throughout her body. Keavy tried to teleport, but felt her body unable to move.
Wearing a smirk, Kiri rhetorically asked, "Doesn't feel too good, does it?"
Going dizzy, Keavy teleported Kiri to the bed of the Atlantic Sea. Keavy gasped when her heart resumed beating and her blood once again coursed through her veins. A second later, a soaking wet and dripping Kiri teleported back and summoned two daggers to throw at Keavy. One dagger pierced Keavy in the stomach, and the other in the neck. Unfazed, Keavy pulled both daggers out of her flesh and threw them out to her side. Before the daggers found home in the heads of Guard officers, Keavy had already fully healed her wounds.
"You make for a very intriguing opponent, Kiri the Endless," Keavy said with reverence. "The Endless. Only drives me to want to kill you more."
Ulysses erected the smallest shield that blocked a bolt of lightning. He telekinetically reached into the body of the offending witch, grabbed every single particle making up his body, and pulled them out in the every direction. Blood flew every which way, and a dozen fearful mercenaries teleported away. Furious, Ulysses screamed as he latched onto the cells of six mercenaries. These six individuals yelped, startled, unable to move. A few seconds later, blood flew every which way as all six mercenaries were ripped apart.
"Converge!" a male mercenary screamed at the top of his lungs.
All at once, four to five dozen mercenaries teleported and formed a circle around Ulysses. Ulysses turned around and around and around, ready to fire a counter curse if one was thrown at him. But no curse came, only the glares from the mercenaries. Ulysses felt the tension build a hundred fold, sensing an impending attack, so he raised his arms out to his sides, palms parallel to the clouds, and fingers pointing up. Ulysses grasped every single cell of every single mercenary, and screamed with the immense effort required to pull at those cells. Fifty-six mercenaries groaned slowly, fighting with all of their might to break from Ulysses' grasp. Their groans grew louder and louder until they were all screaming, and then the only sound ringing through the air was blood splattering.
Ulysses felt his magical core was waning thin, but he was blood thirsty. He teleported to another section of the city and froze another fifty or so mercenaries. As he fought to pull their bodies completely apart, Ulysses felt a haze creeping over his mind. His vision began to blur but he persisted on, ripping every mercenary apart. Ulysses fell to his knees with his breath haggard, his vision completely blurry, and blood rained down on him. He inhaled slowly, and exhaled slowly, expending no magic so that his core could replenish itself.
"Ulysses," Queen Sofi greeted when she teleported to the man. "You- that was absolutely astonishing. Are you alright?"
With a tired laugh, Ulysses answered, "Yes, my queen. I'm- I'm fine. Just refilling my core."
"I am jealous of your power, Ulysses," Queen Sofi said with awe as she scanned the blood-ridden street and buildings. "I have never witnessed dismemberment of this- this magnitude. Truly astonishing."
Ulysses closed his eyes, looked skyward, and replied, "All to protect the non-magical. Are we healing the survivors?"
"Yes. Riesa and Logan are leading the med witches, and Wanda is making great work of wiping memories. Your mother is in a fierce battle with a new witch. I have never seen this witch, and she is powerful. But I'm not worried, I believe that the only witch able to defeat your mother would be you. Would you mind continuing to help?"
"Yes, my queen. Give my core another minute or two?"
Queen Sofi readily agreed, and stood guard. But her presence was not required as the mercenaries were now too afraid of Ulysses. None attacked him. In fact, some fled, while others remained in their decimation in different areas of the city.
"I will be fully recharged in a minute," Ulysses stated, his voice more energetic.
Queen Sofi smiled minutely and responded, "Yet another ability of yours that I envy. It would take me ten times longer to replenish my core."
"Where would you like me to help when I am ready?"
After a moment of thought, Queen Sofi answered, "I think the rest of the Guard has defense under control. Perhaps you can use your immense strength to heal the masses?"
"It would be my honour."
Kiri teleported and threw curses continuously in quick succession that Keavy found it difficult to block or counter adequately. Keavy was hit by lightning and slashes and flames and immobilizers. Keavy may not a have been quick enough to shield but she was quick enough to regenerate and heal her cells without losing much blood.
Infuriated, Keavy screamed and thrust out a giant pulse from within her. The pulse was so powerful that street lights were bent out of shape or rooted out of the concrete. Kiri was hit by the pulse and fell to the ground. She was incredibly dazed, her vision blurry. She could feel blood pooling internally, and she groaned as she tried her best to focus on healing.
"Something so simple," Keavy began cryptically as she crouched over Kiri, "as a pulse can do the most damage. And as a witch as powerful as you would almost never think to use a pulse."
And with that, Keavy summoned a blade. She plunged just a half of a centimetre of the tip of the blade into the middle of Kiri's chest. Slowly, Keavy dragged the blade down toward Kiri's navel. As she continued with the incision, Keavy pointed her other palm at Kiri's face and fired another pulse. Droplets of blood shot out of Kiri's face and bruises instantaneously formed.
With malice in her voice, Keavy promised Kiri, "I will be the last face you ever see."
Kiri tried with all of her might to regain her senses just enough to beckon her magic to heal to no avail. But she could also feel rivulets of blood cascading the entirety of her torso. Short of breath, Kiri's eyes roamed over the clouds as they lazily moved in the skies. She could finally, finally feel her magic behaving correctly. All at once she healed the cells in her brain in a fraction of a second and threw four separate slashing curses at Keavy. Keavy careened down to the ground with blood spurting out of her body. Kiri sat while also healing the giant gash in her torso. Keavy laughed darkly while trying to heal the four wounds, her left arm nearly severed at the elbow.
"Not so fast," Kiri said with malice.
Kiri created particles that streamed into Keavy's left ear. Keavy's pupils dilated and her consciousness became foggy. The particles came out of Keavy's right ear, but went back in immediately.
"The thing about living endlessly," Kiri began cryptically and yanked Keavy's head up by her hair, "is the possibilities of your magical abilities. The methods of torture. It's just deliciously good fun!"
Kiri grabbed just three dozen skin cells from Keavy's chest and yanked them out, resulting in a tiny stream of blood pooling between her breasts. Kiri then yanked three dozen skin cells from the bottom of Keavy's abdomen. And then three dozen more from the top.
Kiri was preparing to pull more cells but she was kicked in the upper back by a pair of feet and crashed to the ground. Kiri flipped over onto her back to be met by the sight of a male mercenary with two orbs of lightning in his palms.
"My king taught me this nifty little trick," the male mercenary said with wonder. "Witches, as you know, have existed for hundreds of thousands of years. And yet, only now have learned that you can contain such power and destruction in the palm of your hand."
Kiri, fast as lightning, pulled a single particle out of the orb in the mercenary's left hand. The lightning breached easily after that, hitting the mercenary in the side of the face.
Kiri was again crouched over Keavy and rhetorically asked, "What is it with you mercenaries presenting a monologue? Just attack and be done with it."
Kiri, all in a single second, created a shield around Keavy's spine and forcefully removed it from her body. Kiri turned around with Keavy's spine held high in the air. All of the other mercenaries witnessing this teleported, either retreating or fighting in different areas of the city. Kiri herself teleport to the east side of the city where the mercenaries were terrorizing relentlessly, brutally. Kiri, one by one but at incredible speed, removed spines from mercenaries. More and more mercenaries became fearful, teleporting out of the city as their pupils dilated, sensing their impending dooms.
Ulysses teleported to the Singing Fountain where the Guard were teleporting injured witches. Ulysses shot out three dozen streams of connected oxygen particles that attached to the injured witches. Ulysses grasped a single particle from each witch connected to him, and replicated them until their injuries were completely healed.
Ulysses put his magical core to sleep, however briefly, closed his eyes, and inhaled slowly. Ulysses' core refilled in moments, so he rapidly healed another thirty injured witches. Ulysses' core drained a little bit more than earlier, and once again put his magic to a quick rest.
"Perhaps you should let the others do the healing," Cpt. Nilsson suggested softly. "If you deplete your core, you won't be able to help anyone or defend adequately. Rest."
"Just one more."
Cpt. Nilsson had no time to rebut or protest, Ulysses sent out another thirty links to injured witches. When every one of them were healed and teleporting off to resume their parts in the battle, Ulysses inhaled slowly with his eyes squeezed shut. Alarmed at the snail pace that his core was refilling, Ulysses sank down to his knees.
"I'm fine," Ulysses told Cpt. Nilsson. "I've overdone it with the cellular regenerations. I'll be perfectly okay in a couple of minutes."
"How do you do it?" Cpt. Nilsson asked with wonder and awe. "How do you heal so many practitioners at once? The most I can heal is two, three if one of them is a child."
A little breathless, Ulysses answered, "Centuries and centuries... of practice. When I was... your age I... couldn't heal... more than three people."
Nervous, Cpt. Nilsson said, "Want to know a secret? Roughly five years ago, I tried to perform the cellular constance spell. All that happened was blood froze in time in this one spot in my abdomen. Your mother had to help me reverse the spell."
Ulysses laughed softly as he stood up, fully recovered. Ulysses gently grasped the back of Cpt. Nilsson's neck and gave it a soft squeeze.
With a gentle laugh, Cpt. Nilsson swatted Ulysses' hand away and said, "Let's go check on your mother."
Kiri created a shield and then instantly inserted particles into the body the offending mercenary. These particles acted as tranquilizers that put the mercenary's core in stasis. Kiri then removed cells from the mercenary's forehead, and removed some more. Blood ran down the mercenary's face, as did tears, and eventually Kiri was able to remove the scalp.
"Did you really believe that you could even get the smallest shot in?" Kiri asked with malice. "Do you see this knife? Sixteen centimetres long, five centimetres wide. Your death will be instantaneous. You will feel nothing."
Kiri plunged the blade through the mercenary's brain, and Ulysses had teleported in right at that moment.
"You seem to have things under control here, mother," Ulysses stated as he scanned the area. "Do you need healing?"
"No."
"Do you need help with core replenishment?"
Kiri smiled dazzlingly and answered, "No, fully powered back up. Let's go."
Ulysses was just beginning to teleport to another part of the city when a curse hit his right shoulder blade that sent him flying down to the ground. Kiri had no chance to turn because she was hit by a cell displacement spell that shattered a fraction of her shield and depleted a chunk from her hip. Kiri only bled profusely for a second before she regenerated her flesh.
"Good afternoon, lover," Mark's voice rang sultrily.
Ulysses stood but then found he was staring out into the sun setting over hills in Australia. Perplexed, Ulysses turned his head to the right, and then the left. Ulysses looked up and saw a seagull flying and heard its cawing. Concerned, Ulysses tried to teleport but found his cells unable to zap away.
"This is not real," Ulysses said quietly to himself. "What is this? How are you doing this?"
From behind Ulysses, Mark's voice responded, "This is soul magic."
Startled, Ulysses turned and attempted to fire a lightning bolt. No magic seeped from his core, no lightning shot from his hand. Mark just stood there, a fondness in his eye.
"Soul magic?" Ulysses repeated with disbelief. "I've never heard of it. It's not real."
"But it is," Mark said simply. "I have your consciousness in the palm of my hand. Out in the material world, you and I are standing in the streets of Prague, seemingly frozen in time. Your mother is destroying my ten thousand shields trying to protect you. But she will be unsuccessful. You are mine, you are at my mercy. I control what happens here."
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