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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Ulysses teleported to a destroyed city in Turkey, that had once been called Gortiz. While hovering high in the air, Ulysses saw the magical battle being waged. He saw the magical flairs and explosions, heard the screams and howls of the witches, and saw blood splattering.
Ulysses manipulated gravitational pulls around him, making him soar toward the ruins of the city that once was. Once in the middle of a road, in between two terrorist witches hiding behind stone houses, Ulysses made a gravitational force push him from the shoulders, which halted his "flight" and he immediately outstretched both his arms to his sides. An almighty pulse was emitted from his palms which made the walls of the broken house shoot away from him and obliterate the witches hiding there. The Guard officer that stood in the middle of the road under a dome shield halted that piece of magic and formed large shards of crystal before her.
"NOW!" Ulysses screamed at the top of his lungs.
Every officer in the destroyed city leapt high into the air and manipulated the gravity to carry them into the sky. The Executioners stopped their camouflage spells and appeared hovering over the city. Those thirteen mercenaries pointed their palms out and down, light beams shot from them, and hit the attacking witches. These beams of yellow light became fixed on the bodies of the terrorists but did no harm to them, but they did freeze them in time.
"Hold!" Ulysses commanded as he descended. "Easy! We can't have any escape or die!"
Ulysses landed before a male witch. A beam of yellow light rested on this witch from his left shoulder down to his right rib cage. Another beam rested from the right side of his hipbone to his left hamstring. Ulysses, in exactly one millisecond, abolished the light beams and touched the man's head and implemented a neural pause. The man instantly fell to the ground unconscious.
Kiri and Queen Sofi appeared at two other points in the city and performed the same spells. Together, the three most powerful witches in the world had put sixteen mercenaries to sleep, and teleported them to the palace lockup.
Outside of the lockup, Queen Sofi walked up to Ulysses and complimented, "You did a wonderful job today, Uly. Your plan worked beautifully. I commend your patience."
"It is my honour, Queen Sofi," Ulysses responded as he bowed his shoulders slightly. "I am just so happy that we finally apprehended some of these terrorists."
"So am I, sir," Queen Sofi said with a fond smile.
Ulysses laughed and stated, "I told you to stop calling me that. You are my queen."
"She will never stop," Kiri retorted as she grabbed vials of potions from a mini refrigerator.
"I shall never get used to it," Ulysses grumbled.
"I am almost apologetic for it," the queen stated. "Almost. But I have a deep and irrevocable respect for you, Uly. I will never be as powerful as you. I will never be as wise as you. I may rule for the next thirty years, and I still will be ions behind your level of wisdom and patience."
"Be that as it may, Queen, you are still my monarch."
"And yet I would have no trouble following your command."
"Stop," Kiri complained. "You two will talk in circles for hours. Son, I could never get Queen Sofi to stop calling me 'ma'am', so I doubt she will stop calling you 'sir'."
"Yes, ma'am," Ulysses responded. "I will retire for the day. Tomorrow begins my vacation. I love you, mother."
"I love you, son. I trust you and Markus will enjoy some leisure."
"What will it feel like?" Mark asked.
Ulysses answered, "It will feel like gravity no longer exists for a mere half second. That is actually the cells in your body being disassembled here and being reassembled somewhere else."
"Will there be pain?"
"No. None whatsoever."
"Is there any danger in it? Like, is there a chance I will come out on the other end with a deformity or two?"
"Guaranteed," Ulysses replied with a straight face.
"What?!" Mark demanded and nearly shat his pants.
"I'm joking!" Ulysses laughed. "One hundred percent no chance of any deformity or missing limbs!"
"Now I'm scared that I'll lose a leg or something!"
"Mark," Ulysses laughed some more. "It will be okay. I promise."
"You fuckwad," Mark said with a mixture of amusement and frustration.
Ulysses snaked his right arm around Mark's back and pulled him in. Ulysses touched their noses together and enjoyed the warmth for a second or two. Mark moved his head to join their lips in a sweet peck. He nearly screamed when he felt like he was floating, but before he could even think about removing his lips from Ulysses', he felt himself standing on solid ground again.
"Whoa," Mark whispered to himself as he stared blankly into Ulysses' brown eyes. "We're in Hungary."
Ulysses agreed, "We're in Hungary."
"Jo estet, Ulysses ur," the hotel front desk attendant greeted jovially. "Bizom benne, hogy jol csinalod."
(Good evening, Mr. Ulysses. I trust you are doing well.)
"Hello, Ferko," Ulysses greeted the man as he led Mark to the desk. "Csalatos ujra latni. Szeretnem, ha talalkoznal a szerelmemmel, Mark."
(It is wonderful to see you. I would like you to meet my love, Mark.)
Ferko joyously greeted Mark, "Megtiszteltetes szamomra."
(It is an honour for me.)
Ulysses told Mark, "This is Ferko. He owns and operates this delightful hotel."
"English," Ferko said kindly. "I speak English. Mark, the honour is mine."
"It's a pleasure, Ferko," Mark kindly responded and shook the man's hand.
"It is wonderful to meet the person that brings Ulysses such joy," Ferko said warmly. "I do not recall, in my fifty-four years in this life, seeing Ulysses with such light in his eye."
Mark smiled at the Hungarian and replied, "Well I'm glad that he has you as a friend, Ferko."
Ferko giggled at the praise and bowed, then asked, "Well, shall I situate you in the honeymoon suite?"
Ulysses whole-heartedly agreed as he set down some coins of gold and silver. Ferko handed a key to Mark, and Mark briefly wondered why Ulysses didn't get a key as well. Mark rolled his eyes at himself upon realizing that Ulysses would teleport in and out.
"Ready?" Ulysses asked his boyfriend with a smile.
When Mark didn't respond, Ulysses wrapped his arm around Mark's lower back. It dawned on Mark that they would teleport into the suite, so he wrapped an arm around Ulysses' shoulder and upper back.
As he grabbed a suitcase, Mark said, "This feels wrong. I should have jet lag or something."
Ulysses laughed and stated, "No more jet lag for you ever again. I've never experienced that. Maybe one day, on our next vacation, we will travel across the world via airplane. I will pause the constance spell just to see what jet lag feels like."
"Oh, my god!" Mark howled with laughter. "We will absolutely not be doing that. That sounds terrible!"
"You're no fun. A stick in the mud, that's what you are. Now what shall we do? Shall we go visit the markets?"
So visit the markets they did. First was a human market where Mark bought many pieces of art, jewelry, custom-print t-shirts, and foods. Of course Ulysses was kind enough to teleport such purchases to their hotel room so their arms were unburdened.
The second market that Ulysses magicked their way into was a witch market. Mark was astonished at such a sight. The colours of the fabrics amazed him. Strings of neon magicks of all colours danced harmoniously above the canopies. And the paper birds that flew to and fro!
"Wow," Mark breathed as he watched the fake birds. "How is this done?"
Ulysses leaned in and answered, "Each paper bird is infused with just a touch of magic that allows them to behave like the birds that they were modeled after. It is a relatively easy process, but requires time and excellent memory. If I were to make, let's say a macaw, I would have to imbue knowledge of how every single muscle moves and relaxes. I would have to imbue the knowledge of feather reflexion, and every reason those feathers flex. Easy for someone who has studied that type of animal meticulously."
"Wow. That is absolutely insane."
"My favourites are cats," Ulysses said in wonder. "Felines have such elegance and grace, such poise. Capturing that into a paper model and witnessing that model behave exactly like the species it was created from is astounding. It never ceases to amaze me."
As the two perused the various merchant tables, Mark stated, "So I never did ask you how many languages you speak, what with you being six-hundred-years-old and all."
"Twenty-three," Ulysses answered, holding a durian in his free hand, his other joined with Mark's. "The constance spell makes learning languages very, very easy. To learn a word or sentence, I pause the constance spell and then resume it after saying that word or sentence once. The constance spell freezes that knowledge in place. I could graduate with a PhD in all medical specialities in three days, five at most. But I don't bother because cellular regeneration and restoration is child's play."
The next morning, Ulysses woke to the aromas of bacon baking, egg frying, and bread toasting. Ulysses lazily rose from the luxurious bed fully nude and ventured out of the bedroom. He was greeted by the sight of Mark standing at the stove in front of a pan, his body covered only by a pair of grey briefs. Ulysses went up to Mark's side.
"Hi, baby," Mark greeted the witch. "Did you sleep okay?"
Ulysses rested his chin on Mark's shoulder, grabbed the coffee mug and sipped it before he answered, "Yeah, it was a fantastic sleep. Smells so wonderful, baby."
"Go sit," Mark suggested and kissed Ulysses' cheek. "Omelettes will be done in two minutes. Hey. Leave the coffee."
Ulysses whined, "I need it..."
Mark laughed and lamented, "Baby! My coffee!"
Ulysses was already seated at the kitchen table so he replied, "The coffee pot is two feet away from you. I need the coffee to wake me up so I can resume the constance spell. Please, baby."
"Dear lord," Mark laughed. "Fine. Enjoy that perfect cup of coffee while I try my best to replicate it while cooking."
After he took a big sip, Ulysses gushed, "I love you, Markus."
Mark smiled at the witch saucily from the stove and said with sarcasm, "Thank you."
Ulysses laughed and cried, "Hey! Markus Jeffrey Lillico! I offer my sincerest, humblest apologies! I will work night and day to earn your forgiveness."
Mark laughed as well, turned off the burner, took the pan off the element, and ran to the table. He wrapped his arms around Ulysses' shoulders and kissed his cheek as hard as he could.
After the two men had devoured their ham, tomato, goat cheese omelettes they took a shower together. Because they had spent the night having sex, had made love four times, the shower was sex-free but romantic. They spoke about their vacation thus far, plans for that day, and plans for the next day while washing each other's backs.
An hour later, Ulysses grabbed Mark's hand and held tight. Mark nearly gasped at the sensation of every cell in his body disappearing and reappearing somewhere else. It took a couple of milliseconds for Mark's eyes to adjust to the vastly different lighting, for him to view his surroundings.
As he slowly allowed his eyes to roam around the tunnel walls, Mark asked, "How far below the surface are we?"
"Eighty metres," Ulysses answered while his hand glided along the walls. "There are no records of this place, magical or otherwise. Carbon dating indicates these walls are fifteen-thousand-years-old. Excavators have been digging here for six years trying to learn its purpose and who built it. They were unsuccessful."
"Who discovered this place?" Mark asked, also now touching the walls. "How did they discover this place?"
As he began walking down the tunnel, Ulysses answered, "An officer of the guard isn't the strongest teleporter but is phenomenal at cell shifting, which means she basically walks through walls. She was making an arrest and the witch was fleeing and firing spells. Imran was hit and was falling to the ground so she witched herself to melt into the ground. To safely land, she has to continue to descend until she reaches a space she can either lie in or stand in or sit in. She landed up there, seven metres above us."
"She descended so far down and finally landed. Six years later and nothing."
So the two men slowly walked through dozens of tunnels, turned dozens of corners, always intrigued by a colourful stones or etchings in some walls. Both had contemplated the meaning of the ancient civilizations' etchings but had no way of knowing.
"Your mom doesn't know?" Mark asked.
Ulysses shook his head and replied, "She hasn't a clue, no."
Two hours into the tour, Mark and Ulysses encountered another pair of witches making their way out. The man and woman greeted Ulysses with reverence and respect, and nodded at Mark. Both pairs had to press themselves tightly against the three-foot-wide corridor to pass each other. Mark had asked who those two witches were but Ulysses did not recognize either. Ulysses also explained that he was a very well-known witch, everybody knew his name, but he didn't know most.
One stone that completely captivated Mark and Ulysses with a perfectly round sphere with a subtly luminescent lilac colour.
"What is it?" Mark asked.
"I don't know. Whatever it is, it has an energy emanating from it. Its purpose is unknown by all, even my mother. Boris is the worlds most renowned magical researcher, he has discovered and developed and improved countless spells. He spent seven months attempting to learn everything about this orb. He discovered nothing."
Ulysses began walking again, at a much more leisurely pace. Mark, however, was still enraptured with the orb. He squinted his eyes when he noticed a line of brighter lilac glow seemingly swimming near the surface of the orb.
A minute later, Mark walked up behind Ulysses and grabbed his hand. Together, the two men traversed throughout these tunnels. Their hands remained clasped together, their eyes sparkled with intrigue and wonder.
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