Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
I tossed a towel onto the couch to protect the upholstery from my sweat and flopped down. My legs screamed from overexertion. I thought about rotating my body to stretch out along the couch, but I couldn’t bring myself to raise my heels from the floor. I’d done what I could for the pain with my magic, but the best cure for fatigue is rest.
I should have known better than to work out as much as I did. I should have known not to try to match my husband exercise for exercise and rep for rep. He works out with fanatic dedication. I exercise regularly, but never with the same intensity as him. I should have eased into the routine instead of jumping in like some weekend warrior.
Church was on the phone. He paced the floor like he usually did while he talked. I admired him as he went back and forth with enormous strides. My husband was huge; six-foot-four and well over two-hundred pounds of muscle. He was as broad as a draft animal and as strong as one. He was incredibly disciplined when it came to his body and his health. He followed a strict diet made up mostly of protein and he worked out daily. His body was beautiful.
If I wasn’t so in love with him, I’d find him overwhelming, maybe even intimidating. When he was angry, the combination of his size, his huge, bellowing voice, and his red-faced rage would cow almost anyone before him. I knew him far too well for his occasional displays of temper to bother me. He was as gentle as a baby lamb. Not that I ever met a baby lamb, but the pictures I’d seen made me think they were gentle creatures.
I watched his body move inside the slick-looking black compression gear he wore. He felt my lusty appraisal and teased me without words. Every time he changed the direction of his pacing, he turned toward the wall instead of toward me. The choice of turning direction treated me to the view of his full round butt and his gigantic broad back. I preferred that view to any other. I’d always loved his back, but recently I’d been noticing his butt and his legs more.
I wondered about the slight change in my attraction because it made me more like Church. He loved my butt and my legs. He was attracted to all of me, just like I was attracted to all of him, but we each had our favorites. I shrugged inside my mind because, while I was curious, I wasn’t concerned. I was more concerned about the pain I was in.
I told Church I was going to maul him after our time in the gym, but I was so hurt, I could barely move. I hated to disappoint my husband. He would understand, but I didn’t want understanding; I wanted sex. We’d been having a lot more of it lately and I was enjoying our more frequent engagements. I didn’t want to take a break just because I worked out too much.
He was on the phone with our twin boys, Han and Lee. They’d left the estate earlier that day to return to university. It was the beginning of their senior year. Han was studying geology while Lee was studying engineering with a specialization in structural glass. Church harangued them like all parents do when they’re worried about their children. I heard only his side of the conversation.
“You guys made it ok?”
“Yes, I know you’re both twenty years old. You’re still my boys and I worry. You could be a hundred and twenty and I’d still want to know you made it safely to where you’re going.”
“You didn’t forget anything, did you? You both have your energy weapons? You’re going to keep up with your training and you’re going to be armed all the time. I mean all…the…time. That was the deal. We agreed you didn’t have to take guards to school as long as you passed the training and were willing to be armed. That’s non-negotiable.”
“Alright! Alright, I’ll shut up. I wouldn’t want to be overbearing.”
“What’s that? Oh, too late, is it? I’ve already been overbearing? Too bad.”
“Ok, I’ll let you go. I’m sure you want to unpack and get settled in. Good luck with your classes. Study hard and all that. I love you!”
He ended the call and used his telekinesis to send the phone to its charging stand on the kitchen island. He threw his arms out wide and let them fall to his sides. “Tell me, am I an overbearing pain in the ass?”
“Yes.” I teased.
He rubbed his neck with the heel of his left hand and laughed. “Yeah, I guess I am. I worry, is all. Those two think they know everything. I ask myself if the training was a good idea or a bad one. Ancil taught them how to protect themselves. Bem tested them and they passed. At first, I thought the extra confidence it gave them was a good thing. Now, I’m not so sure.”
“What do you mean?”
He threw his arms out wide again. “They think they’re invincible because they beat Bem and Ancil in a sparring match. It’s an impressive accomplishment, but Bem isn’t the ultimate soldier like he used to be. He’s softened up after forty years of family life. Ancil helped raise the boys. He wouldn’t want to hurt them. Both he and Bem fought hard, but they didn’t fight as hard as they might have. If anyone comes after Han and Lee, they’re not going to do it with the kindness of an aging uncle or a loyal butler. The world can be fucking ruthless.”
Church hadn’t drawn a conclusion with his speech, but I saw the point he wanted to make. “You think they’ll be less vigilant because they think they can handle whatever might come along.”
He pressed his index finger to the tip of his nose to indicate I was ‘on the nose’ with my inference.
“And that’s why you sent guards to look after them even when you promised you wouldn’t.”
He rubbed the back of his neck again. “It’s no different than the guards who protect the rest of our children and their families.”
I didn’t agree. “The difference is, the rest of the kids know the guards are there.”
His face hardened into a mask of defiance. “I’m not going to feel bad for protecting my children. The world can be a ruthless place. I’m not going to see one of them hurt or killed so they can learn that lesson. The guards I sent will pretend to be students or university staff. They will not report on anything the boys do. Their partying and their liaisons remain their business. The only business of the men I sent will be to look outward into the world to neutralize anyone who may threaten the safety of those I love. That’s it.”
I tempered my tone to deescalate the tension of the conversation. “I know, Love. I know about the attempts which have been made on us and ours. You’ve told me about each one after the threat was taken care of. As someone who was once kidnapped and held for ransom, I know how ruthless the world can be. I worry about how ruthless you’ve become to protect us from it.”
He shrugged his huge shoulders. “What choice do we have? The Lord tells us to ‘turn the other cheek.’ That’s all well and good if the only thing at risk is a slap in the cheek. The threats our security force protected us from were after more than just a slap.”
I shrugged because I knew he was right.
He let the matter drop and changed the subject. “Speaking of slapping cheeks, you ready to fuck me yet?”
“I don’t know, Love. I’d like to, but I’m in pain.”
“I warned you. I said you were doing too much. Now who’s going to fuck my ass? I guess I’ll just have to ride you.”
I couldn’t believe his energy. The day he put in would have killed a lesser man. He was up early to see the boys off to school. He did things around the estate all day; big things, like cleaning out his garage and scrubbing his kitchen from the huge dinner he made the night before. In the mid-afternoon, he changed into his new black compression gear from the recent Andy Philips athletic collection and headed to our private gym. I got changed and joined him.
We both followed his regular workout. We did an hour of intense cardio. Once that was over, he paused just long enough to wipe the sweat from his face, then he led us in a weight training routine that focused on legs for ninety minutes. We did forward squats, split squats, back squats, pistol squats, sumo squats, jump squats, walking lunges, leg presses, hamstring curls, lying leg curls, step ups, step downs, hip abductions, hip extensions, and on and on and on.
For a full hour, he ran on the treadmill like he was being chased by the devil himself. Afterward, he tortured his legs with massive amounts of weight and endless reps. Even after all that, he still wanted to have sex. He wanted a full session with flip fucking and multiple orgasms and everything. He was ready to use the legs that were just the focus of his exhaustive workout, to support his body while he rode my dick, probably more than once. I demanded to know his secret. “How can you even still stand?”
He laughed. “I work out like that every day. I have for years. I do legs twice a week.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I’m willing to do that workout more than once in my life.”
He arranged a towel over the couch cushion next to mine and sat down. He threw his arm over my shoulders and pulled me close. He was ripe from his workout. The scent of his body increased my interest in sex, but my flesh was still too exhausted to engage.
He wanted an explanation for my recent actions. “Tell me what’s going on. Two months ago, you hired another physician for your practice and spent six weeks training him. You deliberately made yourself redundant. You said you did it so you can focus on building the new medical center, but the architect is doing most of the work. You’re involved, but it’s hardly a full-time job.
You took the last two weeks off to spend with me and the boys. Once we put Han and Lee on their plane back to school this morning, you announced that you’re not going back to work next week. You didn’t say whether you ever would or not. You spent all day with me. You worked out with me and promised to fuck me after.
“For those same two months, you’ve been available to me anytime I wanted for anything I wanted. You fuck me with your morning wood. You let me snack on you during the day. We have long sessions every evening. You always ask to share my magic. We’re spending a ton of time with our minds linked by my power. I love all of it, but I’m starting to feel like every day is my birthday. Why the change?”
I hadn’t planned to tell him what I was doing unless he asked me a direct question. He asked it, so I told the truth. “I’m worried about how you’ll react when the boys move out. Forty-one years ago, you were lost. All you did was kill time while I went to work. When your lack of occupation turned into a full-blown crisis, I suggested you raise our kids. You agreed and spent the next forty years doing exactly that. At the end of this school year, your job will be over. The boys will start their lives, and it’ll be just you and me in this great, big, empty estate. I worry you’ll have another crisis of meaning.”
“So, this is all about me?”
I shook my head as much as I could with it hemmed in by his arm. “No, it’s about me too. I’m burned out with my practice. The work has gotten dull. In the beginning, I was literally changing the world. Now, it’s just a job. Thanks to the way your magic can increase the capacity of others, the rest of the staff can do what I do. I’m no longer unique. I’m no longer changing the world. I’ve been wondering what the next thing will be. I decided we should enter the next chapter of our lives together.”
“What does that mean?”
“For now, it means I’m going to spend all my time with you. I’m going to fuck you with my morning wood, and be available to you whenever you want me, and work out with you every afternoon, and have sex afterward, and spend time in the hot tub, and go to sleep in each other’s arms. It’s a great way to spend time. Eventually, we’ll both find whatever the next thing is.”
“Eventually.” He repeated.
“It’s the end of August, 2077. You’ll be ninety-eight in November. I turned eighty earlier this year. We’re in the prime of our lives. We’ve got so much time ahead of us. We both need something meaningful to fill it.”
He kissed the side of my face and then my lips and then my mouth. “Thanks for worrying about me, Love. For what it’s worth, these two months, and especially the last two weeks, have been incredible. The sex has been great, but besides that, I love to spend time with you. When you started working out with me today, I felt like I won the lottery.”
“Yes, well, I still plan to work out with you, but I’m going to start much more slowly next time. I want to be able to engage with you after the gym, not just sit here like a broken toy.” I took a deep breath and sighed it out to exhale my frustration. My breath treated me to another dose of my husband’s musk.
Usually, Church was the one who was aroused by my scent. I wasn’t attracted to smells. I didn’t dislike them, but I didn’t lust after them either. For some reason, that day was different. I opened my mouth like I was testing the fragrance of fine wine and took another deep breath. His odor filled my nose and pressed all the erotic buttons in my brain. My cock stirred. It didn’t harden yet, but it was ready to.
He felt my arousal through our sympathetic link. “Ooooohhhh, what’s got your motor running? I want to know so I can do it again.”
“You stink.”
He thought my comment was a criticism and took his arm from around my body. He jumped up from the couch and moved toward the bathroom. “I’m sorry! I can go shower…”
“No, don’t! It’s turning me on. I want more.”
He came back to stand before me with his hands on his hips. He stared with his head cocked to the side in confusion. “Really?”
“Yes, I smelled your pit just now and it turned me on.”
“Really?” He asked again and smirked like he won a very old argument.
His smug smirk embarrassed me. I felt a twinge of shame to admit I was attracted to his rank, post-workout, sweaty stink. “Yes, really!”
He knelt at my feet and let his hands rest lightly on my thighs. “Nothing to be ashamed of, Lover. You’re the one who taught me there is no judgement between us. Tell me what you want, and you may have it. I feel bad you hurt yourself while trying to be there for me. Let me serve you for this session.”
The offer sounded good. I announced my desires without much thought. “I want you to do all the things I normally do. Offer yourself to me and let me explore your scent. When I’ve had my fill, fuck my ass like your mad at it.”
He gawked. His wide eyes and curious concern made me mentally replay what I’d said. Once I listened to myself, I was as surprised as he was. I was even more surprised when I realized I meant every word.
“May I use my magic to move you around?”
“Yes, please.”
His magic flowed around my body and solidified into a tangible force. It lifted me from the sofa and gently straightened me to hover in a standing position. He stood and quickly stripped his compression gear down to his sheer black briefs. He gathered the clothes into his hand to toss them in a corner but stopped short. He separated the long sleeve shirt from the leggings and held it under his nose to sample. “It stinks.”
I held my hands out for it. “Give it to me.”
I took the garment and pressed it to my face. The odor made my head spin and my cock swell. I breathed it in and lowered the fabric just enough to see my husband over the top of it. He smirked his best, sexy smirk and raised an arm to expose a sweat-saturated, hairy pit. “You want it?”
I nodded. His magic pulled me into his body. I pressed my face into his pit and rubbed it around. The scent was incredible. It overwhelmed my sense of smell and pushed everything else aside. I breathed deeply with my mouth open to maximize the experience. He encouraged me.
“You like that?”
“Yes.”
“Taste it.”
I hesitated, then felt ridiculous for hesitating. Church and I have been engaging physically since 2019. After fifty-eight years, there was no part of his body I couldn’t identify by scent, flavor, texture, or by the sounds he would make when I touched him in that place. As ridiculous as it was, I hesitated like I was about to do something depraved. “What’s it taste like?”
“Like salt. Pit sweat is a little different than other sweat. It’s oilier. You’ll notice the difference. Ass sweat, ball sweat, even feet sweat mostly tastes of salt. Pit sweat is different.”
His description didn’t exactly sell it. “Is it bad?”
“It’s like eating ass. Nothing else tastes like it. It’s about the experience more than the flavor.”
I gave myself over to the experience. I rubbed my lips into his pit and ran my tongue over them. He was right. The primary flavor was the sharp salty tang of sweat. The next taste was oily. It was more a sensation than a flavor. My mouth felt like I’d been eating greasy French fries. I breathed more of the scent and lapped my tongue over his hairy pit. The combined scent and flavor lit the full fire of my lust.
Church took the hint and used his magic to strip my clothes. He didn’t even leave my briefs on. He also shed his underwear. Once we were nude, he asked if he could move my legs or if it would be too painful. I said as long as I didn’t have to move them, he could do what he liked. He wrapped my smooth thighs around his waist and raised his other arm for me to enjoy what was beneath. He lifted my arm to smell me at the same time.
He used his magic to take me on a scent tour of his body. He toured me at the same time. He taught me to focus on the smells without succumbing to lust too soon. When he put my face in his crotch, I immediately started to suck his cock. He pushed me away. “Not yet. Smell it first. Really get your nose in there. Nuzzle my balls. Scent the skin and the hair. Explore.”
I did as I was told and discovered nuance to his musk that I never expected. I did the same with his feet, his ass, and his chest. I found so many unique smells, all of them arousing. By the time the scent tour was over, I was so horny I couldn’t even think straight.
He licked a finger and used it to trace up the length of his throbbing cock. “How do you want it, Lover?”
“Put me on the bed, on my stomach, and lay on top of me. I want to feel all your weight.”
The next thing I knew, I was on the bed with handfuls of the sheets clenched in my fists as he screwed his tongue into my hole. My cock was trapped between the bed and my stomach. He pulled my ass open and made sweet, oral love to me. I’d just started to relax into the experience when a wad of black fabric floated next to my head. It was the pair of briefs he’d taken off.
I took them from the air and pressed them under my nose. His scent exploded in my head like fireworks of lust. I cried out into the cloth. “I NEED YOU TO FUCK ME NOW!”
He spat in my hole and climbed in top of me. He pressed his cock inside and laid his heavy, solid body on mine. His weight crushed me into the mattress and pressed the breath from of my lungs. I only got it back with effort. I loved the feeling of him on top of me. I loved his weight and his heat and his scent.
He rolled his hips to fuck me with a few strokes. I tilted my hips just enough to make sure he grazed my prostate with his cock head. I breathed through his briefs and sighed out my pleasure. “Feels so good. Fill me with your magic and fuck me.”
His magic swelled from his body and seeped into mine. It ran like water from a faucet and filled my expanded capacity like a bathtub. Once I was full, the magic overflowed and drifted between us. He continued to create more to pour into the environment around us. Our minds opened to each other, our bodies synchronized, and we became capable of communicating mind-to-mind.
I mentally encouraged my husband to move. He rolled his hips to fuck me while he celebrated the fact that I’d started to lust after his scent as much as he lusted for mine. Our hearts beat together while he fucked my ass with long, slow strokes. He hunched his body enough so he could kiss the back of my neck and the side of my face. He ran his fingers through my long, black hair. I felt his lust like heat from a furnace. Beneath the lust, I felt his love and appreciation for my decision to step away from my medical practice because he would need me more than it did.
I fueled my own lust by taking every breath through his briefs. The act made me feel naughty and nasty. Doing it while he could watch sharpened the feelings, like he caught me in the middle of a perverse act. I was so turned on by his scent and by the way my hole felt with him inside it.
Neither he nor I were an exclusive top or bottom, but I preferred to top, and he was mostly a bottom. We swapped roles routinely, but it was far more common for us to act according to preference and habit. While the sensation of being fucked wasn’t novel, it wasn’t routine either. I enjoyed it more than I usually did. It excited me. Church was pleased to be on top for a change. He worked to maximize the experience for both of us. He tried different angles and speeds. Eventually he found one that worked, and I started to moan.
He let my moans and emotional feedback guide him. He fucked me faster to make me moan louder. When our position became too restrictive to motion, he dragged my hips back to bend my knees and raise my ass in the air. He righted his upper body and pounded me. I cried out into the bed. My hands clutched at the sheets.
I was enjoying myself, but I wanted something more. I wasn’t sure what that ‘more’ might be. Church had a flash of inspiration. He wound up and cracked my ass with his huge hand. The slap shocked me. I gasped and cried out. “OH FUCK!”
He worried he’d done something wrong, but I liked it. “MORE!” He hit me again. “MORE! HARDER! SLAP MY ASS! GIVE IT TO ME HARDER!”
He was thrilled by the way I reacted. He gave me exactly what I asked for. He even started to lick his palm between slaps to really make it sting. I still wanted more. I demanded he stop fucking me. He stopped. I rocked my body forward, then threw myself back against his hips. I rolled my ass to flex my insides for him, then rocked forward and threw myself back again. He approved. “FUCK THAT’S HOT!”
I rocked forward. He walloped my ass just as I threw it back against him. I screamed again. “GOD YES!”
I took over the motion and fucked myself on his cock. He slapped my ass until my right cheek was bright red and stinging. I could tell that he was getting close. He started to lose control. He grabbed my hips to hold me still and pounded my ass with quick, short strokes until he exploded inside. His orgasm slammed into him. His hands bit into my flesh as he held on for dear life. He screamed with wild, animal sounds.
When he started to come down from the climax high, he bent down to lay on my back and to kiss my neck. As soon as he could breathe somewhat normally, he used his strength to flip me over. He scrambled around on the bed until he could put his face between my legs. He swallowed my cock to the root and sucked. His hands slid along the buttery, smooth skin of my thighs while his mouth and tongue worked their magic.
I tried to show my appreciation by running my fingers through his long, shining brown hair, but I was too aroused from the fucking he’d given me. His blow job was so enthusiastic, all I could do was hold onto the bed like he had held onto my hips. My climax erupted with a force that surprised even me. He let my load fill his mouth so he could savor it, then he gulped it down.
He pulled off my cock long enough to grin in my face. I started to lean forward to kiss him, but he wasn’t done yet. He raised my legs and folded me in half. He pushed his face into my ass to suck his load out of me. He lifted my sac out of the way and rubbed his cold nose around my taint to huff my musk while he ate me.
He feasted for a while, then sucked another load out of my still hard cock. When he was finished, he crawled along the bed and laid next to me. We kissed and savored the flavor of each other. Church turned his magic down until we could no longer communicate mind-to-mind, but he left his production high enough that our bodies stayed synchronized and our minds remained open.
He offered a mild comment on the session. “That was fun.”
I kissed the end of his nose. “Yes, it was. Thanks for giving me what I wanted.”
“My pleasure. I was surprised by what you wanted. You’re usually not an enthusiastic bottom. You’ve also never asked me to slap you. You’ve scented me before, but never as much as you did this time. Is something going on?”
The things I asked for surprised me as much as they did him. Since I didn’t know how to answer, I turned the question around. “What about you? You’ve been on top plenty of times, but the urgency felt a lot higher than normal. You really fucked me hard. I loved it, but I didn’t expect it.”
He shook his head because he didn’t understand either. Something else struck him as odd. “I thought your legs hurt too bad to move. They didn’t seem to bother you when you were fucking yourself against me.”
He was right. I shifted my legs on the bed and noticed they were no longer sore. “They don’t hurt anymore. I wonder why.”
He shrugged because he didn’t often look into the mouth of a gift horse, but I did. My legs had been on fire with fatigue. I expected them to still be sore in the morning. Now they felt fine. I lifted my right leg into the air and flexed it all around. He watched with lusty fascination. “You keep that up and I’m going to want to fuck you again.”
I ignored his comment. “Why don’t they hurt? Why is the fatigue gone?”
He ignored my rhetorical question and kissed the side of my face. He sniffed around my neck. “I love the way you smell after we fuck. It’s a shame to wash it off. Why don’t we skip the hot tub tonight? Let’s stay here and marinate in each other’s stink instead.”
The idea sounded perfectly reasonable to me, then I wondered why that was so. He’d suggested it before, but I never agreed. I liked the intimacy of the hot tub. I also liked to freshen up after sex. Church never did. He preferred to wear the smell of sex like cologne. Suddenly, I wanted the same thing.
He started to kiss my neck and down my chest. He increased his magic again. Our mind-to-mind communication reengaged. “If your legs are alright now, how about you return the fucking I gave you? You’ve got the only stinging ass cheek here. I want one of my own. What do you think? You ready to top for a change?”
A bright, white lightbulb of understanding lit inside my head. I climbed on top of him and looked into his soft, brown eyes. I felt his magic and his emotions. I felt his thoughts and desires. I knew them as well as I knew my own. For the first time, they were the same. I screamed it in his head. “YOUR MAGIC!”
“What about it?”
“We know your magic has healing properties. It’s pure energy. The flood of magic you just gave me made my legs feel better.”
He didn’t see the problem. “That’s great, right?”
“It is, but there’s more to it. We’ve been sharing every day for two months. We’ve been spending hours a day linked inside your power. It’s changing us!”
He returned his magic production to idle. Our minds separated and our bodies returned to operate at their own rates. He started to ask what I was talking about. I explained before he finished the question.
“In the past, before the last couple months, when you were raising the kids and I was working at the practice, we connected in your magic once or twice a week; usually during or after sex. Recently, with all the time we’re spending together and all the sex we’ve been having, we’re practically living in your magic. We share every morning during our wake-up romp. We share again when you suck me off at lunch time. Then we share again for our long session in the evening. We don’t even disconnect when we snuggle in the hot tub.”
I counted the hours and the sessions up on my fingers. “We’re probably inside your magic between four and six hours a day! We’re spending so much time with our minds linked, our preferences are becoming the same.”
“So what?”
I opened my mouth to shout my answer, then I realized I didn’t have one. I was stunned to find out that he was right. “So what, indeed.”
He expanded on the commonplace expression. “Isn’t it better if we’re more versatile for each other? You enjoyed the sex we just had. You liked to bottom. You liked to explore my smell. You liked to get slapped. I enjoyed topping. I liked to run my fingers through your hair. I liked slapping your ass. I don’t see a problem with any of this. Do you?”
“I guess not.”
“Besides, I don’t want to stop sharing my magic with you. I enjoy that part of our day. I love when we’re together and our minds are open and our hearts beat in time. I feel so free when I’m with you. That’s been the best part of spending these last two months together. I don’t want to give that up. Do you?”
“Of course not. I like it just as much as you do.”
His magic swelled around us again. Our bodies synchronized and our minds linked. We both sighed with the pleasure of the feeling. “Isn’t this worth a few changes in preference?”
“Yes.” I agreed and kissed him.
“Good. Will you fuck my ass now?”
I laughed and said I would. I worried a little about overusing my legs and hurting them again, but I wanted to top my husband more than I was worried about straining myself in the act. We’d long known Church’s power was both a performance enhancer and that it had powerful healing characteristics. The healing is what kept the performance enhancement from becoming a problem. It made sense that with more magic, there would be more healing.
I hoped for the best and set the matter aside because there were more important things to focus on, like how badly Church wanted me to pound his big, meaty, muscle ass.
The Crown Vic Universe
Welcome to the Crown Vic Universe. I call it that because the first story was Crown Vic to a Parallel World, so named because of the main character’s 1986 Ford Crown Victoria car. This story is the fourth in the series. It would be best if you went back to the beginning to read everything that came before, but that’s a tall order. The stories are long and my writing technique wasn’t as good when I wrote them as it is now. If you don’t want to read ‘Crown Vic to a Parallel World,’ ‘From Whence I Came,’ and ‘Stolen Love,’ then please use this summary to familiarize yourself with the world and the characters.
Solum:
Solum is the world where Church and Shawn live. It is in a parallel universe to Earth. The primary language is English, and proper names are usually in Latin. Units of measure and time are the same as United States customary units. Magic is real and people can live to be 300 years old. People on Solum have a closer relationship with nature than those on Earth. Their cities are about half green space. Air conditioning isn’t very common, and the climate is milder than Earth’s.
On Solum, magic comes from nature. Every person had a single magic specialty that they are born with and cannot change. They also have a fixed capacity of energy they can draw on to perform magic. This capacity refills with energy automatically drawn from nature. People also passively share energy between them.
There is no elemental magic, no fire spells or wind magic. Magic is either physical, like telekinesis, or empathic, like telepathy, clairvoyance, or what’s commonly known as medical magic.
Church and Shawn live on the largest continent on Solum which is colloquially known as the Protectorate of the Common States. The continent and the country have the same boundaries. Epistylium is the capital. The Summas estate is a mansion in the wilderness located on the vast and otherwise uninhabited Pravus Plains. Their household stands in the shadow of the Demon’s Citadel Mountain.
Church Philips Summas:
Original name, Church Philips. Born on Earth on November 28th, 1979. Older brother of Mary and Joseph Philips. Married to Shawn Summas. Took Shawn’s name when they married to fit in on Solum. Kidnapped from Earth by Shawn to save Solum from an ancient evil. At the time of his kidnapping, he was grossly overweight, a heavy smoker, an alcoholic, a militant atheist, and a closeted homosexual.
Shawn picked Church because he was sent to find a powerful and compassionate man. Church was hammered drunk. He staggered out of a bar in time to see a young man he’d never met (who turned out to be Shawn) being menaced by a gang of bullies. He held the gang at bay with a starter pistol until they could flee in Church’s Crown Vic. Shawn convinced Church to surrender his fate to him. Church rapidly passed out, then Shawn drove them both to Solum in Church’s Crown Vic. He made the dimensional jump through the use of a magic catalyst. Church was able to save the world of Solum from the ancient evil. He fell in love with Shawn along the way.
Church has enormous magic power and the unique ability to passively increase the magic capacity of those he spends time with. He is the only one known to have two powers, both telekinesis and direct or white magic. White magic is a discharge of pure magic energy in the form of plasma. It is capable of vaporizing objects at will. Church has a history of deep self-loathing, and a bitter past with his Bible beating parents. His folks died in an accident which he blamed himself for. He’s worked hard to get better, and his husband helped him a great deal.
Church’s magic also has the unique ability to link his mind with those he shares it with. His direct magic, which is pure energy, fills the magic capacity of those he’s with. Once their capacity is filled and the magic drifts between them, their emotions and physical bodies synchronize. If an empath is present, they can share thoughts. Church’s power also influences the emotions of those around him. If he’s down in the dumps, everyone will be down. If he’s joyful, everyone’s mood will be lifted. If he horny, same thing.
Church’s magic also supports the energy of those around him. The constant power that he generates and passively emits into the environment provides added endurance to anyone who’s close to him. That same energy supports healing, so his magic is a performance enhancer with no downside.
Shawn Summas:
Original name, Chordus Summas. Born on Solum in 1998. Younger brother of Primis Summas. Nephew of Ars Summas. Trained physician who runs a medical practice in the town of Oppidum which is the closest town to Church and Shawn’s secluded estate. Shawn’s huge magic capacity (greatly expanded by the time spent with his husband) makes him a highly sought after physician. He treats the poor for free and charges the rich to support his practice.
Since the couple discovered Church’s ability to expand magic capacities, they bring him in contact with all the physicians who work at the practice to expand their capacities to match or approximate Shawn’s.
In Stolen Love, Shawn was kidnapped and held for ransom by a gangster who was affiliated with his father, Verpa Summas. Church managed to rescue Shawn and never forgave Verpa for his role in the kidnapping.
In the first story, Crown Vic to a Parallel World, Shawn used his medical magic to remove Church’s nicotine addiction. Though a misfire of his magic and the pair’s deep attraction to each other and Church’s immense power which hadn’t yet been discovered, they shared all their memories up to that point in their lives. They also established a sympathetic link which shares their emotions in real time. They cannot read each other’s minds unless they are ensconced in Church’s magic, but they always know how the other is feeling.
Ancillarum:
Domestic help on the Summas estate. Was a low-level servant who first appeared during the Stolen Love kidnapping. Gave information about the Summas household to a woman who worked for the gangster, Mendax Domus. Was temporarily jailed by Shawn’s Uncle Ars, a highly placed government functionary, who then advocated for Ancil’s reinstatement once his limited role in the kidnapping was understood. Church strenuously objected, but Shawn agreed and Church was overruled. Ancil eventually proved himself trustworthy and became the valued leader of the household staff.
King Pravus:
Last monarch of the continent now known as the Protectorate of the Common States. Deposed by disloyal factions within his own court. Exiled to the Demon’s Citadel mountain behind a barrier of magic. Lived behind the barrier for 1500 years, long after he should have died. The way the barrier was linked to his life force unintentionally made him immortal as long as there was enough magic to support him. Fidum Cacula was his physician and lover. They were together until Church came to destroy the ancient evil in the first Crown Vic story.
Fidum begged Church to end their lives. Their existence put all of Solum at risk. Plus, the King’s mind had been shattered by the stress of endless existence. Fidum and the mad king were ready to rest with each other in the hereafter. Church was able to send them on their way. That saga is what Church and Shawn refer to as ‘the first mission.’
Pravus is known as a bad man and an evil king even though it’s not true. When Church and Shawn met Fidum and Pravus, they were given a book written by Pravus loyalists which detailed the true history of Pravus’ reign. This book was confiscated by Shawn’s Uncle Ars because it’s exposure would discredit the current state.
Bem Ecclesia:
Original name, Bem Custos. Member of the original team assembled to defeat the ancient evil. One-time special forces problem solver. Now married to Church’s sister Mary.
I hope that helps! If you have any other questions as you read, please let me know and I’ll be as helpful as I can without ruining the story.
To get in touch with the author, send them an email.
