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When he saw their face, by the entrance of the wedding chamber, he felt whole. He could remember the joy of finding his fallen star and, at the first glance, he knew it was that person. He didn’t have to step closer and see their divine beauty, even similar to his own, to know that this person was his promised sibling, his partner who would be by his side, and who he was meant to love.
They stared at him and opened a bright smile. The bond flew between them immediately, lighting up their hearts and making their fingers tingle in anticipation. Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, mirrored their smile, and then he knew what was coming next.
Without a single word, they created from the ground around them dozens of swords, axes and spears as never yet seen. Gilgamesh folded his arms, with a snicker and the air behind him trembled as water, and several weapons emerged from there too. In perfect sync, they both released their arsenals, which moved forward one to the other.
The impact roared through the land and, as soon as the weapons were knocked down, each person created more and more of them. Gilgamesh laughed full-heartedly and lifted a finger in the direction to the one who was confronting him, initiating an assault of an even wider rank range of weapons. The totality of his attack, though, was deflected before they could touch a string of the other person’s hair. The king himself was also still untouched.
The adrenaline made them increase the pace, joyful for being able to let themselves free of limitations. They did not feel tired in none of the following hours, until they had made use of more swords, axes and spears than the legends could count. Gilgamesh felt a delightful heat in his chest, as he felt it necessary to dump his treasures into the fight and, even so, the contest did not seem a bit close to an end. He boosted his body off the ground with all the strength he found on his feet and seemed to land on the sky, floating several meters up in the sky.
A new sword showed up from one of that ethereal pools and Gilgamesh hold it, already aware of its nature, never moving his gaze away from the other person. He wielded that which was the sword from a god and an igneous power circled the blade, swirling until it held enough power to even cut the sky apart from the land. The very same power once used in the Creation.
His opponent than shape-shifted their body in a supernatural way until all the king could see was giant spear made of pure divine energy. With no further wait, he attacked. They both attacked. The clash of both celestial shots of an absolutely mortal power was enough to be said that the world was destroyed and rebuilt simultaneously. The cloth of reality cracked and, right before it could plummet in an amount of sherds, was strengthened until it was smooth and flawless. The skies were torn apart as humid paper, magma boiled up the ground, the horizon sewed itself up and the world’s vital force grew up, unbeatable.
And, oh, should it happened just once. But the two of them repeated their moves a dozen more times, until they were out of od and it was impossible to keep that way. And, each time they did it, it’d be impossible to believe that something could ever resist such destructive power. But it was equally unsettling that something could overlap such genesis power. The same amount of power, yet acting in opposite directions. Two beings created by the gods fighting each other in total strength, in such a meticulously antithetical way that not a single drop of that power leaked out to the rest of the world. That combat was theirs, and theirs alone, and no one could stand between them.
Without warning, the stranger jumped in Gilgamesh’s direction. The king neatly deviated coming back to the ground, to what they answered already descending upon him. At the same time, he took out his war axe, the sharp blade shocking with the claws that had appeared in the hands of the rival. He tried to retaliate. A dodge and a counter-attack. A perfect defense.
None left gaps behind, not even when more and more hours passed by and they put aside any weapons, to fight solely with legs and fists. The area they were in was the very picture of chaos, but not a soul dared to step in. Punching, kicking, dodging and doing all sort of onrushes, they laughed.
They existed in the same level. In the same tune. For once, there was not a bit of boredom of irritation. They felt relieved and whole. Whole, for they had found each other. And the euphoria of this battle, being allowed to use everything they got, was something never before witnessed by the king with divine blood, nor by the one facing him.
There had been six dozens of hours when Gilgamesh managed to land a kick powerful enough that set they flying behind. They both stared for a while and the weariness and the fatigue seemed suddenly seemed to remind their bodies of what they were through. Yet, none tilted a bit. They could stay like that for twice that time if it was needed. Then the stranger stood up once again, stepping closer to the King.
“You are really as strong as the stories say”, they said. They already did not even seem to be hurt, suck was their serenity and the easiness of their movements.
Gilgamesh replied with a smirk.
“Did you perhaps doubted that?”
They let out a sweet giggle.
“Not by any chance”, they replied. Their smile held so much beauty that was almost hard to remember they were so fiercely fighting mere seconds ago. “Otherwise, there would be no reason in my self being so strong.”
“I was told you were made because of me.”
Once again, that smile, and Gilgamesh found truth in his dream about his companion being a fallen star, beacuse that smile surely could light up his night more than any of the ones in the sky. He too came closer, standing in front of them and reaching out to touch their face and their long hair. It was indeed a magnificent person.
“I was told the same”, they finally answered, closing their eyes as they felt the King’s hand on their skin. “And, by seeing you here and now, I believed it.”
“Tell me your name”, Gilgamesh half ordered, half begged.
“I am Enkidu, my king.”
“Don’t call me by that.”
“You just won our contest, and I recognize you as my king.”
“It was a tie”, Gilgamesh stated, resolute.
Enkidu didn’t seem to agree, but they saw the unsaid meaning of that in Gilgamesh’s eyes. The King of Heroes seemed to be asking them to be on the same level as him. Not inferior. Not less strong. That was what Gilgamesh had been longing for: a partner. Enkidu nodded.
The stars seemed to spark a little brighter, and it was like they could hear a sweet song playing. They did not need to voice it. They loved each other. Gilgamesh’s lips softly brushed Enkidu’s and he embraced them. They parted for a moment, to take a better look of each other’s eyes. Enkidu laughed as a child, then pulled him back into a kiss. Gilgamesh’s hands groped in search of theirs and then intertwined their fingers.
In meeting that person, Gilgamesh was saved. The weapon sent by the gods to put the king in line tamed him by capturing his heart, but had their own heart, faith and life given to him.
“Friend of mine”, the King called them for the first time. “Come with me.”
The other one stepped back and took a bow.
“Anywhere you want, my king.”
Gilgamesh grimaced.
“I told you already, quit the titles”, he said, bringing his hands to his waist. “Instead, call me by my name.”
Enkidu stared at him playfully. They were finding out they were also found of that kind of annoyance look of the demigod king. Gilgamesh was most often on a high horse and used to be on the above, so, while he seemed to want to pull Enkidu to the top beside him, they were enjoying the idea of taking him down a bit, instead.
“Gilgamesh is too long of a name”, they decided. “I’ll call you Gil.”
There was a pause. Then Enkidu was surprised to see that Gilgamesh was smiling in response. And he even let out a chortle.
“No objections”, he finished the conversation and started to walk.
Enkidu lifted a brow, with half a smile. That woman had told them a lot of great things about their majesty, and Enkidu also heard fearful murmurs towards his enormous power, and even on insolence or two concerning his unpleasant moodiness. However, not one subject could have warn them about the fascination that man would lay upon them.
It was deep into the night, however the moon and the stars lighted up the Uruk city and favored the duo’s walk. Gilgamesh seemed to want to look stern, always walking a few steps ahead, but he also felt that magnetism towards Enkidu, something he could not simply ignore. Behind him, Enkidu watched him mindfully, learning about and getting used to the King, to his silhouette, to his walking, to the way the fabric fit in his body.
The citizens of Uruk were astonished when Enkidu first arrived in the city, even if that did not reached, at that time, Gilgamesh’s ears. The beauty held by the King of Heroes was one worthy of god, that much they already knew. But, to see that new person, so flawlessly beautiful, got them so shocked that some mistook them for the king himself, for the sole reason that no other mortal could own such dazzling looks.
Now, as they were walking as though together, there was no one to question it. But many were the ones who saw them. Ishtar’s harlots saw them, and some of them grew unease, because they knew what it meant the king waiving a wife from Uruk. Simple people saw them, and they grew relieved, because they had heard or seen their battle, that until little time ago seemed to threaten the world and their lives. And, from one of the palace’s windows, Ninsun saw them, and she smiled.
Gilgamesh entered the palace, ordering the servants to leaving him – to leave them both – alone. He went ahead to his chamber, not once stopping on the way there, and Enkidu followed him, all the while not saying a word, admiring the king’s behavior.
Then the royal chamber had its door closed, finally leaving them both alone. Although even with a crowd around them those two could only lay eyes on each other. Who knows, maybe one day they would get used to that and the trance of each other’s presence would soften. Maybe one day each of them could think of the other’s existence as something trivial, not even paying attention to it anymore.
But not yet. Not now, when everything was still so fresh. And, after all, they didn’t actually believe they’d be able to get tired of each other. Each one found the other too wonderful, too bewitching to themselves. And they wanted to study, to know, and to love each other to all extents.
They’d already tested their strength, and the combat had been the most enriching experience. But there was still so much to learn. Enkidu wished to hear more of his voice and see more of his expressions, the boredom, the severity, the laughter, the passion. Gilgamesh wanted to know everything that there was to be known about Enkidu. He wanted them to tell him about their journey until then and to be a part of every new one, to absorb completely that unique personality that his dreams had promised to be a spouse, sibling and companion.
They stared at each other’s eyes, without a word, for several seconds. Not without moving, though. At first, yes, they only watched each other intently, fixing in their memories the eyes, the hair, the height, the hands, the proportions… Then they started walking, slowly, leisurely, kind of circling each other, kind of coming closer. Gilgamesh passed a hand through their beautiful hair, Enkidu swirled around their own body, making their white clothes spin too. Their eyes always mindful, always full of large and sincere interest.
Then, at last, they stood before each other, close enough. Gilgamesh held Enkidu’s face, as if to start a kiss, but stopped right before doing it, locked in their eyes. Enkidu giggled, then downed their face, just a bit, and touched the king’s chest. Gilgamesh was startled, not by the action itself, but by the energy pulse that crossed his body at that person’s touch.
Enkidu did not stop, even if they noticed that. They ran their hands over the fabric that partly covered his chest and then slid it through his shoulders, unhurriedly undressing him. Gilgamesh didn’t put up any resistance. Instead, his hands once again minded touching Enkidu’s long strings of hair, feeling their smoothness, their perfume, and absently entangling his fingers on them.
Having let the king free of part of his robes, Enkidu puled the ties that held their owns. When the pants slid downwards their legs, they merely stepped outside of it and pushed it away with one foot.
“I love you, my king”, they said. And, when they saw Gilgamesh making a face of unpleasantness, they correct their words. “I mean… Gil.”
Gilgamesh’s lips curve in a wry smile.
“I love you since my dreams”, he replied.
Gilgamesh took their hand with his own, taking a few steps behind towards the bed. As odd as it could sound, coming from the king notorious for his voracious virility, since were his, before their husband’s, all the wives… Yet, that bed had never met anyone but Gilgamesh himself.
Because, until the last time he had been there, the king had always been alone.
Alone, except for the memory of the dreams – such beautiful dreams they were – he had about the person he was destined to love.
Enkidu smiled at him.
Then, at last in the privacy that was fit for the two of them,
“Friend of mine, I’m glad to finally meet you.”
They were no longer alone.