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The chamber must once have been an impressive place to behold, with its high arching ceiling and glass windows that had mostly rained down as shards when the city crashed and now covered the ground in a layer of glittering crystals, reflecting the light of the driftglobe.
Before they entered Caleb had ritually cast Detect Magic to make sure they didn’t miss any interesting items or devices that might be buried under the rubble.
They parted halfway to the center, Essek gently floating above the broken glass, Caleb making loud crunching noises with every step he took. Some of the pillars that once held a walkway all around the chamber were broken and lying in fragments on the ground. Broken pots of beautifully painted clay told of the plants that must once have decorated the space. And then there was the fountain in the center of the chamber, barely damaged and still beautiful with its tiles of glazed blue and gold. When Caleb walked around it he noticed a figure leaning against the steps, little more than a skeleton in threadbare clothes.
“I found something,” he said into the silence.
He crouched down to take a closer look. Something was glowing beneath the brittle clothes of the skeleton. It radiated abjuration magic. Some item of protection probably, still active after all these years. Sadly it hadn’t protected its owner from dying in this room.
“Now let’s see…” carefully he reached out to fold back the remains of the coat the person once wore, only for the fabric to come loose and crumble to dust in his hands.
On the boney sternum of the skeleton a golden medallion was glistening in the light of his globules overhead. It was beautifully crafted, a delicate network of metal protecting a perfectly spherical crystal. Carefully, Caleb picked it up to study it closer, not trying to undo the chain yet. He leaned in. The crystal began to pulse in his hands, the light growing brighter and brighter accompanied by a high pitched ringing, almost inaudible to the human ear. The metal heated up against his skin, so hot that he instinctively dropped it. It fell back against the dry bones of its owner, the pulsating growing more frantic.
“Oh… shit.” Caleb cursed and scrambled to his feet. “We should get out of here, NOW!” As he was yelling these words he was already starting to run towards the exit.
Essek didn’t question this, they had both learned that in Aeor seconds often were the deciding factor between life and death. He began to glide towards the exit hastily. Caleb ran after him, but slipped on the broken glass and crashed down, cutting his hands on several sharp edges as he kept sliding for several feet.
“Scheiße,” he growled, getting back up on his feet. When he looked ahead he saw that Essek had stopped momentarily to look back.
“Caleb!” he yelled, seemingly not willing to leave without him.
Caleb started running again, but before he could reach the exit, or Essek, blinding light overtook everything, momentarily painting everything an overpowering white.
He felt his spells fizzle out and a sudden clattering told him the driftglobe hadn’t just stopped shedding light but had also fallen to the floor.
The blinding light only lasted for a heartbeat. He could hear Essek falling and yelping in pain and then everything went black.
“Essek!” Caleb yelled, reaching, unseeing, into the darkness. He tried to summon his dancing lights and then to reactivate the globe but to no avail. The silence was crushing as he counted the seconds, with no sign that his companion was still with him.
“I’m here Caleb,” Essek called to him a moment later and the relief made him draw a shaking breath, pulling his attention to the fact he’d simply stopped breathing before.
“Follow my voice,” his companion told him. “I can see you. Be careful with the glass, you're already bleeding enough as it is.”
He kept talking until Caleb managed to find him in the dark. He was able to retrieve the driftglobe halfway, almost falling when his feet found it in the dark.
When he reached him his companion was already using a broken pillar to pull himself up to his feet, at least that was what it sounded like. Caleb was completely blind. “It’s fine,” Essek muttered. “Just caught me off guard. It’s fine.”
But Caleb wouldn’t let it go so easily. “Come, let me help you.” He reached out to Essek and found his shoulder, the drow was already back on his feet.
“See, everything is fine,” he said. “I wonder what happened. I can’t access my magic. What about you?”
Caleb reached into his pouch, got out some phosphorus and tried to summon his lights again. It didn’t work. “No, nothing. I can’t see anything I’m afraid.”
“I can guide you,” Essek offered. “Take my arm.”
As they started to walk Caleb frowned and turned to Essek, touching his shoulder to stop him. “You’re limping.” he observed. Essek’s irregular walking pattern had been obvious, even in the dark.
“It’s fine.” Essek huffed. “Keep walking.”
Caleb frowned. “You’re in pain,” he observed.
“It doesn’t matter,” Essek bit back. “Just keep moving and stop asking questions please Caleb.”
Eventually he obeyed, letting Essek guide him away from the chamber. They walked for some time until they had to admit that getting out of the vicinity of the weird object didn’t give them back their magic.
“Sit down over here for a moment.” Essek told him and guided him to a broken pillar, guiding his movements until he sat. Essek sat down too. He could hear him rummaging through his pack, placing some items on the stone between them. One sounded like a glass bottle.
“Here let me see your hands,” he said. Caleb sighed and presented his palms. The bleeding was moderate, courtesy of the cold air in the ruins chilling his hands, but they probably still looked like a mess. Essek carefully turned them over for further inspection. “I only have two healing potions left, and I’d suggest we spare them in case something worse finds us while we are helpless like this.” Caleb nodded. He would have refused the potion for that reason anyway.
He heard the sound of liquid in a small container and then the strong smell of medicinal alcohol filled the air.
“Here, let me clean this up.” Essek said, and softly took his hand. It was a very intimate situation, being helpless and without his magic in the dark, letting Essek take care of him. He realized how safe he felt with him, even under these difficult circumstances. He wasn’t alone, Essek had his back. They would figure it out together.
The alcohol burned in the cuts but he kept still and let it happen, even as Essek began to pick some shards from the cuts which felt way too familiar. Caleb’s mind went back for a moment, to a time when a ritual quite similar to this was part of his daily routine. The scars on his arms started itching and he wanted to scratch them badly, but he held still, until Essek carefully wrapped his damaged hands into tight layers of gauze .
“Too tight?” Essek asked and when Caleb shook his head he tied a neat knot at his left wrist before moving over to his right hand. He pushed up Caleb’s sleeve a little to not get it wet with alcohol and Caleb could feel his thumb softly touching on a prominent scar right above his pulse for a moment. Caleb realized that he never told Essek where his scars came from. He realized how little they still knew about each other, even after saving each other’s lives several times. “From my school days.” he said and left it at that.
Essek said nothing to that and began to wipe away more blood, take out more shards. “My apologies.” he said softly when Caleb winced over a particular nasty cut.
“No it’s alright.” Caleb murmured. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
“Of course!”
Eventually, when Caleb’s hands were neatly bandaged, he could feel Essek’s fingers ever so gently touch his cheek, as if he was taking a closer look at him, even if he couldn’t tell for sure in the dark. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” he asked and Caleb shook his head. “What about you? What about your leg?”
“I am fine.” Essek said, sounding weirdly impatient. Caleb wondered why this question irritated him so much.
“I will make a fire,” he offered. They kept some logs of wood in the bag of holding Caleb carried. He pulled them out and began to stack them, which wasn’t a problem even without sight. He built a lot of fires on the road. When the wood was stacked he made an arcane gesture with his fingers and then huffed.
“Ach verdammt, ” he muttered and looked in Essek’s direction with an embarrassed expression. “I forgot that…” he made the gesture with his fingers again, no flame, no spark, nothing.
Was there a hint of amusement in Essek’s voice when he said “Oh. Wait, I think I’ve got some matches.” He audibly rummaged through his pack and indeed produced a small box after a moment, Caleb could hear the matches rustle around.
It took them a little while to get the fire started. Without magical means it was way harder to make the big logs catch fire. They eventually used some paper as kindling, even though Caleb hated seeing it crumble to ashes. But at least in the flickering light he could see again.
“Oh come on.” Essek teased him. “I know you have at least five hundred more blank pieces of parchment in that bag. You don’t even rely on taking notes with that memory of yours. It will be fine.”
“Four hundred sixty three…” Caleb murmured, staring wistfully into the flames and Essek laughed.
They heated up some of their rations over the fire and prepared some tea. For a while they just sat in silence, listening to the fire and the noises of the fallen city around them. When first setting foot into the ruins they seemed completely silent, but after a while they had learned to listen for the small sounds. The creaking of the ice, the whistling of the wind coming through ducts in the ceiling. The occasional roar from a beast somewhere deep in the bowels of the structure. They learned to navigate by these sounds too, and to distinguish if something was so close they needed to hide or if it was just an illusion created by echoes in the vast halls.
Finally Caleb said what they both were thinking. “I hope this isn’t permanent.”
Essek studied his face from across the flames. “I don’t think any magic could be powerful enough to permanently take away your powers Caleb Widogast.”
“So we just wait until it fades?”
“We wait,” Essek agreed.
“How is your leg?” Caleb asked, not able to let the topic rest and Essek sighed.
“My leg is alright. It’s an old injury, and the fall took me off guard.”
“Oh…” Caleb murmured. “Is that why you…?” He didn’t finish the question and Essek gave no response. Silence overtook them once again.
“You should sleep. I will take watch and trance later.” Essek offered after a while. Caleb didn’t argue. He knew that he needed his strength, especially now. He got out a blanket from the bag of holding, handed it over to Essek and then curled up next to the fire under a second blanket.
But even with the fire, his coat and the blanket it was still too cold to get comfortable, the marbe underneath radiating centuries of chill into everything that touched it. Caleb began to shake.
“Come over here Caleb.” his companion said after watching him struggle for a moment. When he looked up he could see that Essek had slid down to the floor to sit with his back against the broken pillar, one arm raised in invitation. “I can’t have you freeze to death.”
He hesitated, painfully aware of the few occasions they had had close physical contact before and the ambivalent feelings of weariness and hunger it had provoked in him. But Essek was right. There was no point in freezing to death.
So he shuffled over and wrapped his blanket around both of them before he leaned into Essek’s embrace. It was warm in the nook of his arm under the woolen cloak and he thankfully nuzzled in. Essek smelled of ink and magic, and the herbal salve he used to keep his skin from cracking in the cold. It was a calming and familiar scent.
He began to doze off, shivering less violently than before. Memories kept creeping in from the edges of his fading consciousness. A cold room in a tower above the roofs of Rexxentrum. Hands scraped and bruised from desperately banging against a wooden door. Fingers and lips blue from the cold. Threadbare linen and a cold tiled floor. No furniture. High windows with a marvelous view, the glass decorated with a beautiful pattern of frost. Their breath had been visible in the air. He had been certain he would die in more than one these nights, huddled close together with his friends, feeling their heartbeats. Some of these nights he wished for death more than for the door to open. At least it would have been peaceful, falling asleep between the two people he loved the most. But the relief of death never came, and when the heavy door finally opened in the morning the world behind always only held more pain for them.
When Essek woke him up the fire had burned down to a bed of embers. “Caleb,” he whispered barely audibly, one hand on his shoulder. “Something is out there.” Caleb peeked out into the darkness but his human eyes picked up nothing. “Let’s get away from the fire.” he suggested in an equally low whisper and Essek nodded, his eyes gleaming in the dim light of the embers.
Caleb got to his feet, picking up his bag. Essek began to move too, but didn’t get up right away. In the ember light Caleb could see his face was twisted in pain. He crouched down, putting one hand on Essek’s shoulder.
“It’s fine.” the drow whispered, almost a hiss. “Just a bit stiff. It’s fine.” But thankfully he didn’t resist when Caleb helped him up and pulled one of his arms over his shoulders, wrapping his other around his hip, before he grabbed the bag of holding. Essek was relying heavily on him as they withdrew into the darkness.
Essek led him deeper into the bowels of the old city, until the glow of the dying fire was barely visible behind them. Then he stopped and turned back. Caleb opened his mouth to whisper something, but a slender hand quickly closed over his lips.
He nodded ever so gently to let Essek know he understood. No sounds. After a moment, Essek let go and Caleb found himself missing his gentle touch immediately. His heart was beating violently and it was impossible to tell if it was just fear or something else. What was Essek seeing out there in the darkness? Was his heartbeat loud enough to be heard by whatever had approached them? What about his breathing?
And then, after a moment, he caught a glimpse too. The creature moved without any sound, which was impressive given its size. In the darkness and the remaining light of the embers he couldn’t make out a lot of details, just that it was huge and had fine paws like a giant apex predator. When it brought its head closer to their little campsite a giant maw was revealed, big enough to take up almost the entire head of the beast. Caleb couldn’t make out any eyes.
He still had his arm wrapped around Essek’s waist and could feel his chest rise and fall quickly. Neither of them dared to move.
The creature stayed at their campsite for a moment, touching one of the discarded blankets with one big paw. Then it slowly turned around until it faced in their direction. Slowly it began to move.
Caleb slowly reached into his pocket and got out one of the rocks he had collected on their way through the ruins. He pulled back from Essek a bit, slowly and carefully to keep quiet. Then he threw the rock as far as he could, hearing it clatter against a wall and down to the ground. The creature jerked around and began to move in the direction the stone had fallen.
Caleb tapped Essek’s shoulder and then tugged at his sleeve, beckoning him to follow quietly. They began to move again, Essek leading the way. Caleb felt how he kept turning around to look out for the eyeless beast.
They reached a small staircase and Essek began to lead him up, indicating each step with a little tap. They worked well together. Essek showed him the way and Caleb kept him on his feet despite his injured leg.
“I don’t think it can follow us here.” Essek whispered when they reached the landing, sounding exhausted and shaken. “The doorway is too small. I hope it went somewhere else.”
“Thank you for reacting so quickly,” Caleb whispered, not daring to raise his voice.
“Of course Caleb, we look after each other. Trust.” The smile was audible in his tone.
Caleb sighed. “We lost two blankets.”
“And 17 sheets of parchment.” Essek added and Caleb gave him a playful little punch to his shoulder. Caleb reached into the bag of holding and pulled out another blanket. “Good thing Jester wanted to make extra sure we would be warm. Do you think we should risk building another fire?”
“Let’s try it without one for now, I’m not sure we will get so lucky with the next beast. I’m sorry about the darkness, I will keep watch for both of us. If it becomes too cold let me know.”
Caleb didn’t like the prospect of being in the dark cold for the next hours, but at least he wouldn’t be alone. They found a corner to settle down and Caleb nestled into Essek’s embrace again. It felt like the most natural thing in the world and the hunger in his heart began to demand his attention again. He tried to push it away.
“You talked in your sleep.” Essek held him close, his arms wrapped around his chest, his head resting on top of his.
Caleb felt a sense of dread at those words. “What did I say?” he asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. Essek was silent for a moment before he recited from memory.
“Wulf please stop, your knuckles are bleeding. Come over here and help me keep Astrid warm.”
Caleb felt shame burning on his cheeks and wondered if Essek’s eyes were good enough to see it in the darkness. “Ah… An old memory.” he murmured. “Very old.”
“I thought as much.” Essek hummed. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. You should sleep.” Caleb nodded.
He thought it would be hard to fall asleep again, in the cold darkness with the unpleasant memories of the academy and the knowledge that he might say more revealing things in his sleep. But he drifted off quickly in Essek’s arms.
******
When he woke up again he was greeted by Essek watching him with a content expression on his face. His head was resting in the drow’s lap. The space was illuminated by their driftglobe, hanging in the air above them. Caleb scrambled into a sitting position. “Why didn’t you wake me? I could have gotten the dome or the mansion.”
“You looked peaceful.” Essek responded. “I did not wish to disturb your rest. You seemed to be warm, and I didn’t freeze either. So I let you sleep.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Caleb said after a moment of awkward silence.
“Let me see your hands,” Essek demanded and dutifully he held them out to him. His companion began to unwrap the bandages and this time he could watch his face as he carefully took care of his wounds. There was only the faintest hint of a frown between his delicate white brows, and his ears twitched as he focused on his task. Caleb felt a wave of affection wash over him, making his heart swell almost painfully.
“I’m so glad you’re with me, my friend,” he told him and the smile that Essek gave him in return made him forget the pain and the cold and all the terrible dreams.