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jaskwritesthings · 4 months

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ghost stories

Rating: Teen

Summary:

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Pairing/s: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast

Tag/s: post-canon, Canon-Typical Violence, Aeor, Established Relationship, Major Character Injury, Blood and Injury, Temporary Character Death, Resurrection, Angst with a Happy Ending, Affection, aeor date goes wrong

Author Note: title from the narcissist cookbook - ghost stories

AO3

Caleb grabbed Essek around the waist as he skidded across the ice, yanking him in beside him, flat against the floor behind the meagre cover of a short thick slab of dirty ice and crumbling stonework. Essek stifled a grunt of pain as he curled into Caleb’s chest, trying desperately to make himself as small as possible as they huddled together on the cold frostbitten stone slabs.

His breathing was too laboured to his own twitching ears. Loud and wet like the thump of a heartbeat high in his throat, echoing out into the cavern like a beacon. Essek tried to control the rough panting as his hand awkwardly attempted to stem the steady flow of blood at his side. The wound was shallow, thankfully, but stung sharply, nerve endings set alight by the jagged rough slash across his side. Between that and the bruises, Essek felt as though he’d gone a few rounds with their beloved monk.

Caleb hadn’t fared any better, a cut over his brow had streaked half his face crimson, the blood clotting in his beard turning the copper Essek so favoured almost black as coal in the fading light. His ankle listed at an odd angle resting against the slabs, broken perhaps? But Caleb had been running on it so maybe just twisted badly. Essek hoped it was just that, hoped it would hold long enough for them to escape.

They’d begun the trek back to the surface the day before, realising that their supplies were dangerously low and remembering the threats of violence the Nein and Veth, especially, had made if they broke their promise to be careful among the ruins.

It was just bad luck really. They’d turned a corner into a nest of Absorber’s, a mated pair, violently protective of one another. They had been difficult to put down, the noise of the fight had alerted other beasts nearby and Caleb and Essek’s careful jaunt back to the surface had become a desperate run for safety.

Essek had used the Sending stone he’d been gifted with by Dagen and the rangers to alert them to their predicament and had been assured that the crotchety explorer and his newly gained minions would meet them at their chosen exit point to assist them.

They simply had to reach it, which was turning out to be more difficult than anticipated.

He watched as Caleb peeked shakily over the edge of their small cover, immediately dropping back down with a quiet Zemnian curse.

Essek was about to ask about their situation when a low familiar growling echoed through the cavern. He covered his mouth to stifle the sound of his own breathing that suddenly felt as though it could wake the long frozen bones scattered around the edges of the fallen buildings. He lent into Caleb’s chest, seeking some form of safety and comfort even though there really wasn’t any to be had, regardless Caleb curled closer around him grimacing in pain as he did.

He didn’t know the extent of Caleb’s injuries but the scream of agony as they’d been inflicted would echo in Essek’s memory for lifetimes. He’d already checked his wrist pocket twice for potions or a healer’s kit, hell even one of Caduceus’ salves. Nothing. They were completely out. He fought the urge to search again as though something would have magically appear in the time between.

“How far?” Caleb whispered into the skin of Essek’s brow, his lips stayed like a phantom kiss against the sweaty skin.

Essek peeked out of Caleb’s tight hold, glancing over the field of ice and ruin before them, an expanse that seemed to stretch and elongate the longer he looked at it. In the distance, partially concealed by shadows and sharp jutting ice shelfs was the compact cave entrance that Essek knew would lead them to the surface and hopefully Dagen’s waiting guard. “Two hundred feet, perhaps more.”

Caleb cursed again, “Three of them, we will not make it.”

Two hundred feet, three hulking Reverser’s, limited spells and injuries too boot. Even if they somehow succeeded in reaching the cave entrance there was no guarantee that the monsters would halt their pursuit. There had been no sign of the Aeorian creatures beyond the fallen city but that could be due to a number of factors, not necessarily some ward to keep them contained. The beasts had already chased them this far, and a properly motivated a predator could go far beyond their territory when the prey was enticing enough.

“Teleport?” Essek suggested, a risk but one they had no other choice but to take.

Caleb nodded in agreement, “Ritual cast, I do not have power remaining.”

“Nor do I, you cast, you do not need to rely on your book,” Essek pointed out.

Caleb gently bumped his forehead to Essek’s, deliberately locking eyes with him. There was a well of determination visable in his gaze. He knew that look, it was a familiar determination to survive, one he’d seen enough in his own eyes reflected back in the mirror. But there was more too, a certain fiery glow that was newer but not unwelcome. It left a pleasent buzz under Essek's skin that made him shiver. Survival was not the only they both wanted anymore. There was the promise of more, more to live, more to do, just...more, “Watch my back?”

“Always,” Essek promised, the weight of the single word carrying the promise of forever within. Caleb’s forehead pushed against his own, almost painfully so, as though he was trying to meld them into one form. His chapped dry lips replaced the push of bone against bone, though the kiss was still hard against his brow. A desire to leave a mark that not even the Raven's of the Matron could erase. Essek pressed against Caleb just as hard, there so much potential held between them, waiting to burst forth, so much that weighed heavy in the air that always seemed to remain unsaid between them that Essek desperatly wanted to shout and yell now. Once again, it wasn't the time for it.

Caleb fished a crumbling piece of chalk from his pouch and scratched it against the floor beneath them. He threw his head back as he tried to contain the sudden burst of frustration as it left no mark against the thin sheen of ice.

“We must move,” he mumbled, practically head-butting Essek as he brought their foreheads together again.

Essek nodded and took a moment to peer over their cover. Prowling in the distance was one beast. The other two were worryingly absent. He turned back to face the exit, wide swathes of open flat ground were temptingly within reach, all without an ounce of cover.

“How long do you need?”

“One minute, ten feet of space.”

Essek bit hard on his bottom lip. A minute seemed so short a time but in the face of three enemies it might as well be the lifespan of an elf, “I can still cast Gravity Sinkhole, it will buy us time.”

“The outpost?”

“Best chance of avoiding any major complications and Uraya should still be there.”

They’d need them, no doubt the teleport would only exasperate their injuries. If they managed to make it that far that is.

“Ready?” Caleb asked and Essek fought the urge to shake his head. The odds were against them, they were probably about to die horribly and Essek didn’t want to run headfirst towards the Matron’s embrace just yet. But they had no choice and the longer they waited the worse their injuries got, the weaker they would become and the higher the chance of being found by the predators seeking them.

Still he hesitated and swallowed thickly, their relationship was still new, still tentative as they carefully felt out the borders of their love for one another in slow sweeps of affection. Though he wanted to kiss him, to taste Caleb for perhaps the last time, to pull him close until they were one form, he couldn’t. Even now his lingering anxiety kept him from acting. Instead Essek hesitantly tapped his brow against Caleb’s for once, the familiar gesture usually his partners move, a small comfort that fell short of what he truly wished but he hoped it conveyed enough of his true emotion to steel them both for what was to come. Caleb’s gloved hand cupped his cheek, holding him close as he took a deliberate breath in as though he was committing everything about Essek to his impeccable memory.

“Ready,” Essek whispered, not really remotely ready at all himself.

“Now,” Caleb muttered and they moved as one, the synchronisation hard won over the course of many excursions within the dead city.

Caleb skidded across the ice, using the slick surface to his advantage as slid to an open area of stone and began to scratch the sigils and circle in quick confident moves. Essek followed pulling himself upright and turning to face the already advancing monsters.

The black marble was warm as he rolled it between his fingers, it took just a moment before the spell threads caught, snapping into a familiar weave of magic like the string of a bow pulled back with intent and the marble glowed with a dark shadowy power. The fissure cracked across reality just behind the three beasts, there was no shadow, no void, it bent the light pulling and twisting the very air inwards, circling like a drain and the beasts claws dug into the stonework as they were pulled backwards and away from Essek, and more importantly Caleb.

Essek allowed himself a moment of smug satisfaction as the spell captured all three of the beasts with ease. It didn’t last of course but the precious seconds were worth their weight in diamonds and at least two of the already injured beasts failed to move again.

With two incapacitated, Essek quickly turned his attention to the advancing third. With quick practiced moves he cast Magnify Gravity, throwing the obsidian dust at the ape like monstrosity. Like metal filings drawn to a magnet, the cloud of shimmering darkness latched onto the skin of the Reverser like a cloak slowing the creature and crushing it down into the stonework much to its frustration.

“Caleb!” Essek yelled, feeling the seconds tick by so slowly, too slowly.

“Einen Moment Liebe!” Caleb yelled in response.

Essek threw three quick firebolts in succession, cursing as only one of them found their mark. It did little but darken the thick hide of the Reverser and piss it off even more.

“Now!” Caleb shouted and Essek felt the tell-tale buzz in the air as the teleport circle activated.

Essek cast mage hand with the intention of using it to throw the creature back further and buying them just a few more precious seconds. He turned to see Caleb squatting beside the glowing circle…

And a fourth Reverser lumbering up just behind Caleb without his notice. Essek felt his heart seize in his chest, the cold that had been but a distant thought during their run was now stealing his breath and seeping into every limb like curling frost on a window, growing and stabbing through the muscles and bone.

Essek didn’t hesitate, didn’t need to think it through, the summoned ghostly hand was moved with lightening precision to push Caleb into the circle just before the two beasts descended on their singular remaining prey.

“Nein!” Caleb yelled sounding more anguished than Essek had ever heard him before as he was yanked away from the city.

It was quickly drowned out by his own screams though, as claws ripped through him with the ease of scissors through thin cloth, the force of the attack launching him far from the fading circle.

Essek’s vision darkened, it felt like the blink of an eye but he knew time enough had passed in the interim. He found himself on his side far from where he started as the two beasts snapped and swiped at one another fighting over their kill. Every muscle, every bone, screamed in agony and a worrying puddle of dark blood grew warm and deep beneath him, spreading out against the ice like a tide. He tried to breathe deeply, too steady himself, and the darkness swam around the edges of his vision once more. His stomach revolted violently as the world tilted and spun on a new axis. It reminded him, vaguely, of the first time he and Verin had got drunk on some of their mother’s prized collection of wines.

Essek was going to die. He knew that with absolute certainty. There was nothing else he could do, no spell to give his weakening power too, no strength to move or run. It was done.

He was done.

Oddly it didn’t seem as bad as he’d imagined his final moments would feel. Caleb was safe, far from danger and though he would no doubt mourn, he was safe.

In the end Essek realised that was all that mattered.

There was an unexpected peace in that, a gentle acceptance that he hadn’t anticipated as his world grew darker and darker...

“Thelyss!” someone screamed though it sounded so far away and Essek could do nothing but blink sluggishly as the world blurred in front of him, fading and fading into a mix of shadows and shapes.

He was somewhat aware of blasts of cold and heat and two figures sliding in between him and the monsters but it hardly seemed of concern to him now.

“Oh no you don’t, idiot!” Dagen’s gruff voice was comforting even as his action proved less comforting. Gloved firm and thick hands yanked him up into Dagen’s lap and his head flopped uncomfortably back over the arm of his chair. There was the echo of pain at the movement but it barely registered to Essek, a part of him knew that to be bad thing but it got quieter and quieter just like the voices around him, like the ebb and flow of a tide, it all faded away…

“Let’s move out, how far out is Uraya?”

“They’ll meet us half way, will he last-“

“Less questions more moving fools!”

Dagen’s hands was heavy against the gaping wound in his stomach, it felt like the only thing keeping him from floating away. Essek idly wondered if his levitation cantrip was acting up. He felt so… weightless, so empty, so…

Essek, Liebe, we’re coming, hold on, just hold on! Dagen is coming to you. bitte, bitte, Götter, nicht schon wieder, ich kann nicht, ich kann -

“Caleb…m’sorry,” Essek mumbled in reply, he felt more words tumble past his lips but he didn’t know what they were or if they made sense as darkness finally fell upon him like a warm blanket and everything ceased beyond the odd flap of wings.

He swore he could hear Caleb screaming for him as everything finally, blessedly slipped away.

“Bitte, bitte, bitte,” Caleb’s voice was the first thing he heard, it was so quiet that Essek almost feared he was slipping away again but the pain was gone leaving behind a dull ache that was familiar after an intense healing. The phantom reminder of wounds that had almost…almost killed him. Essek took a shaky, shallow breath in, taking a moment to enjoy the way his lungs felt without blood filling them, clear and strong once more.

At first he thought it was raining, but the warmth and inconsistent drip of small droplets against his skin soon solidified as tears in his mind and Essek forced his heavy eyelids open, to seek out their owner.

Caleb’s face was a blur, though not at the fault of his recovery but because he was face to face with Essek, his bare hands shook as they clumsily grasped Essek’s face between them. The push his face against Essek’s was too hard to be comfortable but was still comforting the way he clung and pressed so close to Essek they shared the warmth of his breath.

“Caleb Widogast,” Essek greeted weakly, he barely recognised his own voice, small and thready as it was. Caleb laughed sharp and slightly hysterical in response, the sound so close to a sob that it tore at Essek’s heart.

There was a sharp sudden sting as someone slapped his arm, “Fool.” Uraya muttered fondly as Essek winced.

“Apologies friends, I did not mean to worry you all so,” Essek offered, unable to even sit up as his body adjusted to life once more. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the faint glimmer of diamond shards scattering into the glitter of snow and felt more afraid than when he realised he was dying. He weakly pawed at Caleb’s coat until he managed to snag a lasting hold on it, gratified that Caleb hadn’t yet moved away from him. He needed the assurance that Caleb’s solid presence provided. The closeness of his own demise was suddenly hitting him in a way he would have expected in the moments before it, not in the aftermath of a successful revival.

“Bunch of fool magic folk,” Dagen grumbled before he turned his chair away from them to command the small force hovering around them to set up camp.

Caleb remained deep in his space, his desperate clutching turned into gentle petting as his thumb rubbed away his own tears from Essek’s cheek.

“I am here,” Essek assured him and himself at the same time. He was alive, he was breathing and he was here in Caleb’s arms, by far the safest place he could ever imagine.

“You were not for a moment,” Caleb reminded him, his voice thick with tears and grief that had only been given a moment to exist before it was undone but it still lingered. Essek suspected it would linger for them both for some time.

“Only a moment,” Essek pointed out, finding the strength to reach up and cup Caleb’s face softly. “Only a moment.”

“A moment too long, do not do that again,” Caleb demanded, something of the hidden darkness within him peeking through the words. Perhaps he should be scared of it but instead it settled something in Essek, gentling the fear in a way nothing else could. Caleb would come for him, Matron be damned and Essek found some comfort in that violence even though he knew how dangerous it was.

“I no longer make empty promises Caleb Widogast,” Essek said because neither of them could make that vow. Death was a constant and their lives were hardly without trouble.

Caleb sighed, the fight growing and ebbing away with the drop of his shoulders, “What fools we are,” he muttered fondly before sealing the distance and ever so softly capturing Essek’s lips with a delicately chaste kiss.

#reblogging myself

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