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Apr. 29th, 2021 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iniquiticity"caleb and essek messing with the beacon crystal"
They were in his room back in the outpost. Between prestigistation and Caduceus' healing, he had disguised most of the reasons the Vurmus guards would have asked where he'd been for the past four days. The last reason - how Lucien had look, how the teeth had been coming from the air, Lucien's very skin twisting into cobblestones --
He shuddered even thinking about it. He was sure that nothing could be so horrible.
"Here?" Caleb said, and he nodded. Caleb pressed his wand into the ground and conjured his tower. Simpler this time, with closer laboratories, that they could study the crystal they had found in Aeor. Caleb still was still evidently rattled as he was by the sight - worst, with how the eyes on his skin had started to blacken, and Essek tried to forget the way he screamed.
He was free of them, thankfully. They were all free of the Somnovum.
"Essek?" Caleb said, soft, looking to meet his eyes.
"It was quite a battle," he said, letting his gaze drift over his companion and the beautiful gem he held. Focusing on the gem helped to forget. He could see the threads of magic glittering.
"So it was," Caleb said. He let go of the gem, and it began to hover in front of him, rotating slightly.
"Oh," Essek said, softly, watching it. There was nothing else but it, in that moment. He reached out and touched the strands of magic that seemed to orbit around it like rings.
Reality faded; the dunamis embraced him like the lover it had always been. The cool softness of the magic brushed against his skin; it cocooned around his soul, warm, infinitely protective. It was so pure, the very essence of it, uncontaminated by worship.
Essek - said - no, not said, no sound here, no vibrations - felt. Essek, hummed a sense, a familiar rumble. His consciousness shifted toward it.
A familiar other, warm, welcoming. A pulsing flame of an other - the fireplace, when the winter was harsh. Tea in his parched throat. The other wrapped around him, braided itself with magic of the dunamis. An intricate and beautiful weave.
Caleb, he felt, at it. Reached out without hands, with his being. He could encircle it and hold it close. He could share with it the power and strength that had always been his greatest power, his greatest comfort. Time and space bent so easy for him. He could give them as gifts.
Caleb did the same to him. The soft crackle of fire brushed against whatever senses he had remaining. The trickle of strange energy, crackling against him, twisting and changing - the essence of transmutation, Essek realized - everywhere. The other that was Caleb came so close. The other that was Caleb occupied the same space as him.
He understood, felt the crush of his pain and suffering, his determination, his power. That fierce, powerful desire to do good, to change, to improve, to grow. The love that he felt for his home, for the Mighty Nein, for Astrid and Eadwulf - people he knew immediately - for -----
--- for him.
And Caleb was there, the other that was Caleb was intertwined into his being, and as such must have known his pain and his fear, doubts and suffering, failures and successes, every inch he'd clawed from everyone around him, the anger, the rage, and how with Caleb -- there was no anger, no rage, no pain, no fear. There was only a vast ocean of admiration, of adoration, of ---
-- of love.
For some time there was nothing else than the unity of him and Calen and the dunamis and then he took a breath and had lungs, had air, had a mouth, had a body. He was laying on the floor, and wrapped around him was Caleb, arms and legs around his body, and when Essek looked for them he saw his own limbs tangled around Caleb. The sharply carved facets of the gem were digging into his sternum. Around him Caleb was pale and slick with sweat and trembled slightly.
He knew what Caleb had done, he realized. He knew everything about Caleb and Caleb must have known everything about him.
"Essek Theylss," Caleb whispered, barely a breath, "You are a wonder."
"And you, Caleb Widogast," he said.
"We should prepare before we do that again."
They were in his room back in the outpost. Between prestigistation and Caduceus' healing, he had disguised most of the reasons the Vurmus guards would have asked where he'd been for the past four days. The last reason - how Lucien had look, how the teeth had been coming from the air, Lucien's very skin twisting into cobblestones --
He shuddered even thinking about it. He was sure that nothing could be so horrible.
"Here?" Caleb said, and he nodded. Caleb pressed his wand into the ground and conjured his tower. Simpler this time, with closer laboratories, that they could study the crystal they had found in Aeor. Caleb still was still evidently rattled as he was by the sight - worst, with how the eyes on his skin had started to blacken, and Essek tried to forget the way he screamed.
He was free of them, thankfully. They were all free of the Somnovum.
"Essek?" Caleb said, soft, looking to meet his eyes.
"It was quite a battle," he said, letting his gaze drift over his companion and the beautiful gem he held. Focusing on the gem helped to forget. He could see the threads of magic glittering.
"So it was," Caleb said. He let go of the gem, and it began to hover in front of him, rotating slightly.
"Oh," Essek said, softly, watching it. There was nothing else but it, in that moment. He reached out and touched the strands of magic that seemed to orbit around it like rings.
Reality faded; the dunamis embraced him like the lover it had always been. The cool softness of the magic brushed against his skin; it cocooned around his soul, warm, infinitely protective. It was so pure, the very essence of it, uncontaminated by worship.
Essek - said - no, not said, no sound here, no vibrations - felt. Essek, hummed a sense, a familiar rumble. His consciousness shifted toward it.
A familiar other, warm, welcoming. A pulsing flame of an other - the fireplace, when the winter was harsh. Tea in his parched throat. The other wrapped around him, braided itself with magic of the dunamis. An intricate and beautiful weave.
Caleb, he felt, at it. Reached out without hands, with his being. He could encircle it and hold it close. He could share with it the power and strength that had always been his greatest power, his greatest comfort. Time and space bent so easy for him. He could give them as gifts.
Caleb did the same to him. The soft crackle of fire brushed against whatever senses he had remaining. The trickle of strange energy, crackling against him, twisting and changing - the essence of transmutation, Essek realized - everywhere. The other that was Caleb came so close. The other that was Caleb occupied the same space as him.
He understood, felt the crush of his pain and suffering, his determination, his power. That fierce, powerful desire to do good, to change, to improve, to grow. The love that he felt for his home, for the Mighty Nein, for Astrid and Eadwulf - people he knew immediately - for -----
--- for him.
And Caleb was there, the other that was Caleb was intertwined into his being, and as such must have known his pain and his fear, doubts and suffering, failures and successes, every inch he'd clawed from everyone around him, the anger, the rage, and how with Caleb -- there was no anger, no rage, no pain, no fear. There was only a vast ocean of admiration, of adoration, of ---
-- of love.
For some time there was nothing else than the unity of him and Calen and the dunamis and then he took a breath and had lungs, had air, had a mouth, had a body. He was laying on the floor, and wrapped around him was Caleb, arms and legs around his body, and when Essek looked for them he saw his own limbs tangled around Caleb. The sharply carved facets of the gem were digging into his sternum. Around him Caleb was pale and slick with sweat and trembled slightly.
He knew what Caleb had done, he realized. He knew everything about Caleb and Caleb must have known everything about him.
"Essek Theylss," Caleb whispered, barely a breath, "You are a wonder."
"And you, Caleb Widogast," he said.
"We should prepare before we do that again."