Work Text:
While there was still some semblance of urgency to get to the T-dock, Caleb could not help but be drawn to the unexplored rooms and corridors that the Nein had skipped their first time through. With Essek being similarly allured, it was taking longer than initially anticipated to make progress.
Caleb was a little surprised to find that he didn't mind.
After Essek had called him out on his old habit, some of the tension between them had eased. Caleb had not anticipated the burst of protectiveness, for him to go so far as to tend to his trivial pains. But as Caleb had relinquished himself to Essek's ministrations, something inside of him had burst, and it was with great relief that he released a modicum of control. It was an odd sensation. Not dissimilar to the times Veth would admonish him for forgetting to eat or for staying up too late.
It was a form of love he struggled to accept. Every time, he couldn't help but think of his mother doing the same. It was one of the last things she had done, loading the table with entirely too much food during Bren's last visit.
One of his last memories of her before the false ones had been implanted.
But it was love nonetheless, and so it was with bittersweetness that Caleb accepted it. It had wiped the frustration and anxiety from Essek's posture, and that alone made it worth it.
There was a new and unspoken closeness between them. It manifested as small touches. Before there had been a reticence, but now it was easy and casual. Hands drifting against one another as they shared notes, a shoulder touch as they walked along side one another...
It was nice for now. Caleb craved more, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. Essek seemed comfortable with this much, and there was the task at hand.
"This appears to be similar to the rejuvenation rooms," Essek noted, walking around the central device in a room labelled Pre-Trans. At least, that's what Caleb's translation spell could make out.
"Yes, complete with another, eh... dunamantic crystal," Caleb said slowly and deliberately, spotting the small crystal embedded at the base. He knelt down to get a closer look and confirmed as much as he found the space-like patterns embedded deeply within.
Essek knelt alongside him, eyeing the crystal as well before looking over at the corpse on the far side of the chambers. "It is unfortunate that we do not have Caduceus with us."
"Or Fjord to run in and act as our test subject," Caleb said with a slight grin. He sighed as he looked up at the device. "But I'm sure we can divine its purpose on our own."
Instead of the upright glass tube that rejuvenated Fjord, this device had the tube at an angle with a flat metal table parallel to it. It was currently open, and one could easily lay back against the metal slab.
"We have to assume it is medicinally related," Caleb said, inspecting it more closely without touching. "The design is too closely related to the rejuvenation chambers."
"That seems like a fair assumption." Essek began tracing his fingers in the air, beginning to cast the shorter version of the identify spell.
Caleb didn't think the spell would work, not entirely certain this device was magical beyond the piece of dunamis powering it, but it couldn't hurt. As Essek cast, Caleb trailed a finger along the open glass, searching for any flaws or other markings while his comprehend languages spell was still active.
The rejuvenation chamber had been activated as soon as Fjord had entered, seemingly no other triggered required. One would assume the same would be true here as well.
Which was why Caleb felt like an imbecile the moment he touched the metal slab.
It was like a weaker version of Essek's gravity spell, Caleb's body pulled up against the slab's surface as the glass rotated around and sealed him in. Immediately, all sound was cut off. The slab was like a magnet, keeping his head, back, and limbs against the surface, leaving him immobile. Even his fingers were forced flat against the surface. Caleb could see Essek's lips moving his eyes wide and a little panicked as his hands scrabbled over the surface of the glass.
Then there was bright flashing lights, and a buzzing sensation began to encroach over his body. While it wasn't painful, it was intense and uncomfortable. With every passing second, it got worse. Like pins and needles piercing every inch of his skin over and over again, from the bottom of his feet to his very eyelids.
After five seconds, it began to hurt. Caleb had his eyes squeezed shut, his teeth clenched as he bared through it.
Then it all powered down. The buzzing lowered in frequency until it came to stillness, the blinding light fading with it. As the device released its hold on Caleb, the glass slid away just in time for him to slump limply against a body.
"I've got you, Caleb, I've got you..." Essek murmured as he guided his body to the ground. Caleb belatedly realized that he couldn't feel the cold air of the ruins or any warmth from Essek's touch. There was just pressure.
Caleb winced, not from pain but from a realization that he couldn't really move. He blinked languidly as he commanded his arm to raise up. He wasn't sure if it did until his hand sluggishly came into his field of vision.
His body felt very wrong.
"Caleb?" Essek was leaning over him, brow furrowed in worry. "Are you alright? Say something!"
Caleb opened his mouth, licking his lips on instinct. It was a disturbing sensation, the lack of the familiar feeling of the action. "Ah... I..." He let out a shuddered sigh, relieved that he could at least make sound. "I am... okay?" He cringed as his lips struggled to obey, which in of itself was a strange sensation. There was the pressure and pull of his muscles but not much else. His skin felt foreign, both there and not.
It was immensely unsettling.
"Are you certain?" Essek asked, no longer leaning right above him, but still regarding him with uncertain worry.
"No." Caleb slowly moved his limbs, getting his elbows beneath him and carefully pushing himself up. There was a low thrum of anxiety in his chest, and at the moment, it felt more real and a part of him than his own body. He could only distantly keep track of his extremities, his skin completely numb, and his muscles nothing but strange pulls and pressures whenever they moved. "I... c-can' really f-feel... things..."
Essek's brow furrowed as he gave Caleb's body a more detached and appraising scan. He had an arm behind Caleb's back, helping him sit up. Caleb was still moving deliberately slow, not wanting to hurt himself unknowingly, shifting his hips and pulling his legs in so he could sit up without support. Although he was relieved when Essek still did not pull away. It was just a pressure, no warmth, but the proximity also brought with it the comforting and familiar scent of herbal ozone. It kept his anxiety from swelling further.
Essek tightened his grip on Caleb's shoulders as he leaned against his side, looking back up at the device. Caleb found himself leaning into the more secure embrace. It had been a long time since he'd been held like this. The closest was the other night when Essek had found him and ushered him back to his own bedchambers.
"If we assume it was medical in nature..." Essek said thoughtfully. "Perhaps it was a means of preparing one for an invasive procedure, a magical anesthetic?"
At the specific usage of the past tense, Caleb looked back at the device to see that it had been destroyed. While the glass tube and slab remained intact, it's base had been rend asunder, practically turned to powder with the dunamantic gem left abandoned on the ground. Caleb recognized the damage as the same Essek had used before to extract the previous gem. Given that Essek had forcibly ended the procedure, they had to assume that it had been an incomplete process.
"I'm... inclined to agree." Caleb was still speaking slowly, struggling to form words without a pronounced slur. He sighed as his body sagged against Essek's side. He missed the drow's warmth, feeling far too detached in the moment.
Essek gave a soft scowl as he looked around. "There does not appear to be any immediate danger, but can you move your fingers well enough to cast the dome?"
Caleb cringed as he tried to flex his fingers. They did move upon his command, he could feel the tension of his muscles as they did, but he sincerely doubted he had the dexterity to cast it even ritually.
Essek seemed to surmise as much without further input. "That's alright, I can..." He paused. "May I use your spellbook?"
It took a moment for the words to process. Then it was another moment before he understood the request. "Ah, j-ja..." His fingers fumbled along the straps of leather under his armpit, but he struggled get a proper hold on the the clasp.
"I... I can get it." There was a pause. "You okay with that?"
Caleb frowned as he looked up at Essek. He had his head tilted down slightly, meaningfully looking downward. Caleb followed his line of sight and saw his own hand clawed and gripping Essek's thigh in a death grasp, keeping Essek's body entangled with his.
His cheeks warmed, but he didn't move away. In fact, his hand reflexively tightened further, the muscles in his back and shoulders loosening as he leaned heavier against Essek's side. He didn't want to let go.
He could hear Essek sighing softly. Caleb squirmed, bothered by the fact that he couldn't feel the displacement of warm air against his skin. There was just nothing, as if his body was just senseless shell.
His grip tightened further. He felt untethered.
Caleb floated in the unfeeling silence for nearly two minutes before Essek broke it once more. "Caleb, we don't know how long you're going to remain in such a state. I am not confident enough in my skills to protect the both of us if danger comes by. It's prudent we get the dome up."
Instantly, Caleb felt like a child. Reason and practicality hit him like a falling lodestone. So with great effort, he managed to manipulate the pressure and tension in his hand to release Essek's leg and pull himself from the embrace. He felt even more foolish when the absence of the bodily pressure sent a shock of anxiety and bitter longing through him.
Essek deftly removed Caleb's spellbook from its holster, quickly flipping to the relevant page. He pulled out his own crystal bead from his pocket dimension and began to cast.
Caleb just sat there, both his skin and mind numb as he counted the seconds. The spell would take eleven minutes to cast, approximately six hundred and sixty seconds, give or take depending on the caster's familiarity with the particular spell. As he counted, he was overly aware of his insides: the tension and release of individual muscles as he kept himself from falling flat on his face, the gurgling of his stomach as it processed the meager ration he had consumed earlier, the loud beating of his heart growing steadily faster as the minutes crawled on...
Six hundred and fifty-five seconds later, there was a displacement of air, and the space was alight with a cool bluish glow. There was only a faint shimmer to indicate the arcane barrier around them, protecting them from the darker ruins beyond.
Caleb's spellbook was placed in his lap before the bodily pressure returned. It only marginally eased the anxiety thrumming in his chest, but Essek's familiar scent helped calm the rest. Caleb closed his eyes, leaning heavily into the pressure as the embarrassingly intense wave of relief came over him.
"Is it any better?" Essek asked.
"I still can't..." Caleb winced again, struggling to get his lips to move properly. "Still numb, but..." He allowed himself to press his face against Essek's chest, fully breathing in his scent. "... this is better."
Essek's body shifted slightly as he sat fully beside Caleb and tightened his side embrace. "Well, we have eight hours of safety. Hopefully the effects will wear off long before then."
At this point, he was completely throwing any sense of pride or shame to the wind, allowing himself to relax fully against Essek, still craving both the pressure and his general presence.
It was a wonder that Essek did not complain or ask him to move, even when nearly an hour went by. It was at that point that the numbness finally began to fade. He was beginning to feel Essek's body heat, the pressure of his touch evolving into a more complex hold that put Caleb further at ease.
Once the numbness fully dissipated, Caleb allowed himself an additional five minutes - and no more - to relish Essek's embrace.