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Seeing Cree arrive in the corridor had been worrying enough, but seeing the eyes on both Caleb and Beau begin to glow red had been a far more concerning sight. For one, it gave away their position, but it also meant that Cree had some sort of control over the eyes on both of their bodies. Essek's gaze immediately went to Caleb. Essek found himself even more concerned as more of whatever those things had been on the floor above began to fill the chamber as well, seemingly somehow summoned by the tabaxi they were now engaged with. Of all the Nein, Caleb was the one he felt the closest to. He cared for all of them, but Caleb had always been special to him. Essek was devoted to doing everything he could to protect both Caleb himself and the rest of the Mighty Nein.
Almost as soon as she'd entered the corridor, Cree cast a spell, sending sheets of fire across the battlefield. Essek managed to dodge most of the damage, as did most of the Nein from what he could tell. Essek once again found his gaze shifting over to Caleb. Luckily, the Zemnian wizard appeared to have also kept himself out of the worst of it. Jester's next spell drew his attention away from Caleb, as she had just summoned what appeared to be a giant lollipop into existence. Essek was surprised by this, though no one else seemed to be, meaning that this likely wasn't anything they hadn't seen before. He chuckled softly to himself. The Mighty Nein would never fail to surprise him with their antics.
As the battle continued, Essek grew more and more worried for Caleb. He was lucky enough to be able to keep from drawing too much attention from Cree, but Caleb, Caleb she seemed focused on. This was made even more concerning by just how terrible Caleb was looking. He'd already been rather wounded before they had encountered Cree and now he seemed to be barely standing. Essek knew that he wasn't doing all that well himself and that calling direct attention to himself was probably not the wisest decision, but he needed to get Cree to back off of Caleb. At least just a little. Caleb had been in a much better state than Essek himself when they had first began the battle, but with Cree and the terrible creatures she had summoned focusing a lot of their attention on him, he very quickly began to look rather rough. As Caleb liked to joke, they were little more than librarians and weren't nearly as adept at taking great deals of damage much like the rest of the Mighty Nein were.
Essek took but a moment to steel himself before pulling a shard of onyx from within his component pouch, there was no need to worry about the blood needed for the spell, as there was plenty of that all over him at the moment- most of it being his own, which was exactly what was required. He centered Dark Star directly on top of Cree, hoping to limit her casting ability for at least a little while. Several of the Nein cheered, tossing their own spells in her direction. Unfortunately, their reprieve didn't last long. Before Essek had the chance to react, Cree shot a spell out towards Caleb. Essek called out to the other wizard, already preparing to bolt towards him in the available next moment. Unfortunately, his cry of warning did nothing to stop the spell from landing. Caleb cried out in pain before crumpling to the ground, apparently unconscious. Essek completely ignored everything else going on around him in favor of rushing over to the human as he collapsed to the ground. Essek did his best to stand guard over the other man, fully prepared to shield him with his own body if necessary. He knew how devastating blows landed on an unconscious body could be and he had no doubt that Cree, upon seeing Caleb in such a state, would only attack him more furiously.
"Caleb, are you alright?" Essek asked, echoing his question from the last time Caleb had been badly wounded. This time, however, he received no returning reply.
As Cree exited the sphere created by Essek's spell, looking worse for wear, but still standing, Essek prepared himself for the attack he knew would come. As long as he could keep Cree from doing any further harm to Caleb, he was alright with taking damage himself. He would gladly lay down his life if it meant that Caleb got to continue on living.
Cree chuckled darkly as she approached. "How cute."
Essek stepped forward, further putting himself between Caleb and the tabaxi. "If you want him, you'll have to go through me."
The next thing Essek remembers is pain. All-encompassing, unbearably excruciating pain. He was vaguely aware of the Nein attacking Cree, of them shouting for both him and Caleb. Caleb. His gaze shifted down towards where Caleb laid on the ground, the other wizard's unconscious face the last thing he saw before his vision went black.
Caleb regained consciousness slowly, Veth's worried face the first thing his eyes saw when they opened. She grinned as she saw that he was conscious and wrapped him in a careful hug. The battle seemed to be over now, as the corridor was now eerily silent. "Veth? Is everyone okay?" Caleb asked, slowly sitting up.
Veth hesitated for a moment before slowly shaking her head, tears filling her eyes.
Caleb leapt to his feet, swaying a bit until he was able to steady himself. He glanced around the chamber, counting his friends. Veth, Jester, Fjord, Beau, Yasha, Caduceus- Essek. He rushed over to where Caduceus was kneeling beside their fallen drow companion. Caduceus had a very grave look on his face, one of his hands resting on Essek's chest. Essek's alarmingly still chest. "Essek.."
"No.. Please, no.." Caleb murmured, kneeling on the other side of Essek, his hand hesitating a moment before coming to rest on Essek's cheek. "Essek, bitte.. Nein.. Liebling, bitte wach auf.." Caleb pleaded, slipping into his mother tongue, tears beginning to stream quickly down his face. "Essek, bitte, ich liebe dich.." Caleb immediately reached into his component pouch, pulling out his Transmuter's Stone. The clerics both had diamonds, yes, but he wanted to this himself. He carefully laid the stone on Essek's chest, his other hand remaining on Essek's cheek.
Before Caleb began to speak, he pulled a peal from his component pouch, casting Fortune's Favor on himself. Both for added luck and because it was the first spell Essek had taught him. "Essek, please, there's so much left that we have to do. You can't go now. I won't let you, schatz. There's so much left I want to say to you, things I'd like to show you. Spells that we could learn together. Please, please, Essek, don't go. Not yet. Not now." Caleb pleaded, his thumb softly stroking Essek's cheek. He leaned down slowly, pressing a gentle kiss to Essek's forehead. "Come back to me, Thelyss.."
To Caleb's surprise, Veth had also come to kneel down at his side.
"Hey, asshole." Veth began, surprising Caleb again by taking Essek's hand in both of her own. "I don't trust you- I think you know that though. But what you did today- you didn't have to do that. You saved Caleb. You saved my boy. You bought us time. I know you care about my boy and I know that he cares about you too. So you don't get to leave him. You don't get to leave any of us."
Yasha was the next to step forward. She stood over Essek, the Holy Avenger drawn at the ready still. She towered over all of them, her figure imposing. "We've all lost too many people already, Essek. You don't get to add your name to that list. You don't get to do that to Caleb. To any of us."
At the end of the hour, when the Raise Dead spell had been completed, they all held their breath. After several, terrifyingly silent moments, Essek coughed weakly, gasping for breath. Caleb sighed in relief and immediately pulled the other wizard into his arms.
"Easy, easy, Essek. Just breathe slow, okay? Nice slow, deep breaths, alright? I have you, you're okay." Caleb whispered, softly brushing his fingers through Essek's hair. It was more red that white at the moment, but was still somehow incredibly soft.
"Caleb...?" Essek asked, his eyes slowly fluttering open.
"Shh, I'm here, I'm right here. Don't try to talk, okay? Just relax."
"You.. y-you...okay...?" Essek asked, pausing to gasp weakly between each word, his entire body trembling in Caleb's arms.
"Essek, hush. I'm okay. Stop talking now, okay? You need to rest, schatz, take it easy. Just breathe, Ess."
To his relief, Essek nodded and relaxed a bit into his arms, trying his best to breathe slowly as Caleb had suggested, though he was obviously having some difficulty. Caduceus rested his hand on Essek's chest once more, casting what could only have been a healing spell as Essek immediately sighed in relief, his breathing evening out.
"Thank you, Caduceus.." He murmured, smiling weakly over at the firbolg.
"Thank you for protecting Caleb." Caduceus replied simply, smiling back at the drow.
"Of course.." Essek replied without a moment of hesitation.
"We should stay here for a while, let him rest." Caleb said, pulling Essek a little closer to himself protectively.
"Caleb, just go.. You have more important things to worry about right now.." Essek tried to pull away from Caleb, trying to encourage him and the rest of the Nein to go on with their intended mission. The fate of Exandria was far more important than he was at this particular moment.
"Essek, we're not leaving you behind." Essek had just died while protecting him- there was no way he could leave him. Caleb turned to the rest of the Nein. "If you want to scout ahead a bit, I'm alright with that. But I don't want to leave him here alone."
There were several minutes of arguing back and forth before they decided that briefly splitting up was likely their best option. Caleb, Veth, and Caduceus stayed with Essek while the rest of the Nein went to scout ahead a bit. Veth had been urged to go with the scouting party, but she had elected to stay with the wizards instead. Caleb still cradled Essek gently in his arms, doing his best to make the other man as comfortable as possible. Veth and Caduceus sat a little further away, seemingly wanting to give the pair of wizards a bit of privacy.
"Essek- why did you do that? You and I are just a couple of librarians- what did you hope to accomplish by going up against Cree directly like that?"
"You were unconscious, Caleb. I knew, with her so close, that if she attacked you again, it was almost certain that she would kill you. I couldn't just stand by and watch that happen. I knew I couldn't do much, but I was able to buy the Nein enough time to get over to you and that was all that really mattered to me at the time. I knew the risks, of course I did. I didn't care. All that mattered in that moment was getting her attention away from you long enough for your friends to get closer."
"Essek.."
"I would do it again. Even knowing the outcome, knowing how much it would hurt, I would still do it again. I'd do it a dozen times over if it meant that you lived." Essek slowly raised his hand to Caleb's face, gently cupping his cheek.
"Do you remember anything from when you.." Caleb trailed off, not wanting to actually say it. Just the memory of Essek lying so horrifyingly still on the ground was making him feel physically ill.
"I heard Veth and Yasha. And you, of course. Though your voice I heard much more clearly. You sounded sad- far more upset than I've certainly ever heard you. I wanted so badly to comfort you.."
Caleb smiled faintly at that, resting his hand over Essek's where it still rested on his cheek. "Essek- may I kiss you?" Caleb's voice so incredibly soft as he asked his question.
Essek nodded, unsure of how else to respond to such a question.
Caleb leaned down slowly, gently pressing his lips to Essek's own. Essek had never been truly kissed before- the closest he had ever come was the few times that Caleb had kissed him on the forehead. This was lovely. This kiss itself was incredibly tender and lasted only a few moments, but it left both of them blushing deeply. Essek smiled warmly up at Caleb once the other wizard pulled away, reaching up to softly card his fingers through Caleb's hair.