(2023-06-24) Eyesight

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Author:	Luridel
Summary:	Estel shows up to Ekorenine Spellbond's house for an attempt at the shadow spell Mind Vision, which she has thus far been unsuccessful with attempting on her own. Things go well, until they don't. Please see content warnings. ~2590 words.
Rating:	M for Mature 17+

Arc: The Sandysappearance

+ Show additional content warnings

descriptions of injury, slight body horror (eyes), description of a person who has been tortured

Ekorenine is pacing up and down in front of her manor's front door, waiting for Estel.

Estel knocks. She seems to have carried a pram up the stairs with her, and inside are two young human children, a boy and a girl.

Ekorenine opens the door. "Welcome, you must be Est– oh! Babies." She shakes her head, a little confused. "Come in, come in."

"Hey! Sorry, my sitter wasn't available today." Estel pushes the pram inside the door. "You got anybody here who can keep an eye on 'em while we do the thing?"

She holds the door open. The interior of the Spellbond home is decorated in a sort of art nouveau style and was clearly designed by a high elf. Everything as a place, the only thing standing out is the circle with arcane runes traced on the floor.

There's a sort of hood to the pram, made of fabric, that can be pulled up or down to provide shade to the children inside. Right now it is pulled mostly down, but Micah is also chewing on it. Miranda stops pretending to sleep and sits up, peering very suspiciously at Ekorenine. New stranger.

Eko smiles at the babies. "Well, I said our butler could take the day off, but… We are not going to try such rituals with children in the room. I will go fetch her."

"Sorry, yeah. Thanks."

Eko waves at Miranda before walking up a set of stairs, going very high up. Almost mage-tower high.

Estel leans over the pram. "You two are gonna be good, okay?"

Miranda stares at her. She is always good, what are you talking about.

Estel glances up at the stairs and back down at the kids. "Best behavior."

Eko comes back, accompanied by a very serious-looking woman, who's not wearing a butler outfit. Instead, she's wearing her cozy day outfit (a perfectly suited white shirt tucked into black pants. "Estel, this is Florendine. Florendine, Estel."

"Hey, Florendine. Sorry about this. My usual sitter wasn't available. This is Micah and this is Miranda." Estel flashes her an apologetic smile.

Florendine bows to Estel. "Welcome miss… Estel. You have nothing to apologize for, it will be my honor to take care of your children."

Eko nods. "Micah and Miranda will be in good hands, Florendine often helped me take care of my own kids. That's part of her job, now!"

"Thanks," Estel says, scratching the back of her head. "Micah's walking. Miranda can walk but pretends not to because she likes to be carried." She looks dubiously at all the steps and just pushes the pram across the floor to Florendine, avoiding the giant magic circle.

Florendine looks at the pram, then at the stairs. "Very well, I will take them to the garden." which doesn't have stairs, but that part she doesn't say. "Our flower gardens attract precious species of butterflies this time of year. May I?" Florendine says, approaching her hands towards the pram.

"Sure, of course. Thanks." Estel backs up from it, and immediately Miranda gives Florendine an evaluating stare. New person.

Florendine bows to Estel once again, then bows her head at Miranda as she pushes the baby vehicle into another room.

"Kids that age, aren't they just precious?" Ekorenine says, a nostalgic smile on her face.

Estel rubs the back of her neck. "Yeah, they're pretty cute, when it's not diaper time or food time." She doesn't bother explaining that they aren't her kids.

"Oh Light, yes, and whenever they wake up in the middle of the night? You are right, they are not that precious at that age after all," Eko chuckles, then sighs. "I'd– offer a cup of tea but… shall we, first?" she says, looking at the magic circle.

Estel nods. "Yeah, sure. Okay, so I'm pretty sure he's warded. I was - blocked, I guess, the last time I tried. Saw a whole lot of green."

"I was as well. There is no way to locate him, there's a ward hiding him…" she crosses her arms. "That is what I heard from Lena as well. They tried a warlock ritual to summon him. They… saw him," Eko says, pausing.

"Yeah?" Estel frowns, folding her arms.

"Unfortunately… A succubus interrupted the ritual, speaking of her master," she sighs. "It is as we suspected, this has to do with warlocks."

"Interrupted how?" Estel glances at the circle.

"Well… She pulled him back through the portal and took his place. She attacked the people involved. No one was hurt, thankfully," Eko answers, moving towards the ritual circle.

Estel hesitates before taking her place in the circle. "Okay. Explain how this works with two of us? Normally I just close my eyes and look."

"The runes I traced are protective ones - the kinds used in spells such as Ice Barrier, for example." Eko is turning this into a lecture. "Using mana - or magical energy - I will fuel these runes with arcane to protect you from the ward. This way, you will be protected, and if damage was to be inflicted on anything, it would be on the rune, and not yourself!"

Estel gives her a thumbs-up. "I won't be able to show you what I see, just describe it. That okay?"

"I know, dear," she says in a soft tone, smiling. "I was once married to a priest. I know the spell mind vision very well."

"Great. Okay. Let me know when they're fully… charged?"

"They are! I'm ready to maintain them that way when you are."

Estel bounces on her heels as if trying to build up momentum or energy or something. It might just be restless movement. "Yep! I'm all set."

"Very well," Eko gets in position, taking a step back from the circle, nodding comfortingly at Estel. She holds out a hand which glows blue, and the runes being glowing as well.

Estel makes sure she is fully within the circle and closes her eyes, seeking out Sandy.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then Estel sees a flash of green as she described earlier, but a blue light pierces through. The green light fades. Estel is now staring at a ceiling. A dark, cobweb-filled ceiling.

"I'm through," Estel tells Ekorenine. "Ceiling, not much light in the room. I think I see a spiderweb."

"Sandy please just stop staring at the ceiling for just a second…" Eko sounds irritated, which is uncommon for her.

"If I can see a spider, I can jump to its vision, although boy that gets weird with the way their eyes work…" A pause. "I don't see a spider."

Eko sighs, but keeps focusing on the runes.

Estel keeps seeing the ceiling, nothing really moves, if not for Sandy himself shaking.

Estel opens her eyes, breaking the connection. "Okay, let's try again in… five, fifteen minutes? An hour?"

"No, no, I'm certain he's going to move! Keep going!" The mage doesn't break her concentration on the circle.

"He's awake, at least," Estel concedes. She closes her eyes again, reaching out for Sandy's vision.

As Estel goes back to the mind vision, it's as if the face of a succubus is staring right at her, a sadistic smirk on her face. She can see the demon's hand under Sandy's chin, holding it.

"Succubus. Close-up. I think they noticed something was going on." Estel folds her arms.

"Oh, I hope not." Clink. A rune of the circle breaks in a small, green fire.

"What was that sound?" Estel asks.

"A door, dear. This is an old manor."

Estel watches the succubus for signs of movement or indication that she might be casting anything.

The succubus speaks to Sandy, it seems rather casual. She doesn't seem to be doing anything special, just talking. Sandy's head briefly turns to a small window, giving a view into Duskwood before the succubus slowly pushes his face back towards her own.

"He looked at a window. Small, no curtains. Twisted dark trees outside. It's kind of creepy-dark, even though it's bright out here. He's not in Stormwind," Estel reports.

"Duskwood, or Felwood…" Ekorenine says, covering the sound of another rune breaking.

The succubus feigns a look of sympathy before chuckling, as Sandy looks down at his leg, which has a pretty nasty wound.

The moment Sandy starts to look away, Estel's spell jumps from Sandy's eyes to the succubus's, looking at Sandy from her perspective.

Estel sees the room from a better point of view. This is a small home, with a bed on one side, and a table on the other. Sandy is emaciated, covered in wounds, dirty and enchained to the floor.

"Small room. Bed, table, I can't see the door from here. I don't know if this is the entire building or just a room." Estel sighs.

Another rune breaks, and Eko grits her teeth as she sends a considerable amount of arcane magic to the six ones left.

"Better view from the succubus's perspective. He's chained to the ground by his wrists. Short chains. He doesn't look like he's been eating well, and he's hurt. They ain't been taking care of him." Estel does not sound pleased.

"Oh, dear…" Eko staggers from the shock, and then refocuses her energy. Two runes break as she clears her throat and refocuses her attention on her spell.

"Why am I hearing noises?" Estel's head tilts downwards, towards the runes, but her eyes remain shut.

"Old manor. Focus, you can't miss any detail!" The mage hides the strain all this use of magic is putting on her behind an authoritative tone.

Estel jumps back into Sandy's vision now that the succubus is no longer right up in Sandy's face.

The succubus stands up and walks to a lit fireplace to the left of Sandy. As he watches her move, the wooden front door can be seen. This is human architecture. But Sandy doesn't watch the door, truly, he stares at the succubus serving herself a plate of food and eating.

"Oh, lights on in the room now. There's a fireplace on the left. And a door. Definitely looks like it could be Duskwood to me. Human." Estel does not describe the succubus eating.

"Eva… was right." Eko sighs of relief, and one more rune breaks.

"Ward holding up okay?" Estel asks. "Should we take a break?"

"It's fine. What else do you see?"

"He's watching the succubus." Estel attempts to give a non-generic physical description of the succubus.

The succubus seems to really be enjoying her meal, and Sandy can't help but stare at the plate. The demon moves with her plate to sit on the table, which Sandy can only get a brief glimpse of from the corner of his eyes, as it's behind him.

When the succubus moves, right before Sandy loses sight of her eyes, Estel jumps to her vision again.

Estel now sees the back of Sandy, which is also wounded. His hair has grown longer and messier since the last time she saw him. From a window behind Sandy, through the curtains, she can see a brief glimpse of a stone path leading up to the house.

Another clink noise happens in the room. Two runes left.

"Another window behind him. Curtains. There's a stone path out there."

"Good, good! What else?"

Something moves rapidly in the window, the succubus gets up, and the door's handle begins to move.

One rune left.

"Hang on, I think someone's coming in. The warlock, I hope."

Eko looks at the last rune, breathing heavily. Meanwhile, the succubus looks briefly at Sandy who's looking at the ground, as the door opening can be seen in the corner of her vision.

Estel waits, eyes shut.

Clink. The last rune breaks. Ekorenine roars, something close to a warcry as she shields Estel from the Fel magic and deviates it.

Estel gets to see the back of the warlock as she closes the door - A human, but rather short, with long blond hair.

"Short human, blonde–"

Then, a blast of green energy flashes into her eyes followed by a noise similar to a magical explosion. Ekorenine is pushed against the wall by the energy, and begins covering her eyes with her hands, screaming in pain. Estel is unaffected by the blast, but her Mind Vision spell is cut short.

Estel's eyes snap open and she moves in Ekorenine's direction, blinking rapidly. "Fuck! Hey, hey, hold still, let me…" Estel attempts a dispel magic on Ekorenine.

Ekorenine looks in Estel's direction through her fingers, crying in pain. The look Estel receives from the mage is not her usual brown eyes, but instead two glowing green eyes, with an orange reflection and a black, elongated pupils.

The second Estel recognizes that Ekorenine's eyes are not her own, Estel drops into Shadowform, her body going vague and shadowy and indistinct.

As the dispel magic begins to take effect, Ekorenine seems to calm down, and her eyes go from similar to two eyes of Kilrogg to two human eyes, albeit gray.

"Hey. Ma'am, you still with me?" Estel moves closer, crouching down in front of Ekorenine.

Ekorenine moves her shaky hands on her face. "I… I can't see anything."

Estel drops out of her Shadowform right away to channel a [Flash Heal].

Ekorenine's shoulders relax briefly at the Flash Heal, but her eyes stay gray. She gets up, disorientated. "Nothing…"

Estel closes her eyes, and there's a moment where she jumps into Ekorenine's vision. "Nothing," she agrees, and breaks the connection. "Shit." She looks back at what remains of the arcane circle on the floor.

Each rune making the outer layer of the circle is broken, the writing taking the shape of shattered glass on the floor. Eko looks around, trying to say something. Anything. As she does, she asks… "Did you see them?.. The warlock?" Her breathing is heavy and shaky.

"Female, I think, but it was hard to tell. I saw their back. Long blonde hair down to…" Estel reaches out to touch Ekorenine's arm, estimating at the hair length. "Here or so."

Eko attempts to grab Estel's hand as she touches her arm. Not in an aggressive, or defensive way. But as someone looking for reassurance. "Good, good… that's good."

Estel holds her hand. "Look straight ahead?" she requests, and leans in, peering at Ekorenine's eyes.

Ekorenine obeys, now placing her other hand on Estel's as well.

Estel attempts another dispel, this one more powerful, and then shakes her head. "Shit. Damnit. Okay, that's set. There's no active magic on you. Can't heal it. It just… happened. Damnit."

Eko's hands tighten around Estel’s. Tears begin flowing down her face. She pretends as if they were not there. You can't see her cry if she can't see you, right? "It's all right… The ritual worked We're closer than ever to finding him."

"Oh, fuck. No, it's not okay. It's allowed to suck. You're allowed to be upset. I'd be real damn upset too. Here, c'mere. We'll find him. For sure." She pulls Ekorenine into a hug.

Ekorenine takes a deep, shaky breath, then falls into Estel's arms as she goes to hug her. All of her weight is on the priestess's shoulder, as the mage cries on it.

"We'll find him," Estel promises. "Duskwood narrows it down a lot."

Ekorenine nods, her face still on Estel's shoulder. She lets out sobs although she tries her best to contain them.

Estel is good at hugs. She doesn't seem to mind the crying. She seems like she's just fine with waiting it out.