A voice.
It breaks the roar of the storm when it all begins to die away. He hears his name spoken in the utmost concern, but Tiphon can't bring his eyes to open or even find Weir approaching him. "Tiberios," he whispers his son's name to deaf ears. There is no one he is speaking to, only himself as if it will ease the pain.
His body feels numb, like he isn't even here. The hope of this being a dream is shattered when Tiphon opens his eyes and sees himself standing in the crater. Dying embers trail around the circumference as the remaining smoke billows into the gray sky. Only now does he recognize Weir. He's real. This is all real. He can feel the Dalean supporting him and holding up his head while his body sways weakly. "I can't--" the words don't come to him. The strength in his voice is gone, choked by the emotions he had once sworn off. This isn't how he wanted it to be; he didn't expect to see his own son dead on the beach with his body peeled back and mangled. The image, so grotesque and sickening, is clawing deeply in Tiphon's mind. It brings wave after wave of painful agony. Before he can comprehend his actions he is ripping himself away from Weir. The sheer force unbalances him and he sways again like a drunkard.
His mind - his sanity - is leaking away. It's almost lost until he hears her voice and feels her loving touch against his neck. Beneath her lips Tiphon shudders like the contact is foreign and strange. He reels away with his eyes opening wide, truly seeing the two of them for the first time. "I can't do this," he says through clenched teeth before pivoting away from them and walking toward one of the many trees and rocky ledges peppered across the Dalean hills.
The world almost reaches out for him, groaning as Tiphon's body digs and tears across the rough bark and rock. The force of his lean, of his manic reaction, rips open flesh and muscle. There is blood on the tree (droplets streaming down the low-lying leaves and branches), even bits of skin just barely clinging onto the surfaces. The scene is nightmarish and gruesome. It's hard to comprehend what is happening. It's all moving too fast for them to intervene. Tiphon is scraping himself, back and forth, more and more. There is agony when he does it. Air hisses out of his clenched jaws as his eyes tightly shut. To feel his skin peel back and flay is beyond anything he has felt before. It burns; it feels like he's on fire as he continues to push himself into the rough grooves of the tree and rising ledge. For a moment Tiphon loses himself and doesn't realize what he is doing or even how long he has been doing it. When he turns to stare at them, the right side of his face and body is gone. Part of bleached-white bone seems bright against his dulled coat as it stains with scarlet. "If being immortal means losing my children, losing love, losing family," blood splatters and falls as he speaks, "then I just can't fucking do it." Tiphon is stumbling toward them with a trail of red behind him until he stops at the edge of his own crater. The embers are screaming for him as he stands above and feels the heat along his hooves. The meager flames are biting into his frogs, scorching him, hurting him, but he doesn't move until something urges him forward just a few more steps.
He nearly stumbles down into the shallow crater but catches himself before he can fall into the scorched dirt. When he tries to straighten himself - so broken and unlike his proud self - he can feel their breaths against him. They are so close to one another now - Tiphon, Weir, Elysteria - and at first the gore of his shredded face is a horror, but then skin and muscle regrows and renews. The angel is trembling and his body is tense as magic weaves throughout him and rejuvenates all that he ripped away. The blood stains remain but the wounds are gone as his labored breaths huff.
"I can't bear to lose anyone so close," he looks down weakly and utters his son's name one last time. "Tiberios," he whispers as his legs begin to buckle and he lies down, unable to hold the weight on his shoulders any longer.
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