#awe eythos still parenting Sarai 🥺🥹

[siderealxmelody]

Eythos shrugged, slipping his hands in his pockets.

"It irks me that you still think I am owed decency when I have upset you. Do not do that Sarai, be angry. I'm not that far gone to -"

"Mama can't be okay with this."

Eythos looked to his son and shrugged again.

"If she isn't she hasn't made it known to me. She -"

"You can't Fade. You - that - that's the most cowardly way out of this entire situation."

Eythos eyes grew distant and dazed again. He looked back to the horizon, waiting. He was waiting - what for? What was -

The wind picked up, the cold, the otherworldly headiness making his head spin.

Ina stepped out of the gloom and stoped at the border. She regarded Eythos for a long moment tilting her head.

"You called to repay your debt. Why?"

"My children are good. My family is good. I know what my parents did. I know what they tried to bury. I will not have my brother pay that price. He's already payed enough -"

"That is debatable."

"Not to me. You want someone to answer for what my blood did to you? I am here."

Those eyes fixed on him, he didn't see the gold blue. He saw the hints of silver, of otherworldly power. Of a mythical force that could rend worlds and stars apart. Or at least an echo of that.

"Tell them then Eythos. Let's not continue to bury your family's shame."

Eythos looked to the sky, blinking back....was that tears? Dust?

"My parents worker for Nyaxia. They were Artificers, Alchemists. They made things, creatures. They wanted to make more of things like Cennend. They tried to breed them, pushed them to kill themselves and mate with themselves over and over again."

He exhaled and looked to Viren and Sarai. At least he still felt enough to feel shame.

"When Cassandra came, when we came to the labs. They were killed, I - I made sure they were. I - Embris doesn't even know that. When you repeat this story leave that detail out. He - he won't ever forgive himself for allowing me to live if he knew. He doesn't need that guilt."

He blinked back more tears, trying to keep his voice level.

"Wheb Keella was pregnant with them. I couldn't - I saw their power. I regularly was given their blood before bed, we both were. I didn't - I didn't want that temptation here. I -"

"You were afraid of your own greed. Of becoming like your parents."

Ina said, she sounded almost sympathetic. But her face didn't give anything away. Eythos nodded and swallowed.

"Yes. I was. Is didn't want to become like them. I still don't want to. Rivitus is - he's trying. He - there are rules. I give him rules Viren. I -"

He shut his eyes and bowed his head.

"I understand the merits of his work. But if I didn't indulge him what then? What if he went to Midgard? They'd let him work on anyone and -"

He exhaled and forced him to say the words.

"And he may become a worse monster than my parents I am. At least here we can keep him in check and collared."

"You speak of my son as if he's a beast to be held and caged."

Viren spat holding onto that deep rage. He would deal with whatever other secrets and whoever this new person was later. He stepped toward his father reaching for his blade.

"You speak as if he is some power hungry Asteri from the Days of Old."

His father's eyes were so tired, so dull. It nearly made him break.

"Isn't he?"

Was he doing this on purpose? Distracting him with rage so he didn't spiral and stop whatever this was? He wouldn't let his father be taken like this. He refused to let this thing take one of the most important people in his life.

Eythos would one day, it would not be like this. It would be in glorious battle or quietly surrounded by family.

Viren vowed it to be true.

Eythos didn't respond to Sarai's venom, didn't much look at Viren. He focused on the marks, on the way they shined blue and hazy in the dust.

"You have a lot of faith in the selflessness of others son. I wish I still had that belief. But would they? Wyvern blood is powerful as is most of our blood, but it has to be harnessed a certain way....at a certain age. Would they give their children and mates for that? The only way to get enough power to make any meaningful amount would be death. And even if they agreed would their family? Their kin?"

He looked to the boy, he's slowly gotten to his feet stepping away from all of them with a low growl.

He looked back to the horizon.

"Raelyn is in Autumn Nazarius if you didn't catch that. And I didn't push Rivitus into any of this. He had a talent and a curiosity for it. I just indulged and nurtured what you both refused to -"

"He's torturing people!"

Viren wasn't sure why he was bothering arguing. He should drag Rivitus from his lab. Beat him and strip him of his powers. Throw him to the Valg he used and -

And watch as he was torn apart and brutalized. Viren exhaled focusing on Sarai, on her nearness and the heat like his.

Eythos dragged his eyes to him. Viren forced himself not to flinch. There wasn't anger, or dissappointment. There wasn't much of anything beyond a dazed look. Was he alright? Was he -

"How else do you expect to learn about your enemy and their powers beyond experimentation?"

But Viren ignored all of that. Something nagging at him. Over recent years something had felt off. The way his father spoke as if there was some lesson he needed to still learn. That there would be time when this would all would be his and -

Viren felt the world tilt, he gripped Sarai's hand. Even in his rage he couldn't - he must be wrong. Must be putting the peices together in the wrong order surely. Keir would know, Keir would - this couldn't be happening.

His father simply stared at them, turning back to look at the Wyrdmarks, at the trees. Not talking, not really doing much but standing there.

Viren forced himself to say, to name the feeling that was growing in the pit of his core. Keir would run, he'd drink before he did that. At least he still had his foolish, reckless streak.

"You're Fading."

Eythos lips lifted, a ghost of a smile on his lips. He saw that spark of pride, at him, for him.

"Have been for awhile now, yes. Keella's curse keeps me unable to fully die. If it's lifted I assume I'll be gone too. There isn't much left here for me, you all don't need me. And -"