Awakening

His eyes slowly opening, Falco, the Last Divine Deucalion of Aether, found himself in an unfamiliar surrounding. He knew well what had happened, the abduction of his beloved Rowena by Acinonyx, Crown Prince of Hyperion, the quest to rescue her and the other Aetherean women, the Earth Bull's escape that resulted in the destruction of Aether and the world being plunged into darkness and ultimately his being thrown into the bull-pit to be gored by the sacred bull in Hyperion.

But where was he now? A cave? From the various belongings it was obvious that someone lived here, but who? Standing up, Falco walked towards the mouth of the cave, from where he could see daylight. He knew the Sun God would bring his light back to the world eventually, but how long had he been unconscious?

Falco was seventeen twelvemonths old, at least last he checked, and stood at a height of five feet and five inches. He was lean in build, with a big, hooked nose and a square jaw. Being descended from immigrants rather than Aether's native population, he was a ruddy-skinned individual with short, curly red hair, albeit a little longer now, and mismatched eyes, the left being blue and the right green. Due to close-fitting lids, his eyes were small and triangular. He was not particularly good-looking, quite common actually, with only his mismatched eyes being something of note. His attire was quite simple, merely a red loincloth, a gold signet ring with the image of a bull's head upon it and an old leather doublet that had belonged to his great-grandfather, worn out with marks of rusting and with some cases of rust upon it.

Emerging from the cave, Falco saw a man of two and thirty twelvemonths sitting outside the cave, gently stroking a caracal whom Falco recognized to be his own Kenneth. The man was olive-skinned and upon turning, Falco could see he had high cheekbones with almond-shaped blue eyes, identifying him as a member of Aether's native populace. He stood at a height of five feet and seven and a half inches and was athletic in build with a scar going across his forehead. He was wearing a red tunic that went down to his ankles, a pair of brown sandals and a pair of gold bracelets. Falco knew this man this was Minos, a clergyman of the Earth Bull.

Smiling at him, Minos uttered: "A twelvemonth later and you finally awake!"

A twelvemonth? He had been unconscious for a twelvemonth? He was eighteen? How was he even alive? Falco could not understand it. Sitting next to Minos and stroking Kenneth, Falco asked the clergyman, his voice a deep baritone: "What has happened since then?"

Minos began with an explanation that he had defected. He was no longer associated with Taurus Minor, High Priest of the Earth Bull, he was no longer a clergyman of the Earth Bull. He then went on to say that after Falco had lost consciousness in the bull-pit, Taurus had the Last Divine Deucalion of Aether's body thrown into the sea, after which it was quickly returned to the shore, resulting in Minos bringing Falco to his cave. "After the Sacred Bull had given up the first time, you should have been allowed to go free." Said Minos. "And when it was discovered that you still lived, you should have been allowed to." He then carried on, stating that Rowena had been forced into marriage with Acinonyx as had the other abducted women, save for Taurus' sister Pasiphae who married Leo of her own free will. Buri was then allowed to return to the Ulgen Khanate and three months later, Hyperion had found itself under siege by the joint forces of the Ulgen Khanate and the Cambyses Empire, which Hyperion no longer belonged to.