The Ka brought the three to the Fane of Honoured Monarchs Past. There did the statues of a select few kings and queens of Aether reside. These select few were the monarchs who had been granted divine honours after death, being considered gods in death just as they had been in life. Two and forty kings and eight queens had been granted divine honours after death and their portrayal was idealized, being shown in a stereotypically comely approach as young and athletic. An individual need not have been young when they ascended to the throne, nor even athletic, yet no matter how strong, handsome or young a Deucalion was made to look, there were artists that would not even try to disguise something like a big nose, resulting in statues in the fane that looked less than "perfect". The statues were made so what would have been flesh was gold and what would have been hair was lapis lazuli. They were gods after all. One of these Honoured Monarchs Past was Conall, Falco's paternal grandfather, with golden skin, lapis lazuli hair and no attempt to portray his nose as anything but hooked.
Any other evening visit to the Fane of Honoured Monarchs Past would have be quiet, uneventful, merely a time to pray or, in Falco's case, a time to brood, if the mood so struck him. Tonight however, Falco and Rowena felt a great twinge of fear come over them, while Kenneth's eyes had grown wide and his ears had flattened against his skull. The orbs of every statue in the fane had turned damask and streams of blood were running down.
As the three stood in the doorway of the fane, the Ka stepped forward and pointed to a figure knelt in the middle. Immediately, Falco, Rowena and Kenneth knew who it was: it was Achilles.
Running over to him, the three found the old man to be in a trance, completely unaware of what was going on around him. While Kenneth tapped his head against Achilles' right hand, laying limp upon the floor, Falco and Rowena both looked to the Ka, the latter asking: "What is this? An anathema from the Earth Bull?"
As if by answer, Aether juddered and booming and barking could be heard coming from beneath the earth. The Earth Bull was pulling at his chains again, trying to escape his prison, only this time it was different. In the past no such omens had occurred like statues shedding tears of blood and Falco feared he knew the reason why.
Falco then inquired to the Ka: "Are his chains breaking?" The Ka nodded, leading to Falco to then ask: "Can they be fixed?" The Ka shook his head, resulting in Falco's third question of: "How long do we have until the Earth Bull breaks free?"
The Ka lifted his right hand with only the index finger extended and then looked at the statue of Marcus, a Divine Deucalion who had ruled for one twelvemonth, four months and nine days.
"One twelvemonth?" Rowena asked, half-terrified and half-disbelieving.
Falco took three steps forward and asked the Ka: "Can the chains be mended?" The Ka did not answer. "Can the Earth Bull be stopped?" Still the Ka did not answer. He merely faded away and the two redheads were left alone, unsure of what to do.
Could the chains that held the Earth Bull be mended? Could the Earth Bull be slain? Could any deity be slain? Was such a thing possible?
Who could say?
Looking to Rowena, Falco could see the Daughter of Alfred was trembling with wide eyes and tears flowing down her cheeks. Although Falco knew not what could be done to stop the Earth Bull, he knew what he could do now. He did the simplest of things and that was embrace Rowena.