When Icarus met Helia

Chapter 0 : Prologue

A baby's first cries bounced off the walls of the great Palace of Knossos, disturbing the peace in the halls, waking the majority of the servants of King Minos in a mere second. Daedalus, the King's private architect, ran through the corridors as fast as he could, carrying a big bowl, filled with water. Almost losing the towels he had quickly thrown over his shoulder a few minutes ago, he raced towards the room of his beloved Nafsicrate. The cries becoming louder with every step he took, his heart filled with joy ; he had just become a father.

One of the maids opened the door of her room, slowly rubbing her eyes, only to see the young father run past.

"Daedalus, what's happening? The sun has not yet risen!", she yelled after him. He spun around on his feet, keeping halt and screaming back.

"Nafsicrate just gave birth to our first son!"

He turned back around, continuing on his way, mumbling a quick 'I'm sorry' to the maid before taking a turn to the right. He spotted the door to his and Nafsicrate's room and ran towards it, then balanced the bowl with one hand and opened the heavy door with the other.

He stood still for a moment, in awe. There he was: his newborn son, slightly hidden in the arms of his mother. He had finally stopped crying.
Daedalus put the bowl and towels down before taking a few steps closer, finally being noticed by Nafsicrate as she looked up at him, smiling tiredly. Her hair was a mess and so were her clothes. Ofcourse, even after going through something as tiring as labor, Daedalus still thought she was stunning. He then took a closer look at the boy. He had quite a lot of hair for a baby and he wasn't as small as Daedalus had always thought he would be. Everything about him was perfect: he had both of his arms, both of his legs and luckily all of his toes and fingers, too. He had a bit of a tip-tilted nose and full lips. The color of his eyes was not  visible yet, since his eyes were still closed, but Daedalus just knew they would be hazel, because that was the color of his own eyes, as well as Nafsicrate's. They had a beautiful child. Tears started to well up in the man's eyes, tears of pride, of joy. Tears of true happiness.

"He is adorable, isn't he?", Nafsicrate asked, reaching out a hand to wipe Daedalus' fresh tears, instead of focusing on the ones running down her own face. He nodded, covering her small hand with his bigger one. A silence fell, but it was a comfortable one. There was no tension in the room, the only thing that could be heard was the steady in- and exhaling of the small family.

"What do you want to name him?", the father suddenly asked. At first, there was no response. Nafsicrate was thinking.

"Why don't you pick?", she questioned. Daedalus frowned. He hadn't thought of a name. Yes, they had discussed this matter before, but they hadn't yet come to a solid conclusion. What did he want to name the child?

"How about... Icarus?", he whispered, more to himself than to her. She nodded in response.

"That sounds wonderful."

Suddenly, a low voice behind them spoke: "Icarus is a wonderful name, indeed."

Daedalus jumped up slightly. Turning around, he saw a giant bird, sitting on the chair behind him. He then looked over to the window, which had been opened. He looked back at the bird, wondering if the voice belonged to the winged animal in front of him.

"Yes, Young Daedalus, the words you just heard were mine," the bird said as it opened its beak, as if having read Daedalus' mind, "I am here to ask you a favor."

A gust of wind blew through the window and circled around the bird, which suddenly changed into a man. Long white hair fell down his broad shoulders and his facial features were inhumanly handsome. His beard reached down to the middle of his torso, which was incredibly muscular, just like the rest of his body. There was no doubt: this person was divine.