Only time and destiny will tell

Chapter 2: “The Fallen’s awakening”

Morning broke over the farmstead, the golden light of Helios's gaze streaming through the window and casting warm hues across the room. Outside, chickens clucked their morning cries, heralding the start of a new day, while predators in the nearby forest stirred, preparing for their hunt. Amid it all, the fallen from the sky awakened.

The sun's rays kissed my face, pulling me from the depths of a strange, dreamless slumber. My head throbbed as though Gaia herself had sent a hangover to punish me. Groaning, I sat up, clutching my chest where I felt the tight grip of bandages wrapped around my wounds.

“What the hell? Why am I patched up? Did I get into a fight or something?! Wait an even better question, where in the name of Zeus am I?” I say inside my mind trying to remember what happened. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, the aches and bruises gradually dulling as I adapted to the discomfort. Scanning the room, I noted its simple furnishings: wooden walls, a rickety chair, and a small table holding a clay pitcher.

“Ok… I’m in a farm by the looks of it… HOW THE HELL DID I ENDED UP IN A FARM I WAS- wait where was I last night or last month? Why can’t I remember???” I continue to ramble in my mind trying to focus to remember where I was last night and how did I get here.

“Ok... calm down a clear mind is a rational one. Was I in a fight? I mean that could explain all the bruises but who patched me up and why- “I say that looking in the mirror stopping mid-sentence as I hear footsteps and the locked door of the room opening.

The door of the rooms opens revealing a gorgeous young woman no older than 22/23 with dark brown hair carrying some bandages on her hands, she’s shocked seeing my awake clearly not expecting me to be awake before I can say anything she’s gone from the room calling out her father.

"Well, that’s not suspicious," I muttered. “Ok find something to… Perfect.” I say as I grab a small knife under the bed “That’s convenient, probably belong to that girl or his father or whoever lives in this farm.”

A couple of seconds later a middle-aged man and young man accompanied with the woman from earlier enter in the room, I stand back making a solid space between the three of them as I grab a good hold of the knife.

"Whoa there, lad," the older man said, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "We’re not here to hurt you."

“That fucker has my knife!” The woman says noticing that I found her weapon under the bed, moving closer trying to take me down clearly this girl is crazy or she knows what she’s doing.

“Come here and get it if you are brave enough” I tell the girl as I see the young man, clearly the son, grabbing her by the arm stopping her from doing something rash.

“Sis, you are not helping here!” the young man says to her sister holding her in place.

"Alright, enough!" the older man barked, his voice firm but calm. "Let’s all take a deep breath and start over, shall we?" I didn’t lower the knife but gave him a slow nod, signalling I was willing to listen—for now.

“Perfect. So, let’s start with something simple, what’s your name lad?” The father asks me looking for peace in this situation.

“My name?” I ask mostly to myself, why I can’t remember my name… I know it, it’s like… it’s like they are blocked or something, come on think you got this.

“My name… my name is Kayn.” I say confidently remembering that is my name giving to me by my family.

“Excellent lad, my name is Arbos I’m the owner of this farm and this two next to me are my son Ikaro and my daughter Iris.” Arbos says while moving his hand pointing at both his children. “We found you and patched you up.”

“You found me? What do you mean? Was I in a fight or something? Might explain why my head feels like it’s split open” I say as I start to lower the knife slowly, Arbos exchanged a glance with his children, their expressions uneasy.

“Wait you really don’t remember what happened to you?” Ikaro asks shocked by what I said, I move my head side to side confirming that I don’t remember what happened.

"Then you’d better sit down, lad," Arbos said, his face growing serious. "What I’m about to tell you might be hard to believe. You… fell from the sky. And I don’t mean in some metaphorical sense. I mean literally—you came crashing down in a meteor."

I laughed nervously, waiting for the punchline. But his grave expression told me he wasn’t joking. "You’re serious? How’s that even possible?"

“You tell us, my father show me the crash site and there is no way a human survived that besides that I been patching you up all night and you been healing faster to most humans so might as well explain to us what’s going on or what are you.” Iris says tenaciously

“What am I? I’m a human do I look a monster or something? And what do you mean a crash site? I DIDN’T KILL ANYONE DID I??” I say starting to panic a little about what’s going on.

Arbos raised a hand, calming me. “It’s okay lad calm down take a deep breath, first thing first you look human to us besides your white hair and your bright eyes but you are clearly are something more because you wouldn’t be able to survive that if that’s the case, but no, you are not a monster. Second, I don’t think you kill any human maybe some wildlife by accident, maybe they manage to flee when they saw your meteor falling.” Arbos says clearing all doubts.

I take a sit on the bed taking a breath after hearing what Arbos said. “…Arbos, can I see that crash site? I want to see it with my eyes.”

"Of course," Arbos replied. "Take your time. There’s clean clothing by the bed. When you’re ready, meet us outside."

As Arbos and Iris left, Ikaro lingered at the door, his curiosity evident.

"Are you a god?" he asked bluntly.

"I…" I hesitated, unsure how to answer. "I don’t know. I certainly don’t feel like one."

He gave a small smile. "Well, you look like one to me."

With that, he left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.