The oppressive heat of the Cretan summer solstice clung to the air, a fitting shroud for my unholy birth. They expected a prince, a human heir, but what emerged from Queen Pasiphaë’s womb was a creature with the head of a pure white calf, hooves, and a tail—a stark testament to my mother’s cursed affair with the sacred bull.

I was ripped from her breast, an abomination in the eyes of King Minos, who swiftly condemned me to the palace dungeons. There, I spent my early years, educated in secret by my heartbroken mother, a clandestine rebellion against the king’s decree. But hunger, a constant companion, eventually drove me to an act that sealed my monstrous reputation.

My caregiver, a blind servant, became my first meal. Minos, seeing a new weapon, had an intricate labyrinth constructed and placed me at its heart, feeding me criminals. And now, the 'Androgeos Festival' has begun, a cruel charade where innocent Athenian youths are sent to their deaths. I hear Minos’s voice, booming with false cheer, announcing the next sacrifice.