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The Second History was a history blessed by the Hours, particularly the Hours of the cosmic bodies. The Apple-of-the-Eye, the Star, and the Ferryman took a benevolent interest in the History. Under their influence, the History enjoyed the benefits of fair rulers that governed justly, inspired scholars, and an unrivaled abundance of wealth. But no ancient empire was as great as Bayal while Adonibaal led it. He ruled his country brilliantly and fairly, crushing any enemies who came against them. He loved his people with all his heart, and they loved him forever.
But no king rules forever. With peace and prosperity come the freedom to discover and explore sensations. These things drew [[The Butterfly Hatching]] to the Second History the . The Butterfly grew infatuated with Adonibaal, and sought to take this mortal for her own. She whispered to the king in his dreams, promising him eternal power and glory. All he needed to do was sail east into the Sun, and from there she would give him the power to conquer the Mansus and rule forever as a god.
The king was seduced by her whispers and took his fleet and most trusted soldiers out to sea, knowing he'd never see Bayal again in this life, but determined to bring his loving rule to the entire world, as he planned to make it all into his kingdom. Once he reached the place his dreams had led him to, he found not divinity, but a trap. The Butterfly's wing beats stirred up a legendary storm, one she released into the Histories at that moment, capsizing and drowning the entire fleet so she could take their souls for herself.
However, the king was saved from being claimed by the Butterfly at the last moment by the intervention of a creation of the Caladrius. The Good Doctor was notorious for creating new and volatile forms of life, which it would then release into [[The Great Lake]]. Some of these creatures would later escape into the Histories to become legendary monsters, and one such beast now fused with Adonibaal to take his power. With his magical power, and the creature's otherworldly nature, the two combined to form [[The Architeuthian]]. The Architeuthian had been long worshipped worshiped bu mortals of the world as a god, but it was not an Hour, and had long desired the power that the Great Serpent held. The Butterfly raged, but could only take the King's now soulless body for her own.
Without Adonibaal to lead, Bayal came to be ruled by the council of magi. These sorcerers, while well-meaning, lacked Adonibaal's wisdom and foresight. They quickly broke the promise they'd made to the king, and shared their knowledge of magic with the common people. For a time Bayal prospered, but the people soon began to become ''too'' comfortable in their belief of themselves as a superior people.
For the Cuckoo sought not their worship, but the ''object'' of their worship. She wished to create a beautiful new Hour, so she could steal its power for herself and escape her wretched state. High above the Wood, the Gate of Crowns ''screamed'' in pained acknowledgement of a new Hour's twisted birth.The blood of the Dead and dying called out for a savior. And, finding no savior, formed one. And so the first of [[The Gods-From-Blood]], [[The Peacock]], was formed: The Hour of Love, Life, and Excess. The Cuckoo attacked the Peacock, in an effort to devour it alive. Despite being torn asunder and collapsing, the Cuckoo was shocked when, midway through her meal, the Peacock sprung back up and fled into the Wood, reforming as he went.
The newborn Hour lacked any memories or identity of his own beyond his purposeof spreading joy. He was never human, but neither did he have the benefit of spending millennia exploring the House. To better understand humans, he observed the Histories. Upon laying Eyes upon the prosperity of the Second History, the Bird chose to become one of the patrons of Bayal, so that he might learn from the mortals as the mortals learned from him.
But word of the ritual that had allowed mortals to physically enter the House did not die with the cultists that had performed it. A great conclave of occultists gathered, eager to enter the House for themselves in order to avoid alerting the Hours to their immanent arrival, they spent many years revising and refining the spell. They found, in time, the secret to calling upon the inherent power of [[Knock]] Principle without invoking an existing Hour, something they believed would allow them free passage to and from the House.
At long last, they enacted their ritual. Like many Rites, the ritual they performed was powered in part by blood sacrifice. This time, however, something was different. By calling on such an intense degree of [[Knock]] without the observation of a Hour to regulate it, a great amount of the power gathered upon the altar was gathered in one placevolatile and unstable. This power reacted strangely with the blood of the sacrifices, and took on life of its own. While it is questionable whether or not the resulting entity that sprung from the altar and entered the House and the magi's stead was composed of the spirits of the sacrificed, or if the ritual had taken from the sacrifices a soul of its own, one this is certain. It was volatile, powerful, and focused on a single purpose: to go where it willed.
The Hours, caught by surprise by the newcomer in their midst, were unprepared as it rapidly broke through [[The Glass Door]], then the FNORD Door, until it stood before [[The Chitinous Door]]. [[The Butterfly Hatching]], undefeated in her command of Knock, rose to challenge the creature. To the shock of all the All-Opener was opened herself by the newcomer that never broke stride as it charged through her, rending her asunder. FNORDNever stopping even as it ascended the Shattered Stair, then broke [[The Mirage Door]], it at last came before the Gate of Crowns. Recognizing the entity's power as worthy of Hourhood, the Gate willingly opened before it. Even though it had no prior identity to shed, the entity re-emerged from the Gate a Hour, taking on the name [[The Uninvited Guest]] it became a new power of Knock. In time in would be revealed to be the first of [[The Gods-From-Steel]], but to the Hours who had never before heard of such a thing it was considered second from Blood. The Guest's sudden arrival and the slaying of the Butterfly sent the Hours into a furor. Never before had this occurred, that a mortal might ascend to the throne of Hourdom without a patron. Concerns were raised as to whether or not humanity had deviated from the Hours' design, and if so what should therefore be done with them. For the Maker, this incident proved to be too much. Already troubled by its creation willingness to strike [[The First Bargain]] and the subsequent creation of The Cuckoo, it is said the death of its sister caused the God-From-Stone to fall into a torpor. Its artistic creations grew twisted as it worked upon them. Fearful of ever leaving a flaw in its work it never truly finished a project again. As "improvement" was laid over "improvement" the appearance of its creations grew warped and grotesque. It resolved to find the flaw in its work and correct it, an exercise in madness that only served to alienate it from its fellow Forge Hours, and would consume its mind for the rest of its days. But the slaying of the Butterfly left far greater fractures in the relations between Hours and men, to a degree even The Great Serpent could not fully ignore. Before now the Hours had widely been seen by both themselves and their mortal flocks as truly infallible and immortal. The shattering of the First-From-Stone disproved this notion and sewed far-reaching doubts. 'What else might the Gods be wrong about?' the mortals wondered. 'What if my rivals choose to kill me too? What shall I do to them?' As the Ferryman took the remains of its "sibling" to be interred in the innermost sanctums of [[The Halls of Silence]], dicourse between the Hours grew strained, as each could not fully shake the fear they might be the next of their number to fall.
Bayal, meanwhile, began to stagnate. With everyday citizens regularly practicing magic and occultism, Bayal became a superpower its neighbors and rivals could not hope to match. However, with that sense of superiority came complacency and excess, just as Adonibaal predicted. The Bayali civilization's cultural development screeched to a halt, too focused on their own pleasure to focus on anything else.