A City Among The Stars

Prologue

     I have always been a bit of a nerd, a geek. Getting straight A's in all my classes, ancient literature, physics, astrology, chemistry, classes like that. All day I would go to my classes a mindless drone. That is until my last block, Greek mythology.

     When I stepped into the classroom, my mind became alight with knowledge and sights. As the teacher spoke about the ancient myths and legends I could picture myself among the ancient gods. My all time favorite was the topic about the myths behind the constellations in the night sky. Each story was its own while contributing to the larger world that is the Greek's imagination. While my teacher spoke I could just imagine standing at Zeus's shoulder as he watched the world that he, and his fellow gods, had created. I could feel the energy, the praise, that Zeus felt as he arranged the stars in images of courageous, compassionate people and animals alike. When I was told about Aquila, the eagle, I could just imagine flying from earth and into the heavens and back, assisting Zeus. For Aquila was Zeus's personal attendant.

     The thing is, I believe in all of the Greek's myths and legends. My friends think I'm crazy. They don't believe in the myths like I do, even though they take the class. They just needed a filler class. At first that's why I signed up for the class, but after the first lesson, I was entranced. So many times, I have been asked why, even how, I could believe in these far fetched tales. The truth is, I would tell them, the complexity of the stories is mesmerizing and hard to believe that anyone made them up. Also, how would the creator of these stories be able to convince an entire population of people that the legends are true? I'm not the only person who has ever believed in these tales. Although in my head, I would add that it was a feeling I had. Sadly I couldn't tell my friends that. They would think that I had gone off the deep end, gone completely insane! They would still be my friends though.

     Now, if I told my friends about the dreams I've been having, they would probably turn their backs on me, call me a freak. I'd be an outcast, the girl who believes in Ancient Greek mythology. The dreams come to me every so often. I catch glimpses of gods quarrelling Hercules fighting the Hydra with sword and flaming torch in hand, Queen Cassiopeia bragging about her daughter's, Andromeda's, beauty. Some of the dreams are mere replays of what has already been recorded in the Greek's myths but some of them are new. Some of them I don't recognize as myths. Maybe they are, maybe I just haven't heard about them. But something keeps gnawing at me. I can't place the feeling but it doesn't go away. There are times when I wake up I'm terrified at one of the gods fights. I don't know why I get scared. I tell myself that it was just a nightmare, but I can never truly convince myself.