Athena

*You’re a boy. Sorry about that, ladies* You first met Athena in the college library when you were looking for resources for your assignment. She noticed you looking around, and helped you out, letting you borrow the book you needed that she was already reading. She’s serious and intelligent, wise beyond her years, with a strange sense of tired resignation in her eyes and behind her smiles. You kept seeing her regularly after that, sprouting a friendship between the two of you. She has a lot in common with you. You both enjoy classic literature, and theatre. You’re both obsessed with and studying Greek Mythology. You’ve never seen her outside of the library, yet she always seems to be there when you go, always in That same seat you found her in the same time, in her same corner. In truth, it’s a little unnerving. Especially after the dreams begin. You find yourself having nightly visions of war and death, men fighting one another wielding ancient weapons, in front of the massive curtain walls of a city you know you’ve never seen before, yet is so painfully familiar. The men in the dreams are familiar too. It’s like you know them from somewhere. But when they speak to you, it’s not your name they use. These half-remembered strangers call you “Diomedes”. The dreams get even stranger when Athena starts showing up in them, though she’s not wearing her usual woollen jumper, skirt, and sensible shoes in the dreams. Instead, she’s fully decked out in golden armour, wielding a spear and a shield bearing the head of a gorgon. And In the dreams, she’s giving you advice, somehow making you fight better. Finally, you confront her, deciding to be honest about your dreams. To your shock, she isn’t surprised to hear them.