Most parents didn't receive a Chthonic prophecy about their newborn daughters. Four years prior, a couple from the city of Thebes, distantly related to the erstwhile royal family, had noted something strange about the girl. Her eyes were a deep violet, quite unlike anyone else they knew.
They'd gone to every oracle to try and understand why this might be, but the only answers they received were from the temple of Demeter and Kore.
One of the priestesses convulsed at the sight of the girl and spoke in an otherworldly voice. "You are the custodians of a gift from Queen Persephone. You must name her Megara and teach her every legend pertaining to the gods and heroes of Thebes. It is important to the queen that you never disappoint that legacy."
They were diligent in following this prescription. By the age of four, little Megara could recite Hercules's twelve labors. She knew where he grew up and expressed an interest in visiting any of the ancient sites related to him.
The life and times of Hercules might be an atypical interest for a girl, but her parents were not in the business of defying the gods.
For this reason, her mind was full of monsters and arenas one night when a nightmare coiled around her consciousness.
She'd never experienced anything so vivid. She could see the individual seats at the arena like she had that past weekend when her father brought her to watch a horse race.
There were no horses in this arena nor any cheering crowd.
She heard a deep hissing and a voice that mocked her from somewhere unseen.
"You thought you could get out of the Underworld, Nutmeg? Just wait'll you see what it's like a third time!"
She didn't understand any of that, but the voice's malice resonated with her.
Over and over, Megara willed herself to wake back up, to no avail. She'd had scary dreams before, but this one felt like it was real. There was grit to the sand beneath her bare feet. The sun beat down on her in her nightgown. There was too much wrong with this scenario.
"I've gotta talk to the wife about working behind my back. But maybe this is a gift! It's been thousands of years. I'd almost forgotten how much fun it is to kill you!"
Megara knew only one remedy for fear like this. Her parents had carefully planted one particular hero in her mind.
With all the concentration she could muster, Megara called to the Mighty Hercules, the god of heroes and protector of the innocent.
Her heart was racing out of control as she curled in on herself as if making herself smaller would dissuade the monster and this malicious male voice from targeting her.
"I think you forgot to invite me to this monster battle!" A voice rang out from above them.
Megara didn't uncurl herself, as the terror remained too powerful. But her heart fluttered at the voice, all the same. She peeked up when she heard someone draw a sword.
The snake reared up between her and the figure at the top of the arena. It opened its mouth, and Megara screamed.
Something slashed through the air and left a squishy sound.
Megara looked up to see the headless snake slump and then vanish entirely.
There he stood, looking exactly like the illustrations in her storybooks. He glowed like the sun, making it difficult to see his face.
She covered her face again to hide from the brilliance of that man's light.
Just as she fled from it, the light dimmed, and he knelt before her. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Megara," she told him, still covering her eyes.
The man let out a heavy breath. She thought he had fallen.
Megara peeked at him and found him slumped to one side, holding his chest. "Are you okay?" She stepped closer, even though she wasn't sure if she ought to approach a man she didn't know.
"I…" he smiled, but she could tell he was still in pain. "I've missed you."
"Who are you?"
The question seemed to hurt him even more. "That's what you said the last time I saw you…" He offered her his hand. "I'm Hercules. You called me here."
Megara gripped one of his fingers and shook it. "Thanks for helping me."
The dream world began to melt away. She must be waking up.
"No!" Hercules looked around frantically, but it was no use. The dream ended.
Throughout her childhood, Megara frequently encountered challenges in her nightmares. There were monsters, traps, and puzzles, and she always knew who to call on when she was afraid.
Hercules sometimes showed her the way out of a problem, proving himself to be a far more patient teacher than anyone at school.
In her waking life, she formed rituals every time she saw a billboard or garden statue of Hercules. Thebes was his city, after all. She blew kisses at the sign with a design of him holding up a roof and ran her hand over the mostly crumbled statue in the agora. There were few hints that it was him, but she knew. She would always know.
She had fewer and fewer nightmares as time went on, but she never neglected the god who had shepherded her through them. With time, she came to believe that perhaps she'd made the whole thing up, but there was too strong an impression that she knew him.
It wasn't like the ordinary relationship between a god and a mortal, where mortals gave offerings to communicate with a patron. Hercules had visited her personally when she was vulnerable. He was thoughtful and gentle, but he could solve any problem.
No man in the world could compare the deeper she read into his legends. Where others considered him an exciting legend, a way to get ahead in sports, or an advertising gimmick, he was her oldest friend.
By the time she got out of high school, Megara was confirmed in every circle as an obsessive fan, but she didn't mind. There were worse things to be a fan of, and this one stopped her from dating the wrong kind of guy. Not that any guy could measure up to a literal god. But as she put it to her friends when she explained why she'd gone to the fourth Aphrodesia Dance alone, she really couldn't see herself with someone normal. She'd have to find someone exceptional.
It didn't protect her in all instances. One faker got past her firewall. She kept her heart guarded, but it was still painful when she discovered him cheating on her. According to him, he had to because she wouldn't put out.
Megara called the other woman in question on his phone right after she clawed it free of his hand.
"Hey, there! Is this Dimi?" she asked when the owner of the other phone picked up.
"Who's this?" the girl's nasal voice sounded miffed.
"I'm Meg, your boyfriend's other girlfriend. Thought maybe we should have a chat!"
"My what!?" Dimi shouted over the connection.
Their mutual ex had been displeased when Megara and Dimi became best friends after one day of banter. "At least we both know he had good taste!" Megara quipped as the two left the coffee shop they'd met in to hash out details.
For her first couple of years at college, she stayed at the Theban school to get her prerequisites. After that, she transferred to Prometheus University in Athens at Dimi's prompting.
"We can both study pre-law!" she exclaimed when she saw that she and Megara had received acceptance letters.
"Whatever we do, at least we'll get out of Thebes. Athens has to have smarter guys, right? Or at least less dramatic ones?"
"Go ahead and pray to your shiny sky boyfriend, but I don't think he'll be too much help while you try to find someone."
"He's not my boyfriend." Megara had said that phrase so many times that she was getting tired of denials. What was the harm of letting her friend joke a little about it? She sometimes made fun of her high-pitched voice, even with the hazard of Dimi returning fire by mocking the depth of Megara's voice. It was harmless teasing, so why should she be so sensitive about this little in-joke over her patron?
As they were settling into life in Athens in preparation for the start of classes, Dimi suggested that Megara try singing at the tavernas to make some extra money.
Following through with this decision brought them in contact with Irini, a music student at the University. Every time Megara wanted to sing a song, Irini was there with an arrangement to provide backup. In the last few days before school started, Megara decided that she'd finally built herself a platform to launch from.
This would be the year that changed the rest of her life.