𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐄

Prologue

  When I look back on my life, it is hard to believe that all of this that I am going to tell you about happened to me. I am Ganymede, son of Tros, prince of Dardania, a youth whose fate became intertwined with the will of the gods. My story is one of beauty and pain, glory and loss, lies and naivety, but above all, it is a story of freedom, which I lost in a single flash of lightning.

I was just a boy then, unremarkable except for my beauty, which everyone around me praised. On the green meadows of Dardania, in the shadow of the mighty walls of a neighboring place of what you know now as Troy, I ran carefree, unaware of the eyes that watched me from the heavens. My days were full of laughter, and my nights full of peace. I did not know that my life was about to change radically and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

  One day, the sky got covered with thick, gray colossi. I was running around the fields while my older brothers had decided it's time to go back inside. I still thought I had time to lead all the sheep my father put under my care back to the shelter before this great storm would begin. My mother was calling for me to come back. I could hear fear in her voice when she yelled for me to leave the sheep behind but before a single thought could cross my mind I heard a sudden, powerful crack. My eyes immediately gazed up to the sky. I thought I saw the sky split open, and from the dark clouds emerged a huge eagle. Its eyes glinted menacingly, and its wings were spread wide as if ready to snatch its prey. Me.

I had no time to run. In the blink of an eye, the eagle seized me in its talons and lifted me high into the clouds. My heart pounded wildly, and my soul yearned to return to the ground, to my home, to my family. But that return was no longer possible.

I arrived at Olympus, where I met Zeus, the most powerful of all gods. The thunder bringer chose me. It was he who abducted me, who took away my freedom. I became his cup bearer - the eternal servant of the gods. My life, once full of simplicity and joy, was now dominated by the brilliance of the divine world, but also by its weight and loneliness.

  This is my story - The timeless tale of youth and the naivety that comes with it, control and the lack of it...the darkness that can catch you from the least expected direction and when you least expect it. Despite many dark moments, my heart chose its favorite part of this story - the moment of rebellion. The proof that even in the most hopeless situation you're not sentenced to be the captive of fate. The very important thought for those who are being pushed down by others, often stronger, maybe more clever people - even in the darkest of times when you can see no light...you can create it yourself.