Agarista of Troy: A Journey of War, Love, and Return

Chapter 1: Born of Fire

I was born in the heart of a city aflame.

Troy, my home, crumbled around me as the cries of warriors echoed in the streets. I was too young to remember the siege, but my mother, Helen, would often tell me about the night I came into the world. Her eyes would darken when she spoke of that day—the day Paris, my father, fell to Achilles' spear, and the city walls shook with the sound of destruction.

"Your father was brave," she would say, stroking my hair as I lay against her. "But the gods had their plans. And we—" her voice would break, though she would quickly mask it, "we were meant for survival."

Survival. It was all I had ever known. As the daughter of Paris and Helen, my life had always been marked by war, tragedy, and escape. I grew up on the run, first hiding among the ruins of Troy, then sailing back across the Aegean with my mother to Sparta, her former home.

"Why do we not stay in Troy?" I would ask her as a child, gazing up at her with wide eyes. "Is it not our home?"

Her face would tighten, and she would pull me close. "Troy is a memory, Agarista. Sometimes it is best to leave the past where it belongs."

But I couldn't forget. I carried Troy in my blood. It was a part of me—a part that would one day call me back.