A Ghost Out of Time

True success requires sacrifice. I guess that's all it comes down too.

I've lost my family, my friends, my life, even my name.

And for what?

So a bunch of parents can go on ignoring their children, my father included.

It started when I was a baby. My mother worked and worked so we could survive, and growing up in the Great Depression didn't help either.

Sometimes my mom had to go places without me. That's how I first met Tia Callida. She seemed like your normal ancient, motherly babysitter, but she was so much more than that. She's the first connection I had to the world of Olympus, of gods and goddesses, and of monsters.

There was also a woman with "family resemblance" to Tia. Both women played parts in ruining my life. Tia was trying to prepare me, or so she said. She wanted me to be her champion.

The other woman wanted me dead, or at least broken beyond repair. She crushed my spirit by forcing my best friend to move. She broke my mind when she killed my mother. She destroyed my body.

And Tia rescued me.

I was in and out of sleep for so long. I grew as my body repaired itself, but time functioned differently. When I fully woke, I diddn't feel any different, but I was older, and everything had changed.

I discovered the world of the gods.

I built a warship.

I defeated the giants.

I had a whole new family.

And for what?

I didn't remember my life. Tia gave me a new one. Not the only time, two of my friends had the same fate.

But they regained their memories. She gave me all new ones.

I didn't recognize my best friend when I saw her again, but she knew me.

When the giants were defeated, she gave them back.

All my memories.

Even my name:

Leo Samuel Valdez

I don't have the heart to tell my friends my full name.

I couldn't break up my best friend and her new boyfriend, just because I wanted her back.

   

I am just the seventh wheel.

A ghost out of time.