A god.

"I'm a what?!" you exclaim in shock.

"A god," said your mother, as simply as though she said "stir fry" when you ask what's for dinner. "Well, a demigod. Maybe. Honestly honey, I'm just as lost as you are on this."

For your whole life, your mom said that she never knew who your dad was. A one night stand, and nine-months later you were born. While you always felt a little lost not knowing who your dad was, you never resented your mom for it. She was a good mom regardless of the circumstances. So when you come home for your 18th birthday and your mom asked you to sit down, this was not the conversation you were expecting.

"Okay, you can tell me that you knew more about my dad than you let on, but this is just mean."

"No honey, I'm being serious!" Said mom.

"Well it doesn't sound serious," you said rhetorically.

"Well I am. And this was sent for you because of it. Your dad was an alumni at this school. I read through the whole thing! I think it's very real. As real as your dad."

She pushed the pamphlet she said came in the mail over to you. It read "Hades University for Men" on the front. Much of it was apple-red and white, with a picture of what looked like a cross between an average American red-brick school and some old ruins from the Athens Acropolis. On the top left of the pamphlet looked like what might have been the university's mascot (a three-headed doberman) and the school's official insignia (a two-pronged trident that curved like ox-horns).

For a moment, the whole pamphlet shimmered before your eyes like gold-leaf. You jumped right out of your seat in surprise. You pick it up. You turn it over and flip through it. You could not reproduce that strange shimmer with the kitchen light.

"Okay. Say I believe you. Who exactly was he?"