What if there was no such thing as fiction? What if for every world imagined and dreamed of, an alternate world was created? Every story written, every day dream created, existed in their own reality, continuing on long after being abandoned by their creator. And what if, these worlds could be accessed? These were the kind of questions that I would never think to cross my mind until the day when my life was changed forever.

I couldn't feel the ground. There was nothing under my feet but air as I floated away from the world below me farther and farther until I found myself among the clouds. I wasn't scared or confused, I knew just where I was going. Farther and farther i soared until finally i came upon my destination. The clouds gave way to buildings made of ivory and marble, nestled in the shadow of a mighty mountain atop which say the hall of the Greek gods. But i had no interest in them, I was on a search for someone else. I glided among the the immaculate architecture until I reached a grand structure jutting out of its forest enclosure. The dwelling of the Goddess Artemis. I could see her sitting on a balcony overlooking the beautiful forest below and she was not alone. She was in the company of a man, extremely tall and deadly gorgeous. And it was in this man that my interest lay. I moved closer towards the balcony and the couple. The man had his large muscular back to me, his long black hair falling almost to his waist but not completely covering the scars that marred his skin. The red head, dressed in her white chiton looked up at my approach and I enjoyed the fear that came to light in her eyes. I landed on the balcony on far away from the couple, standing not far away from the man and glaring at the red headed bitch beside him.

"Come on Acheron, its time you were free of this selfish cow."

He looked at me for the first time and i knew that i was his savior. My purpose to take him away from all the pain i knew he suffered.

"How dare you! Do you know who I am?" The red head shrieked. "I am the Goddess Artemis, daughter of Zeus, Sister of Apollo!"

I turned on her then with hatred in my eyes. "And you are about to get your ass kicked." I stalked towards her until i was within striking distance. She let forth an ear piercing shriek an instant before my fist collided with her face.

I came awake to the shriek still ringing in my ears. I thought at first i was still in the dream but i soon realized that it was the sound of the fire alarm going off. I jumped out of my bed and dodged the obstical course in my room until i could pull my door open and see what was going on. The hallway was full of smoke and I could hear my mother cursing in the kitchen. I waved frantically at the fire alarm on my way to see what had caused it to go off. In the kitchen, my mother was attempting to put out the small fire that had started under the skillet she was using to make bacon. Seeing that she had the situation under control, i ran to the living room to open the sliding glass door and allow some of the smoke to escape outside. IT was still another several minutes before the alarm stopped blaring and the house was mostly cleared of the smoke. I could hear my mother muttering to herself and cursing at the poor stove.

"Is everything OK?" I asked from the kitchen doorway.

"Yeah, guess its microwave bacon for breakfast this morning." She said, wiping the sweat from her drenched forehead.

I didn't bother commenting on the fact that bacon from the microwave was disgusting or the fact that I was defiantly not in the mood for breakfast with the pounding headache that was drilling into my temple. I went back to my bedroom to flop down on my bed. I heaved a sigh and rolled over on top of something hard.
Pulling it out from under me, I found it to be my favorite book in the world. Acheron. I had been reading it before i had fallen asleep last night which explained the source of my dream. If only such a world really existed... I thought to myself for the thousandth time. I could always lose myself in my books metaphorically but i would much rather become apart of them for real, living along side the characters i have come to love and hate as if they were real. I laughed aloud at such a stupid thought. I spent too much time wishing for the impossible, i needed to come to grips with the reality that I was apart of. The reality where I was stuck in a run-down-middle-of-no-where town in central Illinois. The reality where I was stuck inside for the 3 day weekend to finish homework that should have been done weeks ago. I was seriously tempted to just say screw it and go back to sleep and lose myself in my dream world and ignore the world with which i was really apart of. But in the end i knew that that would not accomplish anything for me but more time lost on homework.

Heaving a sigh of defeat, I got up from my bed, taking Acheron with me so that i could place it back in its proper place among the other books in my Sherilyn Kenyon collection.

If only...

Sitting down at my desk i began to pull out my English work from my nearby back pack and set to work. It wasn't until about 3 hours later that I decided to take a break.

With my head held in my hands I could not stop my mind from wandering away from academics and to darker subjects. I tried to keep the thoughts out of my head but i learned long ago that the sadness would creep in anyway it could. Depression, they called it. Like it was a disease easily treatable with medication diligently taken. But it was more than that. The pills didn't help and the counseling did nothing. The sadness found me just the same every day.
And as i sat there once again suffocated by the weight of my reality i silently pleaded for an escape. If only the world in my books were real, if only i could escape there, start over new. I would do anything.

"Anything?"

I wheeled around at the sound of the deep male baritone that i did not recognize. Standing beside my bookshelf behind me was a man, incredibly tall and gorgeous.
I had to blink several times to make sure that i was not hallucinating. I had finally gone off the deep end. I thought. That was the only reason there would be a mysteriously handsome man chilling in my room.

"Who are you?" I asked, feeling like somebody in a cheesy b rated thriller with predictable dialogue.

He moved closer to me, the light of the midday sun casting an eerie shadow over his perfect features, until he stood just behind me. All at once i was overwhelmed with his presence, his voice, his incredible dark features framed with raven hair darker than any i had ever seen before. All at once, my breath was stolen from me. His full lips parted to reveal perfect teeth and a crooked grin.

"I am the one who is going to make all your dreams come true."