"Do the gods create us, or do we create them?"
Trrrring trrrring trrrring, the alarm sounded at 7:00 a.m. in Alexander Makarov's room. A 24-year-old Bulgarian, he'd been living in New York for five years since becoming independent and deciding to move to this city.
For the past few weeks, every night he went to sleep, Alexander had been having the same dream: huge black wolves with glowing red eyes chasing him through a dark and sinister forest.
"Tss... The same nightmare again," he thought, disgusted.
Without giving it any further thought, the boy got dressed and headed to his job as a waiter at an old restaurant on the outskirts of the city.
"Bring me my food! A glass of water, please! And my bill?" were the words he was forced to hear during the six-hour workday he worked every day.
However, something surprising happened that day. Amidst so many voices and requests, he suddenly heard an extremely powerful and imposing male voice:
"I have chosen you."
"Who's there? Who are you?" he asked, frightened.
"I have chosen you as the bearer of my power," the mysterious voice in Alexander's head spoke again.
Looking around and having no answers, the boy decided to go to the bathroom for a moment to splash his face with cold water.
"Are you a ghost? A demon?" the boy asked. "Am I going crazy?!"
"Calm down, a demon would be kinder to you. My name is Morpheus."
"Morpheus?" Alexander asked again.
Raising his head, When he pulled his head out of the sink and looked in the mirror, he jumped back in shock. In the mirror, his figure was there, but different... His eyes went from black to bright red. His hair was no longer brown; it had turned as black as coal.
"What have you done to me?" Alexander was alarmed.
"From now on, you have my power," said the voice in his head. "The truth is, you've always had it, but now is when I finally reveal all this to you. My name is Morpheus, I am the God of Dreams. Since you were very young, I chose you as the bearer of my power, although until now I haven't thought I needed you."
"Your power?"
The boy didn't have time to ask anything else when a shadow with a human silhouette appeared next to him.
"I am Morpheus," said that shadow. "Or rather, this is a manifestation of me on earth, for we gods are forbidden to fully manifest ourselves in your reality."
"Gods? Morpheus? What are you talking about?" The questions kept flooding Alexander.
"That's right. Those gods that humans read about in stories and legends, many of us exist," Morpheus replied. "We have existed since the beginning of existence, yet not even the gods know if we created you or if we were created for you. Or perhaps, this is a conversation we shouldn't be having right now."
"I understand," Alexander said. "But... What do you want from me?"
"There are few like you in this world. There are humans who have been chosen by certain gods to store their powers. For a war is coming. A war to obtain the Eye of Arbadan. The only artifact capable of allowing the gods full access to your reality."
"Ohh... I understand... This is like an isekai, but instead of me being reincarnated into the body of a god, the god is reincarnated into the body of a human," Alexander mocked, unable to contain his laughter. "How funny..."
"Are you making fun of me, stupid?!" Morpheus raged.
From the god's manifestation in the form of a shadow, an aura of dark and intimidating power emerged.
"Calm down..." the boy tried to calm the situation. "It was a joke, I didn't mean to be rude."
Seeing that Morpheus had calmed down, Alexander asked:
"But... why do I have to fight your battles?"
"Look, stupid kid, I saved your life, so this is your payment," Morpheus replied. "When you were little, you almost died from an illness, right?"
"That's right, I spent a lot of my childhood in a hospital," the boy affirmed.
"I saved your life in exchange for granting you my powers so you could fight in this battle for me. However, this is also in your best interest, as it saves your world. There are gods who don't have the best intentions if they obtain the Eye of Arbadan and move to your world. Besides... You have the power of Morpheus, the God of Dreams. You're basically the new king of dreams, stupid boy."
"Let me guess," Alexander said with a wry smile. "If I don't accept, you'll take your power away from me and I'll die, right?"
"Exactly," Morpheus affirmed.