Archie Smith, Boy Wonder

In his dreams, he was the young king of Elemoss. His queen was young too and vaguely resembled his neighbor Katrina; except Katrina had cooties, so he didn't like her. He was the most honored king in the history of Elemoss even though he had only been in power for a week or two. His fame came from his victory. He had vanquished the veela, Venora, with the magic he had learned from the powerful Warlock of the Eastern Mountains. All the creatures of Elemoss loved to chat about how their brave king was able to resist the charms of Venora's lusted figure; for veelas were known for their powers of seduction. Elemoss was back to its original state and all of its people were content. Here, King Emmett was able to live his life with his wife, Lumina, in a pure state of endless bliss.

In his reality, he was the young son of a powerful business man. As the 'prince' of his father's kingdom, he was often brought to boring meetings about company statistics or stocks. Sometimes they were about advertisements, those meetings were more tolerable. He was famous here too; but his fame was rooted in his father's achievements, not his own.

Everywhere he went, people knew him as 'young mister smith' or 'Archie S.'. Archie Smith, in his opinion, was the name of a victim in a scary story. People in creepy tales always seemed to have boring, generic names like Emily or Johnny. So when he was old enough to realize that the name given to him was Archie, he couldn't help but feel offended. Archie originated as a nickname for the name Archibald which was an English name for truly bold. It was used so much that it became its own name with its own definition. Archie meant, "Diminutive form of Archibald". Diminutive meant small or tiny. He hated the name Archie.

Home was a nightmare. The king and queen of this real world fought on-stop. The prince was certain that one day their bickering would cause another world war. Sometimes he was dragged into the disagreements and suffered for existing. He felt so small, so 'diminutive'. How he wished he could say that he was an Archibald, someone truly bold. But he wasn't. In these situations he knew that it was best to keep quiet and to just endure whatever was thrown at him.

Sleep was an escape. Slumber escorted him back to Elemoss, back to the pace where there was peace and no lurking shadow over his head. He didn't fear death, kings never should. He had this feeling that one night he wouldn't wake up. One night, he'd be enclosed in his dream forever. But it was just a feeling, one that his droopy eyelids would soon erase as they closed and transported him into his dreamland.

As the small king slept, two tiny orbs of light floated into the room through the open window. They hovered over his still form as they casted glances at the boy and then at one another.

A tiny voice asked, "Is he the one?"

A squeaky voice replied, "No doubt."

The small blobs of light used their magic to carry the boy to a land beyond the heavens and the stars. When Archie Smith woke up, he saw strange creatures staring at him. One, a small sort of elf-like being, stepped forward and bowed.

In a high sort of squeal he said, "Welcome home, King Emmett."

It was three months after Archie's abduction that the Smith family discovered that the heir to their kingdom had been assassinated.