Prologue

Eric finally admitted it to himself, he was lost. Lost in bum-fuck Egypt. Well, not really Egypt, more like Colorado. He was just outside of his home city of Jackson, Colorado. His foster mother was visiting her brother on his farm and dragged him along, stating that he doesn't get out enough for a fourteen year old.

It was left unsaid that when he did get out, it inevitably led to trouble for him or someone else. He had a jagged scar that ran from his cheek bone, down his jaw line from the last time he had a night out on the town. His foster mother blamed that on him too. How was he supposed to know the girl had a boyfriend? A boyfriend that was apparently knife happy.

His foster mother was pretty cool though. She was in no way an old lady at the age of twenty eight. She still remembered what it was like to be seventeen and in the city, so she cut him a lot of slack. All except for the three times that he was in jail for assault and battery. However, he had an amazing amount of good luck and got all three of the charges dropped. Diana Lotter, his foster mother, would just shake her light blonde head in exasperation and ask him if he was ever going to grow up.

Another person that was cool was his step-sister. She was born on the exact same day as he was. She even died her hair black so they could look like twins. Of course this drove her mother batty. Not to mention the gold cross earring she wore in one ear, along with a Raiders cap. His step sister tried her best to portray a rebel and she was pulling it off in spades.

However, just because she was a tom-boy didn't mean that she wasn't wicked smart. She had an eidetic memory just like her brother and could speed read just as fast as he could. A lot of people figured them for twins if they didn't know them. They were just that smart.

Another piece of information was that they were almost inseparable. If someone started trouble with either of them, the other would be right there guarding their back. It had come to blows several times. The fact of the matter was, they wouldn't know what to do without one another.

Eric shook his unruly head of black hair as he thought of all his fuck ups and how many times he had worried his foster mother. Finally he just sat down on a large rock for a rest. He had been walking in the lush green forest for hours. He had no idea where the fuck he was. God, how he hated being lost.

Then he thought he was losing his mind.

<Come to the cave.>

The voice was a lusty female whisper that just screamed sex at him. That in it's self would not have freaked him out. No, it was that the fact the voice was inside of his head. He was positive he hadn't heard the voice with his ears, but stood up and looked to the left, right and behind him to make sure. Yep, I'm losing my goddamn mind, he thought with an amused chuckle.

<Come to the cave.>

Ok, he wasn't amused anymore. He looked to the left and there was a cave there that he could have sworn wasn't there before. He thought for a few minutes, wiping the sweat from his forehead. What was in the cave? He was paranoid by nature and this was freaking him out a little.

He stared at the cave for a hard minute.

Fuck it, he thought.

He put one foot in front of the other and walked to the cave entrance. There seemed to be something that was glowing further back in the cave. He didn't know what else to do, so he slowly walked towards the green ethereal glow. When he finally reached the back of the cave, he didn't know what to think.

There sitting on a small stone alter was a bottle of some kind and it was glowing green. With deliberate slowness, he walked over and picked up the bottle. The damn thing seemed to vibrate with POWER! He sat it back down quickly, with shaking hands. Again the lusty voice whispered.

eak the bottle on the ground.>

Eric was feeling a little brave so decided to ask a question. "Who are you and why do you want me to break the bottle?"

<My name is Landra, and I am the goddess of magic. If you break the bottle I will give you an award. The bottle is holding me prisoner.>

Ok, this was getting a little creepy, even for him. He could now sense that the voice was coming from the bottle. Thinking that the voice might shut up, he picked up the bottle and smashed it against the stone floor with as much might as he could come up with. He didn't know it, but that was when his life changed forever.

When the bottle struck the ground, it shattered beyond belief. When the bottle shattered an unbelievable flash of green light blinded him badly. What he didn't see, but felt, was a piece of the green light splintering and slamming right into his head. His last thought before going unconscious was simple.

Well, fuck.

Eric let out a groan of pain as his eyes fluttered open. His thoughts telling him that this was his own damn fault. That this was what he gets for listening to strange voices. He didn't know why he had listened in the first place. He was usually much more paranoid than that. He knew one thing though, if a talking bottle talked to him again, he was going to run.

When his eyes were fully opened and focused, Eric was a little shocked. He was lying on the bed Brian, his Foster mother's brother, had loaned him to sleep in. He was back in the damn guest room! This was freaking him out more than a little bit. How the hell could he have got to the damn guest room when he was lost in the first place?

<I brought you here.>

Eric damn near jumped out of his skin. The voice inside his head now was that of a cultured British type female—sort of like Laura Croft. "Please tell me you're not another goddamn bottle," was his eloquent muttered reply as he rubbed his face in frustration.

<I'm not another goddamn bottle, > the voice deadpanned. But you could hear the amusement behind it. Then in a normal tone she spoke again, <I am your reward for releasing the goddess in the bottle.>

Eric knew it was probably unhealthy to talk to voices in his head, but his curiosity was up. "What do you mean by reward? What kind of reward?"

<I mean I am the interface to the power you received as a reward.>

Now his curiosity was really up. "What kind of power?" he asked almost eagerly. This was odd for him.

The voice let out an amused laugh. <You have no idea who you released do you? Let me just say that she is very likely a being that you would refer to as a 'Goddess'. I am the reward the being granted to you. You now have a small amount of that being's power. Some of the major things you can do is make something out of nothing and teleport, not to mention dimensional travel and magic.>

Eric just lay in his bed with a shocked expression of incredulity on his face. This can't be happening to me, was his first thought. He knew that he had good luck sometimes, but mostly it was bad. Hence the scar on his face and the three times he spent in jail.

<I assure you that this has happened to you, > the voice stated in an amused tone.

Eric snorted at her tone and sat up in bed. "Do you have a name?"

<No, the being did not give me one.>

"How about I call you Alexi?" he asked almost hesitantly. Alexi was one of the few friends that he had that died of cancer.

He could almost feel the joy from Alexi when she answered. <I think Alexi will be a perfect name.>

Eric's mind was stuck on the fact that he could do dimensional travel. He knew that he caused too much trouble for his foster mother and it would be better if he just left so he could give her a peace of mind. Of course, this was all working on the assumption that the voice was telling the truth. His mind was in so much shock that he didn't actually know what to do. Just to test her, he decided to come up with a test. He always liked to be semi-alone, so he thought his test would be perfect. Not to mention, he always thought quick on his feet.

"Alexi, hypothetically speaking, if you could send me to a dimension were technology was shot to hell, but magic was very real in a few of the populace, would you be able to do it. Or would it be possible?."

<That would be perfectly acceptable. Although, it would be a parallel universe. In fact, I think that would be even more acceptable to the being that was in the bottle. She really doesn't like when people mess with her realm. Would you like anything else? Body modification, perhaps? You are in semi-good shape, but I could make you much better.>

Now was another time for a shock for Eric. He hadn't really thought of body modification. When he asked, it was almost with great caution. "What kind of body modification would you perform?"

<Well, to start off with, I would start with your physical form. Although you may be somewhat muscular looking, you are not overly strong. I could change this to make you seven times stronger and seven times faster than a normal fourteen year old, even if your fourteen years old. Your healing abilities will also be increased by a factor of ten. Your eyesight, while normal for all humans, would also be changed. You'll be given the eye sight compared to an eagle. Also, you will be able to see in the dark much better. And diseases of any kind will not affect you. Not to mention telekinesis. Your aging process would also slow down dramatically. And finally, I would get rid of that scar on your face.>

He was shocked once again out of his mind. But not enough to stop him from speaking. "You convinced me very convincingly. I would like everything that you said."