At the top of a sleeping volcano stood alone Roland The Hero. Sweat and blood were pouring from every gap in his crimson hell forged armor. In his hand, he held the legendary On Man Army, a weapon forged by Gamad Zaken himself. It took the shape of a big metal spoon with an engraving of the names of legendary warriors of the past.

Roland knew that this was it. He looked at his dead comrades, all legendary warriors of world renown. He couldn't let their sacrifice be in vain. The volcanic ash was clouding his vision but he still sensed his foe near him. His foe was a monster among monsters, known for destroying entire kingdoms for the sake of his mysterious plans. His name was James Johnson.

James committed horrific crimes, like snitching on our hero long ago when he saw him cheating on a math test and killing millions. Roland was exhausted, but he had to keep fighting. Amongst the dead was his best friend Ben. Roland had 8 brothers by blood but only one by spirit, only one who earned his place as his brother, and now he was gone. Another victim of that monster. This was almost as infuriating to Roland as the snitching. He will get his vengeance and the world will be safe.

He hesitated for a moment, then he looked behind him. His mother was there cheering him on, giving him strength. He gave her one last smile and turned towards his foe. He prepared to jump, channeling the last of the power in his armor to make one last move. It was all or nothing. Roland jumped so fast and high that he broke his legs. For a moment he was above the ash leaving a trail behind him. Then he went back in and with one powerful blow, he broke the titanic frost armor of the Destroyer Of Worlds, James Johnson.

James fell to the ground with a loud BOOM releasing a blood-curdling scream. The cracks of his helmet spread to the rest of his body releasing the souls trapped inside. Roland did it, he finally felt like he deserves the title of "The Hero". And then-

Alexander Kohavyoshen woke up in the perfect bedroom. It was dark and not too cold or too warm and the bed? So nice and warm it could make the most severe of insomniacs sleep like a baby. Alex clapped and the room slowly grew brighter to help his eye adjust to the light. The room was built out of screens that can make it appear as anything. Yet Alex preferred a simple dark sky full of stars. Outside of the room was a different story.

As soon as Alex opened the door he felt the heat go up a bit. The corridor outside was just a normal gray office. Going out of the room always felt like going out of a warm bath in cold weather. This might be the worst part of the job. Thought Alex. But Alex did not complain, he knew he was made for this job. In practice, Alex was a failure in most fields but he always dreamt big.

Alex knocked on the door in front of his room and entered without receiving an answer. Inside were lots of monitors, one showing stages of sleep, one showing heart rate, one showing what the dreamer sees and many more that Alex didn't know the purpose of. Sitting on a large yet uncomfortable chair was Mac. A short man in his fifties with a square face.

"You did good kid, as always. The magic men in the editing department will fix the usual things. Change some lines, remove some scenes, change some names, you know the drill. One more Roland The Hero dream and we can air the finale. I think this one will get a groundbreaking amount of viewers. Beating the current best which is episode 23." Said Mac in his usual proud dad kind of way.

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Alex looked at Roland and saw his own reflection on the screen. Compared to Roland Alex looked extremely average. Short blond hair, brown eyes, average height and an average body type, now extremely visible with the stupid looking yet comfortable blue bodysuit he was wearing. Alex used to feel pride in his dreams. He may not have constantly created them but they were his work. But now he only felt jealous. Jealous of the heroes in his dreams. They get to live an interesting life, and Alex gets to wake up and see that he is only Alex. Average at best.

"One thing, ahhh see, we had 20ish sex scenes just this week alone. You need to get laid kid, if not for yourself, for your work."

"Yee yee, you are right." Said Alex with a bit of embarrassment and exited the room going towards the Creativity Chambers™.

Alex wondered what his viewers would think if they aired his dreams unedited. See what his raw mind conjured. The thought was terrifying but also made Alex feel alive. Maybe he will get way fewer views, but at least he will be truly seen, 20ish sex scenes and all. Ho look at you whining, you earn the salary of a superstar and may be one of the most famous sleepers in the world. But Alex reminded himself that his jealousy aside, being a sleeper is a harder job than most think.

The work does not end when you wake up. You first have to be hooked to all sorts of machines Alex can't even begin to understand in the Creativity Chambers™ for two hours. That is supposed to make your dreams ironically more structured and marketable. Then you have to rehearse some of the things in the dreams to make it more likely to dream a continuation of the same plotline. Then you have to watch some top-rated classic and new media and then and only then, you have 2 hours of free time before one more half-hour in the Creativity Chambers™, sleep and repeat. On top of all that you have to keep a strict diet, well there are exceptions to that. Speaking of, Alex went by one of the other dream rooms to see Johnny smoke near an open window.

Johnny looked fat and tired and for some reason, he always looks greasy. He was tall and had an almost bald head.

"Whats up Jonny?"

"Good good. Had to watch some new type of porn that made my previous dreams look tame compared to the new ones. You know how it is in adult entertainment, if you are the only one to cover a kink you get all the weirdos who are into that shit." Johnny said, stopping to take in some Nicotine. "But I'm not kink-shaming, if I was not into it a bit myself the dreams won't be good after all."

"Of course." Against his curiosity, Alex wisely chose not to ask for the details.

Alex went on with his usual workday and ended up exhausted, so he went to the company bar. The bar was wild west themed, with a tall Texan bartender with a glorious mustache and a piano player. On one of the bar stools sat alone a girl named Lisa. Lisa did not know Alex beyond his reputation but Alex knew her. He came to the bar often, mostly drinking water because of his strict diet.

He listened to her comfort a friend after a breakup, and help another take a difficult decision and just laugh with friends. She seemed accepting and sensitive and wise. And she was Alex's type with her long black hair, cute face and beautiful green eyes. Maybe he could show a person like her his true self. Alex decided to take a step towards living instead of just dreaming.

"One glass of water like al-" Started to say the bartender.

"Nope, today I need courage. Give me your strongest whiskey." Alex drank it all down, and almost puked it all up and then approached Lisa.

"Hi there, you're Lisa from human resources right?"

She looked at him for a bit in shock and said "You know my name?! I'm a big fan of your dreams."

Alex almost puked again. So she is a fan of Roland The Hero, not Alex The Average. He thought, but then he told himself not to judge, to give it real chance. Alex and Lisa ended up talking for all of the 2 free hours Alex got a day. And in the end, decided to do this again tomorrow. Alex started to show himself slowly and found Lisa accepting and even liking him. Maybe one day he will show here his unedited dreams. Even with the spoon legendary weapons and old school rivals as villains and maybe even the 20ish sex scenes.