Hi. You might know me. Or at least the idea of me. The presence of me.

I'm Imagination...or the Guardian of it, anyway.

I'm a minor Guardian of one of the most important aspects of a child's life ((ironic, really)), and I'm nearly as old as Man in the Moon himself. Or herself. The voice has never really been gender specific. I guess you could call it "Person in the Moon" or "Face in the Moon" but those just don't have the same ring to them that does the name justice.

I got off topic again. Being Imagination means that I get carried away easily.

But yes, my age is very close to Man in the Moon's. I was born in Rome around the time when polytheism was common knowledge and belief. You know, those big guys Juptier, Neptune, Pluto...except I didn't know them that way. See, when I was six months old, my parents moved to Greece in one of the places where the original Greek gods were being worshipped, and so I grew up Roman-born and believing in Greek gods and ways. I'm a Greek through and through despite my Latin name and heritage.

I didn't tell you my actual name, did I? My bad. How uncourteous of me. I'm Benacias Imaginatio. Or you can call me Ben. Actually I prefer you call me Ben. And I don't look Roman. Maybe because my mother was Greek and I spent my entire life in Greece.

Shut up, Ben, no one wants to hear your backstory. That's just me talking to myself. Since I'm Imagination, I'm also the Guardian of Creativity ((this tablet I'm using--this generation has awesome technology--keeps trying to say I'm the Guardian of Chocolate...isn't that Bunny's job?)). It's a packaged deal. Being as creative as I am, I tend to get off the subject and talk to myself.

I was always the laughingstock in Athens. I made too many inventions, drew too many pictures, wrote too much poetry...my parents were afraid I'd become a philosopher or something like Aristotle or Archimedes. They wanted me to be normal.

It's hard to be normal when you have an overactive imagination that sends you cowering in fear in the middle of the night. I had issues. I was bullied, I worried my parents, I scared myself with dangerous fantasies.

Exactly why I died.

Most of the time you have to die to become a Guardian. I died because I wanted out of the misery I'd been put through. So I got my dagger out one night and ended the whole thing. But Man in the Moon appreciated my imagination, and made me a Guardian.

And I've been a Guardian for three thousand years.

I may not be the most well known, but I'm by far one of the eldest and best at what I do. I provide inspiration. See that Percy Jackson book lying on its side on your desk? That never would have happened if it weren't for me. How about the movies in your living room, the sketchpad on your floor? The CDs on your dresser? Nothing you draw or read or write or watch or listen to could have happened without me.

And sometimes I wonder: how do I still manage to go unnoticed, underrated? Taken for granted?

Maybe because I'm so common placed. Maybe because I'm so quiet. Most of the time I don't care, as long as my job gets done.

I make my own clothes. I'm the hipster kind of guy. I tried the steampunk look once and couldn't pull it off. To think, I, the human ((more or less)) embodiment of imagination and I can't pull off one of my greatest achievements in creativity.

I went back to hipster after that.

I also made myself a pair of strong yet lightweight automaton wings with metal feathers to make travel easier. And they look really cool. They're a fierce fashion statement. They look good with my glasses, especially.

I only wish the other Guardians would notice me. Sometimes, anyway. I mean, my life right now is like Jack Frost's when he started out--and I've been like this for three thousand years. Not trying to poo-poo the guy, because he's great. I look up to him. He's the image of who I want to be. But don't you think it's a little unfair that he's more renowned than I after only about four hundred years of invisibility, and I spent three millennia trying to get noticed? I mean, come on. Give an old geezer like me a chance.

Sometimes I think that some of the Guardians don't believe in me. They just don't appear to see me.

There's only one who does. The Guardian of love, mascot of Valentine's Day.

Cupid. Whom I may or may not have a crush on.

No, I am not gay. Cupid's role is played by a Guardian named Angel, and she's really pretty and nice.

Oh, I know you're envisioning me blushing right now. But that's the beauty of imagination. I'm working in your head right now to make you get that image while I kick back and watch the most amazing movies of all time. Making the population of the planet picture a scene of a book in their heads all at one time is so easy it's like sleeping for me.

Except, that's one of the only things I do. I inspire authors and artists and inventors, and I created imagery so readers could use it, but there's some other force out there that provides the adorable imaginations of the children who choose to believe in the Guardians, and I have yet to figure out what. I just protect the imagination and keep it from going too far like it did with me, as to save the children from possible suicide.

And sometimes I have to fight against the...Anti-Imagination, I guess you would call him. He's the evil essence of imagination that, sadly, was created when I became a Guardian. He's the one that encourages the imagination to go to dark places, the one who creates the evil weapons.

He's been at it for years.

I have stopped him more times than I can remember. Trust me, there are so many dark and horrible inventions he's made people create that you do not want to know about. But they don't bother you. Why? Because I've locked them up where they can't do any damaged, and I've turned the hearts of those Evil Me has possessed.

And nobody knows about it. No one.

You're all safe because of me and nobody even knows that those things existed, since I got rid of them. But because nobody believes in me, they couldn't care less.

And most of the time I don't mind. I like being unnoticed and alone. It feels good.

But, though I like being alone, I don't fancy being lonely.

Which is why I've started getting bolder, started trying to get noticed. See the iPhone in your hand? That was me. Same with those smart cars putt-putting down the street. And I think some people are starting to get the notion that I may exist, but don't fully believe in me yet.

I can only hope that I get a chance to prove myself that doesn't involve my worst enemies: Fear and the Evil Imagination.