The past always haunted Erik. All the events, small and large, stacked upon each other to make a man who he is. Erik's past was full of darkness and fear and all the impotence of a child unable to stop the horrors of the world. While Erik could acknowledge (if only to himself) that he could never overcome his past, he knew he could use it to propel him into the future. Since that day in Cuba, Erik thought more of the future than of the past. Even his unconscious mind abandoned focus on the unchangeable past to the more malleable future.

It was a different world in Erik's sleeping mind. It was the world he longed for, a world where mutants were not only safe, but on the rise. A world where he, Magneto, was looked to as the leader of mutant-kind. In his dream, there was a homeland for them in the island nation of Genosha. There, the rights of mutants were valued above all others. In his dreams a full world sprung to life with a detailed history to support it. A past full of conspiracy against mutant-kind, uncovered and stopped by Erik himself.

Sure, it was grandiose and, yes, it put Erik in a position of power, but more importantly, it lifted him and all those like him from under the ruthless boot of baseline humans. In his imagination, they had a home free from the scrutiny, the fear, and the violence of humans. Genosha was a safe and prosperous nation on-par with any other first-world country. Its influence was growing and, much to Erik's pleasure, its population as well. To him, it made up for the unchanging past. To him, Erik was finally able to save his people from the horrors of the world.