Normal. Perfectly normal. A normal Elemental who's best friend is a Fey. How amazing. At least, I thought so.

My name is Alex. Alex Astraea Dragonis. And I'm here only because the gods let me.

As I recall, the story is passed down generation to generation. I'm the sixth.

My great-great-great-great-great grandmother was the most powerful Elemental ever. She was the one who help the gods devise a plan to make this universe. She even lived in Valhalla for awhile! That was a big legacy. Only the best came to live in Olympia, much less Valhalla.

But then came her son. His name was Arskani. An arsonist, a villain, a crook, he wanted to overthrow humans. He wanted power, money, success. He was a hungry mage, a beggar for power. Arskani altered the plans, making them so that the gods used so much power they weakened themselves to a helpless state. Then he would take the remaining essence of the gods and become one himself.

According to legend, the plan almost worked. But one goddess, Astraea, with her final curse, made it so that all of Arskani's Arcania descendants were fated to die at the age of sixteen. And it was true. My older brother, Tantalus, was an Arcania, and he died two months after his sixteenth birthday. Also known as yesterday.

I walked towards his resting place, laying his favourite ghost orchids on top of his magical headstone. It was a literal headstone, a tomb with Tantalus' stone head replica that could talk until his bloodline was exterminated.

"Thanks, baby sis." his headstone yawned as I placed the bundle of flowers on the grave.

"I'm not a baby," I mumbled, choked with grief. Why did entire families have to die because one crazy-ass idiot almost got the universe destroyed? What if he was mad at the gods for something?

My brother said I had a gift of sympathy. I mean, look at it logically. Snow White's stepmom probably had some reason besides beauty to be so pissed at her new step daughter. And the stepmom in Cinderella might hate her because Cinderella made a false move, like, I dunno, annoying the heck out of her stepmom by talking and singing to rats?

"You're thinking," Tantalus/headstone said. "You have your face all scrunched up again."

"I'm sorry, who's the one alive?"

"You," the headstone replied. Then he started laughing as if he was still alive.

"Hm?" I was startled.

"You never told me you had a boyfriend," he said through giggles. "He looks like a nice guy.

There, standing behind me, was my best friend, Spenser James Millan. My Fey friend.