My name is Declan Reeves. I am a waiter at a small local club in Santa Fe, where I live with my twin sister, Suzzete. Both of us are twenty-six years old.

This all sounds relatively normal. You're probably thinking that we're boring people who have never had any real excitement in our lives.

You're wrong.

Today is May 30, 2011. It is almost exactly ten years since… it happened.

My sister Suzzete and I were living with our aunt and uncle for the summer in Houston, Texas. We'd gotten summer jobs working for this nice couple, the Flemings, Nick and Perry. We'd been staying in Houston for about a month, and then it happened. On May 31, 2001.

Nick and Perry explained to us that the world was much bigger that we imagined. That monsters and gods and immortals actually existed. They told us that their real names were Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. They claimed to be immortal humans.

It obviously took some getting used to, but in the end, they convinced us. It was wonderful for me, because this is the kind of world that I'd always felt like I belonged in. Suzzete, however, wasn't so thrilled.

Nicholas explained to us that he thought we might be the twins of legend an ancient prophecy referred to. He explicitly pointed out that he had was not sure, but he thought we might be, and that was a chance he needed to take to ensure the survival of the human race. He said that we would need to be Awakened if we were to survive and help.

After explaining the risks to us, Suzzete and I talked it over and decided that it was the right thing to do. We decided to go through with the Awakening despite all the risks.

The Flamels took us to see the goddess Diana, apparently an Elder, for the Awakening. We visited her in Las Vegas, and she Awakened both my sister and I. Back in New Mexico, we were taught the Elemental Magic of Water by an ancient immortal ruler named Chandragupta. We were also taught the Elemental Magic of Earth by the Elder Neptune.

Nicholas and Perenelle slowly began to suspect that we might in fact by the twins of legend. Suzzete's silver aura and my gold aura were supposedly the strongest that they'd ever seen. Things changed forever, however, when a man named Dr. John Dee cornered us.

He had been chasing after Nicholas and Perenelle, and the Codex that they carried, for centuries. He served what were known as the 'Dark Elders'. We fought him, but even with the two Elemental Magics and our auras, we were no match. We would've been killed, or captured, or worse, all four of us, had the immortal hero Jason not saved us. We barely managed to escape with our lives.

After that encounter, Nicholas was convinced that we weren't the twins of legend. He apologized profusely and immensely to both Suzzete and I and helped us relocate to Santa Fe. He promised that we shouldn't be attacked again.

After that hazardous adventure, Suzzete was more then happy to merge back into society. But that would never be good for me. After experiencing the new world out there I couldn't just go back to being normal.

I left our Santa Fe house and somehow came across the Elder Apollo. I discussed with him how I wanted to stay in the world of Elders and magic and immortality. Apollo sympathized with me, and we became friends. I told him of my desires and me. He told me of his past, his family, his regrets, and himself. He granted me immortality, without any strings attached. In the process, he also taught me the Elemental Magic of Fire. In the past years, I have returned the debt by doing favors for Apollo whenever I could. He has also taught me some impressive tricks throughout these years.

A few months after my immortality was granted, Dee found us. He assaulted both Suzzete and I in our home, thinking that he would easily overpower us as he had before. But he was sadly mistaken.

Suzzete was ready to give up, but then I took things a step forward. I unleashed my potential, using everything that my Elder master taught me. With my abilities and Suzzete feeding my strength with her aura, Dee never stood a chance. He was forced to retreat.

After that encounter, we were forced to relocate, so I suggested Chicago. Suzzete and I did move there soon, and I discovered another Elder – Aeolus, a god of the sky. After I helped him smooth over an argument with Prometheus, he agreed to teach me the Elemental Magic of Air.

Even though I knew all four Elemental Magics now, I still felt that there was more for me to learn. I returned to Neptune, and I spent three weeks with him. That was all it took for him to help me master the element of Earth.

I returned to my Elder master, Apollo, showing him how far I had come. He decided to personally train me for a year, he being the master and I the apprentice. I encountered many Elders and befriended several other immortal humans and Next Generation along the way, including Scathach, the shadow. At the end of my training, Apollo took me to meet his father: one of the Great Elders, Jupiter.

Jupiter saw some potential in me, and he granted me a rare ability: another Elemental Magic, besides one of the basic ones. He instilled in me the magic of Lightning. He also bestowed upon me an ancient sword, Fragarach, one that he had kept hidden for centuries. When my master asked his father why I was being favored, Jupiter told Apollo that he could see a strong future for me. That I was to be involved in prophecy.

Jupiter called me his champion, and Apollo called me his student. In honor of them, I changed the scent of my aura to a mix of lightning and burning wood.

Once I was twenty-one mentally, but seventeen physically, I traveled to Europe. Some of the Dark Elders there saw something in me, the same potential Jupiter had foreseen. They wanted to capture me. They in fact did. I was brought before Aten, but I escaped. I bested the Elder in combat, and in order to escape, stole power from his aura to create my own Shadowrealm. It was purely accidental that it happened, but it did.

My Shadowrealm was a beautiful land, with lush forests and beautiful lakes, with a huge mountain, bigger then everything, as its center. The sun always shone here. I named the Shadowrealm Apollos, and called the mountain Jupiter's Peak.

I used my aura to connect Apollos with Chicago, and I went back home. I thought I would experience peace with Suzzete for a short amount of time and tell her my stories, but that didn't happen.

One of my spies – by spies I mean immortals, Next Generation, and Elder that keep me informed – passed on a rumor that Quetzalcoatl was looking to contact me.

Prometheus, though, contacted me first. He had me visit his Shadowrealm and gave me a message to deliver to someone named Aoife. I found her near San Francisco, with a legendary swordsman named Niten. I had heard of Niten before and was honored to meet him in person. I was given the extraordinary opportunity to train my skills with him, and left the two on good terms.

Then I was kidnapped by Billy the Kid and Black Hawk.

When I woke up, I was in the company of Quetzalcoatl. He had said that I was building up quite a reputation for myself, and I agreed. He also confided that he wanted to kill me for disrespecting Aten, who was his brother, a bond forged through experience.

I was able to reason with him, however, and convinced him to spare my life. Once he let his guard down, I in turn was about to kill him. In exchange for his life, I was promised that he would never come after me again and received an intricate pair of jade swords.

An enemy that I had made while in Europe, Hernán Cortés, an immortal conquistador, hired a trio of cucubuths to kill me. I was walking down a nice San Francisco road and was going to venture into a nice bookshop when I sensed them, and I took off running.

They tracked me to Mount Tam, and I unleashed my aura. I accidentally ignited a leygate that took me to Stonehenge.

I met Gilgamesh the king in London, a few hours away. He was quite mad, and he tried to kill me. I calmed him down, and the two of us had a good conversation. Upon discovery that I used to have a gold aura, he started muttering about gold and many twins. When I pressed him further he revealed to me that Nicholas had been collecting twins for centuries.

Moving on through London, I ran into Cortés. He tried to kill me, and I fought back, my aura blazing brightly. This, however, sold out my location and presence to every Elder, Next Generation, and immortal in the city.

Palmades, the Saracen Knight, rescued me. He took me safely through the city to a junkyard. There I met the Bard, William Shakesphere.

Shakesphere and Palmades helped me leave London and go into Spain, where there was a leygate that connected with the Sears Tower in Chicago. That was close enough to home.

Unfortunately, Cortés' Elder master, Huitzilopochtli, cornered me. The Elder, an immortal named Willem Bosmen, and some foul monsters pursued me all across the country for three days. I had resolved to stop running and fight, but just as I was about to start the assault, I was aided and saved by Thomas Malthus, an immortal intellectual. Together, the two of us activated the leygate, but instead it had been tampered with. Instead of taking us to Chicago, we were transported to the Shadowrealm of the Elder Odin: Asgard.

Odin was not pleased to see us for two reasons: He didn't appreciate guests, and he had a particular dislike of me. But his son, the Next Generation Thor, saw that I had been taught the magic of Lightning, and convinced Odin to spare me.

Malthus and I consulted with Thor to see who could have tampered with the leygate. Thor told us that he believed it might have been Loki, a dangerous Elder whose only loyalty was to himself, but could be bought over for the right price. Thor confided that Loki had been leaning towards declaring an allegiance to the Dark Elders, and was one of the few people that could willingly travel to Asgard, which made him the prime suspect.

I decided to set off after Loki, who was currently residing in Quebec, Canada. Malthus decided to accompany me, and I was glad. He had become something of a father figure to me in our adventures together.

At Loki's Palace Khione, a Next Generation, assaulted us. Malthus wielded Dyrnwyn, the fire-sword, and Khione fell. After her defeat, I took some of her snow and formed a crystallized bracelet with several charms as a keepsake. I also stole from her the Elemental Magic of Ice.

We climbed through the various monsters Loki had in his palace, and in the throne room we encountered Loki and the Elder Boreas.

Malthus and I bravely attacked the two. His purple aura blazed brightly, and I was scared that it would consume him. He went head-to-head with Boreas while I confronted Loki. In the battle, Loki confirmed that it had been him who had tampered with the leygate, but not out of spite – only to redeem a debt.

He was able to convince the two of us that he did not mean any harm for us, and we halted in our attack. When I asked him what the debt was, he told me that Apollo had once saved him from a Shadowrealm prison, and he was repaying the debt.

Malthus and I departed from Quebec then. Malthus told me that he was going off to India for some peace, and I wished him the best. He revealed to me that the Elder that had made him immortal was Hekate.

From Prometheus I learned that Apollo had recently visited the Shadowrealm of his father, Olympus. I activated a series of leygates that eventually took me to Olympus, where I approached my Elder master.

Apollo told me that he had caused the tampering of the leygate because it was necessary for me to meet Thor. Although I wasn't sure why, I accepted this explanation. I didn't expect Apollo to lie to me. Before I left, Apollo linked Olympus to Apollos, citing his reason as always wanting to be close.

As I finally returned to Chicago, I was nearing my twenty-fifth birthday, but I still looked like a seventeen-year-old. I was reunited with Suzzete and I settled down. For a few months, I stayed peaceful. I employed myself as a waiter, and things were well, but I was restless.

During the summer I took a vacation to Bermuda. But my flight took an unexpected trip to the Shadowrealm of the goddess Demeter. This Shadowrealm was commonly referred to as the Bermuda Triangle, and the reason people rarely escaped was because Demeter was often bored. She liked to kill humani for amusement, or keep them as pets.

Demeter had decided that she wanted to keep my plane as pets, but the idea didn't appeal to me. I approached Demeter on a diplomatic note, but when that failed, I attacked her.

It all happened so suddenly. One second I was fighting her, and then I attacked the core of her Shadowrealm, an ancient tree named Demos. Demos was destroyed, and the Shadowrealm began to fade. Demeter was furious, and I added insult to injury by stealing the Elemental Magic of Nature from her. I took some leaves from Demos and added them as charms to my bracelet.

As my plane started to fly out, I jumped back in. Demeter was too stubborn to come with us, and she died with her Shadowrealm.

I felt like I had killed an Elder.

As soon as I returned to Chicago, I journeyed to Olympus and told Jupiter of what had happened in the Shadowrealm. I fully expected him to be furious, to admit he was wrong for calling me a champion, to kill me. But he nodded towards me, saying that Demeter was a menace and she needed to be stopped, and that I couldn't be blamed for her death. Jokingly, he told me to make sure I never encountered Persephone, for she might not see the situation the same way.

Since time worked differently in a Shadowrealm, I was now nearing my twenty-sixth birthday: May 29. It came, it passed, like all the others before it.

Then two days later the news came.

Dr. John Dee had attacked the Flamels in San Francisco.

Perenelle had been captured.

Nicholas had twins of gold and silver with him.

Dee had the Codex.

This news came heavily. I knew that I needed to find Flamel and help him. I had been neutral in the wars between humanity and the Elders, not taking a side, my petty differences against certain Dark Elders and immortals aside. But that was because I couldn't tell what side would win.

I still didn't know which was the right side, but I knew I had to help Nicholas. I had to help make his side the side that would win.

And I would need my sister to do it.