by Mirajane
Freyr: God of Faeries
Prequel to “The Fate of the World Tree” Series
Mirajane
Contents
Author’s Note
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
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Copyright © 2019 by Mirajane
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a piece of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
If you are reading this book and book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the seller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
Published: Mirajane 2019
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Author’s Note
Freyr: God of Faeries is the prequel to my forthcoming “The Fate of the World Tree” Series.
This series comprises of 9 realms and each realm has about 4 spin offs. So, in all there would be about 35-40 books in this urban fantasy series that will also pleasure you with loads of steamy scenes!
All the following books in this series will be enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program and you can read them for FREE with your Kindle Unlimited membership.
The first book in this series is set to launch on Amazon towards end of May this year.
I will keep you all posted about the exact release date and other details though my Newsletter. So, please subscribe to that to keep yourself updated. I promise, I won’t spam your mailbox and just keep you posted about the new releases and special promotion that I might have!
Happy Reading!
XO, Mirajane
Blurb
Avery Fletcher never did anything that was unexpected. That is, until she met Caleb Marshall.
Avery was in her last year of college at the University of Southern California when the latest video game, Freyr: God of Fairies launched. Her twin brother Finn also attended school there, but he was far more interested in women and games than he was in his studies. She had gotten into gaming in an effort to spend more time with him, but nothing could have prepared her for Alfheim.
In the game, everything was new. She could be anything she wanted, and she had never had that kind of freedom. But there was something different about this game. Secrets lay in the beautiful world of Alfheim. Monsters lurked in the shadows. But the real monsters lurked deep within.
Could she keep track of who she was in this strange land?
Everything she thought she knew was about to change. And it all started with a man in a black cloak.
Chapter One
On the morning Freyr: God of Fairies was set to launch, I lay awake in my room waiting for my alarm to go off. Nevermind the pile of homework waiting for me on my desk. Or the date I was supposed to go on that night. I had never been big on blind dates, anyway. As if I needed any more expectations to live up to.
My twin brother, Finn, had a near-constant horde of girls following him around. From the time we were little he was liked by everyone he met, but I was quiet and shy - especially compared to him. It was hard not to get lost in his shadow, but I didn’t mind. I preferred to observe on the sidelines.
Finn was always more interested in video games than I was. He got into it when we were young, and I fought it for as long as I could. I preferred sports. Everything made sense on a field or a court, but whenever I tried his games I was all thumbs. But we did everything together, and I was not about to lose my best friend. So I became a gamer. Sort of.
When my alarm blared at six-thirty, my finger was already on the button to turn it off. With a smile on my face, I rolled out of bed and pulled on my leggings and a tank top.
“Every morning,” my roommate Jenna moaned across the room. Sharing a room in my last semester of college wasn’t ideal, but since I’d blown almost every penny I’d ever saved on my gaming rig, I didn’t have much of a choice. Virtual reality was an expensive hobby.
Freyr: God of Fairies was a game changer. Finn and I had been anxiously awaiting the release for months, along with thousands of others all over the world.
“Want to come with me?” I winked at Jenna as I laced up my shoes.
“Yeah, right,” she pulled the pillow over her face and before long she was snoring again. I chuckled as I stepped outside and plugged in my headphones. It wasn’t easy convincing Finn to attend USC, but I was determined to go to school in state so we could be near our mom. He worked hard to get in, but he spent most of his time since partying and playing games.
Early mornings were the best time to be on campus, before thousands of students flooded in. The downside of staying in California was that it was nearly impossible to find alone time. There were so many people in the state it was hard to find any real peace.
It took every ounce of self-control I had to finish my run that morning, but waiting in my apartment wouldn’t make the game launch any sooner. So I suffered through every step of my morning routine and even made a vain attempt to do some homework before weaving my blonde hair into a braid.
“Later, Jenna!” I called on my way out the door. We had an agreement that I would keep my game rig at Finn’s apartment, partly because Jenna hated video games and partly because she hated anything I did that did not involve her.
I rode my bike as fast as my legs could pedal, locking it up outside Finn’s complex and taking the stairs two at a time.
“Hey, runt,” Finn greeted me with a smirk at the door.
“Hey loser,” I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Lunch is ready. If we eat slowly enough we should still be, oh I don’t know, about two hours early for the launch,” he said sardonically, checking the non-existent watch on his wrist.
I punched his shoulder. “I didn’t want us to have to rush.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come on. Let’s eat.”
I followed him to the table where his signature dish - macaroni and cheese - was waiting for me.
“Don’t you ever get tired of this?” I chuckled even as I took a bite. No one made mac and cheese like my brother.
“I’ll have you know I’ve gotten many a girl to fall in love with me after serving her this dish.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it was the food,” I said, rolling my eyes. Finn had been blessed with dark blonde hair, bright blue eyes and the body of a surfer - though he had never surfed a day in his life. My friends were always more interested in him than they were in me. It was part of why I preferred the shadows to the spotlight.
“It’s not my fault I’m so irresistible,” he winked.
“Oh really? Who’s fault is it that you’re so annoying?” I smiled.
“Yours, you little brat. I wouldn’t be half as annoying if I hadn’t had to share a womb with you.”
“I’m going to follow you around all day today and take all the good loot from you before you can get it.”
He smiled wider, flashing his dimples. “Why do you think I set you up with Aaron tonight?”
I gawked, dropping my fork. “Finn Fletcher. I never took you for a cheater.”
“I’m no cheater!” he put a hand on his chest. “I’m just too selfless. Forever interested in the welfare of my dear sister.”
“Selfless my ass,” I laughed, leaning back in my chair. “Who is this guy anyway?”
“Some dude from my calculus class. You’ll like him,” he nodded to himself.
“No she won’t,” Finn’s roommate, Darren, walked out of his room in a pair of basketball shorts, his belly hanging over the waistband.
“I knew it!” I pointed an accusing finger at Finn.
He smirked. “Too late to back out now.”
“You are such a gremlin.”
“Please. As if you stood a chance against me.”
I bit my tongue - a terrible habit I had developed in my attempt to stop biting my lip so much. I could almost hear my mother’s voice in my head. One of these days you’re going to chew right through it. So I traded my bottom lip for my tongue and now instead of perpetually chapped lips, I endured the occasional canker sore when I bit too hard.
“What time is it?” I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms.
He shook his head. “You don’t want to know.”
“Ugh!” I threw my head back. “Why does it have to take so long!”
“You’re the one who wanted to meet early.”
“Good thing, too. I’m surprised you let me in at all, now that I know about all your plotting.” my eyes narrowed on him.
“Setting you up on a date is hardly a plot. It’s more like a public service.”
“Public service?” I raised a brow.
He stood up and cleared his plate, moving with the easy way he always had. “You can’t be my sister and be this serially single. It’s making me look bad.”
“Sorry to cramp your style,” I glared at him. It was easy for him to get girls. Finn had been popular from the day he was born. As if his annoyingly good looks weren’t enough, he had such an easy manner it was impossible not to gravitate toward him. I’d been born in his shadow and hiding in it ever since.
“You don’t cramp my style,” he rolled his eyes. “But college is your best opportunity to get out there. Once we graduate all bets are off.”
“My love life is not a family discussion!” A crimson blush stained my cheeks. My tragic lack of romance was a hot topic around my apartment. Jenna had been having sex since she was sixteen, and more than once I’d come home to a sock on the door and had to wait outside while she entertained her guests. She told me if I graduated a virgin she would host a party to get me laid. I’d shuddered in my seat, hoping beyond hope that she wasn’t serious.
“Fine,” Finn waved it off, “But Aaron is really smart. What he lacks in personality I’m sure he’ll make up for with money.”
“Mom would love that,” I laughed. She had always hoped I would marry rich. We lived paycheck to paycheck most of our lives, and neither of us would be at USC if it weren’t for our scholarships.
“Someone’s got to look out for this family’s future, and we both know it isn’t me,” he shrugged.
“So you plan to marry me off to a rich lord and live off the spoils?”
“What else is a sister good for?”
“What indeed,” I cleared my plate and plopped down on his couch.
He sat beside me with a heavy sigh. “Do you think it’ll go faster if we set up early?”
“I doubt it,” I stared forward.
“T.V. it is,” he switched on the television and scrolled to a show that neither of us planned to watch. The hour ticked by at an agonizing speed until the alarm on Finn’s phone beeped at last. I turned to him, my eyebrows raised.
“Time to strap in,” he grinned.
Chapter Two
Putting on the game rig was somewhat arduous, but virtual reality on this level demanded sacrifice. The nerve gear hooked into the back of my neck with fibrous sensors, the familiar bite flowing all the way down my spine. With the device attached to my central nervous system, I didn’t have to move my body to make my avatar respond in the game. All it took was a thought and my every impulse would translate to the virtual world.
“Ready?” Finn beat me, of course. He was more comfortable in his rig than he was without it.
“Ready to kick your ass,” I winked before lying back on the couch.
“You’ll be begging me for help in the first five minutes, guaranteed.”
“You wish,” I sniggered. We turned on our systems and watched the seconds tick by until finally, the game menu appeared. My breath hitched as I chose to enter, and the words “Welcome to Alfheim” appeared across the screen.
It didn’t take me long to create my avatar - the company that designed the game released a magazine two weeks prior that detailed all of the possible builds and what they could do so that players could get started as fast as possible. Finn and I had agreed not to show each other our builds before we started, but since the game kept the player’s major features intact I was certain he would be easy to spot.
There were four races in the game, and I chose to play as a sprite - the race blessed with water magic. I had the option to change my hair color, but after testing out shades of blue, red and green I decided to keep my white-blonde locks as they were.
I examined myself in the mirror, pulling my hair back to reveal elfin ears. I had never thought of myself as elegant - I was more suited for jeans and t-shirts than ball gowns. But dressed in the dark blue tunic and near-black leggings, my limbs looked long and flowy. There would be better clothes available once I advanced through the game, and armor if I wanted it. But for now, I was content with the beginner’s tunic.
I gave myself one last once-over in the mirror, satisfied with my loose fishtail braid. Taking a deep breath, I pressed the button marked “complete.”
In an instant, the room began to spin around me, swirling with colors so fast I couldn’t tell which way was up. I bent over and clutched my stomach, the ground unsteady beneath my feet. I was just about to beg for mercy when the world shifted into place and I stood in the middle of a vast forest.
My eyes widened at the sight around me, the trees so tall I could barely see their tops. I had never seen leaves so green in California. We were almost always in a drought, and I was used to looking at various shades of brown sprinkled with the occasional splash of color. But the beauty of the palms and ocean was no match for Alfheim.
All of the colors here were sharper, deeper than the real world. I looked around and all I saw was color. Everything was slightly incandescent, causing the whole forest to glow with an ethereal light. And the fresh smell of earth floated on the wind. I had never seen anything so magnificent.
I bent down to touch the grass beneath my feet, amazed at how close the texture was to real grass, though this was slightly too soft. Each blade whistled independently in the wind; the most unique algorithm I had ever seen. Normally there were patterns in games. I could pick out trees and flowers and rocks that were copies of one another, repeated over and over to fill the world.
Alfheim was unlike any virtual world I’d been in. It would be easy to get lost here - to lose track of reality and accept this new world as real.
I heard a rustle in the trees behind me, and I expected to find my brother walking through the trees. I was ready to make fun of him for taking longer than me to build his character, but when I turned to look there was nothing there.
“Finn?” I called into the woods, realizing for the first time how odd it was that I hadn’t spawned in a village with the other players. With a single thought, I brought up the menu and hovered over to messages, but I had no contacts in my archive. I would have to find Finn and friend him in the game before we could communicate over the server.
“Hello?” I looked to the trees again. I had a strange feeling, like I was being watched.
A prickle ran down my spine and I walked forward, reminding myself that it was only a game. Still, fear settled in the pit of my stomach and I couldn’t shake it no matter how far I walked. I had no idea where I was or where I was supposed to be. Was I the only one who was dropped here?
Another rustle in the leaves sent me spinning to face whoever was following me.
“Who’s there? I can hear you!” I narrowed my eyes. I hadn’t learned any magic yet, nor had I found a weapon. I was used to a walk-through at the beginning of the game, but there was no instruction so far. The game makers had kept a tight lid on the game, and as far as I knew we were all coming in blind. Even the most hardcore gamers, who seemed to know everything about the games they played, couldn’t get a read on what Alfheim would be like.
Passing off my suspicions an paranoia, I continued through the forest. Surely there were other players nearby. I was sure it was just a matter of time before I ran into Finn.
I wandered through the forest for a long time, until the sun crested its apex and began its descent. I peered through the trees, figuring there must be a town close by. But I couldn’t see anything but more forest.
Checking my menu once more, I saw that most of my map was grayed out, and I knew from previous games that until I explored an area it would not appear on the map. But I had never played a game that didn’t start in an opening town of sorts. Stop worrying, I chastised myself. I had a tendency to overreact.
The time dragged on, the forest seeming to stretch on forever, and the light was fading fast. For a moment, I thought I should just log out and try again, but I couldn’t bear to prove Finn right and beg for help on the first day. Straightening my shoulders, I carried on with a newfound purpose. If Finn could do it, so could I.
