AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Dax
Valhalla, 300 Years Ago
The stench of war lies heavy in the air, settling in the back of my throat. The sickly, sweet scents of blood and death mix with smoke and ash, threatening to choke every last remaining Light out of Valhalla. I grit my teeth against that grim reality and race around the edge of the Hall of Warriors, mylyststålblazing like a sun in my hands.
Shouts and the screams of the dying ring out around me. There are far fewer of them now than there were just an hour ago. And fewer still than there were yesterday and the day before that. None are women. Not any longer.
There's no denying the truth anymore.
The last of the Valkyrie have fallen.
An endless well of grief bubbles up from my soul, threatening to consume me. I slam a lid on it, reaching deep for anger instead.Ja.Anger. The furious churn of rage eating like acid through my stomach. It's what drives the Fae now. What fuels us.
Rage.
The Valkyrie have fallen. And Gods have mercy on the souls of the Forsaken who claimed their Light, for the Fae will have none for them.
"Dax!Til venstre! Til venstre!" Adriel's shouted warning reaches my ears just in time.
I feint to the right, mylyststålspinning in my hands.
It slices through the neck of an armoredvarulv, one of the shifters the Forsaken turned to the dark long ago, separating his head from his shoulders. His body drops, warm blood spraying across my face. Tendrils of smoke float from the wound mylyststålleft, carried by the wind. I drag the back of my hand across my face, flinging off the foul blood of the soul-damned monster before turning to check on my brothers.
My breath catches in my throat.
Once, Valhalla was a place of beauty, a paradise. Now, it lies in ruin, destroyed by our Forsaken invaders and their monstrous army. The once radiant Hall of Warriors is a charred, twisted relic. Bodies litter the valley, turning the lush green fields red. The barracks have burnt to the ground, leaving nothing but smoking piles of ash.
There's nothing left to save.
We've failed.
Valhalla, likeÁlfheimr, lies in ruin.
A flash at the edge of the valley captures my attention. It's nothing more than a brief flicker, gone as soon as it appears. But I shift my gaze toward it on instinct. For a long moment, nothing moves. And then the same flicker reaches me. I release my hold onMagn, the source of Fae power, allowing mylyststålto dissolve in my hands. Without it blazing like a nimbus, I see what I didn't before.
Something unseen strikes against the portal, causing the bright surface to momentarily turn a sickly gray and let off a shower of sparks. It does it again, and then again.
Horror surges through me as realization dawns. The Forsaken are trying to bring it down!
Gods alive. If they destroy it, Valhalla won't just lie in ruin. It'll fall completely, cut off entirely from Asgard. There are no Valkyrie left alive to reopen it. Just like there are none left to usher the souls of the dead across the Veil.
Ragnarök claimed nearly every Valkyrie life, along with the souls of every warrior bonded to her, two thousand years ago. The Forsaken and their dark magic have claimed the rest.
But the Fae still stand. Some of us, at least. And so long as we stand, our oath remains unbroken. We're the guardians of Valhalla, the army of Light appointed by Odin himself to defend the Valkyrie, no matter what comes.
The portal cannot fall.
"Fae!Beskytt portalen!" I roar, leaping over the fallenvarulvin a dead race across the valley toward the portal. I reach forMagn, mylyststålblazing back to life. "Beskytt portalen!They're trying to bring it down!"
Roars of fury echo from every corner of the valley as my brothers take up the cry. Within moments, Malachi, Adriel, and Damrion are at my side, racing across the valley with me.One Forsaken warrior after another falls to our blades, unable to stand against the Light.Varulv,Jötunn, and Forsaken alike taste death as we deal it to them, one by one.
There will be no raising their souls this time. What dies by our hands stays dead.
By the time we reach the portal, Reaper is already there, his blade spinning as he fellsJötunnafterJötunn, a savage snarl on his face.
"It's about time the four of you show up," he growls. "Thought I was going to have to kill them all myself."
