Freedom | Older!Atreus x Reader

Prologue

"Are you still awake? It's late."

A grumbly voice comes from outside my door. Dim red light illuminates my room— Twilight Stone that I had taken and set on my bedside table. The knob shakes and I quickly stash the book I was reading beneath my pillow, laying down.

My father opens the door and raises an eyebrow at me. "Why are you not sleeping?"

"Just can't." I lie, shrugging from under the thin blankets.

"Does it have anything to do with those books we keep telling you to stay away from?" He crosses the room and sits on the side of my bed. I moved my legs to make room, despite not necessarily wanting him to enter.

"No, of course not." My grip on the pillow tightens slightly, thankfully going unnoticed by my father. "I just stay up thinking."

He stayed silent. I felt nervous, felt the need to continue.

"It's just— I'm sure Alfheim is a great home. But not for me. I need to be out there, finding my place—"

"Please," My father cut me off, "We've talked about this. You need to stay here, safe. Because—"

"Because I don't look like everyone else, it's okay. I get it." I rolled back, facing the rocky ceiling of the cavern I called a room.

I couldn't help but curse at my circumstances at times. My father, a Dark Elf, and my mother, a mortal. My mother passed while having me, leaving my father to take me in and stay in Alfheim. Yay.

The Dark Elves already disliked me because I apparently took after my mom, looking purely human despite having the same powers as them. They shunned me, and soon after my birth my father forced me underground to stay. Away from their prying eyes and judgement.

As if my situation couldn't have gotten any worse, once the Light Elves began to attack, the Dark Elves chose to hide underground. The same underground that I used as my safe place. My home. This meant that I had to further shrink myself— away from them, staying inside my room all day instead of exploring the caverns and caves of Alfheim like I used to. They were all inhabited now.

"These books, Father, they talk about all the Nine Realms. Realms that would accept and love me. Nords, there's even books about different worlds entirely that I could try to go to— they're called Egypt, or— or Greece! Or Rome—"

"Enough! There is a war going on here. I'm already swamped with protecting our land, so the least you can do is quit with this nonsense and just accept your fate. Groa's prophecies have proven that the safest place for you to be is here."

"That's bullshit-"

"Language."

"You mean I'm meant to spend my entire life trapped in this room? You'd think as my dad you'd want more for me and my life—"

"You have everything you could need right here." My father interrupted. "Food, shelter, protection. Hel, you even have the potential for a lovely husband. I bet a marriage would quell some negativity with the other Elves."

"I don't want a husband." I crossed my arms and huffed, "I want to get out of this Nords-forsaken room and live my life!"

"This conversation is over." My father's wings flitted in frustration and he took a deep breath, pressing his lips into a tight line. "Goodnight."

He patted my leg and made his way out of my room, slamming the door and locking it extra loud just to drive the point home that I couldn't leave.

Asshole.

A few minutes pass and a smaller, quieter knock appears on my door. I waited a few moments, biting back the wide grin that threatens to show across my face before eventually throwing my blankets off and opening the door. Before me sat a stack of books— maybe four of five of them. I laughed slightly.