The Trials of Rebirth

By Stefon Mears

A modern man, taking a mythic journey.

 

Utiseta. A way to connect with the truth behind our world. To align the nine parts of the soul, and open up the way to magic.

 

Erik Nilsson climbs to a low mountain peak for his utiseta. He calls on Freyja, goddess of magic, to save him from his failures. But gifts from the gods carry a steep price. And he must first face the trials.

 

"The Trials of Rebirth", a short story of mythic fantasy for everyone who still sees wonder in the world. From mythology scholar Stefon Mears, author of the Spells for Hire series and the Jumpstart Duchy series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thousand Faces Publishing
• Release date: May 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223589969

Book preview

The Trials of Rebirth

THE TRIALS OF REBIRTH

STEFON MEARS

Thousand Faces Publishing

CONTENTS

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About the Author

Also by Stefon Mears

It wasn’t much of a mountain peak, but it wasn’t much of a life I was leaving behind.

Tucked in amid the redwoods and sequoias of a California state park, I’d found a peak called … well, I don’t think it had a proper name. Let’s just call it Mount Dagny. It was a rocky outjut that probably wasn’t tall enough to satisfy geologists who might want to get technical about what really constituted a mountain.

But it was just right for the new beginning I needed.

All around Mount Dagny were little slopes of dry dirt and underbrush that might serve as hills, comparatively speaking. Little wannabe hills, where the trees grew stunted as my life, because the rocky ground beneath them wasn’t fertile enough.

And there in the center, Mount Dagny itself stuck up like a middle finger aimed squarely at dissenters.

Perfect.

I’d been hiking all day in the August heat when I found my little mountain. Mind you, August heat in Northern California was more like early spring heat down in Arizona, where I’d finished my graduate work only two years prior. So I still had two full canteens of water hanging from my belt, and my