The banners of Celestara Academy snapped in an invisible wind as the new Astral Expedition Program prepared to launch.Someone in the Department of Applied Red Code had decided to combine history, economics, and warfare into one convenient class called "Practical Expeditionary Studies."Most students just called it "Viking Club."
Departure
Lumiel stood on the deck of the Eternal Reflection, the academy's rune-carved longship floating above a mirror-bright sea of dreamlight.Runes glowed across the hull; oars shimmered like beams of moonfire.
"Tell me again," Lumiel muttered, "why the academy thought giving us a warship was a good idea?""Because you signed the requisition form," Daniel replied, checking ledgers."I thought it was a field-trip permission slip!""Same difference," said Klaus dryly from the helm.
Luminous descended the gangplank in her black-and-silver armor, eyes gleaming—one red, one blue.
"Stop complaining and start raiding. The Emperor wants results.""You mean plunder," Lumiel said."Research samples," she corrected, smiling just enough to make him nervous.
Laura was already arranging potion racks beside the mast.
"If anyone gets decapitated, please fall toward me so I can reattach you efficiently."Kuroha yawned from the prow. "We're doomed."
Into the Astral
The Red Code engine flared.Space rippled, and the Eternal Reflection slipped from Celestara's skies into the Astral Sea—a realm of swirling colors and drifting fragments of lost worlds.
Mountains floated like islands; the horizon curved into infinity. Far ahead, black mist coiled—the territory of the Shadow People, echoes of civilizations devoured by Nihility.
Luminous drew her twin sabers, their edges humming with bloodlight.Lumiel's newly forged Crimson Radiance pulsed to life in his hands.
"Remember," Klaus called, "we're here for relics, not genocide.""Relics first, genocide later," Lumiel said."You worry me," Luminous murmured."That's how I flirt."
The Raid
The longship skimmed through clouds of dark spirits. When they attacked, the crew moved like a single heartbeat.
Klaus directed volleys of coded spears that burst into radiant runes.
Daniel used finance magic—literally converting enemy energy into credit values.
Laura hurled explosive vials of liquefied sunlight.
Luminous leapt from the bow, blades tracing arcs of crimson lightning.
And Lumiel, at the center, swung the Crimson Radiance in wide crescents that drank the darkness and exhaled golden fire.
Each slain shadow left behind Astral Cores, glowing orbs that drifted to the ship's hold.Every time Lumiel's weapon absorbed one, its runes brightened, whispering faint music.
"I think it's learning to hum," he said."You're raising a weapon like a pet," Daniel shouted over the storm."Better than raising taxes!"
Victory and Reflection
By dusk, the battlefield was quiet. The astral waves rolled crimson beneath twin moons.The Eternal Reflection drifted among shattered ruins, its crew exhausted and laughing.
"First raid successful," Klaus said, logging data."And profitable," Daniel added, counting cores."And educational," Laura said, stirring healing draughts."And slightly romantic," Luminous whispered, leaning beside Lumiel at the railing."If you ignore the screaming," he answered.
They watched the auroras ripple across the void—red and gold threads weaving through endless blue.
"Strange," Lumiel murmured. "Every time we kill a shadow, it feels like the world remembers something it forgot.""Maybe that's what we're really raiding," Luminous said softly. "Not their treasures. Their lost memories."
He smiled. "Then we're the nicest Vikings in history."
The longship turned homeward, sails glowing with stored Red Code.Far below, unseen in the dark sea, something vast and ancient opened its eyes.