Snow fell like powdered glass when the Eternal Reflection cut through the last veil of the Astral Sea.Auroras rippled above—lines of living Red Code, glowing in green, violet, and scarlet threads.
"So this is Vinterra," Lumiel whispered. "A land where even the sky's doing math."
The deck creaked under frost. Luminous drew her cloak tighter, one eye reflecting the aurora's red, the other its blue.
"The locals call it the Singing North. Every light is a rune.""Good," Lumiel said. "Maybe we can trade grammar lessons for housing."
Klaus steered the longship between frozen spires that hummed like tuning forks.Daniel tapped numbers on a rune-tablet.
"If those pillars resonate at constant frequency, we can harvest energy. Empire-building step one: free heating."Laura clapped her gloves, breath fogging."Step two: don't freeze before step one."
Landing
They anchored near an Ice-Elf settlement—houses carved into glaciers, glowing from within by moonstone fire.Warriors in white armor watched silently as the newcomers approached.
The leader, tall and silver-eyed, introduced herself as Queen Eira of Skjoldheim.Her gaze lingered on Lumiel's mixed aura.
"Half sun, half shadow," she said. "Our songs spoke of one who'd walk the aurora. You carry that light.""Technically I carry a lot of things," Lumiel replied. "Mostly bad ideas."
Yet Eira smiled. The alliance was born not through prophecy, but shared amusement.
The Red-Code Fragments
While exploring the glacier caverns, Lumiel's scythe began to hum again. Lines of crimson fire pulsed inside the ice, forming runes older than Celestara itself—Fragments of the Red Code.
Each fragment beat like a heart. When touched, they showed visions:ships of light sailing void seas, gods forging reality on frozen anvils, and a shadow serpent coiling beneath the world.
Luminous placed her hand on one.
"These fragments… they react to blood.""Of course," Lumiel said. "Even code wants to eat."
They harvested the first fragment—an orb of frozen light—and felt the aurora brighten overhead.Somewhere deep in the glacier, something stirred in answer.
The Viking Accord
Queen Eira offered them a pact:the Ice Elves would lend warriors and forges if the academy taught them Red Code alchemy.Together, they would raid the Shadow Realms and recover more fragments.
Lumiel accepted, smirking.
"So… step three: we build an economy.""Step four," Daniel added, "we invent taxes that pay for step three.""Step five," Laura sighed, "we survive them."
The crew laughed under the shimmering aurora.Above them, the northern lights twisted into runes spelling a single word in ancient code:
"Return."
Lumiel looked up.
"Guess even the sky wants us back next time."He grinned, tightening his gloves."But for now, we raid."