The aurora hung low that morning, its colors rippling across the snow like living silk.Eira stood at the prow of the longship Eternal Reflection, cloak snapping behind her, eyes locked on the frozen valley ahead.
"The shadows nest there," she said. "Old fortress. We take it, we own this coast."
Klaus checked his runes, calm as ever. "Then let's evict the tenants."
Lumiel grinned from the rigging. "Try not to redecorate with blood this time. We're short on mops."Luminous elbowed him. "Focus, husband. They're real this time."
Into the Glacier
The fortress rose from the ice like a black fang. Frozen towers leaned against one another, their walls veined with blue fire.As the crew advanced, the air thickened—shadows moving within the light.
"They know we're here," Eira murmured."Good," Klaus said. "Saves time knocking."
He raised his sword; frost crawled along the blade, his breath curling into mist.The first wave hit—dozens of wraithlike beasts made of smoke and broken metal.
Eira's spear sang, a note so sharp it froze the nearest monsters mid-leap.Klaus shattered them with clean precision, every strike a heartbeat of cold logic.Around them Lumiel's scythe carved crimson arcs that turned the snow pink.
"Who's keeping score?" Daniel shouted from the rear."You can't tax victory!" Lumiel yelled back."Watch me!"
The Heart of the Fortress
When the last creature fell, a heavy silence spread.Inside the ruined keep a faint glow pulsed from beneath a cracked floor—a Red Code Fragment, half-buried in ice.Unlike the first they'd found, this one burned blue, the color of Eira's magic.
Eira stepped closer.
"This shouldn't exist here.""Yet it does," Klaus said. "Which means it wants to be found."
He knelt beside her, gloved hands brushing the surface. The fragment reacted instantly: blue and red lights intertwining, forming spirals that climbed their arms.The ground trembled. For a moment they saw visions—frozen cities, gods of frost and flame, and a serpent coiled around the sun.
When the light faded, the fragment floated between them, calm and silent.
"It bonded to us both," Eira whispered."Then we share custody," Klaus answered, dry as ever."You make everything sound like a treaty.""Occupational hazard."
She laughed—low, genuine, unexpected—and for the first time, warmth touched her voice.
Aftermath
Outside, Lumiel eyed the glowing fragment between their hands.
"Well, congratulations. You've invented marriage by artifact.""Quiet," Klaus said."No, really, I insist on a toast—preferably something alcoholic and on fire."
The crew's laughter rolled through the valley, echoing off the ice.Above them, the aurora shifted again, its center turning faintly red where blue had dominated before.
Eira looked up at the change, then at Klaus.
"The sky remembers us," she said softly.He met her gaze. "Then we'd better give it more to remember."
Closing
By nightfall, the fortress burned bright with new forges.Another fragment rested safely in the archives, and the Ice-Elf Queen found herself watching the human who had fought beside her without flinching from the cold.
In the wind's song she heard a strange new rhythm—order and warmth hidden in the heart of winter.
And far below the glacier, deep within the dark sea of ice, a vast eye opened briefly, sensing the pulse of two lights joined together.