Snow drifted softly through the newly built halls of Frostheim. For once, there was no battle, no storm—just the low hum of voices and the hiss of the Red Forge in the distance.
Today was the first Exchange of Arts between the Ice Elves of Skjoldheim and the Academy of Celestara.
The Gathering
Queen Eira stood on a dais of frozen crystal, her voice calm and clear.
"For generations, we guarded the frost flame alone. You brought the Red Code across the sea. Today, we learn, not fight."
Lumiel, standing beside Klaus and Luminous, grinned.
"Translation: try not to explode anything.""You first," Klaus said.
Dozens of Ice-Elf apprentices lined one side of the great hall, faces pale and curious. On the other, human and Celestaran scholars clutched rune tablets and alchemy kits. Between them stood the Red Forge, pulsing with quiet light.
Lesson One – The Frost Flame
Eira gestured, and the air crystallized into a sphere of shimmering fire—blue and white at once.
"The frost flame," she said. "It burns cold enough to preserve life and destroy corruption. Only balance keeps it alive."
She extended it toward Lumiel. The flame hovered above his palm, tingling like liquid snow.
"It's beautiful," he murmured. "And terrifying.""Like you," Luminous whispered.
He smirked, then shaped the flame with Red Code. The color deepened to violet. The flame did not vanish—it adapted. A perfect merge.
The Ice-Elves gasped.Eira's eyes widened.
"You changed its core without killing it.""I bribed it with charisma," Lumiel said. "And existential dread."
Lesson Two – The Red Code
Now it was Lumiel's turn. He traced symbols in the air, bloodlines glowing red. The runes spun, forming a floating geometric circle humming with potential.
"This is Red Code—the language of reality. It listens, if you treat it like an artist, not a soldier."
Eira's apprentices tried it, but the symbols fizzled, unable to hold shape in the cold air.Klaus stepped forward.
"It needs logic—structure before emotion."
He showed them how to channel focus through frost veins rather than heat. Slowly, blue threads of Ice-Elf magic began to dance with crimson light.The fusion created a Frost Rune—half warmth, half winter.
The Experiment
That evening, they tested the new magic on a frozen lake near the forge.Lumiel and Eira stood opposite each other, combining energies. Frostlight swirled with crimson flame until the lake's surface turned into living glass—warm to the touch yet solid as iron.
"We've created… anti-ice?" Lumiel said."Stable auroral glass," Eira corrected. "A building material that never melts.""I like my name better."
Luminous laughed. "You've just invented architecture with personality."
The crew gathered around the glowing lake, their reflections rippling between red and blue hues.It was the first true cooperation between their worlds—no treaties, no contracts, only creation.
Quiet Evening
Later, as workers celebrated around fires, Klaus walked beside Eira along the edge of the lake. Their breath mingled in the cold air.
"Your people learn fast," she said."So do yours," he replied."Perhaps together we'll build something lasting.""Perhaps we already have."
The aurora above shimmered red and blue, intertwining like their magic.Below, the frost flame and Red Code pulsed in unison, the forge answering softly in the distance—alive, watching.