Empyrean Norsemen's Story

Hethel Svensson and his band of ulfhednar had once served Ungrulf "Ulfric" Ellrufsson aboard the Örmbátur longship as members of the House of Ellrulf in a time since forgotten. After the extinction of that family line, Hethel Svensson inherited the Nuörmbátur longship and became a jarl under the late great King Sigurd the Ringtaker of the House of Munso along with all the original ulfhednar who had served the previous household. Fudørn, Engöll and Stryder were promoted to jarls. Sigurd Hring sent them forth in the Nuörmbátur to establish a new colony along with Sjonn the Skald and 45 other Vikings whose names are unrecorded. They established a settlement on the Empyrean Sea Beach which flourished and evolved. After the death of King Sigurd and the Iskjerne Vikings, the new colony chose Hethel Svensson to be their new konung or sovereign. King Hethel the Dragontamer ruled peacefully for his entire reign and was praised after he died of old age, being given a large burial mound close to the Empyrean Sea Beach known today as Hethel's Barrow.

King Hethel was succeeded by his son King Ingvar the Highruler, who also had a peaceful reign. King Ingvar was a younger contemporary of an elder Ragnar Lothbrok in the days of old. King Ingvar would expand on his father's kingdom by building upon King Hethel's original establishment. Fudørn Ivansson's successor Ivaldi would become a famous inventor at that time, having purchased a magical purple crystal from Volund the Archer, one of the ljosalfar who had stumbled upon it by pure chance at Iskjerne Forge and sold it to Ivaldi in exchange for silver, along with many other broken remnants of lost technologies that King Sigurd had once confiscated from his Taiyou enemies in the days of old. Ivaldi wasted no time in studying and reverse engineering some of those technologies, using magic and a bit of Nordic alchemy. Using a mineral solution to grow more crystals on the surface of stones, Ivaldi greatly contributed to the accelerated advancements of the Empyrean Sea Beach settlement, helping the House of Hethel to jump several hundred years ahead of Gaia's other Viking settlement at Iskjerne Bay.

King Ingvar was succeeded to the throne by his son King Svein, who continued to expand the House of Hethel and grow his kingdom. King Svein was alive during the fall of the House of Munso under the rule of Ivar the Boneless, but did not get his own kingdom involved. Instead, he used his resources to order the construction of 3 magically advanced longships that could leave the planet and sail through outer space. The first ship was called the Stjorndrekr (star dragon). The second ship was called the Stjornkona (star maiden). The third ship was called the Stjornhestr (star horse). At this stage the Empyrean Sea Beach settlement had grown tremendously and evolved into a small nation, or Type II civilization that was fully capable of harnessing the natural elements in their local star system and utilizing Gaia's native magical defenses, something that the Iskjerne Vikings had tried to accomplish with the Hreggdreki longship many years before them but had failed to do.

During the reign of King Svein, a terrible event happened in the heavens which shook the mountains, leveled forests and left a huge shockwave of destruction throughout the land. By this time, however, the Empyrean Vikings had expanded their kingdom and had established such mighty and powerful defenses that it was able to withstand the storm brought on by the meteor as it passed overhead towards Siv'en and into the Exalted Mountains before crashing in the distance. To those peaceful Norse settlers behind King Svein's walls, it felt like a powerful earthquake. But the kingdom did not break. After the waves stopped rolling in and the earth ceased to tremble, and all the debris and thundering storm clouds had rolled overhead, the walls and towers of the Empyrean Viking settlement were still standing. After some time, life returned to normal and before King Svein died, what little forest that had been destroyed was already starting to regrow.

After the collapse of the Iskjerne Kingdom under the wrathful Titan deity Sigurd the Divine, during the time of Ivar the Boneless, the distant colony on the Empyrean Sea Beach just kept getting stronger and stronger. King Svein was succeeded by his son King Halfdan, the current ruler of that kingdom. King Halfdan was now the sovereign of a dynasty that had lasted four whole generations. Like his father and their fathers before them, Halfdan Svensson was a wise and peaceful king. He had skalds who could recall the legends and sagas of such famous heroes as Harald Wartooth, Ellrulf Trygvirsson, Hethel Svensson, Sigurd Hring, Ragnar Lothbrok, Bjorn Ironside, Harald Fairhair and others whose deeds served as lessons and teachings to the Empyrean sea king.

Halfdan the Great was a follower of Odin and a lover of wisdom who prayed to the gods and made daily offerings to the elves and land spirits. He would continue to provide a sanctuary for all the dragons, dwarves, unicorns, witches, pagans and exiles in his kingdom. In return, he received blessings from the land as the forests grew taller and the gardens grew fuller with an abundance of crops and flowers. Song birds greeted him with their beautiful songs as the grasses flourished above Hethel's Barrow and over the hillsides. There were many pleasant springs and ponds where frogs, fish and turtles nested, where crickets, ladybugs, bees and butterflies fluttered during the summer months, and the Empyrean Kingdom seemed like a quiet remote paradise. Life was good, and the Empyrean Norsemen lived without care, farming and crafting, forging and living in leisure without any needs or concerns.

It was a warm sunny day on the Empyrean Sea Beach, with the almost year-round parhelion of Gaia's three suns casting a magical circular rainbow-colored halo of shining sun-rays over the subtle pastel blue skies over beautiful blue-green waters and foamy white waves as they washed ashore along the long white sandy beach, moving inland from the treacherous Empyrean High Seas before lapping gently across the shoreline. Seagulls, pelicans and other oceanic birds squaked and sang as they flew by or hovered above the beaches as scattered white puffball clouds hung in stillness overhead like cotton flakes in the sky. It was a hot day, but the occasional gentle breeze brought relief from the heat, providing a mild uplifting wind which allowed the gulls, falcons and pelicans to linger in the air as if motionless as they scanned the shallow waters from above.

Many a crab and sea turtle had dug holes in the sand where they built their nests. The sandy shore was also riddled with fish bones, star fish, sand dollars, clams and colorful seashells, and on one of the sandy banks there was even the whole sun bleached skeleton of a whale, dragon or sea serpent which had been washed ashore and picked clean by the crabs and birds. Also along the shoreline was a rune-engraved, stone built dock and boatyard where humans, shipbuilders and fisherman gathered, working together to maintain the harbor and cast their nets or reel them in, hoping to catch a large variety of fish and other treasures which might be lurking in the sea. These were the Empyrean Norsemen, a strong and hardy stock of tall Nordic pagan folk with a variety of hair colors and hair styles, with a great majority of them having bleach blonde hair or ginger red hair with braided mullets and long or bushy beards.

Most of the men and women on the docks were dressed in plain workman's clothes, with simple gowns, highcut v-neck open laced shirts and baggy trousers, either barefoot or wearing sandals with their long sleeves and pantlegs rolled up. Some of them had blueish green tattoos in the shape of Nordic symbols and spiraling vine-work which extended from the length of their necks all the way to their knuckles, and sometimes even on their legs and feet. They were a healthy and muscular stock, well-toned from the exercise they gained from their daily work routines. They seemed peaceful and happy as some of them sang joyful songs while working together to accomplish their goals. Next to that was a small and quiet beach shack, which appeared to be from a different time period. Further inland and higher up on the beach, the sands turned to grass and formed a large naturally formed embankment which plateaued into bright green luscious hills, full of tall grasses and lovely flowers, wild weeds and many other natural landscapes. On the horizon, a forest of evergreens, elm trees, ash trees, oaks and pines stood thick and tall beneath the heavens.

Just before the treeline were two hills. One of them, overgrown with small white flowers was actually a burial mound. This was Hethel's Barrow, the final resting place of a very old Nordic king who had been buried there for over 200 years. The mound next to it, though much larger in size, was actually not a mound at all, but a vast stone ring fortress surrounded by earth which had been piled up to form a perfect circle around an unseen stone wall with entrances perfectly aligned to the four cardinal directions, and the phases of Gaia's moon, which could sometimes be seen even during the day when all three suns hung in the sky. Behind the earth-supported stone circle enclosure was a large moat and bailey, with a keep or watchtower sitting atop a raised scarp where the Norse king's castle could be found, attached to the great mead hall. These too had been made of bricks and stones piled with natural grass rooftops, and the splendor of that Viking kingdom dwarfed even the previous Norse kingdom at Iskjerne Bay.

Just beyond the scarp, down the drawbridge ramp and over the moat was a large shire village hidden within the ring fortress and formed in perfect shapely design. This centuries old Empyrean Norse Kingdom was almost a spitting replica of the Viking settlement at Iskjerne Bay, only its walls were thicker, its buildings were much larger, and its Ringerike styled artwork was much more elaborate. The post carvings weren't just carved by hand, but the entire stone fortress had been inlaid with gold and silver embroidery so that even the chains on the drawbridges were dipped in gold. There were runic carvings everywhere, some appearing like stained glass windows but inlaid with magical glowing blue and pink crystals instead of glass. It was far more advanced and a far more impressive society, one that seemed almost more like Alfheimr or an elf-haven rather than a human kingdom.

There were other differences as well...

Unlike the colony at Iskjerne Bay, there were no mountains close to the village. The closest mountain range was the Exalted Mountains to the southwest, whose peaks barely shown over the forested horizon. So rather than placing their dungeon lookout tower above the mountains, the Empyrean Norse Kingdom had its own lookout tower built closer to the shore, fitted with an enormous golden bell which shined like a beacon to travelers at sea. Also unlike Iskjerne Bay which had a statue of the late great Sigurd Hring placed out in the open near the gates, this newer establishment instead had a sacred hóf or pagan temple located in the very center of the village, surrounded by a protective spiked fence made of pure silver. Only priests and priestesses were allowed entrance to that holy place, which had walls made of spears and a silver rooftop made of shields, decorated by a thin gold chain which hung like tinsel around it. Inside that hóf was not just one statue, but a whole circle of stone carved heavy statues depicting many Old Norse gods and goddesses.

The oldest such statue depicted Odin, the king of the gods...

The main entrance to the ring fortress faced north towards the sea, and just outside of it, the legendary longship known as the Nuörmbátur was resting peacefully atop a pile of round logs which could be employed as a sort of sled or wheels to help slide the vessel down the hillside and into the water. Right next to it stood 3 other ships, also with elaborate prows, only they were much larger and of a later time period than the first longship. These three were not made of wood, but were cast of metal and silver, with prows made of gold. These too were inlaid with magical glowing crystals, only these particular crystals were pinkish purple and seemed to have an entirely different purpose. King Halfdan the Great was sitting upon his cushioned red silk throne inside the mead hall, wearing a silver crown and a bright stainless blue velvet cloak, surrounded by two of his three jarls and one of his skalds along with a hall full of Nordic settlers from various families and backgrounds.

"The stjornhestr is now ready your greatness," Fudørn Auricsson said out loud after taking a swig from his 24 ounce tankard of mead and setting it down on the table.

"Wonderful... Goffre, you shall lead our expedition tomorrow. Is your crew ready to sail?" King Halfdan responded before asking.

"Aye my leige, all five hundred of us are ready to set sail... Women, children. Vary a man between fifteen and fifty," Goffre Alvisson replied with a nod, taking a swig from his own mug.

"Good to hear it Goffre, I knew I could count on you in such short notice... Well, it is settled then. When the second sun passes at mid-day tomorrow, the Stjornhestr will sail... Are you absolutely sure about this my friend?" the wise king asked calmly with a sense of humbleness in his voice.

"Never moreso my king. It has always been my dream to reach for the stars." the jarl answered, to which the king raised his own golden jewel encrested goblet and nodded quietly. Everyone else at the king's table would then raise their own drinks as well, following King Halfdan's example. Without speaking another word, the konung gestured for the feasting to begin, and soon the hall maidens would go around placing silver spoons, knives and bowls on the tables in front of everyone as the chefs walked in, setting a whole large roasted wild boar on a platter down in the center of the king's table along with a giant dish of mixed fish oil veggie and crab salad and a gigantic kettle of hot steaming soup, rich in potassium, iron, protein and several natural vitamins containing potatoes, carrots, cabbage, roasted horse and chicken broth with alfalfa, yellow morning glories, seaweed and onions, enough to feed all 500 of them, along with all the hall maidens and chefs who served.

There was little to no nightfall on the Empyrean Sea Beach this time of year, nor in the nearby Kingdom of Skyfall, only the constant presence of daylight brought by Gaia's three local stars. The first star, Sigittae, provided magnificent light in the form of bright whitish blue and pinkish purple, resembling a cosmic magical flame or bow-shaped nebula. The second star was Atargis, the twin sun, a brother of Sigittae, though not entirely an exact replica for Atargis was much brighter and white as a dove, with brilliant blueish white rays of sunshine resembling the outstretched wings of a dove or flying fish. The Empyrean Norsemen viewed these two stars as gods and goddesses. The former star Sigittae they referred to as Dagr, the god of daylight and the son of Dellingr, the god of dawn, armed with a golden bow and arrows to light the world by day. Similarly, they viewed Atargis as the goddess Sól, the sun goddess with a golden chariot riding the star across the skies, reflecting the sun's rays with her magical shield. The Vikings also referred to Atargis as the Eastern Star, with Sigittae being its twin brother in the west.

The third star which could barely be seen from Gaia's surface was called Eras, a dead star or brown dwarf star which looked more like a very distant blood red moon than an actual sun. Hardly any light shone at all from that distant star, whom the Norsemen called Dellingr, the god of dawn and dusk according to their own mythology, when the least amount of light shown over their kingdom, allowing Gaia's moons and several star constellations to be seen. Gaia's first moon was Colossa, a dull red moon, larger but similar to Eras, whom the Norsemen knew as Nott, the goddess of night, or Skoll, a treacherous dark wolf which mocked the sun and chased it across the daylight sky. Gaia's second moon was Skygem, a brilliant white sparkling moon made of quartz which the Empyrean Norsemen referred to as Mani, the moon god who they viewed was followed by a pitch black darkness in the form of Hati, another wolf who chased the moon at night. There was also a third moon which the Norsemen knew not of, for it was often masked by Gaia's three suns. Of all the celestial bodies that they knew of, however, Atargis/Sól and Skygem/Máni were viewed by the Norsemen as the most important and significant lights in the sky, and it was when both of these lights became visible on opposite ends of the horizon, when the second sun Eras/Dellingr was high in the sky at mid-day and all the constellations in the heavens came into view, that Goffre Alvisson and his crew of 500 men, women and children boarded the Stjornhestr longship and launched their horse-prowed vessel into the sky, doing what no Viking on Gaia's surface had ever done before since the beginning of time.

They were going to outer space...

Goffre Alvisson had come from a long line of distant heroes and kings whose names had become immortalized in sagas and legends over countless centuries, some of them almost forgotten, whose deeds became nothing more than Norse mythology. Since the time of Wylfrec the Savage, whose bloodline extended far far back, predating King Trygvir by more than a century, long before Ellrulf Trygvirsson, long before Ungrulf "Ulfric" Ellrufsson, long long before King Harald Wartooth, before King Sigurd Hring, before King Ragnar Lothbrok, long long before Hrollaug the Walker and Ivar the Boneless, that bloodline extended and stretched to a time long since faded and forgotten. Yet their descendants and kinfolk still remained, a pure lineage who still bore the same phenotypes and genotypes of those very distant ancestors. Many of those descendants were now aboard the Stjornhestr as it hovered above the ground and took off sailing for the stars.

Their longship took off north from the Empyrean Sea Beach over the Empyrean High Seas, gaining speed as it entered the clouds. Many a Norse onlooker watched and gazed silently from below, observing that flight with speechless awe as the Stjornhestr disappeared out of view. King Halfdan Svensson smiled and nodded quietly, a look of mixed pride and humility, as he watched Jarl Goffre and his longship disappear into the clouds, heading high above the heavens northbound over Ellaria, passing from the southernmost tip of the continent all the way over the northernmost end past Iskjerne Bay as it ascended high above the surface, bringing the entire continent into view from the air.

Goffre Alvisson looked down at the planet's surface, gazing out of one of the air-locked gold plated reflective mirror windows and smiling at the continent below. For him and his crew, they had just confirmed what they hadn't always known but had always believed to be true for a long time, that the maps of their forefathers were incredibly accurate, despite never having been able to look down upon the land for themselves. This was a moment of great inspiration and hope for the Norsemen aboard the Stjornhestr, as Jarl Goffre turned from the window to his round table to look at the star charts that his great grandfathers had drawn. There on his map were many constellations and stars, with the four cardinal directions to lead them. Goffre Alvisson would be heading for one of the nearer constellations, shaped like a white horse on his map. This was Hethelfaxi, a constellation that according to Gaian Norse mythology, had been placed in the sky long ago by a sea dragon named Urakena, whose likeness the Stjornhestr longship had been constructed after. According to legend, King Hethel Svensson had befriended the sea monster by offering her a white horse as an offering. After accepting the King's sacrifice, Urakena had placed the image of the white horse high in the sky so that it would always guide their way, thus the horse itself became immortalized, and the dragon was remembered ever after.

Little did he know at the time, but Goffre Alvisson's star chart was leading their horse-prowed dragon ship far away from home, to a distant world which also had dragons, the likeness of which the Gaian Norse astronauts had never seen before. The map he was following would take them beyond the Sirius System, beyond the Norma Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, and far away to the Outer Arm of that galaxy, to a place called AC-430, wherein they would descend upon the Kos System and into uncharted territories. Their journey would be very long and dangerous, but the Norsemen were well prepared. Ironically, their longship was large enough to provide adequate housing for 500 crew members, but the Stjornhestr was still quite smaller than other spaceships of the time, which would make it harder to detect, and because they did not have radios, it would be impossible to track them by radar. Without even knowing it or planning it, Jarl Goffre was piloting a ghost ship.

Goffre Alvisson and his crew aboard the Stjornhestr appear for a fleeting moment before ascending away from Gaia's orbit into the Sirius System, leaving Norma Arm away from the nearest sector, travelling to Xamoyos in Bastion IV, a journey that would take the small undetectable Viking space ship several months through the vastness of the Milky Way.

After several long months travelling under the radar through the vastness of the Milky Way, after launching its way from the Empyrean Sea Beach on Gaia, over the Empyrean High Seas, passing the moon Skygem before leaving Gaia's orbit and wandering into the Sirius system, the Stjornhestr drifted silently at harrowing speeds, propelled by its seemingly magical solar-powered energy crystals which were stored like miniature wireless electroplasmic batteries, causing the fabric of timespace to distort and fold around the vessel while causing a field of heat lightning or purple ectoplasm resembling a feintly glowing spiderweb around the Viking-styled space ship, completely harmless to the touch, but magnificent to behold as the eyes of the horse-headed golden prow were lit up like gleaming headlights as the Stjornhestr hovered quietly and safely into Bastion IV's gravitational field.

Jarl Goffre Alvisson, the ship's Nordic captain and leader of the 500 personnel aboard the tiny stalion-shaped longship had successfully led the Empyrean Norsemen halfway across the galaxy, following the constellations on the star charts that were drawn many years ago by Gaian Norse explorers and skywatchers. After leaving Norma Arm and descending into the Outer Arm of the Milky Way, entering the Kos solar system and nearing Bastion IV, the Nordic Gaian astronauts gazed out at the marvelous blue-green planet below, staring down over the exosphere at a large disc-like continent surrounded by the bright blue ocean. Goffre Alvisson was not aware of it yet, but he was now looking at the entirety of Xamoyos, a place which looked strikingly similar to Ellaria, at least from the outer orbit of the planet. Goffre was reminded of the old stories his father Jarl Alvis used to tell him, about how Midgard was just a flat circular world surrounded by a ring of water. And while although Bastion IV certainly wasn't a flat planet, to the crew aboard the Stjornhestr, their perspective of the continent of Xamoyos was that it looked like a disc surrounded by water from the sky, and so Goffre Alvisson determined that perhaps the old stories were more metaphorical than literal, something which few of his predecessors had the mind to think for themselves.

As the longship neared Bastion IV's exosphere, it hovered silently in orbit around the planet for the first few days, undetectable by radar or satellite as the Stjornhestr did not have any radios or computer systems on board, and was much too small to be seen from other distant spacecraft, or from anyone on the planet's surface. The only hint of its quiet humble existence was the feint purple glow, and the gleaming reflection of the golden prow under the nearest moonlight or sun's rays. Otherwise the Viking longship just appeared as a small black silhouette floating before the curtain of the moon, its soundless form hovering silently in the darkness as it orbited the planet from above while Goffre's astrologers and mapmakers took the time to draw out their coordinates on paper, and make a sketch of Xamoyos while staring out of the large curved thick round gold-plated mirror windows.

One fateful day, a massive galleon arrived from the Empyrean High Seas, hoisting three large black sails with a white cross down the center, and waving a small blue and red banner. But the banner was neither a white horse, nor a black raven, or even that of a boar. It was a navy blue flag with a red serpent devouring its own tail. The galleon itself was three times the size of the Nuörmbátur, and roughly the same size as the Stjornkona and Stjorndrekr which rested next to it on the shore. Engrel Korrisson was the first to notice the large oddly shaped, slow moving galleon as he sat on a hilltop, mounted on the back of his brown shire horse, staring at the ship through the eye of his leather bound looking glass. Engrel would quickly turn his horse around and ride towards the entrance of the ring fortress, crossing the moat drawbridge and passing the outer stone wall into the open bailey just in time to see King Halfdan Svensson and a small band of accompanying bodyguards descend down the scarp ramp from the great hall. Apparently, the king's men had already informed Halfdan of the situation.

"My Lord," Engrel said sternly while stopping his shire horse and nodding respectfully to his king.

"Jarl Korrisson, what does your looking glass see? Are they friendly?" the king asked.

"Hard to say your greatness. They are many deep, with cannons," Engrel answered.

"Cannons?" the king inquired.

"Aye my Lord, old ones. Could be Greek fire, or worse. They are flying a banner. A blue flag with a red serpent," the jarl said loudly, informing King Halfdan and his closest men.

"A serpent? Whose clan is that?" King Halfdan motioned for his servants to fetch his horse and gear.

Meanwhile, the large galleon continued to drift inland slowly. By now, the workers on the docks had noticed the approaching pirate-like war ship and had started to withdraw from the shipyards back up the embankment towards the settlement. King Halfdan would mount a black shire horse and grab his sword from his young servant before riding off beside jarl Engrel Korrisson towards the beach, accompanied by the king's men. But the galleon would never approach the shore. It's rudders were too long and the ship too big to coast as far up shore as the smaller Empyrean Norse fishing ships. Instead a huge iron anchor and chain was cast over the side of the giant vessel as it got close to the shallower waters. King Halfdan and his men watched closely, Engrel Korrisson again raising his leather bound looking glass to spot four armoured men and a young blonde boy being lowered off the side of the ship into a canoe or dingy. The young boy was dressed in fine clothing and wearing a green cape, while the men in armor appeared to be knights or bodyguards of some sort.

"It's a silk swathed messenger boy," the jarl informed them. Halfdan's men would relax and laugh, lowering their weapons. "He's got guards with him. Could be a prince," Engrel suggested.

"A young prince, with a ship like that? Ha! He might as well be a king," Halfdan said deeply, a hint of astonishment in his voice.

Engrel smirked quietly for a second before looking through his eye glass again. Only this time, he noticed that the boy in the canoe was looking back at him through his own makeshift telescope. After seeing Engrel through his eye glass, the boy lowered his telescope and started using hand signals, waving to the Empyrean Norsemen on the shoreline that he was unarmed and meant no harm. Engrel observed the hand signals through his looking glass and relayed what he saw back to King Halfdan, who ordered his own guards to be watchful and cautious as the tiny boat neared the beach, being paddled along by two long wooden oars. Once the canoe was close enough to land, the boy cupped his hands near his lips and shouted to the king on the shore, in a dialect that the king and his men had not heard in quite some time.

"Ikke drep oss, vi er som deg! Ikke drep oss, vi kommer i fred! the blonde boy shouted over the calm waves at them. He had simple bowl-cut hair and bright blue eyes which reflected the sky.

"What's he saying?" Jarl Engrel asked quietly.

"Hm, that's odd. He's speaking an older dialect. They're Norwegians, but I can't make out his accent. Sounds native, almost as if he's from our country." King Halfdan remarked. "Rufus, you speak fluent Norwegian, what is he saying?"

"He says he is one of us. He wishes for us not to harm them," Rufus, one of the king's taller guards answered. Rufus was a bald and beardless man with a large facial scar which looked like it had come from a rather bloody fight at the local tavern, no doubt from a knife blade. Rufus was a brawny, strong man and was known to be one of the king's toughest champions.

Soon the canoe came coasting up to the shoreline and the two armoured knights ahead of the boy stepped out, dragging the small boat the rest of the way to the beach. The young boy would step out on to dry land, flinging his green cape behind him as the two other guards behind him followed him on to the dry beach, all of them forming around the boy with their hands resting on the hilts of their swords. But these were not viking swords, they were much longer and sharper, and their armor seemed more akin to Romanized Western European armor than to traditional Viking armor. The young boy bowed respectfully on one knee to King Halfdan, exposing the silver arm-ring close to his shoulder. King Halfdan nodded quietly, squinting his eyes as the boy stood up and approached him.

"Jeg er prins Logan av Quaking Oaks, sønn av prins Haakon, sønn av Reidar, sønn av Duran, sønn av Lodin, sønn av Erling Skjalsson og Astrid Trygvirsdottir." the young boy said, looking up at the king with both boldness and desperation in his bright blue eyes.

King Halfdan, Jarl Engrel and Rufus all glanced at each other for a brief moment before staring back at the boy with bewilderment, not because they didn't understand him, but rather because they understand him perfectly well. Prince Logan of Quaking Oats was apparently the great great great grandson of Erling Snake, the former mortal enemy of Sigurd Hring, and Snake's wife Astrid, the daughter of King Trygvir, whose house all the Empyrean Norsemen had once served under many centuries ago. King Halfdan was quite familiar with the Snake Clan from the House of Norway, for although he had never met any of them before and had actually presumed them all to be extinct, Halfdan's skalds had preserved Erling Snake's lineage and exploits in their sagas many years ago. Standing before one of those Norwegian princes now was like standing before a ghost, or lost tribe which had long been forgotten.

King Halfdan and his guards would escort the young prince and his four armoured companions up to the ring fortress and accompany them to the mead hall. There they would get their formal introductions out of the way and discuss business. Prince Logan recalled to King Halfdan how Erling Snake had been defeated by Sigurd Hring but had survived with a dozen others who took refuge in the forest. There, some of them died and most of the rest of them faded into obscurity. But Erling and a few of his die-hard knights survived, being catered to by the Elves and Dryads who healed their wounds and kept them alive in secret, hidden deep within the Quaking Oaks, where the young prince was born. Unfortunately, as he recalled to King Halfdan, he was the last remaining Nord from that land and the sole survivor of Erling's bloodline, for all the rest had either died from the plague, old age, sickness or bad health. Prince Logan was all that was left, for even his personal guards were neither Christian Vikings or Norsemen, or even humans, but were hired Elvish mercenaries in knightly armor who were indebted to Logan's father and had sworn to protect him. Prince Logan had arrived at the Empyrean Norse Kingdom to ask King Halfdan for help, and in exchange, to swear allegiance to him by switching arm-rings.

Goffre Alvisson was staring out of the cockpit window of the Stjornhestr, a Norse space-faring longship known in the common tongue as the Star-horse, due to its speed and the enormous horse-bust golden prow at the front of the ship. It was a rather large ship by Viking standards, about the size of a giant Spanish galleon, though still very small in comparison to other contemporary spacecraft as it hovered above the exosphere of Bastion IV, for reasons unknown to anyone but the crew onboard.

"How is that map coming along?" the Jarl asked while looking down at the continent of Xamoyos from orbit.

"Ay, nearly finished my Lord," answered the mapmaker, who was standing on the command deck over a large round table, hand-drawing the continent and its surrounding oceans in great detail using a feather quill pen and a jar of black ink on parchment paper.

Suddenly, the spacial field around Bastion IV started to distort and bend as another ship emerged, seemingly from nowhere, flickering into existence about 1900 miles off the Stjornhestr's prow. Goffre would catch a glimpse of the flashing light as it appeared in his peripheral. The Jarl was not the only person in the cockpit to notice, as the pilot and his co-pilot turned to inform him.

"Anomaly, straight ahead," the pilot claimed, pointing to the feint bright dot in the distance.

Alvisson would turn and walk casually over to the cockpit window, peering at the Conflagration while trying to make out what it was. Goffre would extend his hand to the side as the co-pilot reached over and handed him a makeshift telescope, a simple crystal ball encased in a leather bound tube. Goffre would raise the telescope and peer once again at the object in the distance, which was now magnified under the looking glass.

"It's a ship... Not one of ours either," the Jarl said, handing the looking glass back to the co-pilot, who proceeded to glance through it as well before passing it off to the pilot.

The pilot of the Stjornhestr would stare long and hard at the Hastiti Class cruiser, taking note of its strange alien symbols and metallic design, something that none of the Empyrean Norsemen had ever seen before. Meanwhile, the jarl would signal for his bodyguards to follow him out of the control room and on to the bridge. The pilot of this particular shift was one Hanson Forstein, a seafaring captain of Nordic descent with Germanic roots. Forstein had never piloted a space-faring Viking longship before, and in fact, was the first of the Empyrean Norsemen to ever do so. He glanced back at the jarl for a brief moment, who ordered him to maintain their position as the Stjornhestr drifted slowly towards the Conflagration in space. The mapmaker also paused, but Goffre just patted him on the shoulder as he walked by and told him to keep working. Despite never having been this far from the Viking's home planet before, Goffre Alvisson seemed quite calm and relaxed as he and his bodyguards left the command deck.

Hanson Forstein glanced at his co-pilot before peering back through the looking glass. At that moment, he noticed something very strange about the alien cruiser in front of them. It appeared, to Forstein, that the cruiser was starting to tilt. The nose of the ship was leaning downwards towards the planet, and, seeing no lights or anything on the outside of the vessel, it looked to Forstein as if the cruiser had either been abandoned, or else the Conflagration's crew was experiencing some technical difficulties. He handed the telescope back to his co-pilot and pointed out the strange occurrence to him. The co-pilot agreed, and as the Stjornhestr came slowly to a halt, they decided to wait and see if the cruiser would keep heading towards them or if it would alter its course.

Forstein then turned to one of the karls on the command deck, and signalled for him to approach the gjallarhorn. The karl nodded and walked casually over to the large musical instrument, an enormous curved horn that was simply exaggerated in size and length, much bigger than the karl himself as he stood by, waiting for further instructions.

Goffre and his bodyguards would walk up the stairs to the captain's quarters above the main bridge, where he had a command center similar to that of the cockpit, located directly above it, with a similar view of the Conflagration from his large gold plated mirror glass window. There, he had access to a larger telescope looking out of the enormous round crystal in the eye socket of the large golden horse-bust prow, enabling Goffre to get a much closer look at the alien cruiser from his higher vantage point. The captain's quarters was segregated from the lower command center, acting as a secondary control room in case of emergency. From this armour reinforced room, Goffre could control the entire ship, so that even if something were to happen to the main cockpit area, such as a fire or explosion, the Stjornhestr would still be operational. The main bridge branched out through the longship's inner hull into several long halls and corridors. Each corridor was separated from the others by thick air-locked armoured silver and aluminum doors, so as to be sealed off in case of a breach or emergency evacuation so that air and resources would not be lost in the open vacuum.

The Stjornhestr was an energy efficient, highly simple and economic spaceship with several comfortable living quarters and housing units, simple toiletries which allowed the ship's Nordic crew to discard their bodily waste out into space, while water was stored and recycled onboard. The large ship also featured a workout unit, sort of like a medieval Viking gym where the crew could exercise. There were large cargo containers in the loading dock for storing supplies, shipping goods and other purposes, along with the retractable draw-bridge docking ramp and thick sealed doors. There were also several escape pods and launch rooms where the smaller, canoe-like convertiboats were contained, to be used as emergency evacuation vehicles or exploring and trade vessels placed strategically throughout the longship by the engineers and designers who built it.

Everything centered around the bridge. The mapmaker had just finished drawing his survey of Xamoyos from the command deck over the large round table. Towards the back of the Stjornhestr was a second control room, also with a third cockpit located at the stern. Due to the design of the Viking-esque longship, the Stjornhestr could move forward or backwards quite easily, so that the back of the ship could be quickly converted to become the front of the ship if need-be. Ventilation systems, air ducts and water pipes ran all through the ship's hull, allowing access to air and water in every living quarters. These pipes all connected to the engineer stations, eventually ending at the main storage facility which contained several greenhouses and natural biomes where plants were grown and cultivated through photosynthesis with the help of honey bees and natural starlight. These giant greenhouses were separated from one another to prevent water and air from escaping in case one or two of the greenhouses were damaged. Crew members worked inside these hot dome-shaped gold plated glass containers, planting and harvesting crops to feed the ship's 500 occupants. They also helped to tend to the hive boxes, and gather medicinal herbs to be transported to the medbay for safekeeping.

The whole system ran on pressurization, gravity, and other very simple mechanics. The ship was controlled and steered using a keel, large oar-shaped solar sails which could be moved around, tilted or repositioned, and solar-powered purple crystals which acted like rechargable glowing batteries, but generated magical energy more similar to ectoplasm than AC/DC electricity, yet produced some of the same mysterious effects of a plasma globe or lamp with colorful lightning-like filmaments that seemed dangerous at first glance, but were actually completely harmless to the touch, though powerful enough to cause a person's hair to stand on end just like static electricity. The aluminum reinforced hull would protect the longship from Röntgen radiation, X-ray scanners and electromagnetic discharges, if such a thing was even a necessity given the Empyrean Norsemen's lack of sophisticated machinery. The aluminum, silver and titanium alloy were actually chosen for their molding capabilities, flexibility and lightweight to enable the Stjornhestr to travel faster through the cosmos.

These crystals, when charged, allowed the Stjornhestr to bend the space and gravity field around it, allowing the ship to hover silently through the heavens at great speeds. Along both sides of the Stjornhestr were enormous round plates which resembled amplified bass speakers, arranged just like shields along the side of a normal Viking Age longship, only these shields were much different, and were operated individually from the defensive weapon control stations, as were the two large glowing crystals at the sternpost and stempost which could be used as prisms to generate magic and concentrate high-powered beams of energy, either for propelling the ship through outer space or for targeting in-coming missiles in order to immobilize them or detonate them before contact, similar to a microwave, EMP or laser defense system. There were no radios, satellite tethers, radars, computers or electrical equipment onboard. Instead, the Stjornhestr was operated manually or with the use of magic.

Otherwise, the Stjornhestr was shaped much like a typical Viking longship with a stern, a prow, a keel and a long narrow hull. The hull itself was made of silver, titanium and steel, reinforced with aluminum. The stern was also made of silver and aluminum, reinforced with crucible steel and titanium. The prow was fitted over the front bow of the hull and made of thick solid gold. The keel ran longways along the bottom of the hull, and was also made of pure gold. The inside of the ship was made of aluminum and silver, while the seats and beds were made of hard oak wood with leather bindings and comfortable, cushioned plant fabrics such as cotton or wool. The tables and benches were made of oak, while the captain's quarters featured silk sheets and curtains. In place of electricity, the Empyrean Norsemen had simple oil lanterns, wax candles and torches which provided light throughout the ship. In place of radios, they had gjallarhorns and crude telehorn systems which operated with the use of vibrations on long strings that ran from one end of the ship to the other.

The crew had a very simple hierarchy or social structure with Goffre Alvisson being the jarl, in a red uniform. His personal bodyguards wore black, bearskin coats with visored helms and silver armor. Below them were the karls or freemen, who made up 90% of his leidang, dressed in blue, while the rest were thralls or servants in green who performed most of the ship's manual labour, such as carrying supplies, cooking meals in the kitchen and feeding the animals at the cargo containers. This included shire horses, goats or ibexes, domesticated hogs and cattle. There were also hunting dogs, forest cats and ravens which the Empyrean Norsemen had trained to speak and deliver messages back and forth if needed. The entire ship had its own little miniature ecosystem. The greenhouses produced several varieties of trees, plants, flora, grasses and fungi including many edible crops, roots, grains, fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables to be used either as a food source or for medicinal reasons. The plants and trees provided the oxygen the crew needed to sustain for several months, or possibly even many years in deep space depending on their voyage, while the gold plating inside the mirrored windows protected the passengers from harmful gamma waves and radiation, but this was more of a secondary function or added benefit, for all of the gold and silver within the Stjornhestr was magically imbued and actually served as protection against space debris or incoming missiles and lasers.

As the pilot of the Stjornhestr peered through his looking glass again, Hanson Forstein noticed a flicker in the lights aboard the alien cruiser. Just then, a voice came through the telehorn on top of the control desk. Jarl Goffre had witnessed it too from the cabin above. Forstein picked up the cow horn that was attached to the string and placed it to his ear. The muffled voice of Goffre was barely audible and unrecognizable to the other karls inside the cockpit, but Forstein just listened and nodded quietly before responding with a simple "Yes my lord" before setting the phone down and turning to his co-pilot, who was waiting for further instructions. The co-pilot for this mission was a young man named Rolegh, who appeared to be in his early twenties with short blonde hair and blue eyes which matched his lace-tied V-neck long sleeved blue shirt and baggy trousers. He wore brown leather high-top shoes with lacings around his ankles and pantlegs, and a golden arm-ring on his left arm close to the shoulder. This was the typical attire of most of the freemen on the ship, but Forstein and Rolegh also had silver vegvisir necklaces rather than the more common mjolnir necklaces worn by the other karls, signifying that they were in charge of piloting the ship.

"That was Jarl Goffre, he wants us to reposition the Stjornhestr and sink into the sky. We're ready to explore the surface" the pilot said.

The co-pilot nodded and turned around on his swiveling wooden chair seat to face the control systems. There in front of him was a control panel with switches, wheels, Norse compasses and levers inscribed with runic symbols. Forstein then turned to the karl at the gjallarhorn and motioned for him to blow the horn with one finger. The karl nodded, and grasping the end of the gjallarhorn, he took a breath and blew into it. The sound was loud, deep and long, similar to the sound of a horn on a large tug boat. The sound travelled from one end of the longship to the other, causing the entire hull of the Stjornhestr to vibrate as it alerted the crew. Upon hearing the sound of the gjallarhorn, all 500 passengers aboard the space-faring vessel would jump up and become active, going to different places and taking up various positions within the many corridors and cabins as Forstein had Rolegh prepared to lower the Stjornhestr towards the surface of the planet. Meanwhile, the jarl continued to stare at the Conflagration through his own large telescope in the captain's quarters, watching as a milky white surge of energy enveloped the Hastiti Class cruiser for a moment like a transparent bubble before vanishing.

The following weeks were uneventful for the Empyrean Norse Kingdom as the good King Halfdan the Great made arrangements for Prince Logan Haakonsson and his Alfarian mercenaries to join their ranks. The Norsemen were now 1500+1 strong at the Empyrean Sea Beach settlement, with an additional 500 elvish knights to support them. These Elves were unlike anything the Empyrean Norsemen had ever seen before, with their new pirate-like galleon fitted with 300 cannons designed for naval warfare and seiges from coastal waters. Unlike the Norsemen who were mostly just farmers, fishermen, hunters, gardeners, beekeepers, traders, merchants, craftsmen and blacksmiths with civilian occupations, the Sea Elves, or Dryads, were professional warriors. Swift, strong, and clever, these Sjóálfar were not only good at fighting in the Empyrean High Seas, but were just as skillful on land, in the hills and forests surrounding the Norse countryside, as infantry or mounted warriors.

Each and every one of them had two curved swords, one long and one short, an even smaller curved dagger, a spear, and a quiver with silver bows and magical elfshot arrows. They were equally skilled in fencing, archery, and mounted warfare, and their bright shining magical silver armour was light-weight but extremely durable, resistant to rust, heat or frost, while their coordination and formation tactics were beyond description, for despite their numbers, these Sjóálfar could move in sync with perfect timing like a single unit. This was true for their oarsmen, their archers, their infantry, and even their armored horses who pranced proudly before King Halfdan, each step in complete unison as they trodded and paraded before their Norse companions, showing off with brightly colored peacock feathers and horned visors resembling silver unicorn skulls.

Their cannons too were also magical, relying not on ordinary wicks and gunpowder, but rather on the whims of faery dust, and arcane fire which ignited like blueish white ghost flames, capable of harming both physical beings and spiritual beings alike. Although the Norsemen could see the tiny winged creatures who accompanied the Elves, the good King Halfdan Svensson was not aware yet of their strength in numbers, for the faeries or faefolk, akin to the Dryads and Elves they served, would prove to be an important asset to the Norseman's kingdom. These tiny little faes, just like their elvish cousins, were skilled in a variety of things from tinkering, pollinating, lockpicking, swarming and subtle assassination, to mounted warfare on the backs of dragonflies and rhinoceros beetles. But they too, like the Empyrean Norsemen, were much more concerned with farming and cultivating the surrounding environment, something which the Empyrean Norsemen were extremely fond of, and they would often treat these little ones as no different from their own kinfolk.

All was well in the Empyrean Norse Kingdom, until one fateful day when a lonesome faery came buzzing through the countryside at great haste, whispering something into the ear of one of the elves, who relayed the message to the great prince in his native elvish tongue. Prince Logan Haakonsson, in turn, informed King Halfdan the Great that an army was forming across the high seas, one which threatened the broken establishment at Iskjerne Bay, and which could potentially pose a threat to his own kingdom. King Halfdan Svensson nodded quietly, but made little effort to respond. Both of his jarls, Engrel Korrisson and Fudørn Auricsson volunteered to take their own leidangs across the sea to meet them. Instead, he summoned two of his best Norsemen to go investigate the situation. The first was Rufus the Red, the king's champion. The second was a karl named Thorvald "Bloodyfist" Asvaldsson, a Norwegian outlaw and murderer known throughout the land for killing people with his bare hands.

"But your Grace, this man is a criminal, and an exile. He can not be trusted," the jarl Engrel Korrisson explained. But the konung simply waved the matter aside with a flick of the wrist.

"He has done no wrong in my kingdom, and therefore he is not a criminal. Besides, I have not heard any word back from Jarl Goffre, and I will not sacrifice another one of my most trusted councilmen. I need you both here my friends, you understand." Jarl Engrel and Jarl Fudørn both nodded at King Halfdan's plight.

"As for you, Prince Logan, the king thanks you for your council. You are no doubt a loyal advisor to your majesty. I wish you were my own son, to be honest, and without sons of my own, I hereby declare you the king's heir. Should something happen to me, or my jarls here, then you must ensure that our lineage continues. Do you understand me boy?" King Halfdan explained before asking.

"Yes, your Greatness, I understand" Prince Logan nodded. "Good," King Halfdan said before ordaining Prince Logan before the court. Prince Logan would take a knee before the king's throne and kiss his ring finger. The king's ring itself had been passed down for several generations, from King Halfdan's father's father's fathers, a ring that had once belonged to King Sigurd the Ringtaker himself, who had gifted it to the forefather of the Empyrean Norse Kingdom over 200 years ago. That same exact ring had once belonged to King Trygvir, a loyal vassal of Sigurd Hring's uncle Harald Wartooth during the Battle of the Brávellir many many years ago, from which King Halfdan and Prince Logan were both directly descended. The irony of this occasion seemed almost fated from the beginning, as King Halfdan removed the twin-headed serpent armband from Logan's upper arm, and placed on him the twin-raven armband of the Empyrean Norse Kingdom signifying that he was now one of them.

One fateful day while combing the beach for Murex rock snails, a predatory sea snail which produces a purple inky substance known as imperial dye or royal purple, Snorri Jonasson the skald stumbled upon something interesting buried beneath the sands. As he hit the object with his walking stick, he heard a tinkering sound. There was something hard and metal hidden in the sand. He bent down and dug up what appeared to be a metal helmet. It was a warrior's helmet of some kind, of an almost Roman-like design, embroidered with thin linings of silver and gold. The front of the helmet featured the symbol of a bull in full body with horns and a tail. Despite a small dent on the side of the helmet, it appeared to be in remarkably pristine condition.

But there was more...

Nearby, he also found some curious looking metal pellets or small round lead balls which had also been scattered along the beach. But these were not fishing sinkers, for they had no holes or grooves in them for which to hook a line. Snorri Jonasson picked up a small handful of them, placing them into his hanging satchel along with the helmet he had found. But he was not prepared for what he would find next, for there in the sand, sticking out on the shore like an ancient lost relic, was a polymer advanced alloy pistol, the likes of which Snorri the Skald had never seen before. He would reach down and pull it out of the ground, brushing the sand off of it to examine it more closely. There was an inscription on the side of it which said M5, and Snorri knew right away that he had discovered a treasure that was simply not of the beach, or of Gaia, but had to have come from out of this world, from a people who had visited from the stars.

Snorri Jonasson suddenly forgot all about his snail combing expedition. He placed the gun in his pocket and quickly left the beach, going back to the ring fortress to inform King Halfdan of his discoveries. As he opened his satchel and placed the items on the table in the king's hall in front of him, King Halfdan and Prince Logan admired the shining helmet with fascination. It had not rusted over the last 250 years or so, but was still glimmering as if the gods themselves had crafted it. At first, King Halfdan even mistook it for one of the Sea Elf's own helmets, but after consulting the Sjóálfar, the young Prince Logan assured his adopted godfather King Halfdan that this was not one of their makings. It must have belonged to someone else who lived a long time ago.

"And you say you just found these items laying on the beach? All this time, in plain sight?" Fudørn Auricsson asked doubtedly.

"Ay my Lord, they were in the sand. Buried," the skald answered his jarl, who was sitting at the left hand of the king next to Rufus and Thorvald, opposite the prince.

"And what of these little balls here? What do you make of them? If they are not sinkers, then what are they?" inquired Rufus, the king's champion, as he fumbled with one of the tiny metal pellets before dropping it back on the table.

"I'm not sure..." the king answered. Everyone else fell silent for a moment, looking around the table at one another. Snorri then nodded quietly.

"There is something else," Snorri Jonasson said as he pulled the M5 pistol out of his pocket and slid it across the table. King Halfdan would glance at Snorri for a moment before picking up the small handgun and examining it.

"It has a trigger, like our crossbows, and a barrel... I think, whatever that is, it fired these" Snorri suggested, causing the others to nod quietly in deep contemplation. King Halfdan passed the M5 pistol around before picking up the helmet and examining it again. He studied the bull insignia more carefully, making a mental note of it in his mind. "Remarkable..." Halfdan whispered.

King Halfdan ordered the items to be set on display, high up on one of the shelves within the king's hall so that he could always gaze at them and wonder. He was about to send Thorvald Asvaldsson and Rufus the Bald on their quest to Iskjerne Bay, when just then, the doors swung open and two of the king's guards entered, holding a young man with a knapsack over his head by his arms who was fighting and struggling to get free. They were accompanied by the tavern keeper.

"Your Grace, sorry to disturb you, but we have a problem," one of the guards informed him. The king nodded to the guards, who nodded to the tavern keeper as he stepped forward.

"Your Grace, this young man here just killed one of my best customers during a game of hnefltafl and refused to pay for his drinks," the tavern keeper pleaded.

"He lies! I was cheated!" the young man yelled from under the bag over his head. "Silence you thief," one of the guards said while hitting the young man hard in the stomach with the butt end of his club. The masked criminal slumped over silently in pain, having the wind temporarily knocked out of him. King Halfdan rolled his eyes and looked over at the tavern keeper.

"How much does he owe you for the drinks?" King Halfdan asked calmly. "Sixty fennings your Grace," the tavern keeper answered humbly, removing his hat. The king nodded and with a snap of his fingers, Fudørn Auricsson would bring him a money chest. "I will double it for your troubles. One hundred and twenty fennings, and not a penda more," the king said as he counted out 120 pennies and placed them in a bag, tossing it to the tavern keeper, who caught it in his hat.

"Thank you so much your Grace, you truly are a great King," the tavern keeper said, bowing his head before turning and leaving. Everyone else's focus was now on the masked murderer before them as King Halfdan handed the treasure chest back to his jarl, scratching his chin.

"As for you boy, murder is a crime in my kingdom. Punishable by death. I could have you beheaded, and your lifeless body hanged on my display," King Halfdan said, ordering his guards to bring the criminal forward so that he could have a better look at the accused, and decide what to do with him.

"Do you understand the accusations against you?" King Halfdan piped up rhetorically with a bit of sternness and anger in his voice. "Do you deny that you killed one of your fellowmen?" he immediately followed through.

"... I do... And I don't..." the young man answered.

"Good, you will save me a trial then," the king said as he poured himself a glass of mead. "Guards, if you would do me the honor of please removing his mask so I can see his face... What is your name young man?" King Halfdan asked calmly.

The guards would remove the knapsack from over the young man's head, revealing a Norseman with long bright red hair and hazel green eyes. Everyone else in the king's hall would pause to gaze at the murderer before them. Thorvald Asvaldsson's eyes lit up with terror at what he was now witnessing, as Rufus the Bald turned to look at him, then back at the young man before him with a gaping jaw. The young man would shake the hair out of his face before gazing up at the king with remorseless hatred in his expression as he made eye contact.

"I am Erik, son of Thorvald Asvaldsson," he answered.

King Halfdan blinked, glancing beside himself to Thorvald before looking forward again at the admitted murderer directly before him. Thorvald Asvaldsson had widened eyes and a look of horror on his face. King Halfdan the Great was nearly speechless himself as he stared into Erik's eyes, before chuckling at the irony of it all while taking a swig from his glass of mead.

The Stjornhestr was moving slowly. The Conflagration was now 622 miles away, but moving swiftly through space on an incoming path towards the smaller Norse space ship as the Aschen struggled to get their systems in order. The jarl, Goffre Alvisson was not overly concerned, as he had seen the Hastiti Class cruiser through his telescope from several kilometers away and was given ample time to prepare.

The captain and co-pilot, Forstein and Rolegh, carried out their orders from Jarl Alvisson as they got the Stjornhestr up and running, and sank into the skies out of the Conflagration's path in case it was not able to stop its course. "All systems are a go. We are running smoothly, turning now five degrees south," Hanson Forstein said calmly. "Five degrees south," Rolegh the Young repeated, carrying out the captain's commands.

The Stjornhestr's crew was now ready to embark on the next part of their mission. While the 500-man passenger ship did not have offensive weapons, it did have quite an elaborate defense system. The crew was in position, but was not really expecting any hostility from the incoming cruiser as they activated the shields and stood by to await further orders. Soon, the Stjornhestr was in motion again, moving slowly towards the exosphere of Bastion IV like a hot-air balloon in outer space. Five degrees didn't seem like much at first, but given the distance between the Stjornhestr and the Conflagration, it would be enough distance and in enough time to evade an incoming collision between both vessels in case the Aschen were unable to stop or turn.

Just then, there was another voice over the telehorn. It was a call from Svegdir Staghelm, informing Hanson Forstein that the convertiboats were ready to launch. Forstein gave the issue, and soon two small almond-shaped silver pods were released from the Stjornhestr's hull, sinking below the much larger longship, each having five explorers onboard. These smaller vessels did not appear to have thrusters of any kind, nor windows, yet they operated all the same, as the passengers aboard each convertiboat peered out through their mirror-glass windshields towards their destinations. One of the pods immediately sank into Bastion IV's exosphere, and using the force of gravity, it soon began to glow reddish white and hasten speed towards the planet's surface like a meteor, its exterior becoming super red hot as a tail of green light and white smoke traveled behind it. The other small convertiboat hovered above the planet for a moment before closing in slowly towards the distressed Aschen cruiser in order to investigate the situation and make contact with the survivors onboard, if there were any.

Svegdir Staghelm was now in charge of the Bastion IV expedition as he piloted the small craft downward at a diagonal forty-five degree angle towards a small river heading for Dracos Valley on the continent of Xamoyos, accompanied by four other Empyrean Norsemen as the tiny karvi-sized convertiboat fell from the skies and dove nose first into the water. The other convertiboat was piloted by a karl named Wolfgang Yorisson, who was also accompanied by three other able-bodied Norsemen and a Norse woman named Kelsey, who happened to have medical experience incase the Aschen were need of medical assistance. Both convertiboats were labelled Karvi-1 and Karvi-2, while the Stjornhestr still had eleven other escape pods onboard in case of emergency.

Karvi-1 made a huge splash as it dove into the Grigori River nose-first from the sky. The waves which splooshed up from the port and starboard side of the pointed pod reached both sides of the shore, sending a flock of Xamatospondylus whooping and panicking as they squabbled away from the bank of the river. The small 25-foot-long silvery metallic almond-shaped convertiboat plunged beneath the water's surface to a depth of about seventy five feet before it leveled out and began to travel straight again. Many fish and sea creatures darted away quickly as it dove into the river. Svegdir Staghelm and his crew watched quietly as their submersible capsule slowly began to curve back upwards and arch back towards the surface. The cabin on the convertiboat was pressurized to prevent their ears from popping or feeling the difference in altitude or pressure from the water as they observed the aquatic scenery before them.

As all the oxygen bubbles around the small vessel rose around it and disappeared, and Karvi-1 slowly began to emerge from the depths, the Empyrean Norsemen gazed in remarkable wonder at the beauty and magnificence of the freshwater and all the aquatic life in its liquidy biome. Soon, a small group of Aquaxamos began to approach the vessel from underneath and prod at the metallic silver surface. The convertiboat was smooth along the sides, but the underbelly and keel was razor sharp, and would easily slice anything that brushed against it. Likewise, the rooftop over the convertiboat was scaley in nature, smooth from stern to bow, but extremely sharp when brushing in the opposite direction from bow to stern.

Svegdir Staghelm and his crew smiled, gazing quietly at the aquatic animals from inside the capsule, peering back at them through the silvery metallic mirror-glass windows. One of his crew mates had pulled out a leather bound journal and began to draw a quick sketch of one of the Aquaxamos as it circled around the boat. The Norsemen weren't the best sketch artists, but it didn't really matter to them much so long as the submersible boat continued to ascend slowly towards the surface. Just as the sketch artist was starting to add more details to his drawing, however, the small group of round-snouted creatures suddenly jetted off and disappeared into the darkness from which they came, as if something else in the river had startled them. The Norsemen glanced around, but they couldn't see anything out of the windows of their small boat which caused them to be alarmed. They had no idea what was stalking them from the murky depths below as they started to smile and rejoice at the fact that Xamoyos had life.

"We are now at a depth of thirty feet. Oxygen levels are good. There's life on land, and in the water. All systems are functioning properly. We saw mountains and forests on the way in. There's plantlife on the surface, which means we have a good chance of breathing once we reach land," Svegdir Staghelm said calmly. The small crew was smiling happily at the sound of that.

After being in outer space for several months on a voyage far far away from their home planet, Svegdir and his crew were the first to experience the likeness of another world which seemed remarkably similar to their own. Their mission to explore the stars had been a success, and Svegdir couldn't wait to inform the jarl and the king of the discovery they had just made. Little did any of them know at the time that their journey home would prove to be much more difficult than the journey which had brought them to Xamoyos.

Outer space was full of optical illusions. Objects that appeared closer were often quite distant. Objects that appeared smaller were actually quite large. The sun, moon and stars almost seemed like you could reach out and touch them, yet they were actually hundreds of thousands of miles away. Furthermore, objects which appeared to be hovering in stillness were often moving at incredible speeds, sometimes even faster than the speed of light itself. Such was the vastness and mystery of the dark expanse of space as the Stjornhestr continued to sink from the outer orbit of Bastion IV closer to the exosphere, going down keel-first towards the planet.

Karvi-1 and Karvi-2 had also been deployed. Karvi-1, piloted by Svegdir Staghelm, had sank down away from the Stjornhestr slowly, turning and gaining speed as it shot far around the Conflagration before going down to Xamoyos and diving nose-first into the Grigori River at a 45-degree angle, causing a huge splash in the water. Karvi-2, piloted by Wolfgang Yorisson, also sank down away from the Stjornhestr's hull very slowly before turning and going nose-first towards the in-coming Hastiti Class cruiser, which was ascending from the thermosphere of Bastion IV and moving upwards into the exosphere towards the ship.

But as the small 25-foot convertiboat moved in closer to the Conflagration to investigate, strange things began to occur. Jarl Goffre could see through his telescope, just as Hanson Forstein and his co-pilot Rolegh the Young saw from the Stjornhestr's cockpit, the Conflagration was still active, and there were people onboard. Although they could not see the Aschen crew from outside the cruiser, the Norsemen did manage to get a glimpse of the red blinking distress lights aboard the cruiser before the window shields were activated and shut to conceal the crew within. Wolfgang Yorisson turned to look at Kelsey quietly, who was peering over his shoulder, before Yorisson steered the small silver almond-shaped craft towards the port side of the Aschen Conflagration.

But as Karvi-2 neared closer to the cruiser, Goffre Alvisson noticed something else very strange about the Aschen ship. It was pivoting away from the convertiboat and was beginning to slowly ascend away from it. Jarl Goffre watched silently from the captain's quarters, grimacing slightly with confusion at the mysterious vessel before him. It appeared that the Conflagration was trying to escape as its thrusters came back on and the Hastiti Class cruiser turned on a swivel, up and to the right of the convertiboat. Jarl Goffre picked up the telehorn again and spoke into it.

"Forstein, hold our position. Activate the shields, I want everyone at the control rooms ready in case something happens... It seems we have a live one here. There are life forms onboard that ship, and they might not want our company afterall," the jarl stated.

"Yes sir," Hanson Forstein nodded before setting the cow horn down and signalling to the karl at the gjallarhorn, this time holding up two fingers. The karl nodded and within seconds, two half-blasts from the gjallarhorn were sounded out. Once again, the loud noise from the 12-foot long curved horn echoed from one end of the Stjornhestr to the other, and soon there were several people at their halls and stations getting fitted for possible conflict with the passengers aboard the cruiser.

As the crew members in blue uniforms down in the weapon defense control rooms attached their small hand-held dark purple crystals to the control decks in front of them, suddenly the crystals began to glow with a pinkish hue, emitting light all around them. Soon, the edges of the large round saucer-like shields along the outside of the Stjornhestr began to glow neon blue as Rolegh the Young motioned his hand over the runic symbols in front of him, turning the wheels and levers on his control panel. The Stjornhestr slowly stopped descending and remained completely motionless, hovering with its keel and solar-powered oar fin sails now submerged within Bastion IV's exosphere, while the rest of the Empyrean Norse vessel remained in outer space just above it.

The large eyes on the golden horse-headed prow at the front of the Stjornhestr began to flicker and blink, sending a Norse code back to Karvi-2 as the five passengers aboard the tiny convertiboat decided what to do next. Wolfgang Yorisson, upon being informed about the blinking messages from the back of the convertiboat, quickly eased up and stopped his vessel from going any further towards the Aschen cruiser. It was an order to stand down, as the convertiboat came to a complete halt. Only once the Karvi-2 had stopped moving was Wolfgang Yorisson aware that the Conflagration was withdrawing away from him.

At that moment, a third small ship emerged from the Stjornhestr's hanger. Karvi-3, also carrying a crew of five passengers, was now heading away from Bastion IV in the opposite direction. At first it moved very slowly as it turned around to face the dark expansion of outer space. But then suddenly, without warning, it would shoot forward like a speeding missile, accelerating very rapidly as it disappeared from the area, leaving the solar system from which it had arrived. The Stjornhestr was now down to 7 convertiboats and only 485 passengers. Jarl Goffre had to consider his next orders very carefully.

King Halfdan Svensson considered what to do with the murderer Erik Thorvaldsson as he consulted with Erik's father. King Halfdan needed to gather information about the Iskjerne Kingdom on the northern continent of Ellaria, but he couldn't just execute Thorvald Bloodyfist's son and risk having his ambassador to the north turn against him by joining his enemies. After some careful consideration, Halfdan the Great decided to exile the young man instead for three years, and sent him with his father Thorvald to the continent of Ellaria after branding him. Halfdan's guards pinned the murderer down and burned his cheek with the flat side of a white hot knife before casting him off of the Empyrean Sea Beach for a period of three years, warning him that if he returned before his sentence was finished, he would be executed.

Thorvald Asvaldsson and his branded son, now dubbed Erik the Red, then boarded a small karve boat and sailed off into the sea, heading for Iskjerne Bay, while King Halfdan and his champion Rufus the Bald watched from the shore. The Empyrean Norse Kingdom continued to prosper over the next few weeks while Thorvald and Erik were gone. Prince Logan Haakonsson taught his godfather how to speak and write in elvish tongue, and in turn, King Halfdan Svensson gave his adopted son his own daughter, a virgin maiden who had recently turned 14-years-old and, upon having her first menstrual cycle, was now ready to become a woman.

"Come my boy, I want you to meet someone. This is my daughter, Alruna, who is about your age now. She is ready to become a princess. I want you to marry her, and give me some grandchildren," King Halfdan said prudently.

Alruna would curtsey before the prince and smile with shyness in her expression. She was wearing a pastel blue dress with a white flower tiara. Her dress matched her blue eyes, and her blonde long hair had been braided specifically for this special occasion. Prince Logan would look up to King Halfdan nervously, before turning to gaze at the young pretty girl before him. He stood up from his chair and stepped over to her, flinging his cape behind him as he bowed to her respectfully.

"My lady," He said softly before standing upright to look into her eyes. "It's an honor to meet you, your grace, I have heard so much about you," Alruna responded, kissing the prince's ring as he extended his hand. It was obvious that this was a formal arrangement by King Halfdan, rather than a legitimate act of love and affection. But the two youngsters did indeed look very good together, and perhaps that love and affection would be kindled afterall as Prince Logan invited her to dance with him in the king's hall. That night, the two nobles were married and a great public feast would take place to honor their engagement. There was much drinking, dancing, music and eating as Norsemen came from miles away to offer gifts and service to the both of them as loyal vassals.

Many wedding games were played at the drunken festival, from board games like chess and hnefatafl, to maypole dancing and toga-honk. Children would pretend to duel with wooden swords. Men competed in drinking games of strength and wits, while the women competed in fast paced dancing competitions, all while getting drunk on mead, cisers, beer, vodka and other strong beverages such as grog and ale. King Halfdan also ordered a large black ibex to be sacrificed by having its throat slit with a dagger. The blood of the ibex was collected into a large golden bowl or dish, and with the branch from an evergreen tree, the blood was sprinkled over the statues of the gods and goddesses inside the sacred hóf.

At the end of the celebration, all the priestesses in the surrounding village, both young and old, would lead the prince and his princess to the hóf where Logan and Alruna were then stripped naked, and began to make love in the middle of the pagan circle as all of the priestesses watched to make sure that everything went according to plan. This very public, very crude display of Empyrean Norse revelry was not as barbaric or as savage and uncivilized as it may have seemed, for the priestesses were there to ensure that the prince was fertile and able to perform, and that the princess became pregnant. The oldest oracle among them would even be able to tell if the future infant would be a boy or a girl, judging by the young couple's love making positions and the way they reacted.

At the third dawn as the party died down and everyone fell asleep, or returned home, and all the fires had died out, Alruna suddenly woke up and sat up out of a dead sleep as if startled by a nightmare. Prince Logan was still snoring beside her, sleeping naked and face down in a pile of grass. She placed a bear-hide blanket over him and covered her own nakedness with a white linen sheet as she stood up and looked at the circle of statues gazing down at her before walking out of the hóf, squinting her eyes as she gazed out over the land. She was hungover, dazed and confused. Life itself now seemed so surreal to her as she stumbled down the hillside back towards the great hall, unaware at the moment that she was no longer a common maiden but now a royal princess with authority to rule.

"I wonder what scared them off," Jonah Marksberg said sarcastically as the hybridic manatee-like dolphin creatures swam away.

"Look. More bubbles," the sketch maker pointed with his pencil as a cloud of large gaseous bubbles floated up around the back of the convertiboat. This was a good sign that the air was breathable on the surface of Xamoyos.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, everyone in the convertiboat was jolted to one side as a large aquatic sea monster rammed into the submersible vehicle's hull near the underbelly on the starboard side. If not for the fact that Svegdir Staghelm and his team had been fastened to their seats, they would have been thrown about like rag dolls. No doubt at least two of them would have gotten badly injured, if not worse. But luckily they suffered no injury as their silver almond-shaped pod was rolled over on its port side suddenly, upsetting everything that was not fastened down Inside the cabin.

Svegdir and his team reached above themselves and grabbed the handles of their silver round shields which had been magically fastened to the silver rooftop functioning as oh-shit handles and double reinforcement to the karve's already elvish-crafted armour. Xamatohades slammed hard into the side of the explorer's Empyrean Norse mini-boat, causing it to roll upwards and to the left, its narrow snout acting as a weapon as it tried to penetrate the magical armour. But the silver was unphased, causing no dent to its reflective mirror like surface, nor injury to the river monster.

The convertiboat wasn't just crafted of any silver. It was made of 100% purified un-oxydated silver crafted by the Sjóálfar, the mysterious Sea Elves who served the king's heir, forging the soft but remarkable alloy from Empyrean dragon's breath, crafting it from blueish white and clear ghost flames using elvish enchantment overseen by the old nature gods and spirits. It was light-weight, flexible and easy to mold, but also extremely durable and resilient to damage from being rammed as Svegdir rebalanced the capsule using simple steering levers, tucking his thin purple gemstone skeleton key string necklace back into his shirt collar as the sketch artist tried to reach for his charcoal pencil and leather bound notebook which had been thrown from his hands into the seat beside him upon impact.