Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System
Chapter 38: A New Threat

Chapter 38: A New Threat

"Belk...what the hell is this?!" Astra gasped as she took a look at the mechanism before her, gears upon gears turning at the spin of the wheel, forcing pumps of air into the machine at record pace with only a pair of hands. To the average eye it was an unholy monstrosity of complex machines, to a scientist, it was a wet dream.

"You did all this in one night?" she questioned, walking over to take a closer look at it all, all the while the scientist grins goofily, his arms crossed as if to hide the effect of her flattery.

"Yup! I had a thing for gears in my early science days, no big deal," He gloated, rubbing his finger under his nose, unable to wipe that smile off his face.

"Alright then!" Astra practically giggled, stepping back with an extra pep in her step before grabbing the sample of Ironsand once more, putting it within the machine. "Tanaka, if you would?"

"As you wish!" Tanaka huffed, gripping the wheel as he spun it with measured force. The gears caught momentum, setting the crankshaft in motion. A connecting rod transferred the energy, driving a piston within the sealed wooden chamber. The vacuum formed, pulling in air with rhythmic precision, feeding life into the mill. The creation buzzing to life once again, feeding smoke to the skies.

"It’s alive!" Astra squealed, hugging Belk tightly. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you!"

Belk ran stiff under her grasp, his face slightly red at her appreciation, before letting go a breath he didn’t know he held once she let go.

"Now we can really start!" She grinned, watching as the Iron sand slowly liquidized, The glowing goo slowly taking on the shape of its container. "Perfect!"

"Glove!" She stretched her hand backward impatiently, not even bothering to look behind her. Sylvi dropped them within her hands—which she put one without a moment’s hesitation, her eyes fixed on the prize as she dug into the furnace and pull out the liquidized iron, watching as it slowly hardened under the soft glow of the sun.

[Iron acquired!]

Everyone began to cheer at the success, Astra staring at it with a soft smile as she pulled the iron out of its container.

"Now we just need one more of these,and a good storm," She muttered to herself, her grasp clutching around the newly created ingot. "Then electricity is ours–"

"Well- guess we should get going to that river again–" Belk sighed, his hand resting behind his head in a lax posture.

"Might as well," Vagnis agreed, already grabbing the basen they used last.

"I wanna help too!" Syvli volunteered, her tiny legs running to catch up with them.

"You’re gonna have to hurry then!" Belk chuckled, their voice growing more distant as they passed Astra who finally stood up.

"What should we do now?" Zelr pondered, awaiting a response from their esteemed guide.

"We should get to making copper lines, till they’re back—" She muttered, her voice more sombre now, her gaze unable to pry away from the iron within her grasp.

"This is still agonizing on my back!" Belk complained, knee deep within the river as they searched for iron sand, the flowing rivers danced around their arms as they kept going on their search.

"You whine too much," Vagnis sighed, elbow-deep in the riverbed as he sifted through the sediment. The cold water numbed his hands, but he worked through it, glancing up at Belk with mild irritation.

"Yeah, yeah, easy for you to say," Belk grumbled, shifting his stance as he scooped another handful of dark grains into the basin. "I spent all night building that contraption, and now I’m stuck here doing grunt work."

"You’re the one who said, ’no big deal,’ and suggested we go to the river again," Sylvi reminded him with a slightly exasperated look, struggling to lift a waterlogged chunk of rock. "Besides, we need more ironsand,"

"That’s your own fault for showing off." Vagnis sighed, his magnet catching a handful of ironsand.

Belk groaned to his point, standing up straight to get a moment of relief, he turned to Vagnis who was still hunched over in the river, noticing a weirdly placed patch of shadow.

"Vagnis!" He shouted, the scout raising his head only to see something speeding down on him in his peripheral. Instinctively he jumped out of the water, watching as it crashed into the river near Sylvi and Belk, the waters gushed high into the air, falling down on them like light rain.

Both Belk and Sylvi were on their rears, staring up as a bulky figure tower over them, a man whose head blocked the very sun, his skin as red as a raging flame with markings lining his body , his black hair peeking through his goggles that hung over a fierce blue gaze.

"Who’re you—" Vagnis demanded to know, watching as the man continued to say nothing. In one arm he carried a battle axe, the blade segmented, composed of interlocking steel plates underneath attached to gears that swiftly caught Belk’s attention.

"Sylvi run!" Belk roared, his words shaking the girl, her feet beginning to move on their own as she scrambled out of the water, running as fast as she could. The red-skinned warrior watched Sylvi dart away, his fierce blue eyes tracking her for only a moment before shifting his gaze back to Belk and Vagnis.

With slow precise movements the warrior raised his blade, his gaze locked on Vagnis, the scout stepped back, reaching for his bow that wasn’t there.

"Shit–" He cursed under his breath, his gaze snapped back to the man, his axe already reaching its peak.

"I’ll be taking your life now, " he declared, swiftly turning his body and driving his axe down Belk’s petrified state, causing the waters to shoot up into the air at the sudden force.

Vagnis was unable to react in time, his mouth slightly agape by how fast it happened.

"Prince of the Aelvarians..."