Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System
Chapter 40: Flash Grenades

Chapter 40: Flash Grenades

The red warrior slowly disappeared into the forest once more, each step felt as though they could shake the earth itself, his gaze hooded under his brows. He watched as the trees passed him by, each looking the same under the guise of shadow.

The sound of silence rang loud with the smell of rotting carcasses, everything hiding from the predators that lingered nearby.

"So you let them escape, Godric?" A voice echoed through the forest, bringing his movement to a halt. His grip tightened harder around the handle of his axe, the weapon planted on his shoulder.

"I was merely caught off guard," He grunted, his words scraping through his gritted teeth. "That mistake will not be made again—"

"I don’t know...that was a major opportunity you let slip by, ya know?" The voice mocked, his gaze shifting to a girl that sat on a tree branch, her back to him, staring beyond the entrance of the forest in hopes to catch a glimpse of them.

"Who’s to say the prince will ever be that exposed again?" Her words caused the warrior’s head to hang, Irritation clear on his face.

"Oh I know!" She clapped, her gaze whipping to him in an instant as an idea crossed her mind. She carried similar markings to him, her dark blue skin fitting comfortably within the shadows. "Let me have a try? How about it?! I wanna test my new toy!"

"Don’t bother..." Godric gruffed, continuing his stride, not even bothering to look behind him. "They’ll be coming our way soon enough..."

"You’re no fun—" She pouted, watching as Godric left her behind, her gaze shifting to the forest end once more. "No fair, I wanna play too!"

"We’re gonna do what?" Belk asked, watching as Astra sat on the floor looking through his ore collection, the rocks piling up behind her as she searched for it.

"We’re going to make flash grenades—" She muttered indifferently, tossing some Vilith his way, the boy stumbled over himself, barely managing to catch the ores within his hands. "I thought we’d need these to deal with the monsters in general but with this we really do,"

"The hell are flash grenades?" He murmured, his eyebrows furrow over his gaze in confusion, not even wrapping his head around the concept of a grenade in the first place.

"Think about it like this—" Astra groaned, leaning back to get a good look at him. "You made flour booms from the flour I gifted you right?"

Belk nodded a bit put off by how she knew that, oblivious to the char on his coat.

"Think of it as that, but instead of flour it’s a beam of light and very loud noise, enough to even stop a predator in their tracks." She explained, standing up and dusting herself off. She turned to Belk,her hand reaching to scratch the back of her head.

"It’s a mix of oxidizers and fuels, mainly magnesium and an oxidizing agent, in this case we’ll use potassium chlorate,"

’Potassium chlorate—oxidizers?’ Belk’s mind drew further and further behind. He felt like he was going cross eyed as Astra continued to ramble on and on to herself.

"But then again, potassium chlorate is man made—so we’re gonna need glass yet again–" she sighed, Belk’s ears perking up at the sound.

"Glass I can do!" He announced, excitement bubbling up within his eyes. "But wait...what does glass have to do with it?"

"Glass has a high resistance to most chemicals, if we’re going to make this then we’ll need something that can hold it all," Astra explains, Belk grinning at her words, nodding confidently.

"Sure, leave it to me!" He announced, nodding determined, still holding the Vilith she’d given him.

"Ok cool here—" She murmurs, shoving a paper she seemingly pulled out of nowhere, resting it on the piles of ores he was already carrying. He watched the drawings on it, it was filled with unnatural shapes from all angles, the mere idea of modeling these things made his head spin.

"This is freaking impossible!" He shouted, Astra waving him off dismissively as she got back to searching.

"I’m sure you and Vagnis can figure it out."

"You’re leaving us to do this alone–" Belk muttered, watching as she continued to navigate the room around him.

"I have bigger things to worry about," she huffed, standing up and making her way out, pushing past Belk without breaking her stride. The young scientist watched on in confusion.

"Celi!" Astra’s voice rang out, sharp with urgency as she strode forward, her boots kicking up dust with each step. The weight of the moment pressed against her chest, but she didn’t slow.

A rift split open beside her with a faint hum, dark energy crackling along its edges like static before Celi stepped through. She emerged smoothly, falling into stride beside Astra without missing a beat. The air around her still shimmered with the remnants of the portal’s energy, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

Without turning her head, Astra spoke, her voice firm. "Locate the nearest source of sulfuric acid."

Celi gave a slight nod, her piercing gaze sharpening as she scanned the landscape. "Understood."

[Calculating,]

[The nearest source is approximately 50 kilometers from here, it’s located in the hotsprings of a small clearing south from here!]

"Hot springs... better than waiting for acid rain," she muttered to herself, kicking a stray pebble as she made her way toward the others. The air shimmered with heat, the sun glaring down on their backs like an unrelenting overseer.

Her gaze drifted across the scene, landing on Zelr. The warrior sat sprawled on the grass, his back against a jagged rock, watching the others work while he took a break. The blade shimmered the stray light from the sun, the blunt end resting upon his shoulder.

The warrior’s attention flicked to her, his gaze unreadable but alert.

She jerked her chin toward the distance, where Celi stood, waiting near the edge of the path. The wind stirred her clothes, carrying the distant scent of iron and smoke.

"Follow me, will ya?" she asked, her tone both expectant and uncertain.

Zelr exhaled through his nose, then pushed himself up, rolling his shoulders before gripping his sword with a practiced ease. Without a word, he followed.