Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System
Chapter 48: Sulfuric Acids

Chapter 48: Sulfuric Acids

The sound of snapping rope flooded the air, rows upon rows of birds flying to the sky at the sudden crack. Astra equipped a knife from a makeshift bag she carried, digging into the hide of what seemed like a deer, the blood pooling the floor she stood on.

"You’re surprisingly capable at hunting," Zelr commented, meeting Astra’s annoyed gaze, her cold stare causing the hunter to freeze in his tracks.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" She asked, causing the hunter to rethink his words, the man’s hands raised slightly as to show he meant no harm.

"No disrespect, I assure you," He muttered, his gaze wandering to the deer that’s being slowly drained by gravity. "Though I must say, I expected you to take your wolf friend with you, not me, someone that almost took your hand..."

"Fair," she grunted, getting back to tearing at the deer’s lifeless flesh. "If it were any deeper than what you did, my hand would’ve been useless..."

"Then why would you—" His words were cut off by a loud stab, the deer flinching ever so slightly on what little life remained within it. Astra’s head down as if trying to hide her thoughts, her hair framing her gaze in private curtains.

"Because I need all the help I can get, you’re only alive because you’re useful to me..." she explained, her head raised, half her face visible to the man yet so hard to read.

"I doubt you have that authority," Zelr commented, his voice remaining respectful, but a twinge of annoyance laced his words, taking jabs at the technician.

"Maybe not," She chuckled through her growing irritation, fingers tightening around the knife before her feelings died down. Her grip loosening for a mere moment as she got back her train of thought.

"Besides, I need Celi to help others with projects even I can’t explain... and you’re the only one I feel have the awareness to see this task through," Her hand dropped to her side, leaving the knife stuck within the gut of the deer.

"I assume it has to do with this melted silver on my blade," the hunter presumed, raising his blade to see silver tinted on the stone jagged edge.

"Yeah, we’re going to find sulfuric acid... with that we can make our battery," She nodded, "We need to hurry..."

"Then why all the detours?" Zelr pondered, his brow furrowed in confusion at her contradicting words.

"The winds, when we get there, it’s going to be highly suffocating, we don’t have gas masks so, we’re going to have to get in and out, as fast as possible" Her hand tightened, trembling with fear at the stunt she’s going to make, "Not to mention I can’t do portals, Celi always do that for me...she’s not here now,"

"So when we get there, we’re going to have a few minutes, nothing more, we need to time it right, when the winds are strongest," Her words hurt to say, her heart leaping out her chest but she dared not to show.

"In this bag, i have other protective tools, gloves and a makeshift mask, though that could only get you so far, they work about as the same as a N95...no, maybe a N100 Respirator,"

"If you’re seeking my forgiveness or something, this is your time to get it," she quipped, her hands waving dismissively, a desperate joke to lighten their horizons. Zelr looked at her back as she turned away from him.

"Bold of you to assume I’m seeking forgiveness," He muttered, "I still resent you, to my very being, but I will not disobey my king..."

"That’s totally fine by me dude, just do your job." She sided, wiping the deer blood off her knife before putting it away, her hands wrapping around the rope to untie it. Both watched as the deer collided with the ground. Her arms threw the rope over her shoulder as she began to drag it.

"I’m heading back to our camp." She announced, hoisting the rope over her shoulder, the material digging into her shoulder as she began dragging the lifeless deer behind her, its movements jerky against the ground, lifeless dead eyes staring back at him. The forest seemed to fall silent around them as if holding its breath, and with each step she took, the air felt colder, more oppressive.

Zelr stood there, watching her retreating figure, his gaze hooded with unspoken emotions, still feeling the fingers of his lost arm.

Then... almost as if he sensed something, his eyes snapped to the trees. There was a stillness in the air, too unnatural, too heavy. The birds had long since flown away, the forest now unnervingly quiet, as if nature itself had grown wary of what was about to unfold.

His eyes continued to scan the forest until he came across a tree, completely shattered, a silent warning...

As the next day rolled around they started to move once more, the sun at its apex, its golden rays bearing down on them through the trees that shield them from the sky.

"Astra," Zelr pondered as she led the way, his mind wandering to what he saw. "There’s something i—"

He pauses, the technician suddenly stopping before him, leaving the hunter just as confused, however he could tell she wasn’t listening to him in the slightest.

[New class activated!]

Astra’s breath hitched. Her shadow stretched,as the sun reached higher heights.

[Vagnis; class,]

[Craftsman!]

The final word struck like a hammer. A shockwave that made her heart skip a beat with excitement, Astra’s knees buckled, but she caught herself, fingers clawing into the soil. When she looked up, her eyes sparkled like crystals.

"Are you serious—" Her whisper trembled, not with doubt, but with anticipation, a raging flame that was lit right beneath her.

She surged to her feet, the forest floor cracking beneath her. Her hands tightened to fists to the point they were shaking with no strength left to give, in hopes to get rid of this adrenaline somehow.

"He did it," she breathed, grinning savagely. "With this I can— no we can–"

Zelr reached for her. "Astra, whatever this is, stop—!"

Then without waiting for another word, she set off running, the technician blind to progress, to where she was, to the people around her, all she saw was possibilities.