Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System
Chapter 63: Deal with a Devil

Chapter 63: Deal with a Devil

"Hey!" Veira screamed, an iron fist grappling at her wrist. Despite her struggles, they refused to let go. Her feet dragged against the earth, leaving frantic grooves in the mud as she was pulled into a narrow opening carved into the forest wall. Her eyes welled with tears as she was thrown into a small, boxed-off room—no, a cage disguised as shelter.

The walls were made of thick, sun-hardened clay, cracked from the changing seasons and streaked with the fingerprints of those who built them. The roof was thatched, but reinforced with dense wooden beams wrapped in thorned vines—meant less for protection and more to discourage escape. The only light slipped in through tiny holes near the top, carved just wide enough to taunt her with the breeze. The air inside was humid, bitter with the scent of old sweat, rot, and smoke.

"What’re yo—"

Before she could even finish the thought, the heavy woven curtain dropped shut, and she heard the scrape of a wooden beam sliding into place behind it.

She was locked in.

Her fingers dug into the packed earth beneath her. It was cold, damp, and clumped beneath her nails like blood. Veira’s teeth gritted with annoyance and disdain, biting down on every instinct that screamed to fight.

"You can’t keep me here! Hello?!" she shouted, voice echoing against the dirt-packed walls. But her words, like all things in this place, went unanswered.

"Idiots..." she muttered under her breath.

She sat up against the uneven wall, the dampness seeping into her bones, her hair pressing against the dirt-caked border. Only the constant sound of birds and insects beyond, a cruel reminder that life was still happening—just not for her.

Days passed. Then months. Then years.

The sun became myth. Time bled together, measured only by the scraps tossed at her feet—bits of bone-stripped meat, moldy grains, and droplets of water too small to savor. At seventeen, her body was thin and hunched, her skin pale with grime. Her breath came in shallow bursts, her clothes now rags clinging to a skeleton. Yet her mind, the one thing they truly feared, refused to die.

She sat in the farthest corner, curled in on herself like an afterthought. Her eyes were dazed, fixed on nothing. Her nails are broken. Her lips cracked and were bleeding. And still—she remained.

"I see you’re still alive," a voice finally cut through the silence, smooth like silk soaked in poison.

The curtain was drawn aside with a gentle rustle. Light spilled in, blinding her. In the doorway stood a man who seemed regal in every sense of the word. His cloak was adorned in tribal embroidery—threads of gold and deep red—and his posture was that of someone long accustomed to bowing heads. But the smile he wore was cold, forced, and dangerous.

If she could’ve spoken, her words would’ve been anything but nice and welcoming, but she bit her tongue.

Her eyes dragged up to meet him as he entered. He knelt beside her like a priest offering final rites. His hand, clean and polished, cupped her bruised cheek as though she were a wounded animal. There was no warmth in his touch, a mere obligation to each action.

"This won’t do..." he muttered, eyes scanning her hollow face.

He stood and began pacing, his boots scraping softly against the hardened dirt. "You know, it didn’t have to be like this. All you had to do was listen—to believe in the message of our forefathers. You could’ve lived among us. Happily."

His voice echoed against the crude walls, bouncing like a sermon inside a temple of decay.

"But no," he sneered, looking over his shoulder. "That mind of yours—demonic, they said. Dangerous. It should’ve been stripped from you before it had the chance to spread its rot."

Her lip twitched, even as her strength waned.

"But," he continued, eyes glinting like a man savoring a trap, "I’ve come to make a deal with you... devil."

The word struck like a slap. His hand moved toward the curtain as if to offer her the way out—the same exit he once sealed shut.

"Help us. Lend that corrupted brilliance of yours to our cause, and you won’t die here like a forgotten beast."

He leaned down again, voice dipped in something darker than pity—pride.

"You’d do yourself good," he whispered. "And prove you’re not the monster we made you out to be."

Outside the hut, the forest chirped and swayed with wind and life. But inside—Veira sat on the brink of it all, chained by dirt, time, and the illusion of mercy.

"Well?" he sneered, tapping his foot against the dirt floor waiting for a response. Her throat was dried up, she could hardly find the strength to form words, not to mention to go with him... although, despite her pride she nodded. Her hair dragged against the wall with each motion as if desperately leaning for support.

"Wise choice," He mocked, his hand brushing against the cloth that separates them from the outside once more. "You’ll do well to eat, lunch will be here shortly."

With that he made his leave, Veira’s head hanging in defeat but her heart raced, from the relief of it all, she surely thought she was about to die...

Months would fly by almost as quickly as the sun swapped places with the moon, Viera staring as rodents scurry across the trees above them, the very trees they were working so hard to cut down.

"There’s nothing for you there," The man commented, noticing her dazed eyes.

"King, Valier..." She muttered, only now recognizing his presence, snapping her out her thoughts. Her eyes soon snapped back to the tree to observe their movements.

"Well? Out with it." He commanded, his arms crossed as he watched the same thing she had, the rodents now staring back at them with wide beady black eyes.

"I was just wondering..." She muttered, more so to herself than to him, "Creating something, to move things... something that works like the leg..."

"The leg?" Valier looked at her, confused by her logic. She knelt down, running her fingers through the sand in something shaped like a gear, Valier watched, more so montering her than actually paying attention. His hand raised to signal the guards over, witnessing her handy work.

"Something like this..." She hummed, even as her fingers kept digging through the earth. Everyone nodded before going off on their own, already starting the project she had crafted on the earth.