Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System
Chapter 68: Only Human

Chapter 68: Only Human

Upon a field pooled with blood from the past, it happened. The grass swayed just the way she remembered it. How could she not? Every detail was seared into her brain as her eyes came across it.

Veira had it all. Her army had it all—better weapons, better tools, tools that would slowly cut down their enemies bit by bit. Veira stepped over the corpses of those she had conquered. The ones still standing were fighting, desperate to survive their onslaught.

Then it happened.

Gusts upon gusts of wind blew with rage. It felt as though a hurricane was on the horizon. Her hair whipped and thrashed over her eyes, but she couldn’t pry her gaze away from the specimen that floated above them for a brief moment.

A blue light finally erupted from its supposed eyes. Everyone flinched at the sudden change, the light engulfing them for a brief moment before disappearing entirely—the mechanical creature shooting forward, gone in the blink of an eye.

"What sort of creature is that!?" one panicked, his hands tightening around his weapon.

Godric, too, started towards where the ship had been once before, the warrior on the opposite side of the field, his skin covered in teal blue.

"Could it be the gods...?" one panicked, dropping their weapon to the floor with a loud clang. So followed the others.

"Have our misdeeds caught up to us...?"

"No, we shouldn’t have done it!" they cried, fear clouding their judgment. Did the gods oversee their sins? Were they about to be met with retribution for their actions?

Shouts and whispers of uncertainty clouded her men—all of them, one by one, falling to their knees before the enemy, before Tanaka. The man, riddled in blood and fatigue, watched on as they kneeled in surrender.

They broke the laws of the land, and now they needed to repent. Those were the thoughts that ran through their minds, even as they gave the enemy their necks to the floor.

But Veira remained standing, her fists clenched in anger, yet they trembled with excitement—excitement at what she had just seen. What did she see? A mythical creature? An angel sent from heaven? Or God itself? Was this divine retribution or something more...?

Tanaka watched her as she stared blankly at the sky above, Godric taking notice and grabbing at his stone blade.

"Allow me, Your Highness," he muttered under his breath, drawing his blade and getting ready to attack.

Alas, Tanaka rested his hand on the warrior’s shoulder, the meaning behind his touch all too clear.

"Why?" he pondered, a bit surprised at his leader’s sudden generosity.

"We’ve already won... there’s no need to continue," he muttered, his back already turned toward the battle that he had fought in so valiantly.

Godric took one last look at the girl who remained staring toward the sky, putting his weapon upon his back before taking his leave. "May peace find you somehow..."

A few days passed. The wind had not stopped howling since that day.

Veira walked home alone. Upon her many-day journey, she came back to her once home in ruins. The trees had been cut down all around it. Many of the animals had long ago moved away.

There were no longer warriors waiting. Many people rested in the village in famine. Their hunger grew as hunting became more and more tedious.

"My king..." she muttered as she got to his quarters, her body coming to a halt as she witnessed the sight of it.

Valier, slumped in his golden throne, head tilted unnaturally to the side. His clothing was as impressive as ever, yet his eyes were glassy, lifeless. His throat was torn open, crimson having long since dried into the velvet of his robes.

"Do you remember it?" Veira asked a restrained Tanaka, her hands gliding effortlessly down his stomach as it tore open as easily as a paper bag. Tanaka gritted his teeth, trying not to scream as she continued to work.

"That war took quite the toll on our village... the more we fought, the more we needed to tear down. The more we tore down, the more the animals fled—and we couldn’t eat." Her gaze, her deadpanned, soulless as she continued her work.

"The king took his own life. The stress was too much. He wanted to repent for what he’d done." A sigh escaped her lips.

"He already lost when he made that deal with a devil like me. But now I have my hands on you—to make you pay for it all," her words were filled with amusement, but her tone said otherwise.

"Maybe I should keep an organ for every nation you turned against us," she mused, running the knife up to his chest, the bloodied utensil lightly grazing his skin.

"Was the marriage worth it?" she whispered, leaning close, her eyes searching his with quiet malice. "Were you happy? Huh?!"

The blade traced a cruel line across his chest—shallow, but sharp enough to draw breath and blood. He hissed through clenched teeth.

"All that... for a peaceful nation that didn’t even last a generation."

Her tone never wavered. Flat. Final. Her words hung in the air like smoke, each one dripping with disdain—a curse laid upon the ruins of his legacy.

Then, she twisted the blade—just enough to make his body jerk.

She drew it back, raised her hand—and drove it down into his chest. A grunt tore from his throat as steel met flesh. She twisted again, slower this time, watching every twitch of his face.

"How pitiful," she spat, raising her hand to strike again.

"What an utter waste of time!" she shrieked, her voice cracking—shattering the mask of calm she had worn like armor.

But as her arm came down, something stopped her.

A hand—firm, unyielding—clamped around her wrist.

"That’s enough, Veira," Astra said coldly, her voice steady as steel.

Veira turned, breath ragged, only to meet Astra’s glare—eyes like burning ice, cutting through the storm of her rage. Her eyes widened, her mouth agape as she dropped the blade within her hand.

"You’re..."

"Human—"