Chapter 37: New life
"We need to give it more!" Astra demanded, standing across as the Alevarians pumped air into the furnace, watching as the fumes danced into the sky, her gaze narrowing as she saw one of them starting to slow down.
"Belk, take over!" She demanded, everyone else already on the ground and exhausted, She turned to them, noticing their disheveled state. "Seriously...?"
"I swear..." She pinched the bridge of her nose, her gaze narrowing slightly from annoyance. "Alright, alright let’s call it here—"
The Aelvarians stopped all at once, falling back from pure exhaustion as they fought for air. Astra walked up to the contraption, looking inside to see iron sand still in one piece, glowing softly from the heat that sizzled inside.
"We barely got anywhere..." She mumbled to herself, her arms crossed as she thought about it. Belk rose lazily from where he sat, a slight headache ringing in his skull from over exhaustion.
"Is this really what humans do to make stuff?" Belk complained, his arms limping by his side, his muscles beyond sore.
"No– like I said it’s primitive— " Astra mumbled, her gaze narrowing with worry at the setback. "We’ve long since upgraded,"
"I’m gonna have to modify it... introduce more air, for a hotter burn," Astra muttered to herself, Her hand rubbing over the contraption lightly, feeling the soft heat that seeped through the hard outer shell of the ironmill, slowly running cold like a dying heart. "Great... what a hurdle—"
Belk watched as she crouched near the machine, analyzing what she could possibly do to fix it, her brow furrowed in concern.