Chapter 72: Play God
The firearm in Veira’s hand was unlike anything her people had forged. Light as bone, cold as forgotten tombs. It hummed faintly in her grasp—alive.
The metal was smooth, almost organic, as if grown rather than hammered into shape. Strange runes glowed faintly along the barrel, pulsing like a slow heartbeat. It didn’t belong in this world.
Neither, perhaps, did Astra. Veira set it back down gently on the worn table between them, her fingers lingering for a moment as if reluctant to part with its alien weight. Her eyes never left Astra’s, searching for deceit, for the flicker of a lie.
The dim light of the chamber cast long shadows across Astra’s face, highlighting the sharp angles of her cheekbones, the calculating gleam in her gaze.
"So," Veira said, her voice low, measured.
"You prove your point. You have the power to erase us. Why offer alliance instead of conquest?" Her fingers twitched, betraying the tension coiled beneath her calm exterior. The air between them was thick, heavy with unspoken threats and the weight of histories neither had fully revealed.
Astra leaned back in her seat, the creak of the chair loud in the silence. She folded her arms, a deliberate motion, a front for the adversaries before her. "Like I said before, we want an alliance, an unnecessary war isn’t beneficial for any of us"
Belk, standing just behind Astra, noticed the slight, rhythmic tapping of her fingers against her forearm—nervous? Impatient? His eyes narrowed slightly before flicking up to Veira, who gave no indication she had seen it.
"You keep saying you’re interested in an alliance, but what are you after exactly...what could one of the celestial beings possibly need our help with..."She urged.