The Lantern Bearers

chapter 26: confrontation

Yui is the name master has given me the day he claimed me and rescued me from the situation i was in.

I have become a part of him and will protect him with every fiber of my being. I am his protector and partner, as well as what humans refer to as, his lover.

Even with the memories i have extracted from the illuminated charts we have discovered thus far, i have yet to discover what i am or who i really am. So many mysteries float around in my head and about me.

As i laid there with my master clothesless and against his nude body, i would remain awake and aware so he could rest, for i didn't require any sleep as they did, i instead extracted energy from the outlets in the compound.

A faint whirring was overhead and i would see and all too familiar drone from above.

It was Karma's drone, aka, the Phantom Strider.

I would gently get out of bed, as to not disturb master, and clothed my body. Apparently, humans do not care for nudity or get too....close. i would look at the branding where my master placed it on the three of us. A mark of his protection against those that wish to make off with us and subjugate us to horrors and degeneracy as Willow told me once.

I exited quietly as to not disturb the others and would follow the drone as it left the haven.

The darkness cannot hurt me, most anomalies can't harm me either, due to the fact that i glow in the dark and that my shell is simply too durable to take damage through any found means really.

I would eventually follow it out to an anomaly field. It was teeming with ripple, converge, and spring coil anomalies.

Ripple anomalies normally repel anything it touches, as well as being a transparent bubble, converge anomalies look the same as them, but pull things into it and crushes them. They also make a deep, vacuum noise when one is close to it.

Spring coil is transparent too, but are flat, disc shaped and lie on the ground. When one steps on one, they immediately repel anything it touches upwards to a great height, like a spring. They make a creaking, metallic sound, as if a coil is tightening, ready to spring out.

These wouldn't hurt me and she knows this, she's just trying to stall me and keep me from chasing the drone. I would aim my arm and launch it up into the air in an attempt to snatch the drone mid air. Once i had a firm grasp on it, i would clutch it and reel it back in.

It would start to beep faintly, as if it was rigged to explode. Using my thumbs, i would puncture a hole in the drone and pulled out the components i would need to communicate with Karma, tossing the rest of the drone at the anomaly field, watching it be crushed by one of the converge anomalies.

Taking the two dangling wires, i would twist them into connecting again and pinch them so they would stay connected.

The device would light up red and blink.
.
.
.
There was an awkward silence, before she would deeply sigh on her end.

"Yes, miss Yui....what is it?" She said, exasperated.

"Why were you saying on us?" I asked through the transceiver.

".....i wanted to check up on him." She said flatly.

"After what you've done to master, I would not blame you using a drone to do so. Thought it is cowardly that you not come to camp and talked to him face to face, it is within reason you didn't, because everyone, including me, from our group would kill you on sight. However, what i do not understand is why not use the drone to talk to him, let alone, ask him to meet someplace he deems comfortable. Of course, he wouldn't be alone as i wouldn't allow it, but i would be on his beckoning call if need be." I questioned.

There was a long silence on her end. I still can not read human emotions well, but i could detect some signs of heaviness on her end. It's an indicator of guilt, it seems.

"Look, I'm not exactly in the right frame of mind to be doing anything major like that, and frankly, i can't imagine that he isn't ready for that either. It has only been a day." She said through the receiver.

I fell silent on my end.

Her point was very valid. Could this have all been done on a whim and she's just now acknowledging the consequences?

"......the real reason why i was spying on him was.....again, to check up on him, but to.... to also thank him for sparing me and protecting me....he didn't have to give me supplies either, but yet he did. Why would he do that? I violated him and was trying to kill him during the ecstacy....why did i do that even? It all makes no sense! He should have put one through my skull! What are these feelings?? Ugh I'm so confused and frustrated!" Karma said on her end with a growl.

"You need to talk to him and thank him in person karma....strider to strider at least." I said plainly.

"Perhaps you're right....but, I'll do it on my own terms and time. It will be soon though...." she said.

The transceiver would whine and cut out, as if she cut communications with me. I casually looked at it and tossed it in the dirt.

I do not trust her words fully, but then again, i sensed no symptoms of lying or deceit in her voice. However, i cannot discount the fact that she is a strider and that she is very capable of formulating a well crafted lie and act.

If i tell master of this discussion, it may bring more stress to him and discomfort.

I would look at my watch that master had given to me a few days ago. Several hours have passed since the insemination period, the fertilization process was already underway and should be done....yet....i do not feel any abnormalities in my womb and pelvic region, as well as signs of sickness. The book i read on pregnancy stated that these were tell tell signs of a successful conception and that i would be carrying master's offspring but.....i feel nothing.

Perhaps the sperm of a man is slower than expected and i must wait longer? Perhaps master has something of a dysfunction or sterile due the affects of the anomalies he's brushed up against in the past?

From the books i have read on male and female relations, the ultimate form of love and affection is the woman and man breeding and the woman bearing the man's child for several months.......ca...can i not do that for master? Am i a failure for not doing so?

I felt something on my cheek and i went to wipe it off. It was a salty liquid that originated from my eyes.

Are these tears?
Am i experiencing what they call, crying?