Chapter 19: The Woman And Her Lantern

I open my eyes to the sight of a light shining in through the window. I can just barely see the long white hair hanging there.

She wasn’t kidding about being here soon. I guess it is probably smart for me to let her inside. There isn’t really much of a reason to keep her outside if she is capable of helping me with this awakening.

I stand up from the couch and make my way over to the door, listening to the sound of the floor creak with each step.

After undoing the latch I open up the door to the sight of the woman from before. Nothing about her appearance is different so this is the same woman that I saw before.

“Can I come in?” She asks politely.

“Yeah, sure,” I answer before moving out of the way.

As she walks past I can feel a bit of the light radiating from the lantern, slightly causing a bit of pain within my arm.

It feels as if something is tearing through each part of my arm.

Grip.

I know holding my arm isn’t going to suppress the pain but it will help me try to ignore it.

Close.

I put the latch back into place while listen to the floor creaking once again. I can tell that she is in the living room waiting for me now.

“People afflicted by the Zierel don’t tend to survive very long you know. It is quite uncommon for one to even be out here,” She speaks with a calm tone.

A moment goes by before I finally decide to make my way into the living room. The lantern is on the table while she sits on the couch, waiting for me.

“I guess I’m pretty lucky then,” I reply nervously.

“I’d say so. You also have me as your light bearer,” She says casually.

I don’t really understand what she is talking about right now. Alice made it sound like Light bearers don’t really stick around or have any sort of crazy obligations.

They just go around making sure light is where it should be, right?

“I don’t really understand,” I say with some confusion in my voice.

“Simply put, I’ve been assigned to you,” She replies.

“Assigned to me?” I question.

“Humans cannot survive without us in this world so at some point we are assigned to specific individuals. You happen to be one of the ones who get a light bearer, so I’ll be the one to help you.” She responds with a laid back expression on her face.

So she is definitely saying that she isn’t a human which confuses me even more… I don’t really understand how that makes any sense.

I mean I guess it could’ve been assumed anyway since her eyes definitely aren’t human looking in the slightest. The crosses in them alone say a lot about her.

Shake. Shake.

I shake my head to focus myself back on everything at hand.

“What is so special about having a light bearer, or why do specific people get one?” I ask with some curiosity in my voice.

“People who can become powerful will always need some sort of buffer. You are also quite vulnerable right now as well, so it is best that I stick around to keep you safe as well.” She responds.

“I understand… I think. It would help to know your name though,” I say while taking a seat on the couch.

“My name is Airi,” She replies with a smile.

“Liam. I’m Liam,” I introduce myself.

The light feels like it is burning a hole into my arm with each second that passes by, but it isn’t worth moving away from.

Getting strong also means that I can handle pain like this in the future.

Airi. I think that is quite an easy name to remember but hopefully it’ll be worth it for her to stick by my side. I never really wanted someone to be with me through any of this in the first place.

I doubt she is going to give me a choice if I say anything about it anyway.

Maybe it’ll be like she isn’t even here in the first place, that’ll be kind of nice if that’s how it goes… Not that there is anything wrong with her.

“Your infection doesn’t like the lantern, I apologize for not thinking about that,” Airi says with an apologetic tone.

“It’s okay, I can’t live in complete darkness either,” I reply with a sincere tone.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

I can feel it racing again as I begin to take in her appearance once again… she really is quite beautiful and doesn’t look much older than me.

Claire was one of my close friends but I never really looked at her like that. It must be different since I’m around a woman that I never met before.

A beautiful one.

“Rip her eyes out… Smash the lantern over her head…” The voice says quietly as if it is in pain.

I’m afraid I won’t let those kinds of thoughts take over when it comes to her. She is the one that will help me with my awakening.

I look down at my arm and then back up towards Airi. Her kind smile is enough for me to take my focus away from the voice that plagues my mind.

“Covering it up might also help for the time being.” Airi suggests while looking closely at my arm.

Afterwards she pulls something out from a pouch that I didn’t realize she had. It appears to be some sort of black cloth that I can’t really look through.

She begins to wrap it around my arm, slowly beginning to cover it up.

“Will this help?” I ask with curiosity in my voice.

“I believe it will.” Airi responds with confidence.

A couple of moments go by and she finishes covering up my arm. I can feel the pain slowly beginning to go away as the wriggling dies down as well.

A good solution for right now.

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