Chapter 23: Chapter 23

During the dark hours the temperature began to noticeably decrease and this had Kai worried. In all of her time in this forest the temperature had been pretty much constant at around 25°C, at least that was how it felt like.

The hell moths were also not active and she wasn’t sure how to think about that. Rationally though, Kai took it as a sign that something was about to happen that happened regularly in this region and hoped that her hive was ready for whatever was about to come.

Despite her worries for the unknown she still managed to fall asleep and took her fears with her to the land of dreams. Kai did not sleep well and pictures of one catastrophe or the other haunted her.

A few hours later she woke up tired and cold. The temperature had reached levels that were uncomfortable, even though she was furred.

Kai blearily looked around and yawned. Everything around her was white and the only sound that reached her was the splashing of flowing and falling water.

She blinked in confusion. Was she somewhere else than her hive? 

Kai stood up and reached out for the white with one arm, only to not see and touch anything. She could still feel her arm and tell that it did indeed exist, but she couldn’t see it, no matter how hard she tried. 

Her tired mind worked to figure out what was going on and Kai looked at the rest of her body. Again, she couldn’t see anything except for a very vague outline of her shoulders and she might be imagining this.

Kai carefully took a step forward. She didn’t want to fall. 

When her foot touched the ground she could feel the softness of the silk her daughters produced. The familiar feeling calmed her down somewhat.

She took a few more steps and the endless white around her took on a violet hue. Kai reached out with her hand again and found a wall made of silk in front of her this time.

She sighed in relief. This made things clear. She was still inside her room and hive, it was just foggy as hell. 

Now completely awake she opened her connection to Brian and immediately cursed herself. Had she done so the moment she woke up she wouldn’t have had to worry so much.

Kai walked along the wall of her room until she stood at her entrance. Brian confirmed that it was indeed just foggy and all of her daughters were inside of the hive and well. The splashing was caused by water literally flowing down the trunk of the giant trees.

At some point during Kai’s sleep clouds had started to form in and underneath the treetops. The condensed water had likely started to slowly amass on the trees and their massive size enabled the creation of a waterflow.

Kai looked out of her room and of course saw nothing. Luckily they had built the rooms with a slightly higher floor than the street outside. Otherwise they would have been in for a wet surprise.

She looked at the rest of the hive’s information. The fog had only formed a few minutes ago, but it made every outside activity impossible. According to Brian the still decreasing temperature was likely at fault here. They were currently at an estimated 8°C.

Kai shuddered, that explained why she felt this cold. She hugged herself and rubbed her shoulders. The fog was making her fur all damp and it didn’t help her feeling warm.

She turned around and walked inside her room again. Kai would have given a lot for a door right now. She clicked her mandibles together and sat down. If the weather would stay like this for the rest of the day they could forget holding the defense meeting.

Hmmm, that sounded kinda lame. She thought about a better name for some time. 

How about ‘state meeting of defensive affairs’?

This one carried a lot more importance with it and was definitely better.

A series of splashing noises that became louder each time sounded out from outside. It gave Kai the impression as if someone was running towards her room through a shallow river.

The sounds stopped and she turned towards where she thought the entrance to her room was. The fog was still as thick as before so it was a rather wild guess. “Hello?”

Anna’s voice answered her. “Good morning my lady. I thought you might need someone to share some warmth with.”

You are reading story Rise of the Antanoid at novel35.com

That was a brilliant idea and Kai’s mood immediately rose. She smiled and turned towards the direction Anna’s voice had come from. “Morning Anna. It’s cold so I wouldn’t mind the company. Just come over-”

She looked around at her currently white world. “Well, come over to where you hear my voice from.”

Anna responded and the sound of her soft footsteps was carried through the room. “I’ll be right there in a minute, mother.” Not being able to see anything but white was really creepy, even more so than only seeing black in Kai’s opinion.

A few seconds later something touched her tail. “Ah, here you are.”

Then Anna climbed on top of Kai’s tail and hugged it. It was nice, but not really what Kai had expected to happen. 

She looked over her shoulder to where she could feel her daughter. “Uhm, would you come over to the rest of my body? This is kinda weird.”

Anna began to crawl over her tail towards Kai’s upper body. “Okay mother.”

The worker then hugged her queen from behind and leaned back, sandwiching herself between Kai’s tail and upper body.

Kai smiled once more and enjoyed the moment for some time. A few minutes later she tried to hug her daughter back, but it wasn’t really comfortable for any of the two, so she gave up.

It was still cold, but with the two of them it had gotten a lot more bearable. Kai let out a deep sigh. “Why do you act like my daughter today?”

Anna moved around a bit and began to massage Kai’s shoulder. “Because of the weather.”

Kai snorted. “Very funny.”

Her daughter gently slapped her on the back of her head. “I mean it. The weather just makes it feel like the right thing to do. The others feel the same, but they didn’t have the guts to come over. It’s still difficult for us to ignore how we view you normally.”

She hugged Kai again. “Tiffany is an exception though, because she always treats you like a mother.”

Kai snuggled herself deeper into the embrace. “Now you gave me hope that I will have mother moments with the others too.” 

Her human education and experience made her want more of these moments. Sweet moments like now with Anna, moments where she scolded her daughters or got scolded by them and moments where she laughed with them. She had nearly given up on ever having such moments with some of the others and forcing it on them didn’t feel right.

The two lay together in silence some more until Kai began to hum a slow and calming melody. 

Today would have been the perfect gaming day on earth. She thought back to all the adventures and friends she had made during them. 

Kai wasn’t sure if she would go back if she could. In a way the life she had now was what she had always wished for, but had thought to be impossible for her to ever achieve.

A small violet light lit up for a second and then faded away. Then another light lit up and another. More and more of them came and went ever faster, accompanied by the sound of heavy rain.

Kai forgot her thought and stared at the roof of her room in wonder. Whenever a raindrop hit her roof the spot lit up for a second. The sight was truly breathtaking and marvelous. 

It wasn’t only her room that did so though, no the whole hive became a lightshow of twinkling violet stars that pierced through the fog. A sight never seen before, a sight so beautiful that even the animals of the forest all paid attention to that one spot.

It was a beacon in a world of endless white, a beacon of majesty and a beacon of change.

You can find story with these keywords: Rise of the Antanoid, Read Rise of the Antanoid, Rise of the Antanoid novel, Rise of the Antanoid book, Rise of the Antanoid story, Rise of the Antanoid full, Rise of the Antanoid Latest Chapter