Chapter 17: 17: Opening my Eyes to a New Reality

Liam left my house pretty soon after Karen did, which left just the original crew. Dana was happy for me but I could tell she wanted one on one time to get down to the nitty gritty details of my new life. Greg had no problems with my sudden change after the initial shock, and he enjoyed the idea of having another girl in the group. Jeremy… he was trying. I could tell something was up, he wasn’t totally happy about all this. He was also trying his best not to be a downer, but it seemed to be an uphill battle for him. It wasn’t long before they all left for their own houses and I had to clean up the mess. Mum came back in once everyone was gone.

“How did it go sweetie?” she asked kindly.

“Pretty well mum, everyone was fine with it. They realised pretty quickly that it was scary that magic is real,” I paused mid speech, deciding whether to tell mum about Jeremy, “and, um… Jeremy didn’t take it one hundred percent well. We spent a lot of time playing the game together and I never told him. I think he was upset about that.”

“I see. Well, three out of four isn’t too bad Syl. You can work on Jeremy when you see him next. I’m sure he’ll come around.” She said.

“I guess. I’m still happy though!” I said, flashing her a grin.

I started to move past her to go to my room, but she stopped me with a gentle hand and motioned back to the couch. She sat me down and the lowered herself to the couch as well.

“Sweetie, I just wanted you to know that if you find yourself being harrassed for being a lesbian at school, well I’m here for you okay?” she said tenderly.

“A what? Huh?” I gaped at her.

“You’re a girl now sweetie, that means being attracted to girls makes you gay now,” she told me.

“I’m not attracted to girls though!” I blurted as my head swirled with the sudden barrage of thoughts she had fired into my mind.

“But… Wait, why do you say you aren’t attracted to girls Syl?” she asked, less sure of herself now.

“I. Um. Well,” I looked away from her and went bright red. I wanted to hide. Why had I blurted that out?

Her eyes widened at my reaction. Fuck. “Syl, sweetie, were you gay? For men, guys?”

“Um,” was all I got out.

She leaned forward in another parental hug that was fast becoming a common occurrence. I liked these hugs. I didn’t realise how starved for human contact I had been before my change.

“It’s alright if you’re attracted to boys too Syl. It was okay before and it’s okay now,” she said softly into my ear.

“That’s just it mum… I was attracted to boys. I don’t know anymore though. I look at Jeremy, I… I had a crush on him before, but now I feel nothing,” I said just as softly.

She leaned back and looked down into my eyes, “Syl, how do you feel when you look at Karen?”

“I feel…” My mind stuttered to a halt. Oh.

An image of Karen came unbidden to my mind. This was a little fantasy I had long dreamed about when I looked at Jeremy, but my mind substituted Karen into it instead. She was holding me close to her body, looking down into my eyes with those amazing green ones of hers. She leaned down slowly, her eyes on my lips and her hair wisping down to tickle my face. The daydream ended. I gave a strangled whimper that was laced with a sudden need.

“I guess that answers the question,” mum said with a small chuckle, “So you stayed gay when you turned into a girl huh?”

“I… guess so…” I said, still dealing with the implications of that in my head. I probably would be dealing with the implications of this moment for the rest of my life.

“I guess so,” she repeated with a motherly smile.

We sat in silence for a while then, mum giving me time to think, and boy did I need time to think. I was a lesbian now. I liked girls. It’s funny how much I had wanted to like girls when I was struggling with the idea that I might be gay. I’d spent my first two years of high school quietly at war with my own sexuality.

Now I liked girls, but it didn’t matter because I was a girl too, and despite all these years, some people still had a problem with a guy loving a guy, or a girl loving a girl, or every combination that wasn’t a girl and a boy. I wasn’t just a lesbian though, I was a lesbian for my straight friend Karen. I was crushing on another straight friend. Wow. The universe and the gods must be laughing their asses off at my terrible luck.

She must have seen my dejected thoughts mirrored in my expression because she began to slowly run her hands through my hair, “Hey, it’s okay Sweetie. I think things will go just fine for you.”

“I hope so mum,” was all I said.

We spent a small while longer on the couch, but mum had some work she needed to do, so she went back upstairs. I went back to my room and logged in to Pellan.

****

Things were getting a little worse for the city that was embroiled in player versus player gang warfare. The fighting had taken to the alleyways and dark corners of the city, so I stayed near to the inn. I had an idea of what we could do, but I wanted to run it by the others when they logged in later. It took longer than I thought it would, and I actually logged out again after leaving a message with the barkeep that I would be back.

When we were finally all gathered in the common room of the inn, I spoke up, “Um. So guys, shits getting pretty dicey out there in the city. If we want to do good for this world, I think we need to be more powerful. I was thinking we should take a camping safe point and go way out into the wilderness. We should get some hardcore grinding done, then come back when we’re higher leveled.”

“I agree, with one alteration. We all need to get certified in complementary trade skills, at least the basic levels. If we’re out there for a long time, we’ll want to build a shelter, repair weapons and make new ones. Stuff like that,” Liam said.

“I enjoy smithing and stuff in other games, I might take that,” said Greg, playing as Amra.

“I’ll take carpentry so I can make more wands and staves,” said Colourless. He was still not looking me in the eyes.

“Leatherworking for me,” said Dana.

I looked at Liam to gauge what he was going to pick, and he looked back at me.

Karen piped up from my side, “I think I want to take alchemy. I’d like to have buffs and stuff when I fight.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed, and turned to her, “I’m sorry! I forgot to even think about getting some buffs for my build. I’ll fix that.”

“Thanks,” she smiled down at me.

I noticed that when she smiled at me, the left corner of her lips wasn’t quite as high as the right corner. Maybe it was just the way she tilted her head. It was cute.

“I think I’ll take cooking then,” said Liam, breaking my train of thought.

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They all looked at me expectantly, there wasn’t much left, but that didn’t matter. No one had picked what I wanted.

“I’ll take construction!” I said with a grin at them all.

“Uh, construction?” asked Amra.

“Yeah! This game lets you build stuff. I thought it would be cool to make a house or a fort or something wherever we end up,” I explained.

“Yeah. I get that, but,” said Amra, and then she stuck her arm straight out and palm down. Then she lowered it gently until it bumped into the top of my head.

I pouted up at her, “Construction isn’t just about lifting things you dick.”

“Don’t have one of those right now,” she said with a wink.

I grumbled as the group laughed.

We made our way around town, speaking to the various tradesmen that we needed to gain the proficiencies in crafting that we needed. Crafting proficiencies fell under a separate area of their own in the user interface. They had no points to spend, and instead worked by giving you advice and knowledge of the craft. As you experimented the proficiency would explain in greater detail how things worked, as well as giving you hints. By far the biggest advantage of gaining a crafting proficiency however, was the fact it artificially sped along your skill and understanding of the subject.

I ended up taking the clothing proficiency as well, and when we were done, we pooled our money and bought a very expensive but necessary piece of equipment. The thing was called a Claim Altar. It allowed a player, or group of players, to claim an area of land. The claimed area would gain protections against monsters up to a certain level, as well as allowing you to upgrade the claim with defences against other players. If we were going to make a little base out there in the wilderness, we’d need it.

With provisions and starting tools bought, we headed out into the wilderness. The trek away from the city was a dangerous one, and twice we only narrowly avoided being seen by other players. We had no idea who was who, so we avoided everyone. We got about a day and a half of travel done before we called it a night. We all had school in the morning, and personally I was very nervous.

When I was back in the real world, I still had time to get some real sleep, so I decided to do so. Plonking the helmet down on the bedside table I settled in for a proper sleep. I wondered if Feslia would talk to me this time. She’d been strangely silent since the time with that scary monster.

I felt like I had been asleep for a small while when I found myself quite suddenly in my goddesses realm. Looking around, I spotted her and my heart sank through the pit of my stomach.

She was collapsed on the solid cloud that counted as the ground in this place, and about half her former size. She looked to be only a few inches taller than me now, her immaculate feminine form draped haphazardly across the white floor. Her previously flawless and faintly golden skin was marred with bruises and scrapes, and her beautiful straight blond hair was tangled and dirty. She looked like she’d been dragged behind a horse for a mile.

I rushed to her and knelt, lifting her head into my lap as I sat.

“Feslia, are you okay?” I asked with worry, my hand gently stroking her head.

She just moaned and feebly wrapped her arms around my waist, pulling herself closer.

“It almost got away from us that time..” she mumbled.

I felt something within me begin to tug away towards her frail form. It wasn’t a physical thing, but an energy inside me, a presence I hadn’t realised was there. The stream of energy began to trickle into my goddess, then it grew to a steady pour, then a torrent.

I felt an intense feeling of caring come the other way down the connection, and lost some tension in my muscles and mind. Soon the strange well of energy inside me ran dry and the transfer trickled to a stop, taking my perception of this well with it as it stopped. I didn’t feel different afterwards, and I fired off a quick healing pulse into Feslia to see if it was my mana that had been drained, but the spell went off fine.

Feslia shuddered and her hair straightened itself out, her skin became unblemished by bruise or scrape and I saw her grow a few inches in height before my eyes. She pulled her way up my robed body and put her arms gently around my neck. Before I could speak, she leaned forward and I felt her perfect lips press into mine with a beautifully soft but chaste kiss. She held it for just a heart fluttering moment, then pulled away and leaned her forehead softly to my own.

“Thankyou,” She breathed softly, “You have done well little priestess of mine. If it wasn’t for the faith you had gathered and given to me just now, things may have gone badly.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but she pressed another feather light kiss into my blushing cheek to silence me.

“I cannot explain what is happening right now little one, I must rejoin the fray. My brothers and sisters fight while I languish in my own realm. Please continue your incredible work on my behalf Sylanna. If you find any who you deem worthy of taking up my mantle, please bring them to an altar of mine and I will consecrate them in my fire. Thank you again my gorgeous priestess.”

Then I was asleep again, and waking up a few hours later to my mother knocking on my door.

“Sylanna you need to get ready for school!”

My mouth opened and closed like a fish before I managed, “Yes mum!”

What in the fuck had just happened? Feslia was hurt, then she sucked a bunch of “faith energy” out of me, then she kissed me? Twice!? She was fighting something too? Oh my god I so did not need all of that on my mind for my first day back at school. Oh crap and I’d liked it too! The kiss I mean. I didn’t have like, romantic feelings for my goddess, but the feel of her soft perfectly shaped lips on mine, the way her hands had snaked up to cup the back of my head, fingers lacing themselves into the hair there. Gosh. She’d smelled great too, like the pure sun heated moisture of the clouds we had sat on. All I had to do now was get Karen to do that to me instead. Maybe with tongues involved. Holy moly. I liked the feeling of being attracted to people again, even if it was girls now.

“Syl! Are you up yet?” I heard mum yell from the kitchen.

Crap. I bumbled out of bed and straight away tripped on the uniform bag I had dumped on the floor. Bloody hell. I rifled through the bags until I found the drab uniform dress and began to step into it when I realised I needed to change my underwear. Then I realised I needed to shower. I rushed to my desk where a wayward hair tie lay and used it to tie my hair into a lazy bun, then I grabbed my towel and rushed for the bathroom. I showered quickly, angling the shower head so it didn’t get my hair wet. I did not have time to deal with wet hair. Out of the shower again I dried myself as fast as I could, then I wrapped the towel badly around myself and rushed back to my room.

I threw on a grey sports bra and some underwear, then the blouse that went on under the dress. Then I put the knee high socks on because it was overcast and windy, even though it wasn’t really uniform regulation to wear them with the dress. Only after that was all done did I step into the dress. The thing went on in a hurry and I settled the big chunky straps on my shoulders. Then one started to slide down my shoulder as I grabbed my bag and stuffed everything I would need into it. I ignored the wayward strap, silly thing.

Mum was waiting with breakfast when I bumbled into the kitchen, “Eat up,” she said, presenting me with buttered toast and a packed lunch.

“How come you did all this? Usually you guys are out the door by the time I gotta wake up?” I asked as I stuffed the toast into my mouth.

“Your father and I spoke a few days ago, and we agreed that we would alternate days where we worked a few hours less. That way we can help you out a bit more, we’ve been pretty lax about parenting over the past few years,” she said with an apologetic tone.

I gave her a grin, “Thanks mum, you guys are awesome.”

“No we weren’t, but hopefully we live up to that in the future. We’ll be driving to school until you understand the bus timetable. Walking to school as such a tiny girl is not a good idea,” she told me with a protective tone edging into her voice.

“But mum I can blast people with magic!” I complained.

“Sylanna, you’re taking the bus to school from now on okay. No arguments,” she said sternly.

“Okay,” I said without arguments. At least not verbally.

Once I was done with breakfast, it was time to drive to school. Mum bustled me into the car and we set off. I hoped things would go okay today.

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