Chapter 27: 27: Heartfelt

Skating on lines of light, I looked down at our camp and found Karen, busy talking to some of the newcomers. They were standing around a newly constructed fire pit that they were in the process of building up into a bonfire. I slid down next to her, giving her a bit of a fright that was probably compounded by the dark expression on my face.

“Karen, I need to talk to you,” I said, unable to keep the anger I was feeling about what had just happened out of my voice.

I couldn’t believe Jeremy, what the fuck. Seriously, did he get hit by the stupid bat or something?

Karen gulped and nodded, “Uhhh sure.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the group, who looked at each other in confusion as we walked away.

“How far do we need to go?” she asked cautiously.

“Out of sight of everyone, and probably then some,” I sighed.

“What’s this about? You’re scaring me,” she said with a tremor in her voice.

I stopped and took a breath. Shit, I’d kinda just burst into the scene hadn’t I? She was probably imagining some worst case scenario right now. Well, there was always a fun way to make her feel better. I reached up on my tip toes and threw my arms around her neck, getting myself level with her face. I gently brushed her nose with mine, then leaned in to give her a little kiss.

“Nothing you’ve done wrong Karen,” I said soothingly.

With a little breathy laugh she said, “Oh, that’s good.”

“Now follow?” I asked, my tone much more gentle now.

“Lead the way little ma’am,” she said, her tone much lighter now.

I did so, taking her around the back of the cabin and then motioning for her to sit with her back to the outer wall.

Once we were both sitting, I began to explain in a rush of words, “Jeremy just tried to tell me that I need to dump you and go out with him because he has feelings for me. He thinks he has some sort of right to me or something I don’t know, the whole thing was fucked. It makes me so fucking mad! He didn’t even see a problem with the fact I am a lesbian and and already in a relationship. Both of those things would make me say no, but he just went full idiot and ignored it like it was a mere speedbump.”

“Whoa, what? Okay, um… explain from the start?” Karen frowned.

I did so, giving her a blow by blow of my friends idiocy and -if we’re being frank- betrayal. When I was done, she was scowling at the dirt in front of us. She didn’t speak for a while, simply gouging at the ground with her boots. It was pretty clear she was angry.

“Syl, guys are fucking dumb,” she said finally, “I mean, there’s a lot of good ones, but it’s hard to tell until they go and do something like that. I guess I should say welcome to girlhood, again… because that type of thing will keep happening regardless of your relationship status or lesbianism. You act nice to a guy, thinking you’ve gotten a great new friend, but on their side it looks like you’ve been leading them on. They think your kindness was flirting or something, and then when that misunderstanding comes into the light… boom, fireworks and drama.”

I sighed in resignation, “It sucks. I thought he was my friend… why would he do something like this?”

“Because people do dumb shit when they’re crushing on people Syl. Girls are probably just as dumb in their own way, but I haven’t seen how that works yet…” she sighed, “He’ll probably be your friend again, you just have to distance yourself from him long enough for his crush on you to fade.”

“But I don’t want to do that! I want my friend back! I want to be silly and joke and laugh and have him do that intuitive thing where he breaks a tense mood or subtly pushes things so they turn out better!” I exclaimed, collapsing onto her and nestling myself into her neck.

“Like I said, these things happen more often than you think with guys. They’re supposed to be super forward like that, at least according to society. That means you end up with a bunch of guys being confused when it doesn’t work. I’ve lost a lot of friends ‘cos to crap like this. You just have to play it cool though and he’ll come to his senses,” she soothed, scratching the back of my head.

I grunted in annoyance and settled into her more comfortably, allowing her to sooth my problems away. Reaching around me, she put a protective arm across my shoulders and sighed happily.

“I’m so glad you came into my life Syl,” she mumbled.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You’re the first relationship I’ve been in where I didn’t feel grossed out and uncomfortable,” she said quietly, her face nestled into my hair.

“I guess that’s why huh? The whole being a lesbian thing?” I asked.

“Yeah. Turns out I was dating the wrong people,” she chuckled sadly.

I gave her a squeeze and kissed her neck saying, “Well now you have the right person.”

“Now I have the right person,” she echoed, pulling me tighter into our embrace.

“Should we go out and talk to the others now?” I asked after a long moment had passed.

“Okay, but I’m not going to let you get anywhere further than a meter away from me. I wanna hug you as much as possible,” she grinned.

“Deal!” I laughed.

****

Back at the bonfire, which was now burning brightly as the day began its march into the afternoon, we found the healer of the other party busily at work. She was preparing a multitude of dishes using the meat we’d scored from the battle in the morning. There were also root vegetables being prepared in some way I didn’t understand, and wild herbs had been gathered to season the many dishes.

Approaching the group, I saw Col standing on the other side talking to Dana. We made eye contact and I frowned, pulling myself closer against Karen and looking away. I didn’t want to deal with that right now.

Alexia saw us arrive and grinned, “Aha! I knew my gaydar wasn’t off with you two!”

“Gaydar?” Karen asked at the same time as I went bright red and choked on my own saliva.

Alexia laughed, “Adorable. So you are all kids then?”

“Um yeah, we all go to the same school,” Karen nodded.

“Nice, we’re all uni students or older, so yeah we’ll try to do the whole, not be weird around the kids thing,” she said.

“Cool, but… what do you mean Gaydar?” Karen asked, going back to the word she hadn’t understood.

Looking up at her I explained quietly, “It’s like this weird thing where gay people can tell if another person is gay or not, like intuitively or something.”

I was still pretty nervous around these people. They were all so confident in themselves compared to my nervous wreck of a mind.

“Ohhh yeah, I think I’ve heard of that actually,” Karen nodded.

“Yup, the tiny shy one is right,” Alexia confirmed.

Xero, the big demon chick with the mace piped up, “I dunno, I’m bi and people always seem to read me as straight. I’m like a thin lanky butch in real life and I always get girls thinking I’m not hitting on them. Pain in the ass.”

“How is there so many queer people here?” I asked, shaking my head at the oddity of it all.

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“Oh you’ll find this happening more often than not,” Alexia laughed, “It’s just a thing, we always find each other.”

“Riiight,” I mumbled, processing the information I’d gotten.

The conversation moved on, and the bear dude got into an argument with Xero about something coding related regarding a course they were both taking.

I felt Karen lean down towards me, and I turned my head up to see what she wanted. Our faces were close, and I was once again enthralled by her slightly open perfect lips.

“Syl, can I kiss you?” she asked, her voice low and breathy.

I leaned up a little, parting my lips expectantly and looking into her eyes. The eyes of the person who was my girlfriend… my girlfriend! That word sent shivers of happiness through me. She was incredible. We’d only known each other for a short time, but she was already keyed into my idiosyncrasies like we’d been friends for years.

Her quiet caring eyes closed, and I felt her lips press lightly into mine. It was a small, short kiss by our standards so far, but it carried meaning. It wasn’t desperate with the need to be closer, it was a gentle caring thing that conveyed a world of meaning behind it.

When we parted, her face wore a small precious smile and here eyes were glossy with moisture. She didn’t say anything, just pulled me tight to her chest and held me like that. Oh this was so nice. We sat down on a log that had been dragged over for the purpose, then reassumed our embrace. Sitting there among friends and people all talking and getting to know each other over lunch, we held tight to one another, ignoring the socialising that was going on.

It was like my soul was being filled with a fuel I didn’t know I needed or was running low on. It was wonderful.

“You two are awfully snuggly for this time of day,” Dana remarked, walking over and sitting nearby.

I grumbled and squeezed tighter to Karen. Leave our happy bubble alone Dana!

“Yeah,” Karen said softly.

“So Col… he told me what happened…” Dana said, trailing off.

“Oh really, what did he say,” I said, laughing bitterly.

“That you were coming onto him and then when he tried to take it further you turned him down,” she said mildly.

“Bullshit!” Karen blurted angrily, “The little shit came at her all but demanding she drop our relationship and turn straight for him. What a fucking slimy little weasel.”

“Whoa, I get it, I get it,” Dana said, her eyes wide with a tinge of fear.

“Do you? He’s kind of being an idiot right now…” Karen grumbled.

I sighed and leaned out of the embrace to look at Dana, “I don’t want to talk about it. Sorry Dana, but I’m just going to avoid him for a bit alright?”

“But our group! This type of thing sucks! We can’t just-” Dana started, before I cut her off with a slash of my hand.

“Dana! Why are you talking to me about this? He’s the asshole who tried to tell his lesbian friend in a relationship that she should drop all of that to be with him. It’s his problem to fucking deal with, not mine!” I exclaimed.

“Right… Right. Okay, I’m sorry. I just figured maybe since you’re the one who’s being a bit more sane about this that we might be able to figure something out,” Dana sighed.

“It’s not the job of any of us to clean up his mess for him. Let him deal with his own fuck up,” Karen said, a bit more calm now.

“I don’t want our friend group to splinter though,” she said sadly.

“It’ll be fine Dana,” I said, reaching out to pat her arm in what I hoped was a soothing manner.

“Yeah I guess. I’m going to go and find Amra… I think I need her right now,” she sighed, getting up and walking off.

Karen and I spent the rest of the lunch talking softly between us and eating the food as it became ready. Our new friends were grateful to have a place to recuperate and plan their next move against the blackfeathers.

When lunch ended, Karen and I decided to log off early to avoid more awkwardness and get some proper sleep in our Earthbound bodies. They were supposed to get sleep while we played, but you could still feel a slight drain if you didn’t get real sleep.

We shared a last heartfelt kiss, then logged off.

****

When I got back to Earth, I pulled the now much more mysterious headset off my head and placed it on my bedside table, then rested back onto my pillow. What a session. Drama, battle and romance. Maybe I should let HBO know about our adventures? I grinned at the thought of some cute actress playing my neurotic anxious ass. I didn’t notice when sleep slipped up and dragged me down into oblivion

Except, it didn’t... my stomach lurched, the air around me splitting and crackling with an energy I recognised with a startled cry. This was Feslia! My goddess? What was happening? Above my bed, the air wobbled, ripples of nothing spreading out above me into a perfect circle.

All at once, the circle of rippling nothing above be shattered into a million tiny shards of reality, shining with wild possibility. The shards raced rapidly to the edge of what had been a circle, drawing a hole in space above me as the moved to border it in a swirling river of mind mending glass.

Tendrils of blue and gold energy shot through, wrapping around me and yanking me through the hole in space above me.

When I reappeared, it was within a scene from the wildest nightmares of hells deepest residents. Stretching from horizon to horizon was a mass of dark roiling fog that rose up too far for the eye to see. It was as though something was holding an ocean of the stuff at bay, and we were stood on the floor of that ocean.

What we actually stood on was an island, one of many in an archipelago that stretched for many miles. I was startled out of my awe by something slamming into the ground next to me, throwing me several meters to the side. I cried out in pain as my body impacted the blasted slag that the island was made out of. It was as though the place had been torched in the fires of a star.

“Sylanna!” I heard a voice cry out, and I identified it as the voice of my Deity.

I blinked, my eyes struggling to focus on the strange thing looming over me. Until it roared that is, and I felt adrenaline surge through me as I beheld the terrifying visage above me.

It stood well over ten feet tall on two legs that were more akin to spikes than anything else. The calves ending in a point rather than a foot. Further up, its body was thin, wide hips and a thin waist rising up to meet impossibly broad shoulders. It’s head was vaguely shaped like a human head, but it was featureless, apart from a large mouth filled with needle like teeth. The whole thing was made of a strange obsidian glass that moved organically like flesh.

It regarded me with it’s faceless gaze for a moment, then raised a bladed arm and jerked it down towards me with brutal speed. I was faster though, a shield of energy forming around my forearm that blocked its attack. Before either myself or my terrifying enemy could make a move next, a blue and gold gauntleted fist impacted the creature’s side, causing it to all but disappear in a cloud of glass chips as it disintegrated under the blow.

I looked up into the eyes of Feslia, my savior. Except... she was different, clad in sky blue armour that burned with a golden light along the edges. Her gauntlets were exceptionally large, and obviously made for the job of beating down on evil creatures like the one she’d just pulverised.

“Sorry for the rather rude interruption my little priestess, but I have need of you. Will you help me?” she asked, lowering a hand to help me up.

As my hand closed around one large finger on her gauntlet, I felt energy surge through me, healing the damage my short flight had inflicted on my body.

“S-sure… um, help with what?” I asked.

“That,” she said simply, pointing down the slope of charred and blasted landscape towards the wall of dark fog.

The only reaction I could manage as I took in the scene was one of gasping panic, mixed with a tiny sliver of growing excitement.

“My… my goddess, what the fuck have you just dragged me into?” I said, a panicked laugh escaping unbidden from my lips.

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