Unwritten Destiny [Yuri/Sapphic, Isekai, LitRPG]

We settled into a comfortable pace on the road to Arcadia. I fingered the very expensive pendant hanging around my neck and tried to watch Paz without looking like I was obviously watching her. Not that I need an excuse to look, she is gorgeous after all. But.. I was watching her for less wholesome reasons. When we got to Arcadia, it would be time to drag out all the secrets. But for now, I was very thankful to have it and I did love her so very much.

<Hey, Holy Spirit.> Paz didn't react. I looked down at the pendants around our necks. Oh yeah. Protection against Intrusion. "Hey, Paz." I squeezed her hand and whispered. My beautiful girlfriend turned her head over and gave me a questioning eyebrow raise. "I feel icky. You weren't wrong about my needing a... wash." The truth was that icky didn't even begin to cover it. I honestly don't know how she slept beside me with how gross I was.

Paz nodded and gave me a loving smile. She stepped forward a few paces, although not far enough that she would be forced to release my hand, and pitched her voice up. "Hey mushroom boy, do you know this area at all?"

He said something that I didn't quite catch, but it made Xena start laughing. Jacque whirled around and walked backwards without breaking his stride. "Yes, I do. How can this humble servant to the spirits be of service, Red?"

Paz sighed and rolled her eyes. "Is there a lake or anything like that on the way to Arcadia?"

Jacque thought for a minute, and then I swear I saw a light bulb actually go off above his head. "Yeah, I think there is. Like a hot spring or something like that. It's cool. No wait, it's hot. Yeah..."

Xena smacked him over the head. "You should have said so to Miss and Miss's Mistress sooner! Look at the state of the Miss!"

My cheeks burned as Moira and Sterling and the merchants all turned around to stare at me; covered in blood and other mysterious stains with my hair sticking out in every possible direction.

"Alright, stop making my girlfriend feel embarrassed, or else I'll kill you and then we'll see how fresh and clean you are." My lovely ginger glared at the group and they all quickly found other things to look at. She cast Gallant Stride and we made really good time toward the hot spring with a gentle breeze at our back.

---

After a few more hours spent walking, we found a path that branched off the main road. It led to a series of secluded hot springs, complete with privacy trees to make each one into its own little secluded paradise. I wondered if someone had found this oasis and then used magic to make it even better.

We split off into pairs and each headed for our own little spring. The merchants stayed back to watch over their cargo, and Cerbe, fantastic fucking wingman that he is, offered to stay back as well and watch over the merchants so that Paz and I could have quiet time.

"This is amazing!" I circled around the hot tub sized pool of gently simmering water.

"Yeah." Paz grinned at me and dipped a hand into the water. "The water is perfect!"

I stripped my gross clothes off and tossed them into the water. Paz gasped and I looked up to see her staring at me with her cheeks turning progressively brighter shades of red. I did a little twirl for her. "I really hope you're not going to hop in wearing your clothes?" I really, really hoped.

She huffed and let out a breathy chuckle; her voice husky. "No. I wasn't planning on it. I was... distracted." Paz peeled her clothes off and tossed them into the water. All thought left my head as I stood and stared at her exquisite beauty. My lovely ginger showed mercy and gracefully slipped down into the water.

I shook my head to clear it and followed her lead, slowly lowering myself into the steaming hot spring. "Oooooohhhhhh fuck. That is amazing." A long sighing moan rumbled in my chest as the warmth and buoyancy began un-knotting my muscles. My eyes closed as I relaxed against the side and just... floated; free of thought and worry for a few precious seconds.

Paz bumped into me and curled up against my side. "I'm so lucky to have you, love."

A smile etched itself into my face as I leaned against my wonderful girlfriend. "And I'm lucky to have you. I love you so much. Fuck, this whole journey has been completely mad, but it was all worth it to end up in your arms." I felt her lips against my cheek. I turned my head and our lips locked together.

We both jumped, the birds startled into flight from their tree perches as Sterling's scream tore through the air from the adjourning hot spring. It uh... was not a scream of distress. Paz chuckled, her breath warm in my ear. I squirmed and tried to get back to my relaxed state, but all I could think about was how desperately I wished that my voice could join Sterling's in symphony.

I felt fingers trailing up my thigh. My eyes flew open to find Paz hovering above me, looking at me with pure hunger. "Alexis... I think I'm ready. I just-" She bit her lip and groaned. "I just can't wait to be inside you any longer."

Fuck me. Literally.

But...

I heaved a heavy sigh, swallowed the lump in my throat, and said the words that I never imagined I'd say to such an amazing woman in my life. "No. Not before we talk about wha-" Catching myself, I gave my head a gentle shake. "Who you are."

She fell away from me, sinking down into the water until it covered her chin. "Oh." Her voice was barely a whisper; so quiet that it was almost lost in the soft gurgling of the hot spring.

"I love you so, so much. You know I do. But... we can't keep going like this. I- I... I can't. Not until we talk this out." My eyes pleaded with her to understand.

Paz slowly nodded and gave me a weak smile. "I love you too. And, and you're right. We do need to finally have that Talk. It's so overdue. Bullshit just keeps getting in the way." She forced a chuckle and moved back over beside me. My cute little ginger pulled me into a hug and we just held each other. I could feel her steeling herself in my arms."Okay. Let's... how about this? When we get to Arcadia, we'll see the sights, check out the upside down waterfall, and have a great time. And then when we settle down in an inn for the night, we'll have The Talk?" The pure terror in her voice scared me. This was the last day before summer break ended. She expected to break up with me, or for me to break up with her. My stomach twisted in knots, but I nodded against her cheek.

A roar startled the birds all over again. "Shit." I looked toward the path that led back to the main road. "That's Cerbe. There's trouble!"

We scrambled into our clothes and sprinted along the path back towards our merchants. The reason for my furry little companions alarm was readily apparent as bandits swarmed everywhere. One of them grabbed Sterling, throwing off the aim of her bolt of fire. Moira flipped over a wagon and pulled the guy off. Another bandit chased Richard in circles around another wagon as Celia stood on top of it and took swipes at the bandit with a large stick. Xena was wrestling around on the ground with one, while Jacque fought two with swords as he tried to fight his way to Xena.

I took in the fighting and spotted her. A woman in decent looking armor standing fifty feet up the road with ten other bandits. The leader. Time to show them exactly who they are fucking with! Paz grabbed my hand and nodded to me. I held up my hand and felt my fingers tingle with power as my magic once again answered my call. Fucking finally. What a relief.

My hand outstretched toward the bandit leader and her guards. Runes etched themselves into the ground around our feet, encircling Paz and me. I felt my entire body crackling with energy. I pitched my voice up to be heard over the fighting.

"Hello darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again!"

A deafening boom cracked the air open as giant tendrils of lighting arced away from my outstretched fingers.

The wagons rocked, the horses whinnied, and people were knocked off their feet. The bandit woman's eyes registered brief surprise before she and the ones around her ceased to exist as whatever was left blew away on the wind. The remaining bandits who could, fled for their lives.

We pulled ourselves together and dusted off the wagons. Surprisingly, no one had been seriously hurt, and Xena swiftly patched up any minor injuries.

Richard walked over and shook my hand. "I thought Olivia was just being paranoid, insisting that we not continue without escort. I see now that I was wrong. I definitely owe you."

I smiled to him as I rejoined my hand in Paz's. "It's what adventurers do."