Dungeons & Disappointment

Chapter 8: Blossoming Bonds

Wait a minute, Healing Word? But that's a spell in D&D. Is Henry right?, I thought.

"Uhhh, gimme just a sec," I said.

"Sure, take the time you need." She said absently, engrossed in the pages of her magical tome.

As she was flipping through the pages, I snuck my phone out of my pocket and shot a single text to Henry, my eyes darting from my phone to the girl to make sure she wouldn't see it.

Bro, I think it's an Isekai situation. I texted, then slipped my phone into my pocket. There wasn't a response yet, so I turned back to the fish girl, cleaning the blood off of the blade of my knife in the meantime.

"So uh, what's your name?" I asked.

"Finana." She said, side-eyeing me as she skimmed the pages of her tome. "Finana Ryugu."

"Oh, nice name," I said, staring at the fins on the sides of her face. "I'm Trevon Hawkins."

"Well, it's nice to meet you." She said. "And think you for saving me from them."

"Oh, it's all good. Who the hell even were they?"

"Just a little band of slavers. They caught me by surprise."

"Wait a minute, slavers?" I said. "That'd explain why they were talking about selling you back there."

"Right. They usually sell people around these parts, so they try and catch you off guard. Especially if you're alone."

"Okay, so traveling in a group is the best bet?"

"That's right."

I nodded, thinking over everything, and more and more thoughts started to crash around in my head until they reached a crescendo. Could it be...? I thought.

"Okay, wait a minute. I got a question."

"Well, go ahead and ask."

"Okay, do you have the spell Speak with Animals?"

"Yeah!"

"What about Charm?"

"Yes, I have that too."

"And Detect Magic?"

"Uhm, yeah?"

"Okay, one last question. What is this world called?"

"Uhhh, Abeir-Toril?" She said, giving me a small laugh. "Have you been drinking a bit too much ale?"

I smirked a little bit, but my brain was far, far too fried to even begin to try and process any of the thoughts going on. Abeir-Toril was the name of the Forgotten Realms from D&D, meaning that I wasn't even on Earth anymore. But how the hell would I even begin to explain that to her?

"Okay, this might sound crazy, but I'm not exactly from here."

"Well, that much was obvious. I kinda imagined you didn't just pop out of the woods. Either way, most of the farmers around here wouldn't help a random person against some scummy slavers."

"Right, but that's not what I meant," I said. "I'm not from this world."

She fell silent, and I took the opportunity to pull my phone out of my pocket, and I held it out to her.

"I know it sounds insane, but here, look. You guys don't have anything like this here, right?"

She gave me a wary look.