There was a stash of water bottles in Jason’s inventory, provided from Farrah’s own magical storage space. The pounding heat was not helping Jason’s condition and he emptied one bottle after another.
Jason was grateful they were walking over dry, hard earth instead of trudging through endless sand dunes. His knowledge of African geography was limited but he’d seen a documentary about Namibia’s Skeleton Coast once. From what he could remember, things got very sandy there. Of course, it could be a completely different in another world.
The others helped introduce him to their world as they marched on.
“What I don’t understand,” Jason said, “is why I have abilities that I never had before. Is it because my world doesn’t have magic, but this one does?”
“I’m not sure,” Farrah said. “I don’t know much about outworlders.”
“I’d never heard of them before this,” Gary said, “so don’t look at me.”
“I’ve met some before,” Rufus said, prompting groans from Gary and Farrah.
“What?” Rufus asked.
“Of course you have.” Gary complained.
“What’s wrong with that?” Rufus asked again.
“Your childhood friend is the Crown Princess of Vitesse,” Farrah said.
“This again?” Rufus asked. “It’s not my fault who my parents chose to socialise with.”
“So, Rufus is a big deal?” Jason asked.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Rufus glared at the other two.
“I do know a little bit about outworlders,” Rufus said. “They’ve been pulled into our world from another one through some magical accident. Usually a summoning spell that’s gone awry.”
“The evil cult lady’s son,” Jason said. “He blamed me for ruining his magic thing.”
“That’s how it usually works,” Rufus said. “As far as I’m aware. I’m no expert.”
“This happens enough that there’s a name for it?” Jason asked.
“My understanding is that it’s something that happens in high-magic worlds like ours,” Rufus said. “I really don’t know any more than that.”
“Is there a way to go back home?” Jason asked.
“I’m not sure,” Rufus said. “If there is, it probably involves magic well above our level, let alone yours.”
Jason bowed his head in disappointment.
“Jason, tell me if this sounds familiar,” Rufus said. “Do you have some kind of guide that helps you interact with our world? Something that doesn’t fit our world but does fit yours. Maybe something you’ve heard of from a legend, or a part of your world’s mythic traditions. Something that exists in your world as a story, but here has become real.”
Jason thought about the video game interface he had been experiencing. The quests, the inventory system. The map he had open at that moment, even if the others couldn’t see it.
“I think I know what you’re talking about.”
“That’s something all outworlders have,” Rufus said. “It works differently for every outworlder, but whatever magic that brought them here changes them. It gives them abilities to help them adapt and survive.”
“That’s why I can read languages I’ve never seen?”
“And speak languages you’ve never spoken,” Rufus added.
Jason frowned.
“Someone say something,” Jason said.
“You didn’t even realise it, did you?” Rufus asked.
Jason focused on the sounds, rather than the words. It wasn’t English. He didn’t know if it was more disturbing that he could speak some unknown language or that he didn’t notice he was doing it.
“I have an ability,” he said, listening to the sounds he was making. “One of the effects is called language adaptation. Does that mean I can speak any language and not even notice?”
“Most likely,” Rufus said.
“That’s why you sound like you learned the language from a skill book,” Gary said.
“I do?”
“You do,” Farrah said. “There’s a recognisably neutral accent and things sometimes come across as odd because of the difference in language structure. It’s a giveaway, if you’ve seen it enough. Colloquialisms can translate very strangely.”
“You’re telling me the old lingo is hard yakka to get the noggin around?” Jason asked.
The others looked at each other in confusion.
“It seems there’s a limit to the translation,” Rufus said. “You might want to stick to plain language.”
“Stuff that for a bag of chips,” Jason said, laughing as three brows creased in confusion.
“I’d love to know how that got translated,” he said.
They continued on, answering more of Jason’s questions as they trudged through the desert. At least, Jason trudged. The others looked as comfortable as they would strolling through a park.
“Outworlders like you might have their advantages,” Farrah said, “but we natives have advantages of our own. Take Gary, here. Members of his leonid race are stronger and faster than us, and that’s only the beginning of what leonids can do. Elves are powerful spell casters and their skill with healing magic is unparalleled.”
“I forgot there were elves,” Jason said. “Some guy said he wanted to eat one.”
“That’s not good,” Gary said.
“They’re cannibals, Gary,” Farrah said. “Of course it’s not good.”
“What about dwarves?” Jason asked. “Gnomes? Non-copyrighted small people who live inside hillocks?”
“I don’t know what any of those things are,” Gary said. “Except for hillocks.”
“We have elves,” Rufus said. “Leonids like Gary, obviously. We’ll eventually be heading for a port city, so while this region is human-dominated, you’ll see all kinds of people.”
“Each of which have their own special gifts,” Farrah said. “Some are there from birth, while others only show themselves once you get essences. Humans like Rufus and I are kind of like you, in a way. Our abilities differ from person to person, based on our essences. Most start out dormant, only awakening as we absorb essences.”
“That’s not the only things humans get, though,” Gary said. “Humans have their essence abilities increase faster than other races. They’re kind of annoying about it.”
“Do I get that?” Jason asked. “I’m human, right?”
“Um… I have some bad news,” Rufus said. “You’re an outworlder, now. Not a human.”
“I’m not a human?”
“Not strictly, no,” Rufus said. “You might be kind of human.”
“That somehow sounds worse,” Jason said.
“I met an elf outworlder,” Rufus said. “She retained some of her race’s abilities, while others were replaced by her outworlder gifts. It’s possible you might still have some human abilities.”
“Every race gets exactly six gifts,” Farrah said. “There are ways of examining them with magic.”
“I can do that myself,” Jason said.
“You can?” Farrah asked.
“No worries,” Jason said, pulling up his list of abilities.
Racial Abilities (Outworlder)
[Interface]
[Quest System]
[Inventory]
[Map]
[Astral Affinity]
[Mysterious Stranger]
“I have a half-dozen already,” he said. “I think these might all be outworlder abilities. Do humans normally get astral affinity?”
“Definitely not,” Farrah said. “That’s something celestines get.”
“Celestines?” Jason said. “That’s not something we have where I’m from.”
“They’re similar to elves and humans,” Farrah said. “One of the many new kinds of people you get to meet.”
“As long as none of them try to eat me,” Jason said.
As they walked on across rocky desert landscape, the dry heat started to overwhelm Jason. His head throbbed worse and worse until he was no longer walking in a straight line. They found a rocky outcropping to rest in the shadow of, Rufus helping Jason along.