Dion awoke in the closest thing to comfort he’d experienced since arriving in this world. He felt drained of energy. His muscles groaned and joints cracked as he strained to crane his neck and observe his surroundings. Yet, as he craned his neck he felt the fluffy embrace of a pillow against his head. Dion’s muscles groaned as he pushed free of a thin set of silk sheets. He struggled to move, but despite his apparent exhaustion, it wasn’t painful. As his arm came clear of the sheets it looked thin and emaciated, but there were no signs of any burns.

Was it magic? It could be that he had been unconscious for weeks healing naturally. Could his injuries have even healed naturally? They’d been so—for a flash Dion recalled the burning, the fire, his body literally melting under the—Dion shook his head. Not the time. His injuries had been bad, that’s all he needed to think on the matter, he’d process it later.

Despite his improved conditions he still found himself resting on a stone floor. All around him was a massive stone chamber, circular in shape. Equally spaced around the room were four pillars stretching from floor to ceiling. A torch hung from each pillar, and only by the firelight did Dion notice in front of him was—

“How are you feeling?”

Dion tensed. Sitting cross-legged and lit by the fire, was a tall athletically built blue-skinned man. He had the build of a swimmer and judging by the gills on the man's neck that likely wasn’t a coincidence. Across his lap rested a long bronze trident.

Merfolk? Aquaman?

“No need for alarm, we mean you no harm. I’m Tyr. These—” he paused briefly to poke briefly at two sleeping forms with the butt of his trident, “—are my companions Edoin and Sky.”

“Son of a—”

“Five more minutes.”

Two groans echoed in unison as both figures started swatting away the trident.

“Our guest is awake, get up. I believe I might be scaring him.”

“Have you tried looking less scary?” A male voice sounded back

Tyr responded with a rough poke of his trident.

“Get up or I’m going to start poking you with the pointy end.”

“Oh for—fine.”

A scraggly brown-haired young human man stood up. Dion was relieved to see another of his own race, a touch of familiarity in an otherwise foregin world. The young man wore a loose set of pastel robes that hung on a frame that suggested he was nearly as thin as Dion’s emaciated self. He stared at Dion with a calm, albeit tired, intelligence. His gaze traced him from head to toe like a farmer buying cattle.

“I’m amazed you survived. I’d never seen potion sickness that bad before, you must’ve been injured pretty badly.”

If he had any sympathy he wasn’t showing it. Even as he spoke he walked over to the last sleeping form and started nudging it with his foot.

“You get up too, Sky. I’m not any better with strangers than Tyr.”

“Too tired,” the sleeping girl mumbled in response.

Without a moment’s hesitation the young man muttered a whisper under his breath.

“[Chill Touch].”

He reached out and rested his fingers across the girl’s cheek. Dion suspected this wasn’t the first time this had happened.

“Ahhhhh!”

She recoiled from the touch, suddenly rolling away, blankets and all, across the stone chamber.

“Fine! I’m up! I’m Up!”

The human girl disentangled herself from her blankets in a rush and came to join Tyr and Edoin. She brushed chin length red hair out of her face as she rubbed her eyes awake, and plopped down cross-legged next to Tyr in a set of loose pants and a blouse.

“How are you feeling? You gave us a real scare. Ed nearly shat himself when he found you.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Edoin rolled his eyes, but didn’t deny the allegation.

Dion was left with so many more questions than answers. These three didn’t seem to be enemies at least, and as weak as he felt, he couldn’t help but feel his situation had improved. He had a feeling that the show they’d put on waking up was in part to make him more comfortable. Add on the fact that he was no longer in a cage and wasn’t dead and it made a compelling case for some trust. The fact that Tyr was built like an olympic athlete and Edoin clearly knew magic did little to stoke his fear. A child probably could’ve taken him in a fight at this moment. The stronger they were, in all likelihood, the better.

“I feel like death, but am grateful I’m feeling anything at all. Can you explain what happened after I passed out or where this is? Last I remember I was—well I wasn’t doing well. I’m kind of surprised to be alive.”

Sky nodded.

“I don’t know anything close to the whole story, but we can fill in some gaps. I wouldn’t be too grateful yet. This is—”

She paused gesturing at the room around them. Her face scrunching as she looked for the right words.

“—This is some incredibly weird shit, even by adventurer standards. For starters, we are in a teleport room.”

As Sky explained, the other two followed the conversation with grim conviction. As if they were watching a doctor explain to someone their loved one didn’t make it.

“What’s a teleport room?”

They didn’t make it sound good, but maybe it had something to do with being a [Planeswalker].

Edoin was taken aback by the question.

“Are you not an adventurer?”

Dion thought back on the message he’d gotten before he passed out. Were they [adventurers] too?

“It’s a recent thing, but yes.”

Edoin was flustered by the response and he groaned with resignation, before beginning to speak with the annoyed superiority of someone who constantly felt they were surrounded by idiots. “This is the thrice-damned Fissure Plains, it’s not the place for novice adventurers, certainly not solo ones. Regardless of your reason, coming here was idiotic. The fact you’re not already dead is a miracle in and of itself. The dumbest part is your hubris means now we have extra baggage because if we’re going to escape, these two,” he pointed at Tyr and Sky, “are going to insist we try and help you too.”

Dion’s ears flushed red with anger. What the hell did he know? Dion wasn’t some brass-balled kid with a god complex who thought he could walk into certain death and come out unscathed. He’d been thrown to the wolves by fate; god; or luck. Whatever had summoned his ass from another dimension, it wasn’t his own stupidity.

Tyr glared at the mage.

“I understand you were hoping for someone who might be able to help in our escape. You are not alone in that hope, but judgement—of all kinds—should come after gathering information with due diligence.”

Tyr returned his focus to Dion.

“To your earlier question, if you look around you will notice this room is lacking in any apparent door. These are known as teleport rooms. They are quite rare in most parts of the world, since there’s so much digging necessary to bury one properly. In the Fissure Plains they are somewhat more common, since a lot of people try digging to circumvent obstacles this deep into the fissures anyway. Finding yourself stuck in one after hitting a teleportation trap is among the most common ways to die in the Plains. If you came here of your free will without first gathering such information, I would agree with Edoin you made a foolish decision.”

Dion was processing a very real possibility of being buried alive, but Tyr’s last comment had been a question as much as a statement. He felt it was best to keep his interplanar origins to himself, but he was pissed and he needed an excuse to ask a lot of questions anyway. Dion looked the mage directly in the eyes as he answered.

“I was summoned into god knows where by some cultists trying to summon god knows what. Summoned from far away, plucking me out of my home. They knocked me unconscious, locked me up, told me they were going to let me starve to death, and set me on fire for stealing food for my survival. The last thing I remember before waking up here was becoming an [adventurer] as I passed out while burning to death. I’m so sorry that my survival inconveniences you.”

Edoin managed to hold Dion’s glare for only a few seconds before looking away, his anger deflating.

“I’m going back to sleep. I’ve put my foot in my mouth enough for one night.”

He stood up and grabbed his blanket and pillow and started carrying them towards the edge of the circular room before glancing back at Dion briefly.

“Sorry.”

When he got to the edge of the room he waved his hands and the ground creaked briefly before two stone slabs rose up forming a tent around the mage, breaking line of sight.

Sky smiled bitterly.

“Sorry about Ed. We’re all a little on edge, and he’s putting a lot of pressure on himself right now. As the party mage he views himself as responsible for not noticing the teleportation trap. He thinks he needs to get us all out of here safely at the very least to make up for it. Between his research into an escape and the spiders he hardly has time to rest, and it’s been making him grumpier than normal.”

So they were trapped in a room with no doors or windows, he was weak enough walking was a real challenge, he still wasn’t sure where his next meal was going to come from, and had she just mentioned—

“Spiders?”