Wow, something smells nice, like the sweet scent of dew drops. Is that the chirping of birds? Did I leave a window open? Whatever, time to get up. I rub my eyes then freeze, what just scratched my arms and scalp. This isn’t right. Where am I? I open my eyes and feel around, there is soft grass beneath my skin and a prickly bush above me. Further out are the thick trunks of a small grove of trees. Opposite that lies a yellow dirt road.

“Weird, I don’t remember going drinking last night. Must have been a really wild night.” Wait! I never go drinking. My eyes widen as I feel my heart starts to race. “Have I been kidnapped!?”

Frantically, I check the surroundings. There’s no one here. My heartbeat slows. I crawl out from under the bush and carefully examine myself. No ropes, no signs of struggle, still fully clothed in my dino pyjamas, at least my kidnappers left me my modesty. No under skin implants or signs of probing, unlikely to have been the government or aliens. No signs of anything really. Seems like whoever brought me to this neck of the woods left long ago.

“Hey! If this is an elaborate prank by one of my friends, it’s very funny, but you can come out now.” Yeah, who am I kidding? I’m sure my kidnappers chose me because they know I don’t have any. Target the guy with no one to go looking for him once he’s gone.

I stand up and step out onto the road. Looks to be in some sort of grassy plains area interspersed with a few sparse maple trees and those annoying prickly pine bushes. Further down the dirt road is the faint outline of a farmstead, looks like that’s where I’ll head to next. Past the farmstead is a vast mountain range, and the rising sun? Damn, how early is it?

“Fine, I guess you want me to follow the road to the farmstead? What if I go the other way, will I be ruining your plans?” I call out to the sky. No responses, unsurprising. “Fine, I’ll head to the farmstead, but not because you want me to. I’m going there of my own volition.”

It takes a few minutes before I reach the edge of the farmstead. There my eyes are drawn to an old-fashioned farmhouse, perhaps European, situated squarely in the centre. It has a thatched hay roof, a wooden door, and smoke rising out of a clay chimney. Most strikingly, the farmhouse is unusually small. Particularly its door, the thing is tiny. Well, not tiny, not like a pet door. Perhaps four feet tall and three feet wide. Who would even build such a useless door? Unless they get some kind of sick thrill from watching people crawl on their hands and knees into the property. From behind the farmhouse a man pops into view. He is some distance away and is violently wrenching dirt out of the ground with some sort of medieval farming tool. Looks like I found the owner. I won’t pretend I’m not apprehensive about talking to him, after all he is also the owner of the tiny door. But there are no other farmsteads in view, and that makes him my best hope of figuring out where on Earth I am. Perhaps he might even know how on Earth I got here.

I walk forward a few steps and then just like that, he is in front of me. He was a lot closer than I had previously estimated. Not my fault. It’s just, well, the man is short, like really short. Like not even four feet tall, short. I probably should have seen this coming from the door, but it’s not exactly a common thing to meet someone with dwarfism. Especially someone with dwarfism out in the middle of nowhere running a farm. At his height, in his dirty leather clothes, he would fit perfectly on the set of a fantasy movie. Another anomaly right after waking up in the wilderness. I am getting some serious transportation to a fantasy world trope vibes.

The farmer pauses his field work and treads across his fields towards me, a menacing glare obvious upon his tanned, wrinkly face. Perhaps it is about time I announce my presence and purpose coming here. I wouldn’t want him to get the wrong idea. “Hey, I’m Reed. Where exactly are we?” Wait. What if he doesn’t speak English? Oh god please let the angry looking, heavy farm tool wielding dwarf speak English.

“Greetings Reed, I can tell by your unique clothing choice and the way you stomped across my freshly worked fields that you are far from home. My name is Roy and this is my farm.”

Oh thank god he speaks English, even if his accent sounds like a poor impersonation of a Scotsman. Just as I planned. I guess someone kidnapped me and brought me to some dwarf’s farm in Scotland. Or they hired a dwarf to fake a Scottish accent. That seems a bit more likely. Either way, impressive prank.

“Sorry about your fields Roy. I’m not from around here and have lost my way. This place was the only sign of civilization in sight. Where exactly is your farm located?”

“This here is the Duchy of Phrael.” Roy replied.

“Duchy of Phrael.” Looks like this dwarf bought a Scottish land title. Good for you, Lord Shorttington. “Which is where, exactly?”

“In the Kingdom of Lavrael” Roy says slowly. “Did you hit your head or something?”

“Kingdom?” Yeah, okay buddy. “Of Lavrael? You don’t mean Scotland?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Yes. It’s what I said isn’t it. Scot what now?” Roy’s face is the perfect picture of anger.

“Yeah, okay farmer Roy, this is the Kingdom of Lavrael. And definitely not Scotland. Then what’s the nearest city?”

“Why it’s the Port City of Favel.” Roy replies without pause.

“Favel? Uh huh. Okay.” I roll my eyes. “I’m not sure what your reason for kidnapping me and bringing me here is, but I want no part of it so if you could call me a cab and bring me home that would be great thanks.”

“Kidnapped you lad? Are you daft!? You’re the one trespassing on my farm!”

“I’m trespassing on your farm!? Roy, I went to bed last night and then woke up just now in the middle of god damned nowhere. Just tell me where on Earth I am.”

“I already told you, this is the Duchy of Phrael in the Kingdom of Lavrael. You sure you didn’t hit your head boy?”

“Roy, this isn’t funny. I have no idea how I got here and if you didn’t kidnap me then I’ve no idea how I got here either. But the only house in sight was yours. I just want to find my way home. Will you help me or not?”

“I’m not laughing Reed. And I haven’t a clue what you’re doing here. Except for interrupting my work and getting a mite too touchy for someone doing the asking. As for helping you find your way home, I’ve never heard of that Earth place you said you hail from. But, if you remember where you last were in Lavrael then perhaps I can help?”

Never heard of Earth? I feel my eyelid involuntarily twitch. “Cut the bull and tell me what I’m doing here!”

“I told you Reed, I don’t know what you’re doing here! My only guess considering your outlandish clothing choices and strange ramblings is that you’re one of those crazed combat junkies from the Adventurer’s Guild and you hit your head a bit too hard while fighting some dungeon monster you couldn’t handle.”

“The Adventurer’s Guild? Roy you’re clearly making fun of me.”

“Fun, no Reed, for fun I do a bit of drinking, sometimes a bit of dancing, sometimes a bit of frolicking in the hay.” Roy gives me a disgusting wink, “All good things in moderation of course. Let me tell you though this conversation is absolutely no fun. I really think you should check your status to see if you are suffering from an amnesia effect or something.”

“Check my status?” A large semi-transparent blue screen appears a couple of feet before my face.

Name:

Reed Williams

Race:

Human

Subrace:

Otherworlder

Age:

19

Level:

1

Experience

0/100

Health Points:

90/90

Mana Points:

90/90

Class:

-

Subclass:

-

Statistics

Strength: 6

Stamina: 7

Constitution: 9

Charisma: 8

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 9

Traits:

Human:

Built for endurance:

Every 5 levels gain 1 bonus point to Stamina.

Otherworlder:

Linguistics Correction:

Innately understand the language of the first being you speak with (Language Designated: Lavraelian). Gain increased efficiency towards learning new languages (intelligence modifier)

Abilities:

My eyes widen in shock. I watch in wonder, as the screen moves around with my turning head. This status. It looks genuine. Could it be real? I fling my fingers forward trying to click anything and everything upon it. They pass through again and again, it’s incorporeal. Could a prank show create such a realistic hologram? Is this an act? Surely. But how could anyone achieve something like this? Besides, now that I think about it, taking me out of my bed and dropping me off alone in a forest would surely be breaking some sort of law. Who would even sign me up for something like that? And if I really was kidnapped, what would they get out of all this? No way. Time is moving slower, the air is stuttering in my lungs. I look up at the cloudless sky, the transparent blue status screen is still faintly discernable against the blue sky’s backdrop.

Could I really have been transported to another world? Not just another world, but a fantasy role-playing video game world? Does that mean I really am the summoned hero of another world? The hero of the Kingdom of Lavrael? So that must mean this world’s Goddess has finally recognized my capability to save her world. This is amazing! I wonder what cheats I’ll get!?

Through the transparent screen Roy watches me figure this all out. I can see his confusion and worry grow with every second of my antics. But could anyone blame me? I mean, this is unreal. So, what if he thinks I’m an arm wildly swinging, freshly worked fields treading, Goddess damned lunatic!? I’m the summoned hero of a video game world!

“Right,” Roy says breaking me out of my status induced stupor. “Well, I suppose I had better-”

“This is freaking amazing! Levels, traits, abilities, mana!”

“Look Reed, it’s been,” Roy pauses and awkwardly looks off to the side, “interesting talking with you. However, I really need to get back to hoeing my fields.”

Yeah, okay dwarf buddy, you do that. I’m a bit busy since I’ve just discovered I can open and close my status screen mentally. Mentally! With my mind!

Hold on, what did he just say? He needs to go? No, I still have so much to ask him. “Wait! Please Roy, could you tell me more about this adventurer’s guild you spoke of? After that I’ll leave you in peace.”

“Well…” Roy slowly looks up at me. His face says it all. Anything to get this nutcase off my farm. He must find me awfully tall and imposing all the way down there. No wonder I was summoned to save this world of little people. “You promise to leave me to my hoeing?”

I nod enthusiastically and flash my most winning smile. “Of course, I promise.”

Roy pauses and thinks for a second before nodding. “Very well. But I warn you, it might be a waste of time. Everything I know is common knowledge.”

“Tell me anyway. I might have hit my head like you said and forgotten some of it. Telling me may refresh my memories.”

“Well, that’s true. You do seem a bit, not all there lad. No offense.”

“Some taken.” I dryly reply. Roy chuckles.

“Okay, so the adventurer’s guild is a place for eccentric folk which is why I suspect someone there might recognize you.” Roy gives me a knowing look, his smugness palpable. “Anyway, adventurers within the guild go into the nearby dungeons to hunt the monsters before they come out. Keeping the populations low helps prevent monster invasions or so they say. Course, if you ask me, I reckon a lot of them adventurer folks delve for the coin. After all, some monster meat is considered a delicacy, some monster hides can be made into sturdy luxury clothing, and some monsters claws, tusks, and teeth can be fashioned into weapons.”

“Adventuring is well-paid?”

“Not adventuring, fighting monsters for coin. Not for me, I prefer an honest life of hard work, but it’s a healthy way of expelling some of that pent up violent energy for those so inclined, better than channeling it into starting wars or something awful like that I always say. To each their own.”

You are telling me I get to live a life in a video game fantasy world and I can get rich doing it!? Fantasy world Goddess I could kiss you!

“This Adventurer’s Guild you said it was nearby?”

“Yes.” Roy agrees. “In the Port City of Favel.”

“Then one last question Roy. Where exactly is that?”