It's the safest place John knows in this realm, though he can't guarantee anyone's safety here. Not until he figures out how it works and why his magic seems to have dried up. It has to be something in the mechanics of the setting, he knows, and perhaps unfolding that will take an engineer, as much as he dislikes science. Maybe this isn't as unlikely a team-up as one might assume.

"Right, you mentioned these talismans before. Powerful dark magic pressed into a stone. My world has them too, though I can't say one exists like you're describing... That I know of, anyway." It really is an interesting concept to him. That wasn't a lie. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you've never performed magics before?"