Eran stood absolutely still absorbing everything in. The sights, the smells, the sounds. Looking around in wonder, Eran noticed that he was currently on a small hill between two different Biomes.

On his right side was a lush forest that spanned farther than his eyes could see. He could see a variety of trees, some familiar, others not quite. But all of them much more vibrant than trees found on earth.

To his left side, was an endless grassland covered with small hills that looked like waves in an Ocean of Green. The way the wind was swaying the grass made the land look truly alive.

Taking in a deep breath of delicious, fresh air, Eran looked up to see the beautiful, deep blue sky. The sky was lightly littered with white fluffy clouds, which were gathering around the base of gigantic floating mountains.

“This truly is another world” he laughed to himself whilst staring at the flying mountains. The whole situation seemed so surreal.

Taking one more lingering look at all of his surroundings, taking in as much as he could, Eran made his decision and took off in the direction of the ocean of grass. He thought he would be more likely to find a settlement in a grassland, than in a forest.

After an hour or two of peaceful walking among the swaying grass, Eran came to a realisation. The further he walked away from the giant forest behind him, the more populated with life the land became.

As a testament to his earlier observation, Eran soon passed by what looked like giant Oxen, grazing on a small hill. Only these Oxen had six legs and two tails.

Herding the Oxen into a small group, was a young boy. He looked to be around twelve years old.

Whilst approaching the boy, Eran wondered if the local language would be at all similar to his own native tongue. Expecting his words to have no meaning to the boy, he called out to him in English from the base of the hill.

“Hello there, could you tell me where the nearest town or city is?”

“C-course, mi-lord, Beaufort is just over this hill, and past that being the capitol city of Astr, Mi-lord” the boy nervously answered.

“Ah wonderful, thank you” responded Eran. He was pleasantly surprised that the boy replied in a rural form of English.

The boy bowed and quickly continued herding his Oxen to a new pasture.

‘Lord? Why did he call me a lord’ Eran wondered to himself.

While walking in the direction given by the Shepard Eran came to stop. Lying close to the ground and surrounded by taller grass, was a little pond.

Curious about the Shepard’s actions Eran wanted to see his reflection. After walking over to the edge, Eran looked down at his reflection in the water. As he looked into the mirror like pond, a confident looking boy with silvery grey hair, and equally grey eyes looked back.

The boy was wearing a regal looking grey suit which was covered by a tight fitting grey trench coat.

“Ahh!” Eran shouted, whilst taking a fistful of his once dark brown hair.

His appearance had drastically changed since he had left earth. His eyes which once had green flecks around the Iris, were now the same colour as his hair, silvery-grey. Despite the new colour of his hair and eyes, the most surprising changed feature Eran noticed was his face. He had always tried to cast his face downwards to avoid the gaze, and potential bullying, from others. But now his face gave off a look of raw power, coupled with a dignified elegance.

‘No wonder the boy thought I was a lord. Compared to his own clothes I look like the king of England!’ Eran laughed out loud.

Not entirely displeased with his new appearance, Eran spent the next couple minutes familiarizing himself with his new look and attire before setting off once again in the direction of the town.

The town of Beaufort was what one would call ‘a frontier town’. It was located between an unexplored region called ‘The Great Forest’ and the ‘Capitol City of the Kingdom of Astr’.

From outside, great walls of stone and metal encased the entirety of the town. And the town itself was no small village. Over the top of the wall, three-story buildings and varied towers could be seen. Eran continued to follow a paved road that lead to a large wooden gate.

As Eran approached the town, the guards at the gate stopped him.

“Halt. Who goes there?” asked a gruff looking guard.

“Good day sir, I am a traveler. I have only just recently, arrived in this area. May I seek the comfort of your town’s inn until I get my bearings?” inquired Eran.

Overwhelmed with the eloquence of his speech, the guards nodded their heads dumbly and could not help slightly bowing as Eran passed them.

‘Those Etiquette classes I was forced into during my childhood passed off’ mused Eran.

As impressive as the stone wall was from the outside, nothing compared to walking through it. The width of the wall was several metres and its height even more. It was clear that a lot of care went into the construction of the towns defenses.

After moving through the gate, Eran was greeted by the sight and sounds of a bustling market place square. Countless stalls selling all sorts of strange things were set up throughout the square. As Eran walked around enjoying the commotion he noticed that the majority of things being sold was foreign to him.

‘Although the language is the same, I should not forget this is not Earth’ he thought to himself.

After passing what could only be described as the food quarter, Eran found himself surrounded by merchants selling weapons of all shapes and sizes. In one store he passed he saw sharp long swords made from strange metals, in another, a bow with a string that the merchant claimed would never break.

Eran spent hours walking like this, taking in the sights the smells and the sounds. For the first time, in a long time, Eran was really enjoying himself. He was so absorbed in the market that he barely noticed the sun setting behind the rolling hills of grass. It was an awesome sight. Whilst the green ocean was a beautiful sight itself, nothing compared to the way the orange sunlight made the grass look like it was alight.

Eran noticed an older female clothes merchant watching the sun set, the same as him.

“It is beautiful, is it not?” He asked her.

“Yes, I’ve always loved watching the sun set” she replied turning to face him.

When she saw his appearance she immediately blushed and started walking away.

Confused with her reaction Eran shrugged it off. After asking a guard where the Inn was, Eran was standing in front of large stone-brick building. There were many windows in the building, which indicated that it had many individual rooms. On the front was a hanging sign that read ‘The sleepy Meadow’ with a carving of a sheep in a field of grass.

While opening the door and walking into the Inn, Eran was bombarded with the smell of food, alcohol and the sound of Raucous laughter.

The Inn was absolutely packed with both men and women, just having a genuinely good time.

Smiling to himself, Eran walked to the counter and waited for someone to receive him.

After a minute or two, a fairly pretty young woman made her way to the counter whilst laughing to herself. Without even looking at Eran she went under the counter looking for something.

“Welcome to the sleepy Meadow, what can I do for you?” she called out.

“I am glad I have the right establishment. My name is Eran and I would like to use one of your fine rooms Madam” Eran smoothly replied.

The woman poked her head up and looked at Eran. Her eyebrows twitched and her cheeks slowly dyed red.

Regaining her composure, the obviously smitten counter-girl read out the prices.

“A-ah sure, one night is 40 copper pieces, two nights is 65. How long would you like the room for?”

“Then it appears I am unable to stay at this accommodation. I have only just arrived in this land with nothing but the clothes on my back. I am sorry to have bothered you” resigned to find somewhere else to sleep, Eran began to turn around.

“No don’t go! I-I mean, we can make some sort of arrangement!” the woman quickly intercepted him.

“Listen, I’m sure I can get my Mom to agree. You can work off the payment!” she said in an almost pleading voice.

Taken aback by her open kindness, Eran took her hand raising it to lightly touch his lips.

“Thank you Madam, you have saved this wayward traveler” he replied with a smile.

Little did he know, that at that moment, very indecent thoughts were going through the ‘kind’ Innkeepers daughters mind.

“I’ll just go ask mom what work we need done!” she called out as she ran into the back room.

Moments later a woman who looked very similar to the ‘kind’ counter girl walked out of the back room.

“This isn’t a charity Cassidy! We don’t take strays, no matter how good looking they ar-” Cutting off mid-sentence, the woman who was most likely the Innkeeper, openly stared at Eran.

“You can stay for as long as a week. During that time you will waiter the tables. Do you know what that means?” she asked.

“Yes Madam, I know what is involved with waiting tables” Eran immediately replied. He did not want to show any hesitation towards his new employer. He didn’t really lie either. During his time on earth, when he could no longer stand staying at home, his favourite place to visit was a book café.

There were many waiters and waitresses at the café as it was a popular place for part-time workers. Eran even gave it a shot himself once, though he only lasted a couple weeks.

“Alright, you may have a room on the second floor, tomorrow you will start working, Cassidy sort it out” finishing her piece, the Innkeeper walked over to the counter.

“Alright, Eran was it? Follow me, I’ll take you to your room… hehe”

Eran could have sworn he heard a weird laugh, but he was too happy with his fortunate luck to notice.

The room he was given was nicely furnished, and consisted of a double bed, a writing desk, a small closet and a private bathroom. He could see now why the Inn seemed so expensive, it was doing very well. After undressing himself Eran went over to look at his private bathroom.

The room was split in two, one side for the toilet and the other for a large metal bath tub.

‘Thank god this world has plumbing’ he thought to himself.

After heating up some water, Eran dipped into the bath.

“Ooh… Hehe”

Again he heard a weird laughing noise. It sounded like it was coming from the wall. Deciding it must be very ‘Active’ neighbours in the next room, he finished washing himself and flopped onto his bed.

Recalling the events of his first day, Eran could hardly wait for what this world had install for him. As sleep finally took him, Eran smiled one more time, before fully embracing it.

The next morning he woke up early with the rising sun. It seemed this world had a similar sense of time as earth.

‘That will make things easier’ he thought to himself as he got dressed.

The waitering job was, difficult to say the least. When he first started taking orders, women after women seemed to leave their tables and move closer to where he was. This of course earned him glares from the men in the room. Cassidy of course was of no help whatsoever. When Eran was asking for orders she would knock over a piece of cutlery and ask him to grab it for her. It was truly annoying.

By the end of the day Eran was tired, bored and a little cranky.

After sharing a meal with Cassidy and her mother, Eran went to his room and began the same process as yesterday. Clothes off, slip into the bath. Yet again, the moment he entered the bath there was a strange muffled laughing sound.

“Augh, hehe”

‘I wish they’d give it a rest’ he thought to himself.

The rest of the week went almost the exact same way. Eran waited tables, ate dinner with Cassidy and her mother, returned to his room, quickly bathed because of the creepy voice next door, and then slept.

It had now been a week since Eran came to this world and he could say with some confidence that his skills as a waiter had improved a lot. He entered the office room and stood in front of the Innkeepers desk.

“Madam, I have finished my work and I am ready to leave your establishment. Thank you for your kind graces” he said while slightly bowing.

“Here kid, this is for you. You earnt more than you owed. The ladies tipped big time while you were here” she responded while throwing a

small pouch at Eran.

Deeming it rude to look at its contents in front of his employer he thanked her and left the office.

As he was heading to the door, his arm was caught by Cassidy.

“Are you really leaving already Eran?” she said as tears welled up in her eyes.

“Of course I am Miss Cassidy. I have only just arrived, I have much more to do” Eran replied with a smile. He gently pat her head then left the Inn.

After he determined he had gone a respectable distance, Eran opened the pouch to inspect its contents.

To his astonishment, there were 3 gold and 20 silver pieces. Over the course of the week, Eran had learnt the currency of the Astr Kingdom. As one might expect, 100 copper pieces were equal to a single silver piece. And 100 Silver coins were equal to a single gold piece.

If a single night in a fine establishment such as the sleepy meadow cost 40 coppers, and Eran now had 3 gold and 20 silver. He did the math in his head. If every copper piece went to hiring a room for the night, he would have somewhere to sleep for at least eight hundred days! Whilst a small sum to the successful innkeeper, she had effectively given Eran a small fortune! That is at least, a small fortune in the eyes of a penniless man.

Now with enough money for food and accommodation, Eran could once again start enjoying the town. After making a short list of what he wanted to do in this town before leaving, Eran decided to spend the rest of the day enjoying himself.

The next day Eran now stood in front of very long building, which was made out of stone-brick just like every other building in town.

Eran was told by Cassidy, that because he was new to the kingdom, he would probably want to read some books at the library before going anywhere. Following her advice, he now stood in front of the ‘Beaufort Town Library’.

The inside of the Library was impressive to say the least. Countless shelves of books and scrolls and papers filled the building. At the front was an old curved wooden desk. Sitting behind the desk was an old man.

“Hello sir, am I to inquire about certain texts here?” asked Eran quickly falling into his smooth etiquette manor of speech.

“Hm? Yeah sure, why not, it is a library after all…” the old man replied while yawning. “Anything in particular kid?”

“Yes sir, if possible, I’d like any books that gives detailed information about the world as a whole. I’d also like a copy of this kingdoms history, and any information on the surrounding areas.”

“Err, fine, that should be doable. You’re kind of odd you know. Most young’uns come in here asking for books about magic!” the old man coughed and hacked.

‘Ah that answers one of my questions, there is magic in this world!’ thought Eran.

“Honorable sir, please do not think lesser of me, but could I trouble you for books about magic as well? To sate my curiosity?” Eran asked as politely as possible.

The old man made a nasal noise before answering, “Psssht, if every starry eyed kid that came in here, talked as well as you do, I’d run out of books! Fine kid, give me an hour or two and I’ll have your books ready”

“Thank you sir” replied Eran.

Not wanting to risk something happening that may detain him, Eran decided it would be best to wait in the library itself rather than venturing out into the town for an hour or two.

After a while the old man returned with a floating stack of books following him.

“Here you go. Be kind to the books kid” he said while resting the stack in front of Eran.

“Thank you sir” Eran thanked him again and then turned his attention to the large stack of books.

On earth, he had always enjoyed reading, avidly devouring any information available to him. And now he could read the history of a completely different world.

“Now… where to begin?”

~Chapter 3

~Chapter Guide~

Chapter 5~