The village was bigger than Casper expected, it was surrounded by a wooden palisade with a fragile looking gate, it might be able to keep out brigands, but it wouldn't be able to keep out a real attack. Casper stood inside the treeline and watched the village, fields with wheat and barley, and Pastures filled with farm animals. People were walking in and out of the gates, children and dogs were running around playing. Most villagers were talking in that language Casper didn’t understand, but he could hear some English words here and there. Casper walked, Casper had enough of watching and waiting, but he didn’t want to just walk in from the forest where he expected not many people came from. He walked back into the trees and skirted around the village. He came out on a more traveled road, there were no overgrowing thickets and no fallen trees. Casper felt tense as he walked through the gate, he knew nothing about this society and he had no idea what he was going to do. He drew a few curious glances but no one seemed to be interested in him, he relaxed when no one seemed to notice that he didn’t belong there.

Directly inside the village was a center street with smaller streets shooting off to the sides. Buildings made out of stone and wood, a lot like the medieval buildings he had seen back on earth, stood here and there apparently with no real order to them. As Casper walked down the street, the smell of food and baking bread hit him. He took a deep breath and was surprised at the lack of stench from the people and animals. He had expected a filthy stench, but people seemed to care about their hygiene here. all the smells of food made his stomach gurgled. Casper made his way past the villagers going about their business. Children ran past him laughing, Clattering sounds of a blacksmith hammering echoed through the street. He came upon a marketplace where vendors were shouting about wares. In the middle of the village Casper found a building that looked really similar to a tavern.

When he opened the stout wooden door, he looked around the common room. A bar stood to one side, and several tables were placed around the room. Only a few of the tables were occupied. Casper walked to the bar and knocked on the wooden bar. The barkeep was a big stout bearded man with a booming voice. “What can I do for you?” “Do you have something to eat?” asked Casper “I have a stew on the stove, right now. That will be four pennies” answered the bearded man. Since Casper didn’t know anything about the economy here, he had no idea if this was a fair price, but he silently handed over the coins “take a seat, your food will be right out.”

As he sat down he stared gloomily at the table and thought about his home. Is anyone looking for him? He had no plans to meet anyone so maybe his friends and family hadn't noticed that he was gone yet, and he didn’t usually talk much on his phone so nobody would think it was strange that he didn’t answer any calls. They would eventually notice that he was gone if he didn’t find a way back to earth. But he had no idea if he even could return.

“Here’s your food, sir.” Casper looked up and a beautiful serving girl stood there, she looked to be around eighteen years old, not much younger than Casper himself. She was wearing a green dress with a white apron on, her blonde almost glittering hair was put up in a ponytail and a headband covered her ears. What drew Casper the most was her green eyes, they seemed almost magical. “Thank you” he said while staring at her and she returned his stare. “Thank you? No one has ever thanked me before.” She said with surprise. With a confused frown, he was about to ask why no one had ever thanked. But she must have misunderstood his frown as she suddenly looked afraid. “I’m sorry for questioning you, great one” she said while looking down at the floor. She turned around then and was about to leave, “Wait” said Casper hurriedly. She turned back to him looking like a deer in headlights. “I’m not angry with you, but what did you mean by great one?” he said with a soft smile, she seemed to relax a little bit, but she still looked ready to bolt any moment. “I could sense your power when you walked in” With that she left him sitting there.

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Clearly this girl was something special, no one else had noticed his power. He looked around for her while eating, and she was serving some other table. The man and woman who sat at that table barely paid any attention to her and when they did, they glared at her with disdain. He didn’t understand why they treated her like that, but clearly she was used to this behavior. This must be the reason why she was surprised when he had thanked her.

He turned his gaze inwards and focused on the power he had within him. It had recovered since he used it last. Casper wanted to experiment with it, to see if he could make it do anything. But it didn’t seem like a good idea to experiment in the common room of a inn full of people. As he got up he saw the beautiful serving girl and gave her a smile and a nod. She gave a tentative smile back and quickly looked away.

Casper walked over to the barkeep again “Do you have any rooms available?” he asked, “We have few rooms ready, nothing fancy tho” Answered the man.

Casper paid the man and took the key he was offered, “Your room is the first one upstairs on the right” “Thanks” Said Casper. He took one last look at the girl and hoped he would see her again. He looked around his barren room with disappointment. The only things in there were a bed that looked like it was made out of straw with a thin blanket, and a rickety wooden table with two chairs. At least he had a window facing the street. He put down his bag and bow on the table and hung his cloak on one of the chairs. He looked out of the window, the sun was low on the horizon and the skies would soon darken.

Casper sat down and tried to focus on the power that was coursing within him. He tried to grasp it, but he only felt a small tug. It was like trying to hold water with your hands. Maybe he was doing it wrong, he tried to remember what he did before when he had unleashed that explosion, but he hadn't controlled the power then, it had just flown out of him when he was desperate to fight off his attacker. If he concentrated on what he wanted to do. He tried to take control of his power again, this time he focused on what he wanted. He held out his hand aiming at the other chair, and thought of pushing the energy out of his hand as he grasped it again. Sweat ran down his forehead as he felt the power being slowly pulled towards his hand.”Come on” he growled. It felt like he was using a muscle he never used before while lifting something heavy. Finally it reached his hand and he felt it pooled in his hand. Now he just needed to release the power. He gave a final push on it, and the energy shot out of his hand like a forcewave and hit the chair. The piece of furniture hit the wall with a bang. “Holy shit” Casper let out a breath of relief, he smiled as he leaned back. Using his power felt amazing, it was like a rush of excitement. Casper looked at the power buring inside him, and he was surprised. The energy had diminished quite a bit.

Casper kept on practicing for some time, he tried again and again.