Max woke to unfamiliar sounds. There was no traffic or the ticking of the clock which sat by his nightstand, no, what was there was the chirping of birds and the rushing of water. His eyes fluttered open and he didn't lay in his bed but on a forest floor. His gaze was on the forest roof. Through its green leaves shone bright light, sunlight, warm on his skin. The air was fresh, like when he had been to the alps, unpolluted. Birds flew overhead, chirping in a steady rhythm. This was a nice dream. Perhaps, once he woke up, he should go camping, enjoy nature a bit… he stood up, slow, not in any kind of hurry. The ground under him was wet, as if it had rained a few days prior. Not muddy, just a bit wet.
There was forest in every direction. It was peaceful, with just the sounds of nature around him. Following the sound of rushing water, he quickly found a small creak, which ran across the woods. Peering in it's surface, he found an unfamiliar face looking back. Short, black hair, Asian features and eyes a striking, unnatural shade of gold.
*snort*
Max's head turned around to see a wild boar charging at him.
His peace and quiet was broken, replaced with fear. That beast had to be at least a meter tall and it was charging right at him, tusks ready to gore him. He looked away, throwing his hand forward. As soon as the fingers met the boar, something triggered, like a switch flipped and the boar was gone in a shower of blood, leaving behind only a small heap of powder. Immediately, he knew the chemical composition of the beast, its biological anatomy and even that it had a wound under the right knee. It was so much information that he didn't know what to do with it. His head hurt for a few seconds at the waves of information before he went back to reality. He could smell the boar's blood, rich in copper, see the dust in front of him. This was… the overhaul quirk from my hero academia? This had to be a dream but on the other hand, it all felt so real and he didn't know half of the information which he had learned when disassembling the beast.
What if this wasn't a dream? He had to assume it wasn't.
If this was a dream, no harm would come from treating it like it's real but -on the other hand- if this was real and he treated it like a dream, it could very well end in a gruesome and painful death.
Looking back at the creak, the water, once stained red, was now returning to its clear color. Only now did he realize that his hand was stained red, so he washed the blood off of it. The cool and pleasant feeling of the fresh water was too realistic for a dream. Once he was clean again, he looked around.
Again, forest in every direction, so he decided to follow the creek downstream.
Occasionally, he would hear something moving through the thicket but otherwise it was a calm day, with warm wind and the smell of sap coming from some of the trees. Despite walking for hours, he never seemed to get anywhere. Just more trees, a few animals here and there and plenty of fruit hanging from the trees or bushes. He didn't recognize half of them. Not wanting to risk it, he stuck with those he could identify, like apples. He couldn't risk getting poisoned while in fuck knows where, the fuck knows how far away from the next hospital, if there even were hospitals around. For all he knew, this could be the Stone Age, with how unpolluted the air was. When day turned to night with still no sign of civilisation, May knew he had to do something about shelter. He hadn't seen any big animals after the boar but he certainly didn't want to jinx it, only for a wolf to come charging out of the thicket. So, he placed his hand on a big tree and activated overhaul but not with the intention to destroy but to rebuild. He envisioned a small hut made out of wood.
He didn't know much about this stuff but he a wooden box didn't require much imagination. As he was laying on the floor, he wished for his mattress. The wooden floor was cold and hard, not exactly the best for comfort..
He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the unpleasantness. He fell asleep quickly. Without the constant noise of traffic, falling asleep was easier, even without comfort.
He awoke to voices.
"When did this get here?"
"Don't know, wasn't here a week ago"
"How does it even hold up? I see no nails"
English! Great, he didn't have to learn a new language from scratch. But even more important, these were people he heard, actual people, outside his box! He jumped up and dusted off his clothes. Okay, you can do this Max, you can do this…
With shaky hands, he reached for one of the walls and disintegrated it.
"Woah! What in the seven hells was that?!" A man spoke. He was tall and muscular, with a lumberman's ax at his side. His hair was cut short and greasy, like it hadn't been washed in some time. Next to him stood a younger man, maybe 19, with straw blond hair and watery blue eyes.
"Hello gentlemen", Max did a little bow, "could you tell me where I am? I am lost"
"Erm- I… the king's wood. How- how did you do that?" The younger man pointed at the disintegrated wall.
King's wood, huh? Could be many things, "where is the next big city?", he asked, completely ignoring the question.
"Erm, two days north you find the king's road m'lord and from there ya follow it till ya find king's landing", the older man explained.
Why did that sound so familiar? King's road… king's landing… the guy calling him 'm'lord'... wait isn't this-, "I am in the crownlands?" As in Westeros?
"Where else would ya be, the north?" The young man snorted.
"Thank you for your help. I will go now"
"Erm- okay?" The two looked at each other and shrugged. They didn't particularly care what this stranger did do, they had work to do after all.
Westeros… the crownlands… this could be a fine opportunity to build something worthwhile. Who cares how he got here, all that matters was making the best of it.