Owen Black had been a counselor for teens for years. He was constantly telling them that the make believe things they thought were real weren't. He could understand them liking worlds of make believe, he enjoyed reading science fiction and fantasy himself. He even played tabletop games a lot including some for charity. But he always made sure not to blur the lines between reality and fantasy. Though sometimes he could drive people nuts with his logic. The same logic that made it hard to find his own spiritual path though he was still trying to find it though nothing felt quite right yet. Yet some felt more right than others. He never trampled on others spiritual beliefs though he just couldn't follow them himself though he had tried with some.
On this particular day he was counseling a teenage boy on the fact that faeries didn't exist, and neither did Elves. The boy was being just as stubborn in his logic as Owen, not giving any ground as the two debated back and forth to the end of the session. At the end they made an appointment for the next week, and the boy left. Owen sat down behind his desk and took his glasses off pinching the bridge of his nose.
“If only he knew how much I wish Fairies and Elves really did exist,” Owen mused to himself.
He sipped his coffee slowly thinking what it would be like if Elves walked around the city like him and everyone else. He let his mind wander smiling as he imagined it. He quickly dismissed it though as his next appointment arrived. He put his mind squarely on the client dismissing the fantasy he had had from his mind, and went forward with his day. The day finished a couple hours and a couple clients later for Owen.
Owen packed up his laptop and a few decks he had been working on for a card game for that night along with his kindle. Then he headed out of the office for his friend Tom's house. He got in his BMW, and settled in comfortable as always taking a few minutes to let his mind decompress. Then he started the engine, and sped off for Tom's.
Tom was waiting for him as expected with Pizza and Soda ready for another night of playing the card game Fairies & Elves. Tom was still learning to play so Owen didn't play as hard as he did with others who were more skilled. He took the time to point out mistakes to Tom, and give the other man advice. They played for hours with Tom winning a few games, but Owen winning most of them as usual. They cleaned up, and Owen packed up with promises to do it again soon. Owen then sped for home out in the suburbs.
Owen lived almost out in the middle of nowhere, but not quite his house was a dark red with black shutters. It had a nice natural wood colored porch on it. It was a quaint little thing. Most wouldn't associated it with a counselor but it suited Owen just fine. Owen set his bag down next to the couch and laid down with the latest fantasy novel he was reading and soon drifted off to sleep.
Before he really felt like he slept Owen woke up on a floor covered in a blanket next to a fire seeing his bag in a chair in front of an old fashioned table. He bolted upright puzzled by his surroundings trying to make sense of them, but still trying not to panic. He walked around the large single room cottage. As far as he could determine it to be then relaxing a bit as he determined it to be relatively safe. He looked out the windows not recognizing anything, and then walked over to the table where his bag was. He noticed a book lying on the table near it. Owen picked it up and started reading it, but as he read he couldn't believe what it was telling him. The book told him he was in the land of Faeries, and that he was the next in a long line of champions of it known as Rex Mortis. It also said he had great magical powers. This clashed with everything Owen had ever been taught. He was sure this must be a prank one of his friends was playing on him, but then why didn't he recognize any of the plants outside the windows of the cottage. He decided he needed something to eat and drink before he could decide anything or delve any deeper into this mystery. The book as if knowing this would be the case listed in the next pages where to find food and drink in the cottage. Nothing major just some dried meat and cheese for sandwiches with bread, and some ale. But that was good enough for Owen. He made a couple of sandwiches, and had a bottle of ale which helped relax his mind greatly. This helped him start to ask what if the book was telling the truth, and how had it seemingly what he was thinking.
The more he questioned the more he realized that his friends could never have pulled off a prank this complex or clever, so something more had to be going on here. He knew that until he knew for sure what was going on it was best to stay in the cottage as long as he could, and that he should become more familiar with it in general. He searched around it more and found a bed with a dresser build into it with all black clothes with red highlights. A limited wardrobe he decided, but still changed into some clean clothes. The bed was near a roaring fireplace of it's own that mysteriously never needed wood similar to the other fireplace, and both seemed to keep the cottage at the perfect temperature somehow. Owen also noticed that other then the bed there was only the table and chairs, and other than that it was pretty much wide open space. Yet very shadowy and with weird stone pillars here and there.
Owen found the cottage equally as comfortable as he did eery. He figured he had better accept this for now and read on in the book, and find out all that he could from it about this strange experience he was going through. He went back to the table and sat down again and started reading once more.
As he read the book he learned he had abilities now in this world that he would have to learn to control and use. Owen thought that might explain all the pillars in the cottage. His thoughts were confirmed as he read on about the abilities he had been granted as he entered this world. All of them seemed straight out of an RPG or some other magical game, but he had already committed to going with this straight to the end. So he figured why not give it a shot and see what happened. The worse that could happen is he failed or found out it was an elaborate hoax. At least then he would have some answers he hoped. He kept studying the book for hours till his eyes were getting heavy and then looked out to discover the sky had gone from bright to pitch black. He decided to call it a day, and stripped off his clothes crawling into the bed. As he closed his eyes he decided that first thing in the morning he would attempt one of the abilities described in the book.
