An overcast of smog hung over the heads of halflings and dragonborn alike. In this sizable town of these two joined races, the street filled with protesting bodies and cries for something better in a dire situation. There was no more food in the woods, no grain left to make bread, and not a single vegetable or fruit for anyone to harvest. The land was dead, gray and ruined due to the pollution that rotted the world. The once abundant, lush, green land was no more.
The water was contaminated by who knew what and the rain was like acid to the skin. Sicknesses like no other managed to spread, and without a proper clergy, the people would have to travel out to find any willing to perform magical healing. But that endeavor was too expensive to adventure for. Families and friends were dying, and now the people looked to the heads of their town for answers to this problem. People were scared, blinded by fear, and made miserable and enraged. All this was spurred on from the death toll that grew higher and higher with each passing day.
Otto, a shaggy haired brunette halfling man with piercing green eyes, glared at the leaders of his town with disdain and silent rage of his own. He gripped a worn farmer hat in one hand and a moth-gnawed apron in the other. He tried to steady his breathing, but his heart was pounding in his head. It was deafening, maddening even, and Otto had never felt so much unbridled anger burning inside of his body. This anger urged him to action.
His parents, they had once been so strong. They were the strongest people he knew. They did not deserve to die in the way that they had. It was just water. It was supposed to be safe. All the animals on their farm too. They were the town’s main supplier for produce and meats, among a few other farming families, and everything died. All everyone cared about was when the livestock and plants died, but what about his parents? His only family was gone.
Otto balled his fists tighter as his anger grew beneath his trembling glare. Then suddenly, his body relaxed altogether. He stared at the leaders of his town and all the people that protested for help. His eyes blankly scanned over all the people he had known personally for his entire life, and felt nothing. He dropped the apron and hat of his parents. He slowly stumbled backwards. “No… I’m not…” The sorrowful pain returned to his eyes, “I’m not… That… anger... is not me.”
Once the words left his lips, Otto felt an overwhelming sense of purpose course through his veins. His shoulders straightened and his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He turned with a start and sprinted down the abandoned streets of his town. He sprinted to the exit at full speed, the warm reassurance that the spirits of his parents were saying their goodbyes to him was a force that propelled him further. Otto made it out of the town and ran blindly into the woods for the first time in his life. He ran hard and blind. He ran until his lungs began to burn. Otto slipped on wet leaves and landed hard on his side. A painful grunt left him. Otto tried to lift his head to glance around the area, but when he did, he saw a massive hole not far from him. His eyes widened and he carefully crawled towards it. There was only pitch darkness inside the hole, but then his fear eased. Instead, there was curiosity as a colorful light shimmered from deep in the hole. There was a sweet sound, high-pitched and sing-songy, yet faint… And a refreshing scent of grass. Otto crawled closer to the hole until the ground gave way. He fell into the darkness. Otto screamed for help, but it was too late. He was quickly swallowed up into the earth.
Otto wondered if he died at that moment. The world around him was black and quiet, eerily so. Very slowly, his senses returned to him even while his eyes remained shut.
The ground beneath him was soft and warm. The air smelled sweet and floral, refreshing enough to make him smile. The breeze was cool when it brushed past him and the sunrays felt warm. There was a buzz of something near his ear - maybe a bee? - and a birdsong? How long has it been since he heard such a pleasant sound?
He parted his lips to breathe in through his mouth, and the taste of honeysuckle was in the air. It made him smile all the more.
"Wow..." he whispered with a lighter voice, relieved and at peace. Another deep, rejuvenating breath, full and filled his entire body, Otto opened his eyes. He took in the vibrant colors of the world around him. The depths of the blue sky was endless. The way that the bright sun shone down upon him and the flora around him was glorious. Brilliant greens with flowers of yellow, red, pink, lavender, soft blue, orange... Even the dirt, when he curled his fingers into the earth under them and brought the nicely moistened dirt to his line of sight, he could see the richness of the browns in it.
Otto sat up carefully and took in the scenery around himself. This world had to be heaven, full of life and nature. Birds fluttered past the sunrays, reflected their fleeting shadows, and encouraged Otto to rise up to his feet. A bumblebee buzzed near his ear. It made him flinch his head inward, but soon after he laughed as he felt charmed by the sound. "Hey!" He yelped as the bumblebee buzzed away to the next flower.
"This... is incredible..." He muttered to himself as he wandered forward to see even more. The grass beneath his bare feet felt soft and with the slightest sound that made the movement feel so real. And yes, this whole experience felt real, especially when Otto felt the silkiness of a rose's red petal against his lightly pinched touch.
"It is rather incredible, I have to agree," A raspy, feminine voice chimed out from behind Otto. Startled, Otto quickly turned around to see who this voice belonged to. It sounded like an older woman, he thought.
She was right there behind him, an intrigued smile on her face when she looked him over. She stopped not too far from him with a staff in hand. It was huge, taller than this woman, and adorned with thin, swirling vines and other foliage. A few little flowers grew along the staff, and the same vines and flowers spiraled around the woman’s arm. A thorn crown rested on her head and it neatly framed her messy brown hair. Her clothes seemed shaman-like with a loose tube top and long skirts with a leg slit and simple sandals strapped to her feet. “Little one, what brings you to my grotto?” This woman was very tall and slender, a cow-like tail and floppy ears caught Otto off guard. He’s never seen anyone like that before in his entire life. He stared, but Otto quickly tried to stop and get himself in check. “Sorry, ma’am, I think I’m lost. I don’t remember stumbling into the woods… let alone a beautiful one like this, but I really don’t know how I got here or where to go,” he tilted his head to the side, confused, “what is a grotto?”
The strange woman looked Otto up and down, sized him up to see if he was any sort of threat to her home. The little halfling man hardly seemed like a threat, so she took a step closer and placed a hand over her heart. “Well, first things first before I explain this world to you, Little One, I believe introductions are in order,” she smiled and bowed to him ever so slightly, “My name is Imogen. I am the guardian of this forest, and this mystical forest is my grotto, a place in which I protect with my life and nurture for all of my time.” Imogen straightened back up and gestured with the hand that was once over her heart. She gestured that it was now his turn to introduce himself.
Otto mimicked her motions and placed his hand over his heart. “My name is Otto. I don’t know where I came from or where I’m going, but I am enchanted by your grotto.” He grinned at her as he returned her bow and relaxed his arms at his side again.
Imogen stared at Otto, thoughtful in her assessment of him, but her smile easily set his mind at peace. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Otto. How do you feel? Are you hungry? Thirsty, at all?” She lifted her staff and waved it.
The earth started to tremble beneath their feet and Otto nearly stumbled back onto his bum. The earth started to lift and split upward as a giant evergreen fern grew. The fern lifted Otto and Imogen up into the air as it began to unfurl itself towards what looked like a treehouse. The sycamore that held the house sturdy in place was a strong tree with vibrant green leaves, spacious branches, and plenty of life living within it. Imogen stepped off of the grown fern and onto a wooden plank patio. She offered her staff out towards Otto so he could grab the staff for support. He held on and she pulled him up onto the wooden patio. She smiled back at the fern and waved her staff once more. “Thank you for your assistance.” The fern began to retreat back down towards the earth, but did not return under the ground. It returned to the surface in the shape and size of a normal fern, curled and yet to fully reach its official bloom. Even the earth had been mended back to an undisturbed state of being. Otto was in awe at the display of nature magic.
Imogen walked into her treehouse. It was a deceptive little home on the outside, but once someone walked into the treehouse, it opened up to show a home with three floors, a spiraling staircase that is made of the muscular trunk of the sycamore tree. The entire interior structure was dependent on the reaching, spiraling sturdiness of the sycamore branches and trunk. Greenery and flora grew from the walls and around the window frames in the home, and the candlelight was neatly kept in orb lanterns. They hung overhead, illuminating a study, kitchen, library, and bedrooms on the second floor. The sitting room used natural lighting, and the third floor took its light source from the windows as well, but also from fireflies that flew in and out of the open window above.
Otto was slack-jawed at the sight of it all. “Did you make this place?” He asked Imogen with great excitement. She chuckled and nodded. “Yes, I did. I needed an actual home outside of a cave, so I made this for myself. Tea?” She asked him in return as she placed her staff down in her study. When Imogen left it on her desk, the spiraling vines around her arm began to retract and return to the staff.
The little halfling man nodded and sat down on the cozy brown couch in the sitting room. “Yes, please…”
“Cream? Sugar?” Imogen called over from her kitchen.
“Just honey is good if you have any. If not, sugar is good too,” Otto replied while he still looked over everything in this place.
Imogen returned with a wooden tray. The mugs were made of wood as well, but they had a smoothed out texture to their surface for protection against splinters when drinking from them. Otto thanked her for the hospitality and sniffed the tea. It was very floral… lavender, maybe?
He took a long sip, savored the burst of floral flavor upon his tongue. He smiled, never more at peace than in this exact moment. Actually, he couldn’t remember too much before this moment, but the feelings he had told him that he never felt real relief in a long time. He felt bone-tired and weary, but so much happier now that he was here.
“Imogen, thank you so much for this again,” he lifted the mug as if to give cheers to this moment between them, “this is some of the best tea I’ve ever had.”
The guardian chuckled and nodded. She blew her tea gently and took another sip. “...I suppose you don’t remember very much, if anything at all then?” She inquired with a curious and sympathetic smile.
Otto tensed up at the odd question and looked up at her. Instinctively, he tried to think back and figure out where he came from, how he got here, and why he was in the middle of the woods. But it was true, there wasn’t much he could remember.
He looked down, his green eyes searched the reflective surface of his tea thoughtfully, but nothing was coming to the surface for him. Otto shook his head. “I don’t remember anything at all… that’s true… but how did you figure that?” He looked up at her with a bit more caution. Clearly, this woman was sharper than she had let on. There was no telling at this point in time what else she knew, but was just refusing to let him in on.
“This forest is a Fae territory. Not just anyone is allowed in here without challenge. Most turn away, leave, or they die in their attempts to infiltrate the woods that I protect. So there aren’t very many new faces here that I am not personally acquainted with. And you appeared out of thin air.” Imogen explained this all to him calmly and took another sip from her tea, “The woods seem to like you though. They brought you here unprompted. It is unusual, but not impossible as to why they did. But you don’t even remember where you came from?”
Otto shook his head. “Not a single clue.”
Imogen had a strained smile and nodded. “I see. Well…” she placed her teacup down, “If I am to interpret the wishes of the woods, as is my duty, I do believe you were brought here for a greater purpose. One that is meant to save the betterment of nature. I will teach it to you as your new teacher, and while I do that, I will also try to track where it was that you came from, Little Otto.”
The halfling leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his drink. “Why are you so willing to teach me? We literally just met,” he chuckled over the edge of his teacup, “did I do something that somehow… impressed you or something?”
Imogen chuckled and shook her head. “No. Not at all.”
“Ow. Hurtful,” Otto smirked at her.
She shook her head again with a mild eye roll at his joking nature. “Otto, this is a spectacular happening. Like I said before, not just anyone is brought here and the woods, or rather… all of nature never does this. At least, not in my long lifetime has this ever happened where nature has quite literally plucked you from whatever life you lived before and brought you here. And for you to not remember where you came from… it must be essential for this calling that your attachments to your previous life must be forgotten. Otto, you have been chosen for this. Someone and all things out there are looking to you as someone who is capable of great things… We cannot just ignore this.”
Otto rubbed his chin with a scrunched up, deeply thoughtful expression. He hummed as his mind mulled over all of this information that Imogen just gave him. “Interesting… very interesting…” he hummed a bit longer to himself and shrugged nonchalantly, “Nah. I don't feel like it.”
“What?” Imogen sputtered out the word. She looked at him, incredulous by his flippant attitude. “What do you mean… “nah”? Otto, this doesn’t just happen.”
He held up his hand to stop her from rambling and placed the teacup down. “Uh-uh, before you go off again, I am deeply flattered and appreciate the big boost to my ego that something out there picked me to do something great, but honestly?” Otto leaned back on the couch with his arms crossed and a lazy smirk on his face, “I’m not the type of guy to do something great like that, I feel. Maybe see the world… that sounds fun. But to be some kind of chosen hero? That sounds cheesy and like... a lot more work than I’d like to do, so… not interested.”
Imogen could hardly believe what she heard just now. She was stunned.
Her blatant reaction was not lost on Otto, but he wasn’t really in the mood to indulge in her surprise. He cleared his throat a bit, hopped off the couch and straightened out his shirt. “Well! If that’s all I was invited here for, I’m gonna head off to figure myself out. Maybe find my way home or to a new home of my picking. Whichever happens first, I guess…” Otto collected his bearings and headed for the door.
Imogen watched him go, but when he grabbed the doorknob handle she shot up and called after him, “You will not get far in these woods. Whatever you choose, it will always lead you back to where you need to be. You cannot escape a calling like this, Otto.”
Otto stopped and looked back at Imogen. She sounded so certain, but he could just smile at her. “I’ll believe it when I see it happen then.” He nodded towards her to acknowledge this farewell, and Otto left with an oblivious smile on his face.
