Rescue mission

"Oh alright, anything else I need to know?" The wizard wondered as he prepared himself for the journey.

"The residents are tricksters but the land itself is equally unpredictable. Time does not play by your rules. It may look like the land you know, but never forget that you are playing with powers greater than yourself. I cannot accompany you or help you any further."

"No such thing" He jokes when she says power greater than him, but the nervous look in his eyes made it clear he knew exactly what he was up against, a realm almost scientifically dessigned to stop him

She took a silver apple branch from her cloak; it glinted in the light.

Matt stared at it, not knowing what it was, and waiting for her to explain since she was on the explain train today, maybe it was important or maybe she just needed her vitamins.

"When you take this, it will bring you to The Otherworld," She said. "It unfortunately doesn't bring you back again. You will need to find your own way home."

"I'm sure lin will be able to find us a way out." Matthew said trying to look confident on how this was going to work out and his own abilities... he was not even remotely.

"Indeed," She said. "Well, whenever you're ready."

"Thank you una..." he said and without another moment's hesitation he grabbed the backpack from the boat, and with his other hand took the apple.

As soon as he grabbed the silver apple BRANCH, the air filled with fog; Una pressed both hands against Matt's chest and pushed him hard off the dock and into the water. He would barely feel the impact; instead of sinking he was falling. The sea... well, sky above him was a great expanse of copper gold. What looked like Una's faint shadow flickered there, and then it was gone. He hit the ground hard.

He let out a mighty cough as the air left his lungs and breathed heavily for a few moments to get it back before climbing to his feet and looking around.

His eyes would recognise it as earth, albeit before humans had arrived with their selfish destruction. But in his gut he knew something was amiss. He would most likely first notice how beautiful it was; rolling fields of emerald rippled as far as he could see, until it met the embrace of the pale copper sky. The plain was broken only by scattered fairy  trees; far in the distance, a mountain loomed, its peak stained yellow by the sky. A bright sun gazed down, content at its creation. The second thing he might notice is the ease of breathing. Each breathe grew easier than the last. His worry melted away, replaced by a relaxed, homely feeling. It was in itself concerning; it was as if the air itself was spiked, to encourage all those who wonder here to remain. Nothing stirred, yet he would feel watched. Observant eyes would notice a single raven perched on a high branch amidst the fairy trees, watching him with its silent wise eyes.

"Let me guess... you're magic in some fashion?" Matt wondered activating the witch sight he normally used to deal with disguised or invisible fae he had to face. Fae magic was strange and its purpose often hard to make out, but at least he wasn't completely blind to it.

Well, as everything in this realm, from the air to the dirt was fae, his witch sight would not be very helpful to him. Obviously the crow was fae.

Well at least he could identify the different types of fae, not that he knew what any of it meant... He also had no idea where to go "I'm looking for a big castle with a kidnappy guy at it who has a huldra...don't suppose you'd know where that is?" He asked the bird

The squack it produced sounded almost like a laugh; it flapped it's great wings and flew off. It looked like Matt was alone for now. He should try and find the person Una recommended.

The question was... where.. Matt began to look around with no idea where to start.

A small stone path that threatened to succumb to nature led from him towards the mountains north. It was better than nothing.

Matthew agreed with the narrator's sentiment and began to walk it, oh this wasn't going to be easy, but he knew that already.

Matthew did not know how long he had been walking. The sky remained unchanging however; the sun did not shift from its position directly above him. Despite this, he would feel like he had been walking for hours. Days. Weeks. Who knew. Maybe he had been. Yet the mountain drew no closer. The scenery seemed like a repeat of all he just saw.

Matt suddenly had a very stupid idea, it was very risky... but it was better than doing nothing. He stood, legs apart, bracing himself, pointed both hands at the ground... took a fey deep breaths... and blasted into the sky towards the mountain with a magic blast...

Well, that was one way to do it certainly. While flying towards the mountain he saw something red on the ground; something too glinted in the sun.

He would use another blast to change course toward it and another spell to slow his descent since it looked pretty important. He grinned like a maniac, that had been fun, and hey no legion of sadistic dominant fae women had descended on him yet, maybe this'd be doable after all.

As he came lower, he would notice it was a small man dressed in a red suit; a large buckle around his waist was the source of the glint. He appeared to be making shoes.

It was at this point Una remembered she hadn't told Matt he needs to find Conchobhar's gold to get him to do what he wants.

"Hey there, don't suppose you'd care to help a fellow out?" Matt asked upon landing in front of him, he also had no idea this was him, but it was worth a shot