Jenny Medlang stood in her pastel green and yellow tiled bathroom, her reflection gazing at her from the mirror. She was 26 years old, with red hair that fell to just past her shoulders. Her likeness in the mirror flicked its green eyes over her athletic form from behind thin, wire-rimmed glasses. Jenny sighed, the sound matching the movement of her mirror-image as she thought of her boyfriend, Eric.

She turned from the mirror, walking from the bathroom, into her bedroom. After a glance at the clothing laid out on her bed, Jenny began to dress, her thoughts still on Eric.

They had been together for some time, now. Almost two years. The realization made Jenny pause, frowning. Nearly two full years, most of which had been good. But, over the past few months, things had changed. Jenny wasn’t sure if it was she or Eric that had caused it, but she suspected that it was a bit of both.

For a while now, she and Eric had barely been seeing each other, still officially a couple only out of habit and a reluctance on both their parts to start over with somebody new. Still, Jenny was on the verge of breaking it off with Eric. She couldn’t take the stagnant relationship any longer.

As she pulled on her pink and white patterned T-shirt, Jenny turned her head, spotting the novel she was reading, which lay on the stand by her bed. It was a fantasy novel, full of mythic creatures and epic adventure where heroic knights defended the honor and lives of lovely maidens. Jenny paused, staring at the elaborate painting of the cover illustration, which depicted a smooth conglomeration of several scenes from the book.

“Why can’t I live in a world like that?” Jenny said aloud to the empty room. “Some fantasy realm of high adventure and handsome knights. Anyplace has to be more interesting than my life.”

A soft tinkling sound drew Jenny’s attention’s toward her closet. She was stunned to see pale golden light shining out from beneath the double doors, illuminating a patch of the cream carpeting. Confused and a bit unnerved by the light and sound, Jenny crept toward her closet.

When neither the light nor sound abated, Jenny cautiously slid the doors open. She stood in mute amazement, finding that the inside of her closet had vanished. Instead of the neatly hung shirts and carefully arranged items on the shelves, Jenny saw a large, rounded antechamber, five archways lining its walls. Each of the archways was blocked by a door made of wooden planks, banded together by wide strips of what looked to Jenny like wrought iron. As she stared, the golden light began to change, softening.