Easy: an ontological mystery is where the main character(s) finds themselves in an unknown place and they have to figure out why they are there and how to get out. Ontology is the study of existence, reality itself. An ontological mystery is a story where the mystery is tied into the reality of the world around the characters.
Here's a famous example: The Prisoner. The main character, who doesn't even have a name, just a number to designate who he is, is trapped in the Village. Where is the Village? Why is it there? Who runs the Village? How do you escape it? These are all questions that Number Six has to figure out.
I watched a lot of The Prisoner when I was a kid. My dad had the VHS tapes of the "important" episodes - the pilot, "The Chimes of Big Ben," even "Living in Harmony." The one episode I didn't watch until I was much older, however, was the very last episode, "Fall Out." That may have been because my dad didn't have it or it may have been because it was balls out insane.
Seriously: if you haven't seen the show, you should. It is one of the best shows ever and it contributed a lot my taste in fiction and my love of Mind Screws. It's one of the few shows that could make a weather balloon into something completely terrifying.
Meet Rover.
You can see aspects of The Prisoner in Ontological. For one thing, I knew I wanted to make a Mind Screw. I didn't want things to be easily explained. I didn't want to tie things up in a neat bow. Was Martin a Nightlander all along? Did the City turn him into a Nightlander and then the Nightlanders made him believe he had always been a Nightlander? One of the last posts is called Eikasia - which is Platonic concept. It means an inability to perceive a dream or memory or reflection is not the real thing. How does Martin now he is real? How does he know that he is not?
And here's another question you may not have consider: at the end, the Nightlanders rearrange a person's mind to their liking. What makes you think they didn't do this with Martin? All we have is Martin's word that he was always a Nightlander.
And if you have any questions, I shall direct you to this sign from the Village:
"Be seeing you"
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