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Everyone in Middefen knew about the haunted well. At night, the village would lock its doors and douse its lights whilst the malevolent spirits searched for blood. Families huddled together in the dark, waiting in fear as ghostly hands scrambled to gain entry.

Then dawn would come and the spirits would flee.

Local legend claimed their sanctuary was the well in the derelict house on the other side of the forest that surrounded Middefen. The place had belonged to a local madman who named himself the 'Gatekeeper'. He had raved and ranted about fantastical creatures for almost his entire life, turning the community away from him.

There were many theories about what happened to him. Some records say he left Middefen to find people who would listen to him. Others argue he died in his house, alone, and that his bones still remained where he had laid himself to eternal rest. The village children played games where he was kidnapped by the creatures he invented.

The collective theory was that he drowned himself in the well at the bottom of his garden.

Whichever people believed, one fact remained clear: the night the Gatekeeper disappeared, the spirits started to attack.

Serafina knew about the legend. She had grown up fearing for her life each night, seen the destructive force of the spirits, and heard the screams when an innocent victim was taken.

But Serafina had also seen them, and they weren't spirits.

When she told her friends what she set out to do, they called her crazy. One by one, they turned their backs on her until the entire village had ostracised her. The spirits would take her.

They had started the mourning rituals before she even left her house.

Now in the middle of the forest, Serafina heard their taunting voices in the back of her mind. She shuddered and pulled her fur-lined cloak tighter around her shoulders. A dainty breeze tickled the back of her neck and rustled the browning leaves in the canopy above.

The sun was dimming and she had yet to make it to Gatekeeper's garden.

They said she wouldn't reach it.

Serafina sighed. She turned back and looked along the dirt track she had recently trodden. Returning to Middefen would admit her defeat. She had already come so far.

With newfound determination, Serafina continued onwards. Each crunch of the leaves beneath her feet was a fanfare heralding her arrival to the alleged haunted well.

Before her, a gate appeared out of the mist. Its metal was old and rusted, bent by the winds that tore through the country each winter, and fighting a battle with the surrounding greenery that aimed to take it down. Symbols from an ancient language adorned the arch over the gate itself, their message illegible.

Serafina pressed one hand to the metal and pushed. The gate swung open with a melodious creak, admitting the stranger into the unknown.

The path turned to stone. Vines and grass snaked over the slabs, threatening to trip Serafina up, but she held steady.

In the sky, the final slither of red vanished. She shivered, the chill of night settling into her bones despite her layered outfit. Her skin prickled, though she wasn't sure if it was the cold or anticipation.

The well loomed before her.

Serafina hurried towards it, eager to await the moment the creatures would appear. From inside her bag, she drew a net, a candle, and some flint.

With a sense of urgency, she struck the flint and finally managed to light the candle. One shaking hand held it aloft as she picked up the net with the other.

Her attention turned back to the well and she almost dropped both items in surprise.

Sat on the edge of the crumbling stone, dangling its legs off the side, was one of the creatures.

Now it was still, she could make out more of its details. Its limbs were as thin as twigs, draped in an iridescent material that shimmered in the candle light, and its head almost disproportionate from its body. It was as if a human baby had been stretched at birth, but this creature was definitely not human. Curled purple horns twisted out from the sides of its head, sharpened to a point, as were the claws that jutted out from each of its three fingers.

Serafina could scarce believe such a fragile-looking creature could cause as much damage as it did. Then she looked into its eyes and understood.

Two pools of eternal darkness sucked her into the creature's malevolence. She could not draw her gaze away.

"I wish the other villagers could see you," she whispered, barely audible through chattering teeth.

The creature glanced at the net Serafina held aloft. It lifted its arms up as if surrendering to her.

She blinked, hardly daring to believe the creature's behaviour. With each step she took towards it, she thought it was run away. Its wafer-thin wings twitched on its back as if it was preparing to fly.

"I didn't know you would grant my wish so readily."

Just as Serafina opened the net wider, the creature moved. Quick as a blink, it had dislodged a stone and launched it at the human girl.

Her foot tripped over it and she screamed, tumbling forwards towards the well's rickety walls. The creature laughed as it danced out the way, forcing Serafina to crash into the stone.

It collapsed beneath her and she tumbled down.

Almost at once, she stopped falling. Her feet landed softly on something soft and squidgy. She glanced down and screamed once more. Bile rose to the back of her throat.

She had landed on a pile of human corpses.

The smell hit her straight after her realisation, so pungent it made her eyes water. Through the tears, she saw blobs of white, purple, and grey. But what was unmistakeable were the soul-sucking pits of darkness.

She had entered the creatures' realm, and they wanted her blood.

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Categories

Fantasy (7/10) - Admin lionobsession

Paranormal (4/10) - Admin traci_edmunds

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