Ch 1 - The Wishing Well

Wishing wells hold the hopes and dreams of the wish makers. For just a coin, it can make your wildest fantasies come true. At least, that is what adults tell children, and worse, themselves.

In a small village, a young man around 18 years of age stood facing one such well. His hair was dark brown, and he had a rather average build. His short dark brown hair was neatly kept and he held a small bronze coin in his palm.

"When will she be back". Ren sighed to himself, flipping the coin into the air only to catch it again. He had been doing this for around a half hour now.

Ren had grown up in a small town in the mountains, and had only recently ventured away from the home of his parents to start his own life. Here in the village known as Wellton, he had met Sophia, a beautiful local who had taken interest in Ren soon after his arrival.

Ren wasn't without competition for her hand, but his looks and strength outstripped that of the other young men close by. This dispelled his worries, and he had decided to court Sophia to the best of his ability. To his dismay, she had left with her father to trade furs and other wares in the next village over.

This trip should have only taken a couple weeks, but two months had passed with no word from them.

"Still moping around eh' Ren?"

Ren turned to see Bill, the local blacksmith walk toward him.

"She'll be back soon ma' boy. No need to wallow your days wishing by the well."

"I'm just worried that she and her father have run into bandits, or worse monsters on their travels." Ren replied. "It isn't uncommon for people to go missing these days."

Bill put his large hand on Ren's shoulder, "True, but I know Trevor, and he would never allow his daughter to come to any harm ya know. Hell, just the other week he beat the living snot out a' John's boy for looking at her wrong".

Ren chuckled. Trevor had threatened to beat him up on multiple occasions as well. Were it not for his upfront personality and honest intentions, he would most likely end up as one of the many young suitors that met Sophia's father.

Bruised and beaten.

"As for people goin' missin', the village sent a message off to the city. Hopefully the army will come clear out those dang bandits." Bill responded

Ren frowned, "How long has it been since you sent the message?"

"...a month or so...but no worries. I'm sure things will be alright.

After talking a bit more with Bill, Ren made his way back towards the farm he worked on. He looked at the coin still in his hand as he walked.

"So many bandits around recently" Ren thought to himself as he walked. He tucked the coin back into his pocket and looked around the village. It was a quaint little town, and a forest of pines and broadleaves surrounded it on all sides.

Ren walked on the road, cutting a line through the town and the forest. His current home was a 5 min walk from the well, just down the road.

About halfway home the air suddenly grew colder and he heard screams coming from the center of the village.

He turned to see a red mist slowly devouring the buildings. From within the mist horrible sounds emerged. The blood drained from Ren's face, and he unconsciously stepped back at the sight.

There, in the distance, to his left he saw movement followed by another scream. He glanced over and saw it. A monster, an abomination.

The thing was black and covered in scales. Its elongated snout was lined with fangs and it had a tail that dragged behind its two legs.

With two powerful arms, it dragged the wife of a farmer out of her house, covered in her own blood. The woman attempted to fight back, hitting the monster with her hands to no avail.

The monster kept dragging her towards the red mist in the center of the village, seemingly oblivious to her cries and attempts to free herself.

Ren ran. In that brief glance back he had seen multiple creatures, each more repulsive and gruesome. What's worse, each creature was dragging an unwilling innocent or two back towards the mist.

Fear clutched his heart as tears streamed down his face. He had recognized Bill in the clutches of one of the monsters, and if it could suppress Bill, Ren knew he was no match.

He remembered from his mothers bedtime stories events similar to this. But they weren't supposed to be real, only a story to keep the children from sneaking out at night. This was eerily similar to those stories; stories where the main culprit of violence was demons.

It wasn't long before he heard snarling coming from behind. Ren dove to the side, crashing into the dirt. A demon on all fours had pounced on his previous location, tearing into the soil with its claws.

The demon diverted its attention to a nearby villager who was also running. It pounced again and this time its claws found flesh.

Grateful for the distraction, yet appalled by the scene, Ren quickly got back on his feet.

'The road is too open', he thought.

He changed directions, heading for the forest. There he may lose the demons in the cover of the trees.

He ran for his life.

***

"Shit shit shit shit shit" Ren thought as he ran. "Out of all the places I chose to settle, I picked the one with demons!?"

His feet were sore, and he hadn't run so fast in his life. "I knew I should have gone on more runs."

Panting and wheezing he stopped, resting on a tree.

"Where do I go now? Home? But what if the demons can follow my scent? No, that's not an option. The city! The guards can handle this for sure, and if not the guards...the army!"

Feeling better about his new plan, he began to move again. Before too long however he stopped.

"Well well, look what we have here boys" A voice called out from in front of Ren. From behind the trees ahead a man in a leather jerkin stepped forward.

"You must be running from Wellton correct? By the screams on the wind, another group must of gotten to it before we did...tell me boy, which bandit group is it?"

Confused, Ren responded, "What? No, no, it's not bandits, it's demons! We gotta get out of here quick! At least let me go, I have nothing of value on me."

"We'll see about that"

As the bandit spoke, three more came out and surrounded Ren.

"Seriously guys...let's talk about this." Ren said, taking a few steps back.

"Isn't that what we are doing?" One of the bandits gave a big toothy grin. "We just like talkin' with somethin' other than our mouths ya see. The bandit drew a small dagger from his side.

Ren's back hit a tree and he prepared to dive away from the dagger. But before he did, a large shape bulldozed into the small group of bandits.

"What the hell?" The bandit leader jumped back in surprise. There in front of him was what seemed to be a scaled monkey with four arms, but its face was long, giving it an unnatural height.

In its large four fingered hands it clutched the head of the now unconscious bandit as blood trickled down his head.

The bandits fled, but soon two more demons showed up, skewering the bandits on there claws, or smashing there heads in order to knock them out. Ren suffered the same fate, being grabbed by the monkey-like demon and having his head slammed against a tree.

***

Groggily, Ren looked around. He was being dragged by his feet along with two of the bandits. Turning his head to the side he could see the village. Blood trails covered the ground, all leading in the same direction he was being dragged in.

To the well. He watched as more demons tossed moaning or unconscious humans inside. Pretty soon it was his turn to plummet into the water below.

His vison went dark.