The Well

They had told him that what lie at the bottom was beyond his conception, and it would lead to things greater than he could or would ever recognize. The Well was a place of mystery; unexpected things were to be expected in The Well, and the laws of reality were often broken down in the darkness. Many Wanderers had journeyed there to search for enlightenment, though few returned. The trip to the bottom of The Well, once begun, had to be seen through. There was no cheating your way out. The stories he heard didn't mention how the Wanderers got out, but he was promised that he would escape if he was worthy of what was waiting for him at the bottom.

The Well itself was more of a pit than anything. Obviously man made, the top was surrounded by a low stone wall that Allix, a young Wanderer himself, was standing on. He guessed it to be about 12' across, which is much larger than any useful well would be. It was put here long ago, by hands of people much more important than himself, as a tribute to gods he did not know. Those gods had blessed it, gifting anyone strong and brave enough to leap in and rise back out with an unspeakable prize. It was the supernatural origins of The Well's power that made it so unpredictable. As Allix paced along the edge of the low wall, he wondered about the hands that had placed the stones beneath his feet. They had no idea they were creating one of the few places in the realm to be blessed by the gods.

The wind blowing across The Great Plain was cool against his skin, lessening the impact of the sun's heat. The rustle of dry grass was white-noise creating a background for his journey to The Well. The dusky sun, slowly tilting beyond the horizon, was an endearing promise he longed to chase. He was fearful of the journey below, and he felt a strong desire to run to the sun. He could follow it over the horizon, back home and back to safety, where the promise of consistency and the known world was a blanket of safety smothering him in complacency.

The fear that gripped Allix in iron shackles wasn't fear of the fall; falling is easy once you step over the edge. What chained him to the surface, to what he already knew, was the climb back out that awaited him at the bottom. He had no clue how long it would be, what difficulties he would face on the way, or who he would be when he finally made it back to the top. "There's no time like the present," Allix whispered to the breeze, holding a dreamlike gaze level with the sun as he slowly stepped forward into the absence waiting to devour him. The sunset was the last image he saw before his sight was blotted out by an oppressive darkness that pervaded the most personal corners of his mind.

The fall may have been two seconds or two hours; Allix didn't know. To him, it seemed an almost immediate teleportation. In fact, it was immediate. As soon as Allix took the first step, he was suddenly transported to the bottom of The Well. He found himself standing on a soft surface that he thought might be sand in complete darkness. The teleportation made him drop to all fours and vomit into the sand, confirming what he had assumed. He felt as if he had been punched in the gut by a giant. The air was thick with moisture, and the careful dripping of water on stone echoed from far away. He smelled the bile from the misplaced contents of his stomach. The dripping water gave him the feeling that something was missing, but it took him a second to realize what it was. There was no standing water. With a well this wide and deep, there ought to be water. However, nothing is as it ought to be in The Well.

He slowly lifted his gaze in the direction that he assumed was up. At first, he thought his eyes might be closed. However, he slowly started to realize what he was seeing, or rather, what he was not seeing. Above him there was nothing. No light reached this deep in The Well, and Allix immediately felt a sharp spike of panic plunge through his heart. He couldn't expect to get out of a place this deep. There was no physically possible way to climb that far. It couldn't be done.

He started to cast about, convinced there had to be some sort of exit. Allix crawled a few feet before he touched something solid. Accidentally knocking it aside with a stray sweep of his hand, Allix quickly reached out for it again. His fingers closed around a cylindrical shape.