Terra simply couldn't understand why they were so focused on figuring out this wishing well nonsense. Yes, healing the women would be nice. She wouldn't mind losing the grey tint to her skin; it would be good to fit in a little better. But if she had to just be a pure human to do it, well. Would that cost her her magic? She knew most humans had a hard time learning spellcasting; it took years of training, memorization, practice, while she and her mother just had an instinctive grasp on it. She'd learned her first two spells... setting something on fire and telling a chain to start pulling itself and rocking her little sister's crib... before she'd become a woman, and had no idea that being a capable spellcaster before showing up would cause such a problem at the academy.

Still. She liked who she was. From what she'd seen so far, her grandfather was a competent, intelligent man.. well, devil... and while a bit vicious and cold at times, he was here, wasn't he? He'd crossed the planes and marched hundreds of miles for her, simply because she was family and needed help. Being related to someone like that wasn't something to be ashamed of. He'd been rewarded by both Kingdom and Empire, and they hated each other, that had to mean something.

At present, he was sitting on the floor, between the beds; at first, Derek and Kylie were going to get their own room; the noblewoman could certainly afford it; but they'd ultimately decided to get the largest room; one that apparently was used by a few adventuring parties before, amusingly enough, as there were a few sets of names carved beside the fireplace; so they could keep an eye on the two women. Take turns keeping watch; everyone who could detect magic, which, amusingly enough, was everyone in the group, would watch over them, see if they could learn more.

She ran her fingers over the chain around her neck absently as she watched the women sleeping. She didn't need to be awake right now; Derek was on this watch. But she wanted to see when it happened. She absently toyed with the chain, feeling it with her magic. She could command a mundane chain, if it was unoccupied. She'd never tried an enchanted one. She made it shake, move back and forth.... could she tell it to unclasp itself?

As she was studying the way it now seemed to be a smooth, claspless length of chain; it had simply grown shorter when she'd put it on; she started to feel drowsy.... and drifted off to sleep, not even noticing Derek falling face-first onto his book at the same time.

***

Praxius stayed as still as possible. He wanted the intruder to think he was asleep, as he quietly slipped through the room. He identified three spells; one creating an aura of silence. One putting everyone in the room to sleep. And the last an enchantment of some sort that just made an area uninteresting to people looking at it; if he weren't resistant to such things, he'd probably be completely unable to look at the bed where the two injured women lay, or the boy wrapped in a sleeping bag at the side of the bed, refusing to get far from them.

The intruder was.... an elf. The first full-blooded elf he'd seen in centuries who hadn't mutilated his ears and enchanted his eyes to hide his species. He almost moved involuntarily; this wasn't just an elf, but a ludicrously powerful one. He could undoubtedly kill Praxius in a fair fight, without a challenge. What was he doing here?

The elf walked up to the bed with the two women laying on it... and laid down a book, before withdrawing two small vials and dropping to his knees beside them. He examined a vial; poured it into one of the women's mouth; and then simply watched; writing something down in the book. He nodded after a minute or so; and poured the second vial into the other woman's mouth.

There was no lingering magical effect. No curse he could see. No pacts, or bindings. Whatever the potion did, it lasted for roughly a minute... and then the elf was satisfied with his work. He rose to his feet, looked at the sleeping figures... and stopped, looking at Derek's book. He gently moved the human's head so he could see what he was writing; and then slowly pried the book out from under him. Flipping through pages. Studying. After a few minutes of reading, he suddenly jerked, as if startled, set the book beside Derek... and stepped out the door, quickly.

If Praxius weren't able to see invisible subjects, the only thing he would have been aware of was the book appearing, and the sudden silence of the noise from the surrounding rooms... then of Derek's book floating on its own. This... made no sense. If that potion had just healed the woman's tongue, it was something that would sell for hundreds of gold pieces. If he wasn't getting a soul out of it, enchanting her, cursing her, whatever... why was he doing this?

This whole situation reminded him of an elf he'd known in Hell. Back when the elves still had a kingdom of their own, he'd spent centuries torturing the souls of their soldiers. One had been burning down a human village, and screwed things up. Been trapped in a burning circle of flames he himself had set, with buildings collapsing around him, and no way out.... and jumped into a well. A building had collapsed onto the well, and he'd drowned there, weighed down by his armor, in the darkness, too confined to even try to take his armor off.

His torment had been easy; Praxius had made him relive the suffering of the hundreds of humans he'd burned alive in their final moments, over and over, each time only able to escape his burning fate by diving into the well to drown once more; until he'd broken, his soul becoming good material to create a lesser devil, all trace of the proud soldier he'd once been lost.

This couldn't possibly be related... but it was an elf. A powerful, old, elf, who hid in a dungeon beneath a well, and... wandered the countryside granting wishes, asking for only a pittance in return? It made no sense at all.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He was also ridiculously dangerous. He was a spellcaster, so if Praxius took him by surprise he could handle him, but even a momentary mistake and he'd be disintegrated or worse. He'd get a bit of rest, and decide what to tell the foolish youngsters in the morning. Ideally they'd just get the hells out of Hillsdale.

***

When Terra awoke in the morning, she felt surprisingly rested; she hadn't slept that well since... leaving home, really. Was it because she had someone she trusted watching over her... or just that this inn actually had comfortable beds? Either way, she was a bit more on-board with the idea of remaining here for another night; even if she didn't make some stupid wish, the sleep was amazing.

When she stretched and sat up, she could hear... a babble of noise. "Nah-tah-lee-aaaa." "Nah-tah-lee-aaaa." The two women were speaking back and forth... Terra smiled. It had worked! "My name is Natalia. Goddess it feels good to say it!" The other woman sighed. "Serra. Seh-rah. Serra." She looked at the other, then down at the boy. "Kell." The boy gripped her leg tightly, still silent for now. "....can I come with you to Brendale?" "I can't make any promises, but Kelson senior will undoubtedly be so happy his son is back he'll be willing."

Praxius glanced around at the group. He didn't know any spells to ward off scrying. All he had were the sort of inherent powers a devil developed over time, as he grew in power, and practiced, honing them into a fine edge; and at the moment, he could really use something, anything, to speak with his granddaughter in private.

Perhaps.... "We need to speak privately. Away from the women we rescued, and any outside ears. I would recommend the shrine to the goddess of darkness. I believe there is one on the western side of the village."

Kylie would rise to her feet, shifting, her red curls an unusual fluffy mess at present. "What? Why not the goddess of light?"

"I can't explain until we get there, but I will not allow you to interact with that well further, even if I need to drag you away in chains, until we have this discussion."

She frowned. "But... I'm in charge here... right?"

"You told me you weren't going to investigate the well. I warned you it was probably dangerous, and not worth our time. Either come with me to the shrine, or I load you onto the cart and drag you home."

There was a sudden knock at the door; firm, but polite; Kylie looked a bit flustered, and glowered at Praxius. "..Fine. We'll go to the shrine." She stepped up to the door, pulling it open... to reveal one of the town guards, wearing the same sort of chainmail with the red lines threaded through it, and a club belted to his hip.

"Hello there, milady. The contents of the cart have been sorted, and there's a reward for you. I've also got a note from one of the local shopkeepers asking for one of your party members; didn't mention the name, just that it was the man with the books. Something about research opportunities."

He glanced around the room, his gaze settling on Praxius. "Am I supposed to give it to you, sir, or to her?" He was holding two objects; a piece of parchment, and a cloth bag that must hold at least a few dozen gold pieces. Kylie snatched the bag, practically glowering. "Ugh. Lets get some breakfast, and go to this shrine."

When she glanced at the parchment; it simply contained directions to Fabled Sundries, and an invitation for 'the scholar'.

Terra was a bit amused at all the hubbub. "Grampa wouldn't want to go to the shrine without a good reason." She probably knew. The goddess of light was a goddess of truth. The goddess of darkness was one of secrets. Most such shrines were warded to protect one from scrying eyes; and even the ones that weren't, the goddess herself frowned on spying on said shrines, and doing so was a poor idea.

***

The shrine was... about as impressive as any middle-of-nowhere shrine. A carved statute of the Lady of the Black, facing to the west; circles of benches and seats, clearly abandoned now; even in major cities, there were rarely anyone in these shrines during daylight hours. Services started at dusk; and they rarely saw anyone beforehand.

Still. It was a modest building, with all the windows heavily covered, and so dark inside that Kylie stumbled as she entered. Once they had crossed the threshold, Praxius came to a halt; and gave a bow. "Lady of Shadows, lady of secrets. You are not my goddess, but I show my respect, before sharing secrets within your domain. May they remain there, enshrouded."

Praxius looked up. The room seemed somehow darker. He felt... approval. He turned to the others. "The well was once a dungeon. An elf cleared it out, centuries ago, and now hides there. For whatever reason, he's been slipping out at night and quietly granting requests to those he chooses to. I have no real idea as to why... but having watched the process, I can confirm he isn't stealing souls, or names, or cursing the victims. All I do know... is that he's powerful. Extremely so. He could obliterate me in moments, unless I took him by surprise."

The group was quiet, as he relayed the events of the night before. The sleep spell; the potions; and the careful note-taking.

Kylie gave a slow nod. "Well. That.... puts a new light on things. Perhaps he's a researcher himself, using the locals as test subjects for his potions and concoctions?"

Derek frowned, crossing his arms, absently fiddling with the golden logo of the Imperial Academy on his robes. "That... is possible. Its also possible he's trying to slowly work his way into local mythology... bind himself to a land spirit."

She blinked, and turned to her boyfriend. ".Bind himself to a land spirit?"

Terra laughed. "That's... Land spirits are just a sort-of... thing that exists over a forest, a region. If enough people and animals think of a place a certain way, it makes a land spirit. It lasts as long as people think of it that way, and over time it can influence the place, grow a mind and personality of its own. Honestly, there's probably a simpler reason."

The others turned to Terra. Praxius sighed. "I've been thinking it through for hours now, and no idea. What is this 'simple' reason?"

"For the same reason mom takes care of things around her village. She lives there, likes to help take care of things, keep the peace. Why can't it just be that Hillsdale is his home, and he wants it to thrive and be a good place to live? And, well. Being an elf, he doesn't want people to know he's doing it, so he doesn't get lynched."

Praxius blinked, staring at his granddaughter. "...It couldn't possibly be that simple. He's an archmage! As strong as you could possibly be before your magic starts to leak out just walking down the street! People like that don't just... try to make a community thrive!"

Derek gave a low chuckle. "Well. Honestly, exactly that sort of attitude would mesh with my land spirit theory. And even more honestly, I'm more interested than ever in asking it for help with my research. A chance to get ideas from a century-old archmage? Who wouldn't want that? This is going to be amazing!"