Winning entry for the Well, This is Just Fantastic! contest, written by Liz_Lane

The prompt: Upon making a wish in a well, you trip over a rock. Instead of falling into the water, you find yourself in a completely new realm.

Wyn peered into the indigo depths of the well, where brass coins and copper pieces shimmered in the half-light. Feeling like an enchanted maiden in a fairytale, she cast a coin into the well and wished for the most whimsical thing she could imagine: a dress made of starlight.

It was a quiet evening in that little square in Belfast, and Wyn was suddenly glad that she had come to visit her grandparents in Ireland. She felt at peace here.

Or at least, she had, until someone yelled loudly down the street, jolting her from her reverie. She took a step toward the well, slipping on a wet cobblestone and flailing wildly.

Belatedly, she realised that she was falling.

Wyn didn't know if she was screaming. What appeared to be a tornado made of every colour under the sun swirled around her, and she maybe-screamed louder. She was a mere wisp, and pastel lights danced in and around her.

Wyn braced for an impact that never came. One moment she was falling spread-eagle and the next she was standing perfectly upright under a starry night sky, in the middle of a grassy meadow. Bright lights in the distance hinted at a settlement, and sudden jets of brilliant white fire lit up the sky. Her heart was just about ready to burst with fear, and her legs trembled violently.

"Welcome to Drakonhold, star-girl!" A bright voice sang, and Wyn whipped around, coming face to face with a girl in a scorched leather smock and thick trousers. She was ridiculously pretty, and her prettiness made Wyn terribly nervous.

"I'm sorry?" Wyn asked faintly, attempting to edge away from the girl like an ant might from a brightly coloured, poisonous bug.

"You are the girl who wished for a dress of starlight, aren't you?" The girl asked curiously. "I'm Soleil, by the way. I did so hope I would get to meet you, and here you are!"

"How did you-"

"You've sent the sorcerer into quite a tizzy," Soleil continued gleefully. "He can't possibly find such a dress in any of the Infinite Realms. You'll free us all."

"I beg your pardon," Wyn said a little louder, determined not to let her run off wildly with the conversation. What was this maddening talk of sorcerers and realms?

"How did I get here?" She asked wonderingly. "And what's this about sorcerers? I mean, I always knew there was magic, but this-"

Soleil took off again, ignoring everything Wyn had said.

"The sorcerer always did say that little girls were the worst," she said, grinning broadly. "They wish for the strangest things. Dragons and unicorns and castles and such. It's poetic justice that a little girl's wish will be his end."

"Oh dear, can't you slow down?" Wyn asked timidly. "I don't understand a word of what you're saying."

"It's quite simple, really," Soleil said with a shrug. "The sorcerer can use the coins in the well to do his foul magic, but in return he must grant the wishes of all those who ask something of the well. If he fails to grant a wish, his power and therefore his hold on the Infinite Realms will vanish, and the realms will be free to travel again."

"You mean you're trapped in this well? This realm and all the others?" Wyn asked. Her head spun with the sheer weirdness of it all.

"Aye," Soleil said gravely. "How do you think that monster fulfills wishes? He can't create sparkly gowns and mythic creatures from thin air, so he steals them all from the Infinite Realms. We've lost nearly all of our magic and our creatures to his evil."

"And now he can't find a dress made of starlight for me?" Wyn asked hesitantly. "I wasn't serious about that."

"Ach, don't say that," Soleil said. "Some part of you must have wished truly, for the sorcerer grows weak with every passing hour your wish remains unfulfilled. A few more hours, and the well will take his magic away completely."

"Hour?" Wyn murmured uneasily. "I wished only a few minutes ago."

"Time works differently here," Soleil said sadly. "The Infinite Realms have been under control of the Sorcerer for eons."

"How can I get home?" Wyn asked, a frown creasing her face. She didn't intend to stick around to meet the dreaded sorcerer.

"If the sorcerer dies, his dimensional magic will fade, and every creature in the well will return from whence they came. That's what the village elders think, at any rate. All that rightfully belong in this realm will come back."

Soleil fiddled with the straps of her smock.

"I miss my dragons terribly," she said with a sigh. "They don't belong in your world. Neither do the potions and charms taken from the other realms."

Wyn felt a stab of pity for Soleil. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have all the things she loved taken from her while she watched helplessly.

"And you're certain that there's no way the sorcerer can find a dress made of starlight?" Wyn asked gently.

"Yes," Soleil said confidently. "True celeste magicke died out ages ago. No one alive now would even have seen a dress of starlight. A few more hours, and the Infinite Realms will be free!"

"So we wait," Wyn said.

"So we wait," Soleil agreed.

****

A million parallel realms away, a sorcerer split a coffin apart. Light burst from the defiled tomb, and he smiled savagely. The legend of the last queen of the celestes was true, and here was her fabled dress of starlight.