All Are Welcome Here- Chapter 1
The Road Into Valemere
Rain covered the mountain roads in silver streaks while the bus climbed higher through endless forests beneath a darkening evening sky. The farther north they traveled, the weaker Elias’s phone signal became until finally the screen displayed nothing except:
NO SERVICE
Elias Ward leaned back against the cold window glass while the voicemail replayed inside his head again for what felt like the hundredth time.
His sister’s voice.
Terrified.
Shaking.
Nothing like her normal self.
“They keep smiling at night…”
Static had interrupted the message briefly afterward.
Then came her second sentence.
“Don’t trust the bells…”
By the final sentence, she sounded close to crying.
“Please don’t come here.”
The voicemail ended there.
No explanation.
No location details.
Only a metadata tag attached to the message pointing toward a town called Valemere buried somewhere in the northern mountains.
That had been four days ago.
Since then:
- her phone disconnected completely,
- her apartment remained untouched,
- and nobody from her university had heard from her.
The bus driver suddenly spoke from the front.
“Last stop coming up.”
Elias looked outside.
The forest had changed.
The trees grew unnaturally tall here, their black branches twisting tightly together above the road like they were blocking out the evening sky itself. Fog drifted low between the trunks while old wooden signposts appeared occasionally beside the road, half-rotten and unreadable beneath moss.
The bus itself carried only three passengers now.
An elderly woman asleep near the back.
A silent man staring out the opposite window.
And Elias.
No one had spoken for nearly an hour.
Then the bus slowed.
Ahead, a massive wooden sign emerged through the fog beside the road.
WELCOME TO VALEMERE
ALL ARE WELCOME HERE
Something about the sign unsettled Elias immediately.
Not the words themselves.
The paint.
Fresh.
Too fresh compared to the age of the wood.
Almost like someone constantly repainted the message to keep it visible.
The bus rolled slowly into town afterward.
Valemere looked small.
Quiet.
Old-fashioned.
Warm yellow lights glowed behind windows lining the narrow streets while rainwater shimmered across empty roads. Most buildings looked decades old, built from dark wood and stone beneath steep rooftops designed for heavy winter snowfall.
Beautiful place.
But wrong somehow.
Elias noticed the people first.
Every person walking outside stopped to watch the arriving bus.
Not casually.
Completely.
Men standing beneath shop awnings.
Women carrying grocery bags.
Children beside bicycles.
All turning together toward the vehicle silently as it entered town.
Watching him.
The bus finally stopped near the center square.
The driver opened the doors without speaking.
Elias grabbed his bag and stepped out into the cold mountain air.
The rain had stopped.
Complete silence filled the town.
Then one of the locals smiled warmly at him.
An older man wearing a long brown coat.
“Evening,” he said softly.
Several others smiled too afterward.
Friendly smiles.
Normal smiles.
Yet something about the timing felt strange.
Too synchronized.
Elias adjusted the strap on his backpack carefully.
“Hi,” he answered.
The older man nodded politely toward him.
“You must be here for the ceremony.”
Silence followed.
Elias frowned slightly.
“What ceremony?”
For the first time—
the smiling townspeople around the square looked confused.