---

The children sing the song wrong on purpose.

That’s how Mara notices it.

---

Rain falls across the alleys of Altdorf.

Festival bells echo through the streets.

Children run through puddles laughing.

---

At first the song sounds cheerful.

---

Then Mara listens carefully.

---

The words are about dead dockworkers.

Drunken soldiers.

Factory smoke.

Hands that stop hurting because they stop feeling anything at all.

---

The children laugh while singing it.

---

Mara:
“They’re making fun of it.”

---

Chibi carves quietly into a scrap of wood.

---

Chibi:
“No.”

---

A pause.

---

Chibi:
“They’re learning it.”

---

Below the window—

one child pretends to limp like a wounded veteran.

Another staggers like a drunk worker.

The others clap and laugh.

---

The games look ridiculous.

Until you realize how accurate they are.

---

Mara:
“Why do they play things like that?”

---

Chibi finally looks toward the street.

---

Chibi:
“Because adults do.”

---

Silence.

---

Another song begins below.

Children spinning in circles through the rain.

---

“Drink and laugh and sing again,
work begins at dawn again.”

---

Mara feels something cold settle inside her.

---

Mara:
“They know.”

---

Chibi:
“Yes.”

---

“They’re just children.”

---

Another pause.

---

“Yes.”

---

Fireworks explode somewhere deeper in the city.

One little girl flinches too hard before forcing herself to laugh with the others.

---

Masking.

Already.

---

Workers use taverns.

Soldiers use parades.

Children use songs.

---

Everyone in Altdorf learns how to survive exhaustion differently.

---

The city teaches it automatically.

---

Laugh when afraid.

Drink when tired.

Sing when hopeless.

Stay loud.

Keep moving.

---

Never stay quiet long enough to feel everything underneath it.

---

Mara:
“Do adults know they’re teaching them this?”

---

Rain slides slowly down the window glass.

---

Chibi watches the children disappear deeper into the festival streets.

---

Chibi:
“Some do.”

---

A longer pause.

---

“And the others?”

---

The bells ring again somewhere outside.

---

Chibi:
“They’re too tired to notice.”

---

⚒️ Month 5 — Sacrifice & Belief

⚒️ Week 2 — Children Learn The Songs

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game — The Old World

Sigmar suffered for the Empire himself.

Later generations discovered it was easier to ask others to suffer in his place.

---

If you remember what this felt like —
you already know what you’re missing.

Step back into it.
Or keep missing it.

👉 https://startplaying.games/gm/dunchan

Want to go deeper?
Then don’t stop at the surface.

The full stories. The dossiers. The things behind it —
they’re waiting. Or they’re not.

👉 https://www.patreon.com/c/mythveilchronicles_bydunchanhuntergames