The festival should have ended three days ago.

---

Nobody seems to notice.

---

The music continues.

The markets remain crowded.

The taverns stay open.

---

Every evening someone finds a reason to celebrate one more night.

---

Just one more toast.

One more dance.

One more song.

---

The weather remains perfect.

---

No storms.

No rain.

No clouds.

---

Only endless sunlight.

---

The orchards overflow.

The fields glow gold.

The harvest exceeds every expectation.

---

Farmers smile.

Merchants celebrate.

Tourists arrive from neighboring towns.

---

Everyone wants more.

---

Nobody wants summer to end.

---

“Everything is thriving,” Stacy says.

---

Caelwyn watches the crowded square.

---

“Nothing should thrive forever.”

---

The words linger.

---

Not because they sound frightening.

---

Because they sound true.

---

Every day brings another small miracle.

---

Lost things are found.

Businesses prosper.

Couples fall in love.

Children laugh until midnight.

---

The town feels blessed.

---

Yet something feels wrong.

---

Not dangerous.

---

Hungry.

---

Like a feast that never ends.

---

Like a song that refuses to reach its final note.

---

That evening they leave the celebration and walk toward the old standing stones.

---

The festival music still drifts across the valley.

---

Faint.

Distant.

---

Waiting beside one of the stones is a sunflower.

---

Nearly as tall as a man.

---

Too large.

Too perfect.

Too alive.

---

Slowly it turns.

---

Not toward the moon.

---

Toward the town.

---

Toward the festival.

---

Watching.

---

For the first time all week, Caelwyn feels afraid.

---

Because he finally understands something.

---

Whatever is coming—

---

The town is going to welcome it.

---

🜍 THE OLD BARGAINS — Week 2

The danger was not hiding in the darkness.

It was hiding inside everything people wished would last forever.

---

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