Mara watched the old woman place a small bowl of milk beneath an ancient tree.
MARA:
“Who is it for?”
The old woman smiled.
OLD WOMAN:
“My grandmother did it.”
She placed another flower beside the bowl.
OLD WOMAN:
“So did her grandmother.”
Chibi looked around.
CHIBI:
“But… there’s nobody here.”
The old woman nodded.
OLD WOMAN:
“That’s the idea.”
A truck climbed the hill behind them.
Workers jumped down carrying axes and measuring poles.
One unfolded a government notice.
WORKER:
“This grove will be cleared.”
The old woman neither argued nor protested.
She simply picked up the little bowl.
MARA:
“Why aren’t you stopping them?”
The old woman looked at the children.
OLD WOMAN:
“Would they listen?”
Silence.
The first axe struck the oldest tree.
A dull echo rolled through the valley.
Not loud.
Deep.
As though something beneath the earth had heard it.
Chibi frowned.
CHIBI:
“Did you feel that?”
Mara nodded.
Before either child could speak again—
every insect fell silent.
Not one.
All of them.
The workers stopped for only a moment.
Then continued cutting.
The old woman quietly whispered—
almost to herself.
OLD WOMAN:
“They think they’re removing trees.”
She looked toward the dark forest beyond the grove.
OLD WOMAN:
“They never wondered…”
“…what the trees were guarding.”
Far beyond the clearing—
something shifted beneath the ancient canopy.
Nothing could be seen.
Only the slow movement of hundreds of treetops…
turning together.
Chibi stared into the forest.
CHIBI:
“Do you think it knows?”
The old woman closed her eyes.
OLD WOMAN:
“It always knew.”
🜍 THE PRICE OF CIVILIZATION
The oldest stories were never meant to explain the world.
They were meant to protect it.
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