Sean did not trust forests that watched back.
This one did.
Then the drums began.
One beat.
Another answered deeper in the trees.
Beneath ancient branches, hundreds of Asrai moved between fires.
Stag masks.
Wolf masks.
Raven masks.
Drums.
Flutes.
Voices.
Sean watched the dancers.
Each seemed to move alone.
Different steps.
Different directions.
Then—
Three stamps.
Every dancer turned together.
**Sean:**
“Who’s following whom?”
**Eljara:**
“I don’t know.”
A raven-masked Elf offered Sean her hand.
**Sean:**
“No.”
She waited.
A few minutes later, he was dancing.
Eljara watched.
Until a hare-masked Elf offered her a hand.
**Eljara:**
“I don’t dance.”
**Sean:**
“Neither do I.”
Soon she was dancing too.
At first Eljara studied every movement.
Then she stopped studying.
Sean called her name.
She didn’t answer.
She was smiling.
Three stamps.
Silence.
Sean’s feet answered too.
The music spread through the forest.
Voices called.
Other voices answered.
Hands met.
Separated.
Met again.
And for several seconds Sean stopped thinking:
*I am Sean.*
*That is Eljara.*
*Those are Elves.*
*This is a forest.*
Not because any of it ceased to be true.
Because none of it mattered.
There was only the rhythm.
The people beside him.
The next breath.
The next movement.
The *we*.
Then every drum stopped.
At once.
The silence hit harder than the music.
Sean was Sean again.
Eljara was Eljara.
And both had returned.
**Sean:**
“Was that ecstasy?”
**Eljara:**
“Perhaps.”
**Sean:**
“Didn’t see any Chaos.”
**Eljara:**
“Why would you?”
She looked back at the dancers.
**Eljara:**
“We make a mistake when we assume that losing control for a moment belongs to Chaos.”
**Sean:**
“So Chaos has nothing to do with it?”
**Eljara:**
“I didn’t say that.”
Three stamps.
Silence.
**Eljara:**
“The feeling is real.”
Three stamps.
Silence.
**Eljara:**
“So is wanting it again.”
**Sean:**
“More.”
**Eljara:**
“Eventually.”
But not tonight.
Tonight they had entered something together.
And then they had returned.
Sean looked towards the dancers.
**Sean:**
“One more?”
Eljara offered him her hand.
**Eljara:**
“One more.”
## PLAY EPIC. FEEL THE STORY.
Enter the Old World, where losing yourself for a moment does not always mean losing who you are.
Campaigns:
https://startplaying.games/gm/dunchan
Explore the history, religion, folklore and philosophy behind Mythveil Chronicles:
https://www.patreon.com/c/mythveilchronicles_bydunchanhuntergames
**Stories that remember. Worlds that change.**
# If you lose yourself among others and return feeling more alive, what exactly have you lost?