The elf giggled like windchimes and birdsong. “Follow me, and I’ll show you.”

I knew I shouldn’t, but as they danced away down the path – they looked so carefree and were clearly having so much fun – I found myself giving a soft smile and walking along behind, feet moving without any thought or effort, and realized I didn’t want to stop them. They turned and smirked at me. “That’s right. This way! Come further into my woods.”

I enjoyed the crunch of the leaves underfoot with each step. The cool breeze caressed my face. In the distance, birds were singing and other little animals were skittering and chittering and the whole forest was just so peaceful.

But as I looked around, I noticed that with each step, things began to change. The colors on the leaves became more vibrant. The feel of the leaves crunching underfoot seemed…crunchier. The breeze was still a pleasant coolness, but sharper somehow, and more tingly. I shivered. The real was becoming surreal. And each step I took made it more vibrant and clear and shining.

Suddenly, I realized that the elf had been talking as we walked, voice a soothing, soft sing-song cadence, telling me about the experience I was having as if they could read my thoughts. Yet for some reason this seemed fine, normal, almost expected. “Your voice is enchanting.”

The elf paused, ruffled my hair, then leaned in to whisper, “Thank you. Keep listening.” And off we went again, them capering and spinning now and again, chuckling and smirking and sometimes I could almost make out words but most of the time that lovely liquid voice poured into my ears and into my thoughts and the forest around me came alive and aglow.

Suddenly the path opened into a clearing. The elf waved their hands and a thick quilt was spread before us on the forest floor. I stopped and gasped in shock. A wave of arousal and excitement shot through me, seeming out of nowhere. I blushed.

“Mmm, you feel it, don’t you? The very air you breathe is full of heat, full of desire, and you’re taking in more with every breath, every step closer to this enchanting spot where you’ll lay yourself down and give yourself to me.”

“Ah,” I wanted to speak, though whether to agree or protest I wasn’t sure. My thoughts had been driven away by desire. My feet carried me to the blanket. My body laid itself down. Part of me wondered why I was ok with this. The rest of me pulsed and writhed and begged.

I blinked, realizing the elf had stripped off all their clothing. I found myself starting to remove my shirt, but they snapped their fingers and told me to freeze, and I did. Suddenly I couldn’t move, even though I longed to help, to get the clothes off me faster, to pull them onto me, into me. I needed their lips on mine, their skin on mine, needed them touching me. Once I was naked, they snapped again, and suddenly I could move. I began to kiss them, hungrily, greedily, and they returned my passion and moved their body over mine. I lost track of my words, my thoughts, my body, the passage of time. My world was a confusing haze of dreamy joy.

Sometimes their hands in my hair controlled my head, pointing my mouth where they wanted it to go. Sometimes they snapped and I froze again, and they positioned my limbs where they wanted them before moving on. They took and they gave. We writhed together and cried out in joy. Then, spent, we rested in each other’s embrace. They caressed my face, smoothed my hair, fingertips traced tingling paths down my arms. The forest and I glowed the same, I breathed with the enchanting breeze, the birds sang through me and in me and to me. I smiled up at them, so content.

But after a while, I started to feel cold, and as though perhaps we ought to get cleaned up a bit. They chuckled, took one last lingering look at my naked body, and said, “Mmm, so good you are for me. Such a good subject, to take in my enchantment so deeply. But you’re right, the magic is fading. Time to let the woods be just trees again, the trees just wood. Time to come back to earth and to yourself. Feel your perception returning to normal, your breathing easy, a rush of energy filling you as you remember who I am and how we came to be here. And…wake!”