1: Afterburn

The burn had been thrilling.

Deep fire high in the night as myriad glow-forms of fellow humans glittered in the flickering light, shadows dancing sharp against the Black Rock playa, as we hooted and roared and cheered for the crashing, splintering, exploding form of The Man that had spun at the center of our Psyche all week. Before us all He burned and together, again, we were released.

The burn blew nightheat hotbreeze against our sunburnt skin. Above us a billion stars churned. One of them had to be the place we had once come from. But out here on the flat reaches of the playa, the earth was but a distant memory.

The crowd had raced in as He came down and then a whirlpool mob began to shuffle then jog then run around the roaring form of what had once been. We jogged along, then split out, eager to find the rest of the night and whatever beautiful madness we could discover. There was much to see, as always.