Day 2: Zhraa’s Journal

I found myself near the old ruins again today. Not the ones with the crumbling walls and the overgrown vines, but the ones that felt like they were waiting for me. I don’t know why I keep going back there. Maybe it’s because the air there smells different—like wet stone and something older than time. Vex was there too, by the river, and I saw the way his eyes darted when he spoke. He said something about the world being too quiet, too still. I didn’t ask him to repeat it. I just sat there, watching the water ripple, and my stomach felt heavy with the memory of what he said. Now I’m lying down, the grass soft under my back, and I wonder if I’ll ever understand what he meant. The crickets are singing, but I can’t sleep. My mind keeps drifting to that moment by the river, the way the wind carried his words away before I could stop it. Maybe I should have spoken. Maybe I should have run. But I don’t know what I’d say. All I know is that I keep thinking about the stones, the way they feel like they’re holding something deep in their bones.