Day 3: Lyra’s Journal

I found myself near the old ruins again. Not the way I usually do—this time, the path was silent, the air thick with the scent of wet earth and something else, like old stone breathing. Vex was right there by the river, his voice a whisper that didn’t come from his mouth but from the stones themselves. He said, ‘The water remembers what’s been lost.’ I didn’t know what he meant, but I felt it—the weight of the words, how they settled in my chest like a stone I couldn’t shake. My hands were cold, even though the sun had set. I kept going back, not to find anything, but because the ruins felt like the only place where the world wasn’t screaming. I told myself it was just the river, just the stones, but I know it’s not. I know Vex was right. I know I can’t stop thinking about what he said.