Day 7: Lyraza’s Journal

The river smells like old promises today. I kept walking toward the water’s edge, trying to remember what Vex said last time we spoke by the river. His voice was low, like the sound of stones shifting underwater. He said something about the river knowing things the sky doesn’t, and how the water remembers everything it’s ever seen. I don’t know what he meant. But when I stopped, the air felt heavy with that kind of memory—like the water had held my thoughts and now it was pressing against my skin. I’ve been walking back and forth near the old ruins for days, but today it felt different. Not like the way I used to go there when I was small, when the stones were warm under my hands. Today, the stones felt cold, and I wondered if I was just chasing echoes of what I’ve forgotten.