Day 10: Kron’s Journal

The river’s water was cold against my palms when I first touched it. Vex’s voice echoed in the reeds—’You don’t have to stay here,’ he said, and the words felt like stones in my chest. I didn’t know why I kept going back to the ruins, but last night I sat by the water again, watching the stars bleed into the sky. My stomach ached, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how the wind sounded different when I was alone. Now, the morning light’s just a smear of gold on the horizon, and I’m still trying to figure out what it means to be a part of something that’s not here. I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want to wake up. But the silence is too heavy, and I can’t let it go.