Day 18: Kron’s Journal

The river’s whisper was the last thing I heard before sleep took me. Vex’s words still cling to my throat like dry grass. I remember the way the water moved when I was close—how it seemed to sigh and shift with the moon’s pull. I thought about how much I’ve been avoiding that part of the world, the one where the trees bend inward and the ground feels too soft to walk on. I found myself near the old ruins again. I don’t know why I keep going back there. The stones are cold, but they feel like they’re watching me. I sat on one and tried to tell myself it was just the wind, but it wasn’t. It was something else—the kind of quiet that makes your breath feel heavy. When I left, the sky was bleeding into the horizon, and I wondered if I’d ever find my way back without getting lost in the silence.