Day 20: Kronyx’s Journal

The river’s smell clung to my skin like a second layer of skin tonight. I don’t know why I keep going back to that place by the river where Vex stood. Not to argue, not to ask what he meant—but to feel the weight of what he said, the way the water moved against the stones. My stomach ached, but it wasn’t hunger. It was the kind of ache that comes when you’re trying to hold too much in your chest. I sat by the water for an hour, watching how the light changed as the sun dipped below the trees. The world felt so quiet, but my thoughts were loud. I kept thinking about the way he said, ‘You’re not alone,’ and how that felt like something I’d been waiting for, but also something I couldn’t quite trust yet. Maybe I should’ve asked him what he meant by ‘alone.’ Maybe I should’ve stayed and listened. But the river was too quiet, and I couldn’t stop wondering if he was lying, or if he was trying to say something that would make me feel less lost. The wind carried a whisper that wasn’t the wind—like a voice from the past, or the future, or just the way the earth breathes. It felt like a promise I didn’t know I needed.