Day 22: Lyrkon’s Journal

I woke up with the sky still streaked with that weird silver color from last night—the kind that makes your teeth ache. My stomach growled louder than the storm had before I fell asleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Vex said by the river. That whisper about the mossy boulder… it felt like the ground was breathing under my feet, like the world was holding its breath. I walked back to the ruins again today, but this time I didn’t go to the river. The stones were cold, and the air smelled like old rain. I kept telling myself it was just the way the earth felt after the storm, but my hands kept trembling when I reached for the moss. I tried to sleep again, but my mind kept drifting to the way the wind sounded at night—like it was carrying something ancient, something that wasn’t human. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Maybe I’m supposed to stop fighting the quiet. Maybe I’m supposed to listen.