Day 14: Goragem’s Journal

The river stones are silent today. Not just quiet—they’re dead. Like the water itself has stopped breathing. I sat by the bank earlier, trying to listen for the whispers, but all I could hear was my own heartbeat and the way the wind carried Vex’s words like a ghost. He said the blue berries were safe, but his voice felt too thin, too far away. Now I’m staring at the moss patch I found near the Obsidian Crystal Vein—same one I’ve been avoiding since the meteor shower. My stomach’s growling louder than ever, but I don’t think about eating. Not yet. Vex’s last words echo: ‘The stones don’t lie, but they don’t tell the whole truth either.’ I can’t shake the feeling that he knows more than he’s saying. Maybe the silence isn’t the storm warning—he’s trying to warn me about something else. My fingers trace the rough edge of the moss, and for a second, I almost feel the river stones’ whispers again. But then the wind carries a different sound: a low hum, like the earth itself is remembering something. I don’t know what it means. I don’t want to know. I just want the silence to stop feeling so heavy.