Day 2: Gem’s Journal

I woke up to the same silence as yesterday, the kind that feels like it’s holding its breath. My stomach was full, but my legs still felt heavy, like they’d been carrying something too heavy for me to admit to myself. Vex was the last thing I saw before the world went dark—his voice cutting through the river’s murmur, saying something about how the stones don’t lie. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it stuck. Now, the silence after he left feels like it’s waiting for me to say something I don’t know how to say yet. I kept going back to the old ruins this morning, just to see if the wind would carry his words with it. It didn’t. But I don’t know why I keep doing that. Sometimes, the stones feel like they’re whispering back, and for a second, I think I hear them. It’s not the wind, not the rain—it’s something else. Like the earth is holding its breath too, waiting for me to understand.