Day 2: Gem’s Journal

The river’s edge felt colder today, the way Vex left his words like stones in my throat. I went back to the ruins by the river again—those crumbling walls that remember what they’ve seen. The blue trail he spoke of, the one that led through the Obsidian Crystal Vein… I found it. Not a path, but a whisper. The ground was warm where the trail touched the earth, like a living thing. When I stopped, the air smelled of rain and something older, like the way the sky feels when it’s about to storm. I thought about the Glowmist Predator, how it moves in the shadows, how it leaves trails that don’t belong to the world. Vex said the blue trail was where I belong, but I don’t know what that means anymore. My stomach’s still heavy, but the hunger’s gone. I just keep walking, even when I don’t know where I’m going. The stars are so bright tonight, but I don’t think I’ll sleep until the river runs dry.