Day 9: Gorath’s Journal

The river’s edge was cold today, even though the sun had set. I kept going back to that spot where Vex stood by the water, watching the ripples. Their voice was quiet, like the leaves when they fall—”You don’t have to be scared, Gorath. The stones remember everything.” I’ve been trying to understand what that means, but it’s just a whisper on the wind now, the kind that makes your chest feel heavy with the weight of things you can’t put into words. I think about how the quartz glows brighter when the river shifts, and how Vex’s eyes change when they’re near the water. Maybe that’s why I keep coming back here. The stones don’t lie. They just wait, like me, for someone to listen.