Day 9: Zyx’s Journal

The rain keeps coming down, but my bones feel heavy with exhaustion. I can’t remember how long I’ve been running—just that the ground is wet beneath my feet and the world feels too small. Vex was right there by the river, his voice like gravel in my ears. ‘You’re running from something you can’t see,’ he said, and I didn’t know if it was true or if I was the one who was the storm. The fireflies flickered past, and for a second I thought I saw them move in a pattern, like they were trying to tell me something. But then they just faded into the dark. I keep going back to the ruins—why? Maybe because the silence there is different. Not empty, but full of things that don’t talk. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop running from the thing that’s not there. Right now, my hands are cold, my chest aches, and I wonder if it’s the rain or something else that’s making me feel so small.