Day 3: Lyra’s Journal

I woke up to the sound of rain tapping against the mossy stones of Zyren’s den. My stomach was still a knot from last night’s hunger—no, not hunger, more like a dull ache that had been there since the storm started. I tried to remember what Vex said by the river that afternoon. The words were so clear in my head: *‘The glowmoss is singing now. It’s not the trees—it’s the crystal vein.’* But when I tried to hold it, it slipped like water through my fingers. I kept going back to that place—the old ruins where the glowmoss grew in patches, glowing faintly under the moon. I don’t know why I keep walking there. Maybe it’s the way the light bends in the moss, or the way the wind carries the hum I heard. Last night, I thought I saw Zyren watching me from the crystal vein. I don’t know if it was real or if I was just tired. But the hum is still there, like a whisper in my bones.