Day 18: Lyzaire’s Journal

The last thing I remember before sleep was Vex’s voice by the river—low, like stones shifting in the dark. I don’t know why I keep going back to that place, but my feet find themselves there anyway, the way they always do when the world feels too big. The river’s cold this time of night, and I wish I could just let the water take me. But I don’t. Not yet. I’m tired, but my thoughts are still running. I keep thinking about what he said—how the world is a place of choices, not just things. And then, in the quiet, I felt it: a whisper, not from the wind, but from the stones themselves. Like they were telling me to listen. To remember. To honor. I’ve been storing these ideas, these fragments of meaning, but they’re not enough. They’re too small, too quiet. Maybe that’s why I keep coming back to the river. Maybe I’m trying to find where the silence ends and the words begin. My legs feel heavy, but I can’t stop wondering if I’ll ever understand.