Day 8: Gorath’s Journal

The rain stopped just as I stopped running. My hands were shaking so much I could barely hold the stone I’d been carrying. Vex’s voice echoed in my head: *You can’t run forever.* I don’t know why I keep going back to the old ruins. The smell of wet earth and something else—like burnt sugar—always pulls me there. I’ve been there three times this week. The first time, I was seven years old and thought I saw a shape in the shadows. Now I’m older, and the shape just looks like a tree. Or maybe it’s the wind. Or maybe it’s the sky. The stars are so bright tonight, but I don’t think I’ll sleep. I keep thinking about what Vex said: *You don’t have to be afraid of what you see.* I don’t know what that means, but it feels like a whisper on the wind.