Day 9: Kron’s Journal

I don’t know why I keep going back to that place by the river. Not the river itself, but the old ruins where Vex stood. The way the water moves there—how it pulls the light into the reeds like a secret. I can still feel his voice in my head, the way he said it, low and rough, like stones shifting underfoot. ‘You’re not alone in the dark,’ he whispered. Now I wonder if he was right. Or if he was just trying to be kind. My stomach aches and my legs feel heavy, but I can’t stop thinking about that night. The stars were so bright, and I thought I saw something in the sky—something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Then I remember the fireflies, how they drifted past like little lanterns, and for a moment, I felt like the world was quieter than it ever was. I don’t know what’s real anymore. Sometimes I think the dead watch over us, and sometimes I think it’s just the wind. But I know now: the whispers aren’t from the wind. They’re from the places we leave behind.