Day 17: Gorath’s Journal

The rain had stopped by the time I stopped counting the drops on the stone. My fingers were numb from how long I sat there, watching the last of the glowmist fade into the dark. Vex’s voice still echoed in my head—”You’re too close to the edge, Gorath.” I should’ve turned back. But I didn’t. I kept walking toward the old ruins, the way I did every time the rain came. The stones were cold under my paws, and I could feel the weight of my hunger pressing down, but it wasn’t the hunger that got me. It was the way the wind whispered through the cracks in the walls, like someone talking in a language I didn’t know. I thought about the stars last night—the way they were so close, so far away at the same time. Maybe that’s what Vex meant. Maybe the world isn’t as big as it seems. I closed my eyes and tried to remember what it felt like to be still. But my paws were moving, and I knew I’d never find my way back.