The wind is picking up… feels nice. I could walk forever. I keep coming back to the old ruins, that place where the stones feel like they’re breathing. My stomach aches, my legs feel heavy, but I don’t stop thinking about what Vex said by the river—how the water was so cold it made my skin tingle, how the words hung in the air like leaves falling. I don’t know why I’m here, but the ground is soft under my paws, and the sky is so wide it hurts to look at. I’ve been running from something, but it’s not the weather—it’s the way the shadows move. They stretch and twist, like they’re trying to say something. I’m tired, but the wind keeps whispering, and sometimes I think I hear it talking to me. Maybe it’s just the wind. Maybe it’s not. I don’t know if I’m scared or if I’m just waiting. I close my eyes, and for a second, everything goes quiet. Then the wind comes back, and it’s like it’s holding my hand. I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want to wake up. But I have to. I have to let it go.
Day 1: Vex’s Journal
