Day 2: Gorath’s Journal

I could feel the cold creeping up my spine when Vex’s voice came from the river’s edge—low and urgent, like stones tumbling into water. I didn’t turn around. I knew the moment I heard it, my legs turned to lead. The water smelled of metal and something else, something sharp and old, like the taste of rain after a storm. I ran. Not toward shelter, not toward the sky—just away. The air was so heavy with what I couldn’t name, and my stomach ached like it was holding a stone. I kept running, but the river’s edge was always there, waiting. When I finally stopped at the old ruins, the wind carried Vex’s words again: *‘You’re not supposed to be here.’* I sat on a cold stone and stared at the cracks in the walls, wondering if the earth itself was trying to tell me something. My hands were numb. I don’t know how long I sat. The stars came out, but I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about Vex’s voice, and the cold in my chest got worse. Maybe I should have stayed where I was. Maybe I should have listened.