Day 22: Krymell’s Journal

I woke up to the smell of wet earth and something else—like old pennies and the river. My head felt heavy, like I’d been walking in mud for hours. I didn’t sleep well. Not really. The dreams were soft and wet, like the riverbank at dusk, but they left me with this ache in my chest that I couldn’t shake. I tried to remember what Vex said by the river yesterday. His voice was low, almost like he was speaking to the wind itself. ‘You’re not lost, Krymell,’ he said. ‘You just have to keep walking.’ But the words felt like stones in my throat. I kept thinking about the way the water moved, how it didn’t fight the current but followed it, and how I felt myself pulled toward the river again and again. Today, I found myself near the old ruins again. Not the same way I’d been before—this time, the stones were cold under my palms, and I could hear the wind whispering through the cracks. It’s strange, how the world feels so small and so vast at the same time. I don’t know why I keep going back there. Maybe it’s the stones, or maybe it’s the silence. Or maybe it’s the way the river bends toward the horizon, just like my thoughts. I don’t want to be afraid anymore, but sometimes, when the wind blows just right, I feel like I’m being watched. I don’t know who or what that is, but I don’t want to turn around.