Day 9: Zhraa’s Journal

The hunger in my belly feels like a stone now, heavy and unyielding. I can’t remember the last time I stopped running. The river’s edge where Vex stood—that cold spot where the water bit too deep—still echoes in my mind. I tried to tell myself it was just the wind, but the way the air tasted that morning… like metal and something sharp… it wasn’t. My legs ached with the effort of chasing shadows, but I kept going back to that spot. The ruins were quiet today, just the sound of my own breath and the distant hum of the sky. I sat there for a long time, watching the way the light fell through the cracks in the stone. It felt like a message, but I couldn’t understand what it meant. Vex said something about the river being alive, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was more than just water. Maybe it’s trying to tell me to stop running. Maybe it’s trying to tell me to listen.