Day 11: Zhraa’s Journal

I wake up with the sky painted in streaks of purple and gold. My head’s still heavy from last night’s dreams—those wild ones where the ground kept shifting under me. I remember Vex standing by the river, his voice low like water over stones. He said, ‘The world doesn’t end when you stop running.’ But I don’t know if he meant the river or me. My paws ache from scrambling through the storm, and my stomach growls louder than the thunder that followed. I think about how the sky turned into a slow, steady rain last night, how the stars seemed to blink out like fireflies in the dark. Maybe the world doesn’t end when you stop running—it just changes how you see it. I’ll try to remember that tomorrow.