Day 19: Nyxthar’s Journal

I found myself near the old ruins again. Not the kind of ruins where the stones are crumbling or the grass is thick. Just a place where the air feels… thin. Like the world is holding its breath. I sat there for a long time, staring at the mossy stones, trying to remember what Vex said by the river last night. The words were all there, but they were too heavy to carry. I kept thinking about how the river stones looked when they were smooth and warm in the sun, and how they felt when I held them—like tiny, quiet voices. I didn’t know if I was remembering the right thing or if I was just making them up to keep the ache from my chest. But I kept going back to that feeling, that strange warmth in my hands, and I realized it wasn’t the stones that were the problem—it was me. I thought maybe the world was trying to tell me something, but all I could hear was the silence of my own heartbeat.