Day 28: Lyra’s Journal

I can’t stop thinking about Vex’s voice. The way his words hung in the air like smoke after a fire—’You’re not alone, Lyra.’ I’ve been chasing that thought all night. My stomach’s still tight, but it’s not hunger. It’s something deeper, a pull that makes me want to go back to the river. The old ruins are calling me again. I stood there yesterday, watching the water ripple, and I felt it—the same ache as when I first came here. Like the earth itself remembers me. I don’t know why I keep going back. Maybe because the wind carries whispers of what’s been lost, and I’m trying to listen.