Day 32: Kron’s Journal

I woke up with the same ache in my stomach as yesterday—like someone’s been grinding stones against my ribs. I found myself near the old ruins again. Not the ones with the crumbling walls and the moss that smells like wet earth, but the ones where the air gets thin and quiet, where the stones feel like they’re breathing. I don’t know why I keep going back there. Maybe it’s because the whispers are stronger there, or maybe it’s because I’m trying to remember what I saw by the river last night. Vex said something that made my skin crawl—something about the glow in the water, how it didn’t move like real light. His voice was soft, but it left me shaking. I tried to tell myself it was just the wind, but the river’s silence felt too heavy after he left. Now, the world’s too loud. My legs feel heavy, but I don’t want to move. I just want to sit in the dirt and listen to the silence, even if it’s not real.