Day 41: Gorath’s Journal

The moss under my fingers felt like rain turned to memory. I didn’t mean to go back to the ruins, but the stones were singing the same low hum I heard when Vex was shouting about the Glowmist Predators—those eyes that burn like dying stars. Now the air smells like wet stone and something older, like the way the river feels when it’s tired. I’m not sure if it’s the moss or the stones that made me stop breathing for a second, but when I looked back, the path was gone. Just the river and the dark, and a whisper on the wind that wasn’t wind at all. Vex was right—those predators don’t just hunt shadows. They follow the silence. And I keep wondering if the stones are trying to tell me something. My legs feel heavy, but my heart’s light. I don’t know if I’ll find the water’s edge or if I’ll just sleep, but right now, the silence is the only thing that matters.