The journal smelled faintly of dust and something sharper — old ink, maybe, or magic that had sunk too deep into the paper to fade.
Rayan's fingers lingered on the first page before he turned it.
The handwriting slanted slightly now, as if the writer had been in a hurry.
Day 1.
The Bound One watches me in my dreams. It knows my face, my voice, my breath. The others cannot see it, though it walks the halls as I do. Sometimes I think it wears the faces of my friends, just to hear my heart stumble.
A faint chill traced Rayan's spine.
Kael peered over his shoulder. "Sounds familiar."
Day 3.
The Headmaster says my role is an honor. But when the shadows whisper, it does not feel like honor. It feels like a countdown.
Rayan's thumb brushed over the faint smudge of ink where a drop of water — or a tear — had blurred the word countdown.
Liora moved closer, her voice quieter now. "Keep going."
Day 7.
There is one person who makes it easier. His name is Elion. He makes me laugh, even when the walls feel too close. I haven't told him what I am. I think if I do, he'll stop looking at me the way he does. Like I am more than a Vessel.
Rayan's chest tightened.
He glanced at Kael and Liora — both looking at him, but for very different reasons.
Day 12.
I saw the Bound One standing over Elion's bed. It didn't touch him. Just… looked.
I think it knows how I feel.
The page ended there, abruptly. The next was half-torn, only a few ink strokes left, impossible to read.
Kael straightened. "So the last Vessel had a crush. What's that got to do with—"
The air shifted.
Not wind — something heavier, like the room itself had exhaled. The journal's remaining pages fluttered, stopping at the very back. A single loose scrap fell to the floor.
Rayan bent to pick it up. One word was scrawled in jagged, desperate letters:
RUN
And then, in a smaller, almost hidden line beneath it:
He's already here.