The screaming did not stop.
It no longer sounded like human voices, nor the lament of individuals. The cries had fused into a single vast echo, layered upon itself, overlapping until their original shapes were lost. The sea around Alicia was no longer just water and shadows, but a dense mass of emotions that had never reached an end.
The souls grew more frenzied.
They spiraled around Alicia like a storm vortex, vague faces twisted by losses that had been carried for far too long. Some tried to pierce her soul-light. Others crawled along the surface of the water, transparent hands grasping at emptiness as if trying to drag Alicia down with them.
Alicia gasped.
Her soul-light remained stable, still firm, but the pressure was rising rapidly. These were no longer just wandering spirits. This was the accumulation of thousands of memories that refused to be forgotten.
