The Voice Between flowed into Reed like liquid darkness, a torrent of screaming consciousness that threatened to shatter his mathematical form. A million consumed souls crashed through his perception, each carrying fragments of memory, horror, and desperate clinging awareness. Reed's consciousness fractured under the assault, splitting into innumerable fragments—each one processing a different soul's anguish.
"Reed!" Shia's voice barely penetrated the cacophony. Her luminescent form flickered dangerously, cracks spreading across her transformed body like spiderwebs on glass.
Shavia watched from beyond the failing barrier, her perfect features arranged in an expression of curious amusement. "Fascinating choice," she murmured. "I expected surrender, not self-immolation."
