Deathly stillness
A light from nowhere illuminated the blank space. Plain tiles stretched from the floor to the ceiling, while haphazard pools lay scattered across the floor, walls, and vaulted dome, defying gravity. They were crystal clear, yet eerily without a single ripple.
In the deathly stillness, only the sound of dripping echoed endlessly in the distance. Yet no matter how carefully one listened, it was impossible to tell where it came from, or whether it was even there at all. It was like an illusion. Then, a viscous human figure suddenly emerged out of thin air and fell to the ground.
Countless writhing, spasming limbs and twisted faces surfaced across its wax-like body, struggling in every direction as they wailed and screamed.
"Kill, kill, kill!"
"Rape!"
"Bring more food... Money... I've got plenty of money... I can do another ten..."
Countless tangled fragments of speech carried strange echoes as they spread and overlapped. As the waxen body changed, they spread and swelled, only to shrink back down once more.
It became a hollow-faced middle-aged man. He stiffly raised a hand and rubbed his face. The emptiness on his features swiftly turned gloomy and mean, like an old crone who loved to haggle over every last detail.
[Mindform · scar], loaded successfully.
"Residual Worm, get out here and see me!"
He—or it—climbed up from the ground, spat without the slightest grace, and angrily berated the empty space until a murky voice rang out.
"Why the "clamor/noise," Beiling?"
It sounded like the voices of countless people layered together, blurred and drifting. Different words were mixed into one another, making one dizzy and unable to hear clearly.
Along with that whisper-like echo, a black dot suddenly emerged from the space, rapidly expanding and spreading. It was like overlapping phantoms of