"I began thinking about the moment I took them in. Not just what I saw—but how I felt. Fear, pain, guilt, and even pity. I relived it, all of it."
"And in that moment of complete honesty, when I accepted what I'd done and didn't try to hide from it—that's when one of them responded."
Liora's hands tightened slightly on the pages.
"I didn't call them with force. I called them with memory".
"When I opened the gate, I didn't reach out with control. I whispered, feeling an emotion tied to their final moment".
"The moment I remembered them clearly… they came."
And then in smaller writing, as if scribbled quickly:
"Souls don't follow strength. They follow connection."
Liora sat still.
She had never even thought about that. Every soul she absorbed had been during battle. They were chaotic, messy, and cruel. She had never once thought about who or what they had been, even if they were corrupted beasts.
She had taken them, stored them, and ignored them.
But what if she remembered?
