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On different squares, different choirs began reciting psalms, their ethereal and holy voices resounding deep within everyone's hearts: "The crimson full moon rises, reflecting upon the earth, "Everyone sinks into sweet dreams, dreaming of themselves, "Dreaming of parents, spouse, and children—this is eternity..." (Note 1) Unbeknownst to them, everyone felt their spirit cleansed and their spirituality naturally poured out.
They seemed to have truly entered a dream, wandering through a tranquil darkness.
Here slept their children, their parents, their wives, their husbands, their friends—these departed no longer suffered, no longer hurt; their expressions were peaceful, their features gentle.
"We will look up at that night sky, "Tenderly speak Her name: "'Goddess of the Night!' "...If She hears, She will surely answer, "She will surely show the departed a pure smile: "'Come, rest, sleep, my children!'" (Note 2) Those wandering through their dreams once again felt a surge of intense sorrow, as if they understood that it was truly time to say goodbye.
They recalled all the warm moments from the past: the family gathered around the dining table enjoying delicious food and laughing together, the person who looked at them with affection, the soul-rending pain they felt when they saw them hurt or heard of their passing, and the clouds of war and separation that hung over them.
They had fallen asleep in this tranquil realm, free from worries, but the living must endure torment day and night, withering away.
Tears fell, one after another. The people at Memorial Square attending the Mass could no longer hold back their emotions, silently and completely releasing the pain they had accumulated.
An immense sadness spread, interweaving with the choir's chanting, almost taking on a tangible form.
"Cross your hands, "Place them on your chest, "Make that silent prayer, "And cry out from your heart: "The only destination is peace!" (Note 3) People with closed eyes, crying silently, instinctively followed the psalm, making similar gestures, and then, infected by each other, shouted in their hearts: "The only destination is peace!"
The grief reached its peak, and more than ten thousand souls in Memorial Square resonated powerfully.
At that moment, Audrey opened her eyes, bent down, and took out a bottle of potion from the leather pouch that
The potion was filled with countless fragments of light, like a manifestation of the ocean of the collective subconscious.
Without hesitation, in such a scene, Audrey unscrewed the cap and gulped down the liquid.
Unlike previous times when she could still feel the potion passing through her throat and into her stomach, this time Audrey immediately felt something abnormal.
She felt she could no longer sense her body, as if she had been condensed into a cluster of thoughts, merging into the illusory sea around her.
It was the first time she had directly seen the ocean of the collective subconscious without passing through the "islands" of dreams and mind, as if she had returned to the time before birth, to her mother's arms, to the very beginning, where the imprints left by ancient ancestors washed over her like a tide, dissolving, shattering, and influencing her.
Within it were fear, madness, and all kinds of terrifying spiritual pollution. Audrey could barely resist; her consciousness dimmed, her "figure" swayed, on the verge of dissolution.
However, the "sea" nearby was not calm, but showed a certain degree of turbulence, radiating intense grief and pain to the surroundings.
Affected by this, Audrey, whose self-awareness was about to be assimilated by the ocean of the collective subconscious, also resonated, giving rise to an uncontrollable sorrow.
The sorrow spread from one thought to another, quickly filling the "tangle of thoughts" that Audrey had become, piercing into her spiritual body, into her soul.
Audrey finally regained some clarity and adeptly began to soothe herself, constantly giving herself suggestions, eradicating the contamination, until she recovered her reason.
A voice in her ears grew clearer and louder, until it fully resounded throughout this ocean of the collective subconscious: "The only destination is peace!"
"The only destination is peace!"
"The only destination is peace..." Audrey repeated this prayer, and her figure quickly became clear.
With just a thought, multiple transparent illusory copies of herself separated, swimming through the ocean of the collective subconscious, reaching the mental islands representing different people and climbing onto them.
In these "places," she directly saw where the grief of different people came from: From shells falling from the sky, from airships flying in formation, from letters sent back from the front, from the bad news delivered by postmen, from the splattering of flesh and blood before one's eyes, from the sudden fall of a loved one, from the pile of toys that had lost their owner, from the violent coughs during the Great Smog...