You speak the words, even though you feel sure that they'd have been heard just as clearly if you'd simply thought them.
As if in answer to what you've said, the screams grow louder, rising in volume and, it seems, in anguish and desperation. No matter how terrible it seemed before, it grows more dreadful with every second, until you're forced to clamp your hands over your ears, your teeth gritted, eyes squeezed shut.
And then, silence. The light of the fire is gone: there are no screams, no sound at all. Nothing.
For a fraction of a second, you see the empty, lifeless shell of the world, rotting before you.
Then the mouth of the tunnel is gone, and the apparition that you've been shown has vanished with it. You're left staring at the same flame-lit cavern that you were standing in before.
A hopelessness seems to spread through you: even the knowledge that what you've been shown could not have been there, or at least that the vision was of a future that isn't certain, doesn't stop the cold fingers of dread from gripping your spine.
Then you clench your fists, forcing yourself back into the moment. You have a job to do, something that you came here to finish. And you're not accomplishing anything by simply standing here.
"Kan?"
You spin around, expecting to be faced with another vision. Instead, you see Renault, still standing on the rock floor rather than floating, looking for all the world as though he's been there the entire time.
"Renault!" You'd not meant to shout, but the relief at seeing him—at seeing anyone—again, is overwhelming. Hell might indeed be other people, but right now, you're in no mood to turn down company.
The ghost looks at you in some bemusement. "What's the problem?" he says. "I thought I was only gone for a couple of seconds."
"There were…" you hesitate for a moment before saying, "visions. Where were you?"
At your question, Renault looks pensive. "It was…" He sighs. "It's hard to explain. I was…somewhere else. I don't know exactly where, but I think…" His voice dies away, and he turns aside.