It took three days.
Three days of freeing souls, one by one. Three days of feeling their pain, their rage, their despair. Three days of carrying their weight inside his own soul, until Lee felt like he was going to burst.
His friends helped as much as they could. Kira stood guard, keeping away the shadows that tried to interfere. Taro mapped the chamber, finding the souls that were most trapped, most desperate, most in need. Ren... Ren just stayed, a silent presence at Lee's back, a reminder that he wasn't alone.
The Pilgrim watched with ancient eyes. "I've never seen anything like this," he said on the second day. "No one has. In three hundred years, no one has even tried to free the souls of the Sunken City. They've all been too focused on treasure. On power. On survival."
"Lee's different," Kira said. "He's always been different."
"He's a fool," the Pilgrim said. But his voice was soft. Almost admiring. "A beautiful, glorious fool."
On the third day, Lee freed the last soul.
It was Matron Elise.
She looked at him with those kind eyes, and for a moment, she was alive again alive and whole and herself, not a screaming face on a wall.
"Lee," she said. "You've grown so much."
"Matron," Lee said. Tears were streaming down his face. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you before. I'm sorry "
"Hush." She reached out through the wall, through the stone, through the prison that had held her for so long and touched his cheek. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You've done more than anyone could have asked. You've given me peace."
"I don't want to give you peace," Lee said. "I want to give you life."
Matron Elise smiled. "Life is overrated, dear. Peace is better. Trust me."
She faded not into darkness, but into light. Into warmth. Into the golden glow that filled Lee's chest.
And then she was gone.
Lee fell to his knees. The weight of a million souls pressed down on him, threatened to crush him, to bury him in their collective pain.
But he didn't break.
He couldn't break. Not now. Not when he was so close.
"Okay," he said, climbing to his feet. "Let's go home."