EPISODE 11: THE EXODUS ## PART ONE: THE WAVE ### CHAPTER 1: THE ARRIVAL They came all at once. One moment, the Corridor was operating normally—Watchers guiding souls, doors opening to memories, the infinite passage stretching in peaceful routine. The next moment, thousands of new souls appeared. Not dozens. Not hundreds. Thousands. They filled the Corridor from horizon to horizon, confused and terrified and speaking in a language Marcus didn't recognize. Their fear was a living thing, pressing against the walls, making the fluorescent lights flicker. "What's happening?" Sarah reached for Marcus's hand. "I don't know. This many souls at once... there must have been a disaster." The Keeper appeared beside them, his forgettable face showing something Marcus had never seen there before: alarm. "A mass suicide event," the Keeper said. "It happens occasionally. Wars, plagues, situations so desperate that many choose to end together. But I've never seen this many. Whatever happened in the living world... it was catastrophic." --- ### CHAPTER 2: THE DISASTER The souls couldn't speak English, but language didn't matter in the Corridor. Meaning transferred directly—emotion, memory, understanding. Marcus approached the nearest group and felt their story wash over him. A cult. A charismatic leader. A prophecy about the end of the world. When the appointed day arrived and nothing happened, the leader had...