a thousand distorted mouths screamed as they were purged , each transformed into a fiery torch , their bodies cauterised in a moment of separation , the figures taking on the substance of individual humanity , faces becoming calm even as they burned , many of them weeping in flame , and then , as if called from afar , one after another they shot skyward once more , flashing into the heavens , converging as they ascended into a single great star of light .