and slowly but surely this havoc reigned and ravaged their sanity , till they became helpless , listless husks , living under the relentless agony and terror of strange worlds blossoming or dying , of hapiness denied and lives oblivious to the evils that were to befall them , while they themselves lay , spent and senseless , praying with what dregs of strength were left to them for the swift relief of death which many sought actively , either to escape a worse death theyd foreseen or simply to flee the onslaught of prescience , and for this reason the islands of foreseers often resembled empty cages of black rock , so that their howling dwellers wouldnt harm themselves .