Souls of Light in the Dark

No, I was freed from this foul river by souls full of light, full of a force benevolent and strong. Like water, they did not need to blast through. When necessary, they yielded and went around, but always made it to their destination. They helped me but have moved on.
I don’t know what to do, because for so long I've taken what little food was given, and have forgotten how to find my own. The lives that we used to depend on and coexist with are here no more. It seems they will never be back, they are vanished forever. The soil and banks of the river are sick and poisonous, so much so that it would kill to touch it.
At last freedom but it might well be the death of me. What kind of evil power is this? Does this conscience have the capacity for guilt, for responsibility, for looking itself in the eye? For facing itself in the mirror of time and space? It has left death where life was, and it’s acrid legacy lives on to affect all who come hereafter.