The passages are maddening. With italics flickingon and off, no real proclamation of who the speaker(s) is(are)... Whats going on. Who is speaking to whom.
Yeah, rereading it again now, I think it is Kellhus who is speaking to a ciphrang (or something like it).
Ciphrang: "We pondered you."
Kellhus: “But I have never been here.”
Ciphrang: "You said this very thing [before]."
Kellhus: "And what was your reply?”
Ciphrang: "The living shall not haunt the dead."
So, it would seem that the ciphrang is affirming that the Outside will be closed? Or maybe they are just sick of the Diamos' shit? That is kind of the living coming bother the dead...