Cera can feel all four of their companions' reactions to seeing her with a blindfold over her eyes, and says "Trying to keep my sanity intact for a little longer. Can't see any ghost-people if I can't see anything."

After a moment, Sagani says "Fair enough. Let's go then." Aloth's leading Cera along, still slightly amazed that she agreed to this - or maybe that's her amazed that she agreed to this. Or maybe both, that's a possibility to. Either way, she's holding onto his hand and following him blindly, trusting him to lead the way.

The others take care of a few shades that cross their path, not at all hard by now, and soon they get to what must be the right place - there's a giant statue of an old woman with a shattered crown, warts on her face, and a very sour expression chiseled into her face. When he focuses, Aloth can actually make out a faint glow in several areas - a result of Cera's mind merging with his, he's seeing souls, though barely. "Cera, you can take the blindfold off now. We're here. At the pit."

She does, taking a few steps forward until the souls merge with her body. Then, she suddenly freezes and starts at a spot in front of the pit in absolute horror.

Aloth quietly says "No, not now, Cera…"

She suddenly spits out a horrified line in Engwithan, and Kana says "I recognized one word in there, the one meaning 'sister' - oh dear…"

Aloth immediately panics and says "Kana, pick her up!"

Cera starts running towards the pit, yelling something in the tone of 'no, stop!' and Kana immediately runs up and slings Cera over his broad shoulder. She can't reach her crossbow, so she starts pounding on Kana's back while yelling in Engwithan - they catch the word ''Vara' several times, especially when she twists around so she can look back at the empty space around the pit and starts yelling something in that direction frantically.

Aloth can feel the weight of whatever it is Cera's seeing pressing against his own mind - taking a risk, he decides to see it to. It'll be just like when he saw one of Cera's far more recent memories, so what's the worst that can happen? Turns out she's seeing Iovara's trial, where Thaos tried to get a confession out of the woman and failed completely. And now Cera's trying to stop it, save her long-dead sister…

He pulls out of the vision, Iovara's words of 'I'm ready…to hear one…from you…' still ringing in his mind, and finds Cera's eyes are closed and she's gone still except for breathing like she's winded. Cera, it's over. Wake up now, please.

Kana asks "Is she alright? If she starts running to the pit again…"

Aloth cups Cera's face in his hands when she opens her eyes, making her look at him. After a minute, she swallows and tries to steady her voice while asking "Does somebody want to explain why Kana's got me slung over his shoulder like a sack of grain?"

Everybody lets out a sigh of relief, and Eder asks "You don't remember? You running towards one big hole in the ground?"

"Not that, I wish I remembered that. Let's go, we've got to jump in anyway."

Cera, what set the vision off?

This place. That horrible statue. I swear, I can still smell the sweat and blood.

She walks up to the edge and looks down - there's no way to know how far down it really goes. "Well, I guess we take a running start?"

When everybody dusts themselves off, all of them somehow still alive - the fact is pretty hard to wrap their heads around, despite the divine assistance. Everybody looks around, Eder sneezing at the sheer amount of dust they churned up by landing. Sagani says "Well, no way back. Let's go finish this. Once and for all."

Everybody nods, Cera making a ball of purple fire in her hand to light the way - spookily, the fire casts everything in an eerie light and throws jagged shadows along the walls. Eder jokingly asks "Why didn't you do this before? We coulda told ghost stories at night! I bet you have the most realistic ghost stories ever, you know."

Kana actually snorts out a laugh, and Cera quietly says "Very funny, Eder. After everything's done, I'll tell the scariest ghost story ever. Maybe connect our minds so you can see it."

Kana says "With your powers, I'm sure you've got plenty to show us!"

One corner of Cera's mouth twitches upwards, but she doesn't laugh. Aloth figures that you aren't really in good spirits when you've just watched your long-dead sister be viciously tortured. He can guess those thoughts are spinning around Cera's head like a whirlwind with no escape, and he knows from personal experience - his own thoughts and Iselmyr both - that it's not very fun to have memories like those coming around again and again. The only difference is the thoughts going around Cera's head are driving her insane.

Eder nudges Aloth in the side, nodding his head at Cera's back and quietly asking "You think she'll hold up long enough? A few nights ago, I woke up to her doing pretty bad. Nearly punched her to snap her out of it, no offense there. Shaking hard enough I thought she was gonna crack something, her spine maybe. Eyes rolled back in her head, everything. I know she was in a great mood this morning, but…"

Aloth quietly answers "But she watched her sister be tortured less than twenty minutes ago. That tends to put a damper on a person's mood."

"She was…she was close with the woman then?"

"From what Cera's told me, yes. They joined a missionary order to spread word of the Gods across Eroa, which turns out to be the early Leaden Key."

Eder whistles, and says "Wow. Didn't see that coming."

"Neither did Cera. They got split up, different assignments. And then Iovara split with the order, why isn't clear though. Something about a false faith. I'm guessing she led the group that got sentenced down here so long ago."

"You mean because Cera went whiter than a Cean Gwyla at the mention? Good hint, that."

Aloth sighs and shakes his head, saying "Eder, whatever it is that's troubling Cera, only Thaos knows it. And from what Lady Webb told us, he's the toughest nut there is to crack."

"She got the thought of Twin Elms out of his head!"

"And then he clammed up again." They watch as Cera turns a corner, and Aloth quietly says "Eder, this conversation is getting us nowhere. We find Thaos, we stop him, we fulfill our agreement with Galawain. And then we figure out how to get out of this place."

What are you guys talking about? Cera's voice sounds in both their heads, despite the fact that she's around the corner. Because this place echoes, and I could hear your voices going back and forth.

Eder smirks at Aloth, and thinks I'm thinking we should throw a party at Caed Nua after all this is over. After all, something like stopping Thaos and saving your sanity calls for a celebration.

They can feel a dim flicker of amusement from Cera, and she responds We'll talk afterwards.

Cera's voice doesn't usually sound so quiet in their heads - it's always a whisper, sure, but it doesn't usually sound so…small. It's exactly like in the Sanitarium that second time, when she learned what Caedman Azo was doing in his experiments.

Kana asks, maybe to break the near-oppressive silence, "What is this place anyway? A mystery that was quite literally thrown down the world's deepest hole to be forgotten."

Cera's voice drifts over, saying "It's a prison. One for the soul. They're telling me so, the souls Galawain granted us. They were locked in here for heretical beliefs, or what was branded as heretical, and only repenting and pledging themselves to a god's service would free them. They all did so, but they're saying one did not."

Kana's look turns immediately to curiosity, and he asks "Are they saying who didn't repent?"

She shakes her head, saying "No, but I have an idea. And I dearly hope it's wrong."

They find a glowing pillar of Adra, and Cera focuses on one of the hollows with a horrified expression - and then, like a ghost fading into existence instead of out, they see the form of a relatively young-looking elven woman with straight, dark hair appear in front of the pillar.

Aloth instantly recognizes her from Cera's last vision…Iovara Ix Ensios, Cera's long-dead sister.

The two sisters eventually get into a long talk in a mixture of Engwithan and Aedyran, but from what the others can tell…Aerea's apologizing for what happened so long ago. Talking in slightly-halting Aedyran and fluid Engwithan while tears roll down Cera's cheeks.

Finally, they stop and Iovara says "Thaos has been through here many times. He's been sending souls through here, by the hundreds, maybe thousands. I don't know what his plans are, but I know they certainly involve Woedica somehow - they always do, she's his queen."

Kana can't contain his curiosity anymore, and asks "Why are you trapped down here? All the other souls we've found in this place were up above, but…"

Iovara smiles sadly, and says "Because I refuse to repent my actions. Because my trial was my one moment of certainty. Because Thaos scared and manipulated my sister into tricking me. Because I learned and tried to tell the world that the gods aren't true gods…they're something else, something made by the Engwithans."

The stunned silence is so thick you could possibly cut through it with a knife.

Kana finally asks "…What? How…?"

Cera, or Aerea, quietly says "The Engwithans tried to discover who or what created Eora, tired of the constant wars between groups who worshipped different gods and deities. Apparently, the answer they found was nothing - there weren't any gods, or they were long gone if there ever were."

Iovara nods, and says "You remember then, Aerea. The Engwithan priests meant it to be a secret that died with them, but they got careless. They talked about it, and the floors were stone, the doors thin wood. Their voices echoed clearly, and I heard enough to start looking for answers. Everything was there, like they'd said. From what I could tell, Engwithan society had mastered manipulation of the soul in their search for the creators of this world, so they filled the void they found with gods of their own. I don't know how many sacrificed themselves to create the gods, but I believe that's the main reason the society disappeared. I broke with the order at that point, started exposing them publicly. Revealing their parlor tricks. Soon, I gathered a following of my own. We were apparently a threat to Thaos and his plans, so he sent Inquisitors after me. None of them succeeded…until he sent my sister. Had her advise me to go to Ossionus. On threat of a fate worse than death, apparently. Both before going to me…and after my trial. When she finally confronted him about everything, well, I never saw her again until now."

Cera, or Aerea maybe, mumbles "He said the Inquisition wouldn't stop. Not until every dissident was captured and made to repent. And I'd long since learned that he'd sacrifice anyone and everyone around him to make his goals happen. Just like now, he's going to sacrifice a generation of people to complete this plan."

Iovara's look turns even more serious, and she says "You have to stop him. Stop him for good. You say Galawain, Magran, and Abydon told you his plans to empower Woedica, and that she was overthrown by the other gods. I can't imagine either of them were very happy about that, and an infusion of souls as big as what has passed through here would make her unstoppable…even if all the other gods joined forces to do so. She's always been spiteful, willing to ignore every rule in order to get what she wants. Thaos is the same, it's why they've worked so well together."

Aloth mutters "And why he likely didn't even think twice about steeling hundreds of souls from people's unborn kids."

"Exactly. And that's why they're so dangerous. Why you must stop this now, before there's no stopping Woedica ever again."

AN: Alright, the final fight with Thaos is up next! I can't believe I didn't get this completed by the time Winter Break ended! Only a little more to go, but I'm starting classes on Monday! With Organic Chemistry! So, my sincerest apologies if my update time is longer - I've heard Orgo Chem is homework-heavy. And study-heavy. Lucky me, not math-heavy though, from what I've heard. Anyway, enjoy! After this story is finished, I'll start posting my Winx Club X HTTYD story! Please review if you've got suggestions!