With Delos in ruins, Ceres, Thanos and the others set sail for the last corner of freedom in the Empire: the isle of Haylon. There, they hope to regroup with the few freedom fighters left, fortify the island, and make a spectacular defense against the hordes of Felldust. Ceres soon realizes that if they are to have any hope of defending the isle, she will need more than conventional skills: she will have to break the sorcerer's spell and regain the power of the Ancient Ones. And yet for this she must journey, alone, take the river of blood to the darkest cave in the realm, a place where neither life nor death exists, where she is more likely to come out dead than alive…