After talking with Adriel, they continued searching around for the next 3 hours. After Ariadne's Inquiry cooldown was over, they went back to the sunset room, where everyone gathered again before Hera asked the next question. That process was repeated one more time, with them finding up to the third symbol, thanks to Ariadne. It was sunset, a scroll with a fountain pen, then a pair of theater masks, one happy and one sad. With two more symbols remaining, Shane, Mylo, and Helena managed to find the hot springs symbol. The fourth symbol on the outside of the star was a set of three laurels intertwined with each other. One bronze, one silver, and one gold.

As they all crossed one of the left-side thresholds, they arrived at yet another room that looked almost the same as the previous ones. However, just like Shiretaa warned her, there was a pure white doorway near the east wall of the area. If they walked in a straight line, they would end up passing by central arches. Moving to the side they quickly walked to their destination and touched the doorway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would you like to be transported to:

Thirmal Waters - 13th layer:

[Yes] [No]

Or press the button below for your private room:

[Enter your Private Room]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Everyone ready?" Helena asked before pressing yes.

The entire party nodded, but Alex seemed to hesitate for a moment, "We are not going to get hurt, are we? I mean… is this going to be dangerous?"

"Honestly, I don't think this will be something safe. But keeping the curse is a death sentence. One way or the other, this means that we have to get rid of it," Hera replied.

"But… What if what we are going to do is more dangerous than staying with the curse?" Alex pressed.

"Alex, the only way that would be the case is if whatever we are about to do would kill us quicker than the curse. From what we know and what you told us, we cannot survive the curse. It doesn't matter the risk. Basically, anything that doesn't kill us is better than the curse," Shane replied.

"But… No, you are right. Sorry," Alex glanced up almost as if she was trying to look back into her own head, "Something is making me paranoid."

"I get that. Intrusive thoughts have nothing on this thing," Adriel sighed.

"Tell me about it," Blue said but quickly changed the subject, "Can we go now?"

"Yeah, let's," Helena nodded as they all pressed yes in the notification.

The feeling of warm water covered their bodies, and soon, they appeared in a new room. However, the feeling didn't change that much. If anything, it became more intense. Hera regained control over her body and opened her eyes. She instantly understood why the feeling was still there. They were in what looked like a massive structure completely surrounded by thermal waters. In fact, the water was very similar to the symbol on the ceiling of the temple of sands. Green water with some lotus flowers floating around. What she didn't expect was that the place would be this big. Calling this area a bath or even a pool felt like an offense. This place was a lake, a shallow lake for the most part since Hera could see the stone underneath the water, but a lake nonetheless. With a stone path in the middle going from the doorway that was attached to the light orange wall to the shore, which should be around 200 meters away. It was hard to tell because of all of the steam, but this place also seemed to be a temple or an intentional structure of some sort. Not just a cave or something natural.

As they started walking towards the shore, Hera started to think about calling the guide. This was supposed to be the place where they would get rid of the curse, but what would they need to do? As she was thinking about it, she noticed something in the water. There was a clump of lotus flowers that were moving around and slowly forming the words 'Inner chamber.'

"Guys, are you seeing that?" Hera asked.

"What are you… Yeah, I am," Blue looked to where Hera spoke and immediately understood what she meant.

After a moment, when everyone saw that message on the lotus flower, Bonnie looked around, "Ok… but where is that? I can't see any doors."

In reply to her question, the lotus flowers changed positions, creating now an arrow to the right.

"Oh… thank you," Bonnie looked towards the direction the arrow was pointing to, but there was too much steam for her to be able to see anything, "Any chance you can make a trail leading there instead of an arrow? That might help us not get lost."

Answering her request, the flowers moved and formed a trail of breadcrumbs that would lead them to the inner chamber. Everyone followed that path. First, they did that by going through the shore, but when it became clear that their destination was inside the water, they stopped being bothered by wet shoes and walked through the lake.

It took them about 20 minutes of walking, and the path became invaluable. The closer they got to the inner chamber, the more steam would cover their vision. Eventually, the group was able to pass by an entryway, where they all heard a soft masculine voice.

"Welcome. You have traveled far to get here. Please, approach. I will warn you, while you walk closer to me, you will be isolated from one another. I must do so to cleanse each of you as it is part of what must be done."

"Wait… you know why we are here?" Bonnie asked.

"Indeed. Alas, I only was made aware of your intentions when you arrived. The same tool that was used to guide you here shared the information it gave you with me," the voice explained.

"Really?" Helena turned to Hera, "That is kind of amazing."

"Yeah, I had no idea it would do something like that," Hera nodded. She had a suspicion that this was actually the lie that the guides came up with to make her life a bit easier.

"Are we really going?" Alex asked.

"Are you scared? Or is it the curse again?" Shane turned to the assassin.

"I… don't know. A bit of both. The curse keeps saying that I don't have to do this, that I can be alive for as long as I want, and that removing it will hurt me. I just… don't know," Alex admitted.

"Fear not," the voice spoke, "Before anything, we will have a conversation about the steps that will be required to achieve your goals. Please, come forward. Allow the steam from these waters to cleanse your body and mind of any worry and simple ailment that afflicts you."

Alex still was hesitant, but she started walking, vanishing in the steam. The group also started walking, and soon Hera wasn't able to see even her own hands unless she pressed them against her face. Calling out to the others was also useless as her voice wasn't able to reach them.

"Kid, you are not helping us like that," Peaches' voice came from her left. She looked over and saw a small pocket where the steam was less intense. However, instead of seeing the guides, she was seeing only their reflections in the water. Another thing that felt weird was that Peaches was acting differently from what he would do when talking to Hera. His voice seemed a bit colder and more distant.

"What do you mean? And how are you here?"

"We are not. We are in the version of the room that we use, not the one that you do. It's basically the same except that, to us, you all look like ghosts. Also, don't worry. The guide of this room is making sure no one else hears or sees us. Aside from Shane, we are also having a conversation with her," Peaches explained.

"Yep. And the guide of this room wants to talk to you later, but for now, we are just going to explain to you a couple of things," Laika added.

"Oh, you are a part of this too? Thanks for all the help," Hera smiled.

"Pretty much everyone is trying to help you with this. Even Percy chipped in with a few ideas," Laika continued.

"Can I go now? I really want to tell her what we managed to do!" Lodi appeared to the side with a large smile on her face.

"Don't take all the credit. We were both there to get this," Ruma huffed as he emerged from the water. He was still only a reflection which made things even weirder.

"Ok, ok, fine," Lodi rolled her eyes, "So listen. The big guy over here will explain everything, but we got something to help you out."

"Our trip was to visit a few of the guides in rooms that are deep in the MAZE," Ruma continued.

"Deep?" Lodi gasped, "My guy, she is deep in the MAZE. We went to the bottom of the barrel. We stopped by the 27th layer and talked with a few guides there. What we were looking for was something to help you here. So we got some mushrooms."

"Mushrooms?" Hera asked.

"Yeah. We can't explain more than that since it's not our part, but just keep in mind that the mushrooms are not native from here. I wanted to ask you to help the others believe that this is a one-time thing and that everything is ok. Also, Kirouhebi and the painting are going to participate in all of this, but you won't be able to interact with him. Everything is very complicated, but you will soon understand. " Peaches explained.

"I see… Thanks for all the help, but now I'm getting nervous," Hera scratched her cheek.

"You and me both, kid. If that doesn't work, the curse will spread here. So it would be even more complicated to get rid of it. Just to let you know, the guide skill won't work when you are doing what you are doing. And some other things will also not work as they should, but I'll let our friend explain that," Peaches continued.

The Empress wanted to ask about it, but it felt like it was something personal, "Ok… Is there anything else?"

For the first time since he appeared, he sounded warm again, "No, kid. We did everything we could on our part. Now it's up to you. But I'm not worried. I'm sure you will be able to get rid of the curse without any problems."

"Thanks, I'll do my best."

"Even your worst would be enough to remove this heinous curse from your magnificent self," Capri huffed.

Hera chuckled, "Thank you. All of you. When I'm back home, I'm inviting you all to a party."

"Why wait so long? We can have one as soon as you are done here," Lodi cheered.

"I mean, yeah, but I wouldn't be able to get any snacks or make a cake," Hera replied.

"We'll decide the details later. For now, you should go. A couple of your friends are already waiting," Shiretaa added.

"Oops. Ok, I should be going then. Thanks for all the help, guys, and thanks for cheering on me. Next time we talk, I'll be done with this curse," Hera smiled and waved them off.

The guides waved back and watched as Hera vanished into the steam. Now came the worst part for them, waiting. To get rid of the curse, those infected by it would have to go through a process that no one else would be able to watch, not even the guides themselves.

After walking for about five minutes, Hera emerged from the steam into a place that was nowhere near what she expected. It still had some of the waters, but they were now crystal clear with large bean bag chairs inside the pools, a couple of colorful couches on the sides, and what looked like a minifridge on the corner above the water. There was also a coffee machine and a teapot on one of the shelves above it.

Right in the center of the room, there was a larger pool that would go all the way to the back wall with the couches and bean bags surrounding it. Inside there was a massive turtle wearing a pair of very small glasses and a baby blue tophat, and its shell was a mix of the flower power pattern with some tie dye as the background.

"And now we are all here. Please, sit, and be comfortable. May I offer anyone some tea, coffee, or a soda?"

"You… You have soda?" Blue asked.

"And coffee? Like real coffee?" Bonnie asked.

"I do. I also have hot cocoa and some snacks if you are interested," the turtle smiled, and a small hand made out of water flew to the minifridge and opened the door revealing a large variety of candy, chips, and drinks, "Please, feel free to take what you want, and don't fight. There is enough for everyone."

Like kids at a birthday party when a piñata was broken open, everyone rushed out to the minifridge to grab food. They were not starving by any means. Everyone had some jerky, and there was more than enough food to last them a month, but no one could suppress the craving for processed candy. Sugary treats that would only increase their dentist pay. If there was a way to win their hearts, it was like this, and the turtle seemed to know that very well. During that time, the turtle also started making some coffee, tea, and hot cocoa.

It took everyone a couple of minutes to settle down and sit on the couch or the bean bags. The turtle smiled at them, "The hot beverages will take a few minutes to get ready. During that time, let me introduce myself and explain what we are going to do here. First of all, I am Samuel, but you can call me Sammy or just Sam. And I am… Well, I suppose you could call me a psychologist. So please, get comfortable, for we have a lot to talk about."