He had known it was coming. Nothing ever happened in Helovia like the god battles did, in perfect order. It was a fate he could not ignore, a duty that clawed and scratched at his ribcage, needing to be there. He had faith in the abilities of all the desert dwellers, but love and family also dictated he be there just in case those abilities ran short. Though as a crafter he'd not been privy to Ampere's heated disapproval of the soldiers, his heart ran alongside hers in opinion. He'd not hide away from the battle like a coward, no matter how the idea of seeing the Earth God again was daunting to him. 

Of course he and Ilaria knew what would come next. God of the Spark, the Moon, the Sun. There was only one other God left, the one Cera had spent countless nights trying to understand, to forgive. At first he hadn't thought it possible, considering the grief that had swallowed him so completely following Hototo's death. It had taken him so long to fight past the desire to simply die, to follow his brother and father into the dark of the beyond, just to stop feeling so alone and broken. He'd almost gone to Ampere, or perhaps Gaucho, to beg once more for a death he'd questioned seasons before. 

Megaera had been the light to guide him, after she and Ranjiri had propped him up after the battle with the Moon Goddess. Without her, he never would have made it to the Veins, to the broken shrine where he'd encountered the deity he thought he'd never be able to forgive. Shuddered beneath the weight of his bloodied, unforgiving past, her scorn pressing down upon him until he'd shattered and come back together more whole and steady than he'd ever been before. And in being able to understand, to forgive - or at least begin the long journey towards it - he had been able to seek and receive absolution from his Lord. 

Until at last, at the very end of it all, lay the Earth God. 

His forgiveness came slow, understanding that it was not the Earth God's fault that Hototo had made the choice he had. That Cera couldn't control Ranjiri killing someone any more than the Earth God could his sister. Being a deity did not make them infallible...and though Cera's heart would always throb with pain and sadness when he thought of Hototo, he was ready at last to forgive. If the Earth God would have him.

Cera and Ilaria had eyes for no one else as they alighted quietly in the crowd, slowly making their way towards the God. Eyes dropped, wings low, Ilaria curled around the base of his neck. A bond the Earth God had given him, so long ago. The one thing that had probably kept him alive, for an incompleted soul could not have ever withstood the trauma Cera had experienced. 

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, knowing the god would hear him, just as his Lord had in the previous battle. He bared his heart and mind, begging the deity to look within at his whim and will, and see all that Cera felt and all he asked for. "My heart was twisted with grief...I ask only your forgiveness, a chance at your side once more." It was a quiet sort of prayer, spoken though it was, and he cared not if anyone else heard him. It was private, meant for him and the Earth God alone, and he prayed for just one more little miracle. That he could rebuild the relationship he had once had with the Gods, the one that had led to him being made Diviner once upon a time. 

Cera was nothing without his faith.