Anisa, back in Rephidim, years after her adventures in Half Valley, has a strange dream in which she is in the Dream Realms – specifically, the realm of Barada. She enters a town full of maimed Eeee who are missing teeth and various appendages, though they show no other signs of leprosy or other afflictions. She learns that she is in the realm of Barada, the Goddess of Secrets and Matron of Thieves – and that these Eeee are pilgrims who came here to seek out obscure secrets of Barada, but ended up failing, and are maimed because they traded teeth and other body parts for "secrets". Anisa, understandably disturbed, moves on, and finds a talking chibix (a chitinous, vaguely bug/bat like creature) that is able to answer certain questions about her predicament and thus serve as a guide … though briefly it is possessed by the spirit of Morpheus, who tries to explain to Anisa that it is he who brought her here, in a desperate attempt to thwart the plans of the High Princess of Babel, who is using magic to bring the Seven Sisters (goddesses) of Babelite mythos to "life" (after a fashion), and thus to gain their powers for herself … all the while draining away Morpheus' essence. Anisa, further disturbed by this revelation, moves on, in search of the city that is at the end of the pilgrim trail she must walk up the mountain.