Hermit did leave. Lovers and Devil went after him, and set a virus on the world he'd left for - a place we call the Grid - that infected many of the people he'd altered while he was there. Hermit was also infected, and then locked away in an isolated corner of the Grid for good measure. Cephas died as a result of all of this, although the exact timing changed after Fortune's revival.

Magician's rescue was later.