Hazelmere got back to her camp, escorted by the royal guards. Regardless of her protests, they insisted on escorting her all the way.

Disheartened with her first failure ever, Hazelmere summoned the other archmages to tell them the news. They said nothing against her, quite the contrary. Mizette was especially vocal, accentuating that there are many forces outside of her control, again and again.

With that, everyone got back to business. Deciphering the scrolls took much less time than anyone has expected, so it was done in just a few moons. After that, the archmages took some extreme measures to ensure the incantations couldn’t do anything besides summoning a portal, fearing there may be some hidden spells lurking in the scrolls.

Sometimes, the scrolls can contain several spells in them, some of which can be concealed. This is the most common method of trapping or eliminating a mage. When casting a spell from a scroll, or scrolls, the mage would unwittingly cast the hidden spell on her. It’s also not so uncommon to find such hidden spells in the dungeons, especially the crypts. Those who don’t appreciate the idea of others taking their stuff, even when they’re dead, would place a booby trap which usually contains a curse. Sometimes, such traps are hidden in the scrolls found in the dungeons.

So, as the other mages spent two years feeding the crystals with their energy, Hazelmere had all the archmages work on figuring out if there was some hidden surprise lurking in the scrolls.

Alas, it was in vain. Even though the archmages were extremely meticulous, to the point they started understanding the very logic contained in those scrolls, they found nothing that had even the slightest hint of danger or deceit.

It was the exact opposite.

As they started understanding the logic in the scrolls themselves, they realized those scrolls contained hundreds of safety mechanisms. Some of them ensured the spell never fails with a critical failure, dissipating the enormous amount of energy the spell contained if anything went wrong, thus delaying its sudden, violent outburst. Some of these mechanisms even gave the summoners the ability to ‘pause’ the spell indefinitely if they ran out of energy, with the minimal loss of accumulated energy over time.

In time, among all these mechanisms, the archmages managed to identify a special group of them, solidifying their belief that mere mortals didn’t make those scrolls. At first, some of these mechanisms looked useless, unbelievably complicated, and yet extremely stupid. But, that was exactly why they got Hazelmere’s attention. While all the other mages have dismissed those mechanisms as unimportant and a complete waste of time after just one glance, their strange complexity drew her in.

It took her half a year to understand them properly but, in the end, it gave her so much needed insight into the mind of whoever has created these scrolls. She shared her findings with her fellow archmages eagerly.

“Are you serious?” Cybil asked in a mocking tone.

“Look, it is obvious what it does!” Hazelmere continued explaining, “It is calculating the trajectory of something huge, something we don’t even have the numbers to represent!”

“And you think it is calculating the trajectory of the alien world? Like, you think it is moving?”

“It has to be! I mean … just look at it! Look at how much energy is supposed to be there! This is completely unlike anything we have ever seen! The only explanation I can come up with is that the amount represents the sum of all the energy in the world!”

“That is nonsense,” Cybil’s voice was much more dismissive than confrontational.

“Ok but, if that is the case, then why is it constantly moving circularly?” Natle asked, “What would be the point of it? I get what you are saying, the amount of energy is way too huge to be anything but the world itself, but what would be the point of a moving world? And what would be the point of a movement that always ends up in the same place?”

“How can there even be life in such a world?” Cybil continued, “No creature can handle constant movement! Just imagine living your entire life in a chariot!”

“How would we even enter a moving world?” Peratha joined the conversation, “For example, what if this alien world is constantly moving towards the portal? How will we ever cross the portal if the moment we step into the other world, its constant movement throws us back?”

“Well, that is what this part here does,” Hazelmere said as she traced a part of the scroll with her index finger, “these runes right here are making sure the portal moves together with the world at all times!”

“So, both the portal and the alien world are moving at the same speed?”

“Yes!”

Cybil waved her hand dismissively: “That is insane! Do you guys hear what she is saying?”

“Do you want me to trace the logic one more time for you? Maybe once wasn’t enough!” The irritation in Hazelmere’s voice was slowly but surely increasing.

“Listen to yourself! A moving world? And at such a speed? Everything on it would die from dizziness!”

“But there is no denying it,” Natle asserted, “the logic is clear. The portal is constantly moving on the other side, at enormous speed. And this spell is an integral part of the entire incantation, we can’t summon the portal without it.”

“But that is not the only thing!” Hazelmere continued with her presentation, “The portal isn’t moving along just one axis on the other side. It is moving along several of them!”

“What do you mean, several of them?”

“It is not just one direction that is being calculated! I have shown you this one, semi-circular movement, but there is another one,” Hazelmere reached out and grabbed another scroll, “here! Check this out!”

She picked up a different scroll and started tracing the logic once again. It took her some time to do so.

“See? This one calculates mush shorter but perfectly round circular movement. The circle on the first one is stretched out a little bit, but not on this one.”

“Ok but, what is the point? The scrolls calculate two circular movements, so what?”

“And then, once the runes on these two scrolls have done their calculations, the third scroll takes their results and starts doing a new set of calculations with the results of two previous calculations as inputs!” Hazelmere took yet another scroll, “This one combines the results of both, taking the smaller circle and putting it on top of the bigger one! The smaller movement calculates one aspect of the portal’s position in the other world, and it can’t work without a bigger one! But that is only the beginning!”

She searched for the next scroll for a few moments, picking up and discarding some of them in the process.

“This one is also calculating something, but I have no idea what. However, the result is picked up by another scroll … this one here, and this one I can figure out. It is calculating the portal’s altitude.”

“Is its altitude also constantly changing?” Natle asked.

“That appears to be the case. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have to be recalculated from time to time. This one is actually very easy to understand, it sends a small burst of mana, and then it tries to pick up a small portion of it that has bounced off the surface.”

“Mana can bounce back?”

“I had no idea, but it looks like a tiny portion of it does. Anyway, it sends a burst of mana, and if it hits something before its set point, that means it has hit the ground.”

“I don’t get it.”

“It starts with a wild guess. It assumes the location of the surface and sends a burst towards it. It is just a blind shot, and it is certainly going to fail. But, it can fail in only two ways: either it will hit the surface sooner than it is supposed to, or it won’t hit anything. If the burst hits the surface sooner, then the altitude is increased and another burst is sent. If it doesn’t hit anything, that means the surface is too far away since no energy has managed to bounce back, so the altitude is lowered.”

“The mana has dissipated.”

“Exactly! So, if there is no mana bouncing back, the altitude is lowered, and another burst is sent. The altitude is adjusted until some mana bouncing back is detected. Then, depending on the strength of the bouncing mana, the altitude is adjusted.”

“That is a lot of wasted mana,” Peraha commented.

“Yes, but it is also a very robust way of determining the altitude correctly,” Natle countered.

“So, what are you trying to say is that this alien world isn’t just moving left to right, but it is also moving up and down?” Cybil asked.

“Not only that. It is also rotating along two axes.”

Cybil blinked a few times before answering: “You must be kidding!”

Hazelmere took a deep breath.

“I have tested the runes on the scrolls by giving them some random values. Then, I have accelerated the spells to see if there is some kind of a pattern in the results. And the result appears to be a ball.”

“A ball?”

“Not a perfect one, but it is very close. The portal is constantly moving along the surface of a ball. It was hard to figure it out since it was moving along several axes, but I am fairly certain it is trying to position itself on the top of the invisible ball, which is moving along both of its axes and is also moving through the unknown space in a kind of a circular movement.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Peratha raised her voice, “are you telling us the world we will be going to is round?”

“If it is round, then how are we going to stay on top of it? We will slide right off!”

Worried murmurs filled the room.

“If you don’t believe me, you are free to trace the logic yourselves. I don’t know what else to say! Yes, it sounds crazy, but that is what the runes calculate!”

“I think you should request the audience with the emperor once again,” Peratha’s voice was dead serious.

“I knew the world was supposed to be alien, but this is just crazy!”

“What I would like to know is: who would even think of going to such a world?” Mizette frowned deeply.

“I think it is safe to say that no mortal would ever come up with such an insane idea,” Peraha fixed Hazelmere with her gaze, “if a mortal could ever come up with such intertwining spells, then you can nail me in the middle of the grand square! We had our doubts, we had our assumptions, but this is too much! No mortal is stupid enough to get on top of the giant, fast-spinning ball! Not even the dwarves are that crazy!”

“Now, putting aside just how crazy all of this is,” Cybil spoke slowly and calmly, “perhaps the point of these scrolls is not to open a portal to another, lush world full of riches.”

“What are you getting at?”

“The ball … the place where the portal is supposed to form … we have seen something similar before. Actually, we see it every day.”

“What?”

“Moon … is round. And so are Ganja, Amis, and Konren. All the celestial beings we can see are round. And they are constantly moving.”

“You think this portal leads to a certain divinity?”

“That is even crazier than the idea of a moving world!”

“Not if we consider this,” Cybil continued, “some astrologists think that the celestials we see in the sky aren’t the gods themselves, but their realms. If that is true, then that means the portal may lead not to a different world, but to a celestial plane.”

“This just keeps getting crazier!”

“The celestials may look like balls to us, at least those we can see, but they don’t rotate,” Mizette said, “otherwise we would see the moon spinning around.”

“Yes, that is true,” Hazelmere agreed.

“But that doesn’t mean the other celestial planes don’t spin,” Cybil retorted, “Our mortal eyes can only see a few of them.”

“What about the stars? Maybe those are spinning? They are too small to see clearly.”

“So, what, are we talking about the dark celestials now?”

“Perhaps we should take this to the archpriestesses?” Mizette proposed, “Or astrologists? They certainly know more about the celestials than we do.”

“I hate those gullible idiots, but I support the idea,” Peraha agreed.

“There are no astrologists in this camp. The ascendant priest didn’t bring any with him,” there was some disappointment in Hazelmere’s voice.

“We can certainly ask him to bring some.”

“Or maybe, it would be better if you would go to see the Emperor once again. And while you are there, you can also ask him to send some astrologists here,” Peraha proposed.

“What if the advisor turns me down once again?”

“Then the Emperor is a fool for letting an incompetent advisor run things for him!” Peratha’s voice was seething with aggravation.

That caused a short silence in the tent.

“The Emperors are known for being shortsighted when it comes to magic. It wouldn’t the first time one of them has made a mistake,” Natle pointed out.

“That is why Hazelmere has to go and see the Emperor, no matter what!”

“But I don’t have an army to fight the royal guards! What am I supposed to do, fight them all if they don’t let me through?”

“She has no influence in the court. She was promoted only recently,” Mizette jumped to Hazelmere’s defense.

“Well, isn’t that convenient,” Cybil responded, her voice containing a hint of condescension.

“What?”

“It is very convenient for the advisor to deal with someone who has no influence at the court instead of someone whose family has a huge historical significance.”

“She does have a point there,” Natle agreed.

“Yes, that is very convenient for the advisor. But, if you think the advisor had any say in determining whom the next royal archmage was going to be, then you are even more delusional than I thought,” Mizette was having none of it.

“Still, she is right! It is very strange for someone who lacks the considerable experience to become the royal archmage!”

“That’s enough!” Peratha stepped in, “Now is not the time, nor the place! If you have any doubts, take them elsewhere! Don’t stray from the topic at hand!”

Then she turned towards Hazelmere.

“You must go back to the palace and seek an audience with his highness, even if you don’t get it. If that fails, we will have a chat with the transcendent priest and ask him for his astrologists. What is most important is that, if anything goes wrong, we have someone vouching for us, that we have tried raising our concerns. If you can’t reach the Emperor, then the transcendent priest will do. The point is that we absolutely must have someone important know we tried reaching his majesty but weren’t allowed to.”

“I agree,” Mizzete nodded her head.

“Everyone else agrees?” Peratha asked with a raised voice.

Everyone in the tent nodded their heads.

And that’s how Hazelmere was sent back to the palace.