Hazelmere’s tent became filled with the books, effectively becoming one messy library. The books were all over it, arranged into big stacks, wherever there was enough place to put them. All the books the demons have sent were unloaded there, making all the archmages in the camp, and Galizur, flock into the tent, which only served to make everything worse. Still, nobody complained about the cramped conditions. They were too busy inspecting the alien books. And, even though they had no idea what was written in there, they browsed eagerly.

“You know, this makes me remember the time when I was an apprentice mage,” Hazelmere said, “I don’t remember the last time I have opened the books of knowledge with such enthusiasm, even though I have no idea what is inside. These could all be some terrible curses as far as we know.”

“I just can’t get over how good this papyrus is! Look! Look!” Mizette flipped the pages like mad, “Look how easy it is to flip the pages! And it’s like … it isn’t dry at all! There’s no sign of aging anywhere! It’s as if all of these books were written yesterday!”

“What is in your book?”

“There are many symbols here. I think this may be a magical one.”

All the archmages in the tent turned their heads to look at Mizette.

“What? There’s no way!”

“There is no way they would give us a book on magic! They can’t be that stupid,” Cybil agreed with Hazelmere.

“I don’t know what else it could be. You have some symbols, and you combine them.”

“Maybe those are the letters?”

“It can’t be! There are too many symbols involved in a sequence and too few of them to choose from. There are dozens of them in a single line. You can’t tell me it takes that many symbols to convene a thought.”

“How many different symbols are there in total?”

Mizette flipped the book to its starting page, showing it to Cybil, “A little less than thirty. They are all listed here.”

“That is way too few symbols for a magical system.”

“It is possible if the magic in their world is different. Maybe it is much simpler than ours, much more restricted. Maybe that is why we can’t detect it? It is not as powerful as the magic in our world.”

The other archmages gather around Mizette to take a peek.

“However, there is very little logic involved. So far, I have only seen those symbols being added to each other. They combine those symbols and put some completely unrelated picture next to them. Like here,” Mizette flipped some pages, pointing at the small drawing in the book, “they have combined five of those symbols and put a drawing of some fruit next to it. At first, I thought those symbols help you summon the fruit somehow, but the next pages have some things you simply can’t summon. Like a castle, for example. You can’t summon a castle with a spell! Especially with a system that has less than thirty symbols.”

“Maybe they combine those symbols to describe a single thing?” Natle offered.

“And how stupid would that be? Why would you use five symbols to reference a fruit when you could use just one? Imagine how huge the books would have to be if you would have to write them with such a system. The sheer weight would make them fall apart!”

“This one is quite big. Just look at the size of this thing!” Cybil said as she lifted the gigantic book in her hands, with much effort.

“Holy …”

“What is that thing?”

“You could kill someone with that!”

“This is … how do I describe it …” Cybil paused for a moment, “this isn’t really a book. It is more like a … gallery.”

“How so?”

“Take a look!”

Cybil opened the book, pointing the opened pages towards the others. As soon as she did that, surprised gasps filled the room.

“What … what’s that?”

“There’s no way someone has painted that! No way!”

“Wait! Wait! Let me get a better look!” Mizette dropped the book she had in her hands, turning towards Cybil, “This … how?”

“I have no idea, but the entire book is full of those … paintings, I guess,” said Cybil as she flipped the enormous pages.

“That’s too real to be a painting!”

“Can I see it?” Hazelmere asked from her bed.

Cybil and Mizette came closer, sitting next to her.

“What in the … what is that!”

“I have no idea, but each and every one of these paintings is flawless. It is as if you are really looking at that lake. But that is just the beginning. Let me find it …”

Cybil flipped the pages some more. The gigantic pages created weak wind as they moved in front of Hazelmere’s face, brushing the locks of her hair.

“Look at this!”

“What is that, some kind of a monster?”

“Must be. Those claws are huge!” Mizette agreed.

“Look at the painting next to it, to the left.”

“What is that? It is so small, I can’t even see it!”

“There is some … tiny thing on the ground.”

“It is an ant,” Cybil explained, “if you take a better look, you will realize that is an ant.”

“Oh, it really is one!”

“And this … ‘monster’ is, I think, what the small ant looks like from up close.”

“No way! There is no way!” Mizette protested, “Ants are small and cute. This one is ugly and has big fangs coming from its mouth.”

“Maybe that is a … a painter’s vision of how a scary ant would look like? Or maybe that is what the ants are like in hell?”

“Have you ever heard of a painter skilled enough to paint anything like this, with such precision and realism?” Mizette didn’t agree one bit, “Look at the shading, it’s perfect! Too perfect!”

“Well, what is it if it isn’t a painting?”

“How would I know? But I dare you to find a mortal who could paint like …”

Mizette got lost in thought all of a sudden.

“… hmm … maybe that’s it. Maybe, just maybe, it’s not a mortal who did the paintings.”

“What, you think some demonic god would paint it for us? Seriously?” Cybil, as usual, didn’t bother hiding the mocking tone in her voice.

“Oh, shut up! Wait … what if … what if these books aren’t meant for us at all?”

“What are you talking about?”

“What if these books are meant for the immortals?”

As if on cue, all the archmages looked at Galizur.

“You think the demons want us to give these books to the gods?”

“Not just the gods,” Mizette responded.

“You are just taking a wild guess. You have no idea if what you are saying makes any sense,” Cybil protested, “you just threw an idea to see if it sticks! But, even if that is the case, we do have an immortal with us here. And more of them are welcome to join us if they want to see the books. Right, Hazelmere?”

“For once, I do agree with you,” Hazelmere’s response lacked any emotion.

“You are agreeing with me a lot lately. Are you sure you are ok? Do you have fever?” It seemed as if Cybil’s mocking tone had no intention of changing.

“Unlike you, I do obey my superiors. Which you just so happen to be until I get well. And, unlike you, I don’t see myself as the smartest person in the world.”

“Well, considering your actions of late, that is pretty much obvious. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Stop it, Cybil!” Mizette responded in an aggressive voice, “You’re in charge for only a few days, and you’re already letting it get to your head! Why don’t you focus on the task at hand?”

“I am, but messing with Hazelmere takes only a small portion of …”

All of a sudden, Cybil stopped flipping the pages of the gigantic book. The only thing she said after that was:

“Whoa!”

“Now what?” Mizette’s irritation was slowly increasing.

“I … I think I’ve found something that could be important.”

“You think?”

“See it for yourself.”

Mizette looked back at the book, still held in front of Hazelmere. It showed eight people-like figures. The figures were clearly visible and very detailed, thanks to the size of the book.

“Who are these people? Do you think they are on the other side of the portal?” Hazelmere asked.

“They don’t look like demons to me!” Mizette stated, “They have no horns, or tails, or wings for that matter.”

“They don’t even have any animal parts!” Natle pointed out.

Cybil moved the book aside to take a better look: “Oh! Yes, they really have no animal parts at all! Not the ears, nor the tails!”

“They do have the ears though, but on the sides, like the elves do.”

“Oh, yes! Their ears are so small, I didn’t even see them!”

“The angels also have their ears on the sides of the head,” Natle said, “actually, now that I think about it, they look like Galizur in a way. But you can actually tell their gender just by looking at their faces.”

“They don’t have the wings though. And none of these eight have the skin as pale as Galizur’s.”

“I have never said they are angels. I said they have some similarities. The white-skinned ones at least.”

“Hmm … I think I have seen those ears before,” Mizette mused, “ah, oh yes! I think culiars have the same ears these people do!”

“Culiars, like, those domestic animals that walk on two legs?” Cybil asked.

“Yes. The ones the nobles use, to keep the other animals in check.”

Dread appeared on Hazelmere’s face immediately: “Mizette … don’t tell me …”

“No! No! No! It’s nothing like that! I just … remembered those animals have such ears! Certainly, you’ve seen some of them! There were a lot of them around when the engineers were building the camp!”

“What are the two of you talking about?” Cybil asked, ignorant of what has happened between Hazelmere and Mizette.

“Can I take a look?” Galizur finally spoke.

“Sure!” Cybil shifted the book, so he could see better, “Natle is right. These people are more similar to you than they are to us! Yes, there are some obvious differences, like their males being more muscular than you are, but you get the gist of it.”

“How do we know the angels aren’t muscular when we have never seen Galizur naked?” Mizette wondered, “Quick Galizur, strip your clothes off right away! We must see you naked to determine how similar these guys are to angels! The fate of the world is at stake!”

“Mizette!” Hazelmere screamed like a mother would at her naughty child.

While Galizur just laughed at Mizette’s joke: “Let me see if I can find something first.”

Then, he proceeded to examine the painted people in detail.

As he did so, Cybil started stating the obvious: “They don’t look like demons, and they don’t look like angels. They also don’t look like people, they have no animal parts on them.”

“There are people with no animal parts. Like the elves, hobbits, and dwarves,” Hazelmere retorted.

“They could be, but … there is no way people can survive in hell, burning or frozen one.”

“Maybe these aren’t the demons on the other side,” Natle offered a different explanation, “maybe these are the races the demons have contacted before? After all … hmm … that book, Cybil, that book in your hands. What is it about?”

“It is mostly about nature. Plenty of animals, plants, rivers, lakes, forests, mountains, that kind of things.”

“What kind of forests?”

“What do you mean, what kind of?”

“Are those forests frozen?”

“No, of course not! Those are regular, green forests, like everywhere else.”

“In that case, it is safe to assume those forests have nothing to do with the other side of the portal.”

The tent got quiet for a few moments. After a while, Natle continued:

“Everything on the other side is frozen so, how can there be any lush, green forests out there? The trees on the other side are covered in that strange ice.”

“Ok but, what are you getting at?”

“They are showing us the things that aren’t from their world! They are showing us that they have been to the other worlds before. How else would they know such forests exist? How else would they know how to paint them? Or, whatever they did to create those … sights. It is probably the same with the people in that book. I bet these are the people they have seen in the other worlds, not the demons themselves.”

“That … hmm,” Cybil considered what Natle has said.

But, Galizur’s spirited yell interrupted her.

“I’ve found it!”