The three of them spent quite some time in awkward silence until it was interrupted by loud yelling some distance away. It started with a single yell, then there were some more until, eventually, it turned into a yelling competition between several distinct voices. Some snarled, some seethed, some squeaked, some growled, and some oinked until all those voices were topped off by loud, feminine screaming. Eric looked at the wolf quizzically, but the wolf just shrugged with a guilty look on his face, averting his eyes away from Eric.

The screaming won in the end, ending the commotion outside. Not long after that, pig-faced returned, looking quite flustered.

“I see you didn’t do anything stupid. Good,” he said.

“I must say, you look stressed,” Eric responded.

“Yeah, well …” Pig-faced started scratching the back of his head, “… you just can’t reason with some people.”

“Does that mean I’ll be kicked out?”

“No, that means you get to stay. Kicking you out would be the reasonable thing to do, but some of us are … not in the mood, so to speak. Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite curious about you. But I don’t trust that devil of yours one bit. It’s impossible for me to trust someone like her.”

“She mentioned you are a holy person. Are you …”

The pig-faced extended his hand in front of him to stop Eric, making Eric realize just how human-like the hand was despite Pig-faced’s animalistic face: “Don’t. Just … don’t. That will make me think you were sent here to collect information about me.”

“No, I … I was just curious, that’s all. I always liked priests more than devils, it’s just that I didn’t have a choice here, so I had to join her. Well, she actually captured me. Smashed me over the head with the club, knocking me unconscious.”

“So, she caved your skull in, and then you realized you should follow her?”

“It wasn’t that simple, and you know that.”

“I know. She brainwashed you. Devils are famous for how good they are at manipulating people.”

“I’ll admit that she didn’t have to do much. I’d rather have her abuse me than be eaten alive by some beast.”

“What she looks like?”

“You mean … do you want me to describe her?”

“You don’t have to go into details, just tell me the basic stuff. Like, does she have two legs and two arms like we do? Does she have wings, a tail, or is she tailless like the elves are? Does she have fur, or is she furless? Or maybe she has a mane like the elves do?”

“She is …” Eric chose his words carefully, “very much like me. She looks very similar to the females of my species, the only difference being that she has horns on top of her head.”

“Do you have a tail?”

“No, I don’t have a tail.”

“I see,” pig-faced put the hand under his chin, “You know, you look as if someone tried to merge my race with the elven one. Your looks are quite elvish, but with a …” he started moving his other hand in vertical circles, “… a certain degree of ruggedness. And of course, you got my skin color.”

“There are humans with different skin colors. Some of us have the same skin color the elves in this camp have.”

“I see. Yes, there are different sub-races in every race. So, this devil is very similar to you when it comes to looks?”

“Except the horns. And she is far more feminine than I am.”

“Hmm … that would mean she is some sort of cubus demon. Are you familiar with them?”

“She mentioned that’s the name of her race. But I’ve never met a demon before coming here. Before I was forced to come here.”

“Hmm … really?” Pig-faced scrutinized him with a glare.

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“Yes. There are no demons in my world. There is no magic there, so there are no demons either.”

“Demons don’t need magic to exist.”

“I’m quite sure I never met someone with horns on top of their head before.”

“Not all demons have horns. In fact, few of them do.”

“Look, I have never met someone who introduced themselves to me as a demon. Is that a satisfying answer?”

“Hmm,” pig-faced stroked his chin as he glared daggers at him, “now that I think of it … you look like a cubus demon yourself.”

“I am not a demon. I’m a puny mortal. A mortal who can be easily harmed with an arrow.”

“Only to come back from the dead in just a few days. Normal people would lose their consciousness and bleed out right away. Yet here you are, walking as if nothing happened. And feeling like risking your life once more.”

“My life is at risk with every minute I spend here. I’d rather risk it with you people than spend one more day in this place.”

Suddenly, someone appeared at the tent entrance. It was an elf, very similar to the one Phisola and Erik had killed before.

And as soon as Pig-faced looked at her, she started yelling at him.

The exchange was rather one-sided, with the elf yelling as pig-faced kept quiet most of the time, tucking his head in as much as possible, akin to a guilty child. The elf yelled until she finally cast a glance in Eric’s direction. For some reason, seeing him made her stop yelling in an instant.

Finally, pig-faced could let a few of his own words out, but Eric got the impression that the elf wasn’t really listening to him. She just stared at Eric with furrowed brows and an expression of surprise mixed with a bit of … anger?

Eric decided to keep quiet and let the two of them sort it out. It wasn’t like the elf could understand him anyway.

Looking away from Eric, the elf actually engaged in the conversation with Pig-faced this time, without the yelling. They talked for a while before the elf finally nodded and left the tent.

Pig-faced let out a long, tired sigh: “Boy, oh boy. These elves. Sometimes, I think they are more trouble than they’re worth. And I’m worried you’ll be no different. After all, how can anyone created in Zadyja’s image be anything but trouble?”

“What kind of image is that?” Eric asked.

“Don’t tell me you … ah, yes … you claim you were summoned here from a different world.”

“Not summoned directly. I walked through the portal, and later I was teleported here, to this cave.”

“Zadyja is the goddess of vanity. She is incredibly … well, everything bad. She thinks she is the only one who should have a say in anything and that only her opinions are valid.”

“It sounds as if she is a real bitch.”

“That doesn’t even begin to describe her. You see, when people start thinking they’re infallible and that no matter what they do they are always in the right, they will sooner or later start doing pure evil without even realizing it. And it’s ten times, no, a hundred times worse for gods. In other words, imagine a goddess who is doing the worst things possible while being absolutely convinced she is a force for good.”

“Things like what? What did she do?”

“Things like abducting the people of this continent and changing them to suit her degenerate tastes, creating ugly, twisted abominations as a result.”

“Changing them? In what way?”

“To look more like you.”

“Like me?” Eric pointed at himself in surprise.

“Yes. You and the elves are the perfect example of what Zadyja likes. You guys are created in her perfect image.”

“No, no,” Eric waved his hand, “I’m not created in anyone’s image. Humans, my people, are the product of evolution.

“Oh yeah?” Pig-faced raised his brows at Eric almost mockingly, “What animal did you evolve from?”

“My people share a common ancestor with gorillas. Do you have gorillas here?”

“That doesn’t translate. If that’s the case, why is your face so elvish-like?”

“I don’t know. But gorillas have faces very similar to mine. They’re just much hairier than we are and don’t walk upright.”

“So, are you telling me that, in your world, there is an animal that looks very similar to you?”

“Not at the first glance. But the more you observe them, the more you realize we have much in common.”

Pig-faced shook his head slightly: “I was willing to trust you, but now I know you’re a liar.”

“How so? What is a lie?”

“You can’t expect me to believe that, in a different world, one that has no magic as you claim, your people have evolved to look exactly like the elves.”

“We don’t look the same! I’m much uglier than they are! Have you even compared our facial features? Theirs are much more …”

“Yes, yours is more natural. Their faces are as fake as the goddess that has created them.”

“She has created the elves?”

“That … is one claim, one that I find most likely. But it’s not certain. Different elven races worship different gods, and that makes it harder to know for sure.”

“Look, if I were created by any god, I wouldn’t be this pathetic. I wouldn’t be so pathetic that I’d have to suck up to a devil to survive. There are no gods in my world, so there is no way I was made by some intelligent design. Because, let’s face it, no intelligent design would make me like this.”

Pig-faced nodded his head: “True.”

“So, isn’t it possible that the looks like mine are the end result of some complete evolution? Maybe this is what all creatures look like once they evolve fully?”

“Now you’re being outright heretical.”

“Then let me ask you this: why are your hands like that?”

Pig-faced looked at him in surprise, “Like what?”

“I assume your people have evolved from pigs. Is that true?”

“It’s rather obvious.”

“So, why do you have hands so similar to mine? Wouldn’t it make much more sense for you to have hooves instead?”

“How can you evolve without hands? You can’t build tools with hooves!”

“The animals my people evolved from already had hands and feet, not hooves.”

“That only means they’ve already evolved, long before your people came into existence! It only strengthens my theory that your people were made in Zadyja’s image.”

“How so?”

“Because someone took an already evolved race and changed it to suit their tastes.”