Noah offered a reassuring remark to his companions:
“At the very least, it’s clear there is no authority figure here like the Lord. The fact that we haven’t encountered any soldiers by now proves it.”

The group had barely begun to shake off the worries weighing on their minds when a deep pit before them changed everything once more. Leaning forward, they saw countless skeletons. The lower layers were nothing but bone, while the upper layers held bodies whose flesh had not yet fully decayed, their skin blackened. Looking closer, they realized that among the dead were people of all ages—infants, the young, the elderly.

The same Noah who had reassured them moments ago now stood pale, his face drained of color.
“I have to warn you,” he said. “The fact that there are people of every age… it suggests they may have been slaughtered together with their families. Which means… perhaps…”

Everyone understood the rest of the sentence he could not finish: Noah was implying that they might need to turn back.

As the others exchanged hollow, fear-stricken glances, Abraham stepped to the edge of the pit, covering his nose against the heavy stench of death.

“Did you not notice? None of the bodies show cut marks or wounds that indicate death by blade. Look—there are no signs of bruising, crushed flesh, or broken bones from violence. There isn’t even dried blood—neither red nor black stains.”

After telling Mark, Odessa, and Cindy to stay back, Abraham continued:
“What are we supposed to make of this scene?”

Noah answered, “I’ve seen something like this where I come from. During the plague, to prevent the disease from spreading, the dead were buried together in pits like this. It’s frightening, but to keep the illness from spreading further, the bodies were thrown in untouched. Of course, the pit wouldn’t be left open like this—it would be covered first with lime and then with soil, so that birds wouldn’t spread the infection.”

Then he added,
“Though I’m not sure whether the people on this island would even know what lime is.”

Petrus said that lime was a white substance used since ancient times to prevent the spread of disease, and that surely the people here could know of it as well.

Although shaken by what they had seen, the group decided to continue. Following Noah’s advice, they covered their mouths and noses with cloth as a precaution against any possible contagion.

They hadn’t walked far when they came upon numerous graves. Like on their own island, each grave was marked with a ring of stones. But what caught everyone’s attention were the snake-carved figures at the head of each grave. Seth suddenly stepped forward:

“These carvings confirm the doctrine known as the Seed of the Serpent,” he said, causing Noah to think in dismay, “No—don’t tell me he actually believes that nonsense!”

Naturally, all eyes turned to Seth as he continued.

“Though most religious scholars consider it nonsense, some believe that Satan took the form of a serpent and lay with Eve, and that Qabil was born from that union. For this reason, it is said that Qabil is of the devil’s lineage—and therefore his descendants are cursed as well.”

“So these serpent carvings are meant to reference their father?” Mark asked. Seth nodded in agreement.

Noah thought to himself, “Seth… may Allah grant you both wisdom and sense! Should I be upset that you’re saying this in front of the young and the women, or that you’re repeating a twisted tale even conspiracy-minded priests wouldn’t touch?” Then he spoke aloud:

“But animals like serpents, eagles, and lions have captured the imagination of many civilizations. In ancient Greece, for instance, physicians used serpents as symbols to represent themselves and their healing arts.”

“Yes, but the statement in John, chapter three—‘Let us not be like Qabil, who belonged to Satan and murdered his brother’ (3:12)—supports what I’m saying,” Seth insisted.

“When it says ‘belonged to Satan,’ it doesn’t mean he was Satan’s literal child. It means he manifested the traits—the character—of that accursed being. Qabil’s murder of an innocent like Abel, driven by envy, shows that he inclined toward satanic qualities. The phrase points to that truth.”

Noah had much more to say, but he swallowed his words. Seth would take offense, and Noah remembered the vow he had made to himself—for his own safety and for the sake of the innocent—not to get drawn into debates where belief and folklore intertwined too dangerously.

The group continued on until they came upon the ruins of an abandoned settlement.

From the state of the ruined houses, they assumed this place had been abandoned long ago. Curious, they approached the dwellings and chose the one that seemed the most intact, intending to take a look inside. Noah pointed to the single remaining beam holding up the roof and warned them not to get too close.

Looking through the garden gate, they saw that the houses were made of wood and baked clay, much like their own. The small front gardens showed signs that vegetables and fruits had once been grown; behind the houses, they noticed areas where easy-to-keep animals like chickens must have been raised. The homes here were also built side by side, but unlike on their island, there were no walls separating the gardens.

Petrus noticed this detail at once, and he immediately understood what the pit in the corner of the garden—covered by a large flat stone—had been used for. The absence of walls between the houses, and the lack of any enclosure around the outdoor latrine, revealed that the people who once lived here did not value modesty or privacy. He had heard that a few dozen households with similar habits had once lived on their own island as well, but in time, because of Lord’s pressure, they had rebuilt their homes like everyone else—adding walls around their latrines and between their houses.

Noah gestured toward the walls and said, “The fact that there are no holes, breaks, or signs of damage suggests that there was no fighting or conflict here.”

They continued walking toward what looked like the center of the settlement. When Abraham saw two standing idols, he immediately assumed the inhabitants had been idol-worshippers. But as they got closer, he suddenly exclaimed:

“Oh my God!” He pointed to Mark. “It’s just like what we saw at the château!”

Mark understood what Abraham was hinting at without saying it outright. From the way Abraham looked at them, Cindy and Odessa also realized he was telling them not to come any closer. But Odessa, with her defiant nature, insisted on taking a look.

The statue depicted a man and a woman—clearly identifiable by their anatomy—leaning toward each other with overt sensuality. And this provocative sculpture stood right in the middle of what appeared to be the town square.

Noah called out to Seth.
“Does this remind you of anything?”

Seth joked,
“My wife and me.”

Noah grinned.
“But you haven’t turned to stone. These people, however…”

“You’re talking about Pompeii, of course,” Seth replied. “Those petrified bodies look like they were frozen in stone right in the middle of their acts. But we can’t know if God truly did that to them. Maybe the volcano just happened to erupt while they were committing something considered sinful. Who can say for sure?”

Noah kept to his decision and remained silent. They walked a bit farther, and the settlement came to an end. Ahead of them stretched wide fields. In this, the island resembled their own—but strangely, the fields were not cultivated. The tall overgrown grass made it clear that no one had used this land for farming in a very long time.

Petrus brushed his hand as if sweeping dust and said:

“Just moments ago, we walked through hundreds of houses spread across an enormous area. Even if this island looks smaller than ours, the number of dwellings shows that a population comparable to ours once lived here. If these people haven’t cultivated these fields for a long time, what could they have been eating? And why would they leave this land untilled? I’d say they were an underdeveloped community who didn’t know how to farm, but they clearly knew how to build homes. A people capable of building houses surely would know how to cultivate land as well.”

As Abraham walked a bit farther through the tall, wild grasses, he called out to the others:

“I think they were far more advanced than we are.”
He summoned them and pointed to the trenches and baked-clay pipes running through the field.
“Designing such an irrigation system—calculating water flow, the slope of the land—shows they were intelligent and industrious.”

Noah noticed the tiny perforations along the pipes.
“According to modern studies, water delivered drop by drop is far more efficient than flooding the soil. These people must have discovered the benefits of this method after years of experimentation. This tells us they were a clever, hardworking, and advanced civilization.”

While the group looked with regret at the vast fields now reduced to waste, their curiosity about the island only grew. Seth’s comment heightened their intrigue even more:

“Remember the story of Qabil. Qabil worked the land, while Abel tended livestock. A person becomes skilled in what he devotes himself to. You just said they built a sophisticated irrigation system—if anything, that proves Qabil lived here.”

Noah pointed at the towering weeds. “So, why didn’t they ever cultivate this land?” he asked.
Seth answered with a smirk:
“Don’t you say that the good people— Abel’s children—failed to keep their covenant and squandered their inheritance? It seems the children of Qabil turned out just like them.”

Hearing this, Abraham thought:
“What do you mean ‘them’? Are you not a child of Abel yourself?”
But then he remembered that over generations the descendants of Abel and Qabil must have intertwined, and assumed Seth was hinting at that.

As they continued walking, deep in their whirlwind of thoughts, they began to see tall buildings in the distance. On their own island, the tallest structure was three stories high—and that was Lord’s château, the only one of its kind. But here, in the city they were approaching, they could already see several buildings rising four or five stories.

They examined the first house at the entrance with great care. Its lower floors were built from stone blocks. They also noticed perfectly shaped rectangular columns at every corner of the house and its rooms, stretching from the foundation all the way up to the upper floors. Between these columns, the upper levels were filled in with wooden panels.

The carvings and symbols etched into the wooden walls showed that this society valued art, yet the fact that their toilets and baths were outside in the yard suggested they placed little value on modesty or moral boundaries. The group understood from the beauty and grandeur of the buildings that this must be the heart of the island, the main city—but strangely, not a single person was in sight.

Then Mark lifted his right hand and said:
“Wait, stop—listen. I hear something.”

When none of them even lifted a foot, they first assumed the humming sound ahead was nothing more than the wind. But as they moved toward it, they realized it was the sound of instruments. Listening more carefully, they heard women singing in loud, lilting voices. Seth, eager to seize yet another chance to prove his theory, spoke up:

“See? Music and lovely-voiced girls! Every sign points to Qabil.”

Noah whispered back, “Forget the volcano and everything else—I’m staying here. You go back and tell them this island doesn’t exist so they won’t bother us.”

His friend forced a smile and thought:
“Fine, let’s say we managed to escape from you—but escaping from those you call your ‘superiors’ would be as impossible as believing Qabil belonged to a species outside humanity.”

As the group advanced, the music and enchanting melodies grew louder. The houses stood closer together now, signaling that they were reaching the center of the town—and likely the island. After passing the last house, where the sound of rushing water blended with the music, they were met with an astonishing sight.

Cascading from a tall cliff was a waterfall of crystalline blue water, radiating a refreshing brilliance.

Moving closer, they saw the small pool below and the people gathered around it. With the exception of Seth, all of them flushed red. Noah turned his face away, but doing so only deepened the blush and embarrassment on his features. When he looked back, he noticed the rest—except Seth—glancing at one another in startled hesitation.

All around the pool, and on the balconies of the surrounding buildings overlooking it, stood many young people—and every one of them was completely naked. Seth muttered under his breath:

“For them, I’d be willing not just to be Qabil—but even the devil himself.”

Noah thought:
“My Allah, forgive me! If I don’t turn my face toward them, they might take it as an insult—and then we’ll never be able to speak with them or find help.”
So he continued walking.

Odessa whispered to her mother:
“And you still scold me for dressing immodestly—look at them, they aren’t wearing anything at all!”

Cindy was about to tell her child,
“My dear, they are not human!”
but then she realized such a statement might be taken as accepting that whole serpent-and-Eve notion that does not exist in the holy scripture. She feared that a sentence meant only as a metaphor might, in time, be understood literally—so she held her tongue.

They soon understood that the music came from long, reed-like instruments carved out of wood. Yet something was wrong. Why did the young people dancing and twirling around them show no reaction to their presence? Any ordinary person would at least cast a side glance at a group whose clothing was clearly different, whose strangeness announced itself at first sight. But they received no reaction at all.

Abraham, embarrassed at first by the strange scene before him, now felt fear rising. He whispered his thought to Noah:

“Are these… humans?”

From Noah’s startled look—“You too?”—he understood he had been misunderstood.

“No, I don’t mean the matter of Qabil. Look at them—they don’t react at all. Could they be something like jinn or devils? What if we somehow stepped into another realm? I once read a passage saying there are eighteen thousand worlds. Perhaps this island holds a gate that opens into different dimensions.”