3.Ahriman’s temple (180AD - 210AD)

In my perfect life fate cornered me. 

"Captain we're back" 

[i came back but the way its getting strange is not giving a pleasent feeling. Its just like I'm going to soon reach a turning point something i haven't seen or wanted to encounter] 

"Oh Malvin! You're back, so what happened?" 

"The mobad said that it's the work of rituals of Ahriman's followers." 

"Not going to lie but i never believed in fairytales from the beginning but since i opened the chest it feels like a new world will soon engulf this one" 

[captain feels the same] 

"Yessir, it does get unpleasant by every passing moment." 

"so what did he (mobad) say did he give you any leads or clues to what should be done with this." 

"Sir he told me that he's not sure that what might be the purpose behind it but he said that we can get our answers if we were to meet up with them(Ahriman's preachers) personally."

"Hmm, if it's something that involves Romans then we might get into trouble for not reporting it to Atropatene* fort but the thing is it involves people on our side and they are traitors in the first place so we will be in trouble for not keeping them in record and we'll be accused of being involved in it too."

"So... What do you devise?" 

[looks like captain also ran out of choices]

"I can't afford to loose good men but it looks like im cornered to give a hard decision so i guess we'll have to just cover this on our own."

"So what's the decision." 

"you'll have to go Malvin take Samim and few of these men and find those traitors."

"Yessir! come on guys let's get over it" 

(Samim) "Gosh I've been itching for some fight i guess we'll have fun".

(Malvin)"Bring the horses"

(Samim) "This is going to be fun"

(Malvin) [you'll never change] 

" YAHH" "let's go" 

 All of them follow Malvin to the mountains besides the borderlands and finally they find a path. 

(Samim) "Hey! Isn't this the abandoned route? It was abandoned because people used to reportedly dissappear from here".

(Malvin) "I don't know else but the priest told me this way." 

[obviously he didn't I'm just guessing the path on my instincts] 

As they move on they see a little boy lying unconscious. 

(Malvin) " Halt!" Malvin dismounts from the horse "in formation men stay on gaurd". He moves towards the boy lifts his head and taps his face "hey there buddy is everything alright? what happened to you? Samim give the boy a ride on your horse." 

(Samim) "he's unconscious." 

(Malvin) "Then use your head to find a way to carry this child" 

(Samim) "Tsk _ tsk so mean." 

(Malvin) " I guess we should split up. I'd not like to draw any attention. You men take this boy and stay here. If i dont appear till morning go down and bring someone" 

(Samim) " For Ahura's sake what's the worst that could happen, we're just going to catch some cowards hiding in the mountain."

(Malvin) [this guys] "We should always be ready for the worst. Im just taking measures for the possibility." 

(Samim) "Whatever." 

 They proceed further and they hear a whistle for just a short moment of time. 

(Malvin) [what was that] "On gaurd men". 

"aaargh" 

(Malvin) "AMBUSH!! take cover."

(Samim) "These bastards i thought we were going to encounter unarmed preachers" 

 Malvin as he was seeking shelter from the arrows saw the man's corpse getting blue. 

(Malvin) [what is that poison] "Men take full cover they're shooting poisoned arrows. Protect yourselves!!" 

(Samim) "what the hell are these bastards upto" he turns around and sees the archer covering himself behind his horse. As he was just seeing he also examined trajectory of arrows and finally pinpointed the location of enemy archer who was targeting from highground. "Hey you! Gimme your bow and arrows."

(Malvin) "The hell are you upto. We gotta fall back before more guys come and surround us. Someone give cover"

(Samim) "I got you guys you move i have spotted few rats ill take them down."

(Malvin) "hey go help Samim" [we can't let them have the chest] " we'll fall back Samim watch our rear let's go guys" 

As they try to fall back an arrow hits one of covering archers, who was with Samim, in his back. 

(Malvin) "****!!! We're surrounded." 

A man from uphill appears "Give up we have surrounded you. You cant escape now." 

(Samim) "like hell we wi..." gets hit by an arrow. 

"I told you you cant run so stop resisting and give up." 

(Malvin) "Who the hell are you?" 

(the man uphill) "Thats what i should be asking." 

(Malvin) "No i will fight till i die." 

(the man uphill) "Then see everyone die. Well not die technically paralyzed to be precise. You guys really helped us to get some samples and to be honest you also brought back the thing that we will be using in our experiment."

(Malvin) [What?] " What do you mean by sample. "

(the man uphill) " you'll know soon. "

 An arrow pierces Malvin's arm. 

(Malvin)" Aarghh... " [ my vision it its blacking out. No my men. I gotta save them.]

Malvin staggers and then collapses as poison begins to paralyze him. 

*Atropatene was a province of Parthian empire that faced Roman Persian border. 

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***