Part one:

It was a whole week since the incident at the Aperture Temple, and the first snow already fell upon Razihelnor. Given the altitude of the city, it will linger until the spring comes.

The streets and the rooftops of houses were regularly cleaned from the accumulating snow, but the mountains above and below the city had layers that were a whole metre deep.

Zafer and Skil were both resting after completing their mission.

Skil’s mission was to get a new Miyalin weapon, and Zafer’s to lure the vindictive Arcanie so that officer Uk could slay her.

It wasn’t that Temper paladins hated her or that she posed a threat to the whole faction. It was just that having a sinister and chronical traitor like her running around wasn’t good for anyone, and once Banana saw a chance to trap and kill her, he used it.

However, on the brink of her death, she randomly turned into an apparition just like any other human could at any moment, causing officer Uk the unforeseen trouble.

Because of these troubles and the fact that he didn’t get any praise for his bravery, Zafer decided to take the Book of Runes and Curses from the Aperture temple as his reward, just because he needed it and doubted anyone would notice it’s absence.

“Alright but what did you mean with the designer girl? Did she sell you the book, or did you just blatantly steal it? Please respond”.

“Report to the Garden”.

Those were two scripts that were laying on the table of Zafer’s accommodation.

The first one was a message from Skil while the second one was coming from Simra, summoning him to the Gardens of the Elite.

Zafer closed the book of Runes and Curses he was reading and replaced it with yet another book labelled “The basics of the Ancient language”.

It was a manual gifted to him by Skil that could be used to write simple codes such as instant messages via scripts.

The S-mails or Script-mails were a common way of communication on distance between 2 paladins. They were sold in a pair of 2, and each of the paladins would take and carry one of them.

No matter how far apart the two paladins were, every time one of them wrote something using the ancient language on their S-mail, it would also appear on the other pair that was kept by the other paladin, hence allowing them to write instant letters to each other.

Nevertheless, for the message to copy itself onto it’s distant pair, a specific code in Ancient Language was necessary before and after the wanted message.

Zafer was still learning these codes.

The Simple physiology of Anomalies: Paragraph 3:

It was a common misconception of what the difference between Anomalies (A) and Artifacts (AR) was. A simple example would be the A-8, the Adjustment. In this case, the anomaly was the SKIN of a living owner of said anomaly, but after the skin gets peeled of and processed, it becomes an artifact called the PARCHMENT.

It was the same thing, but in different circumstances. Each anomaly could be transformed into its corresponding artifact, and the stronger the anomaly, the stronger its artifact would be.

„He’s here”, someone spoke from inside of the building.

A black shadow passed near the window, opening the door from the inside before Zafer could even reach the door handle.

“Take this”, Priest exited the building throwing a backpack on Zafer.

It wasn’t bulky but was somewhat heavy.

„What’s inside?”, he didn’t know if it would be disrespectful to look inside himself.

„Potions”, Simra followed up, “come on. We need to check something bellow”.

He meant bellow the city of Razihelnor which would be the foothill.

“Bellow?”, Zafer got confused, “you mean the foothill?”

Although the mountain range was huge, it’s pedestal wasn’t nowhere near the sea level.

“Yes. Our guards spotted some changes using binoculars this morning”.

All 4 of them were walking towards the waterfall at the edge of the Gardens of the Elite.

Zafer bent over the fence, gazing down on the snow-white landscape. Not even trees could be spotted since they were also covered with snow.

“What changes?”

The fourth person spoke up in an annoyed tone, “The snow melted on a specific area. You can’t see it from here. Now shut up and listen to your orders”.

Among Temper, just like any other province, a conflict between its members was usual, but despite that everyone still managed to work as one. This was usually due to the fear of the stronger paladins and the banishment one might face as a consequence of bringing turmoil.

The one who silenced Zafer was the 2nd officer of the Temper province, and he was the 4th member of today’s expedition.

„It is alright to ask but stay focused”, Simra commented.

Did Simra just defend him? It felt that way, but it also might be that he just wanted to silence the 2nd officer.

The naïve Zafer still could not understand the relationships between each paladin of the Temper.

„We are set to go. You drink this“ he turned towards Zafer handing him a long but narrow vial that was filled with an opaque white liquid.

„Is this a potion?”, Zafer placed it on his lips.

„Yes. The saliva of fliers”.

Zafer chuckled but still drank everything.

Its taste was even more awful than that of a red potion and it will linger for hours. If he was required to drink another one, he would probably reflexively spit it back into the vial.

“What does it do”, he didn’t feel any difference.

The second officer looked at him somewhat disappointed, “seriously? He never even drank a white one, yet you wanted to have him around?”

He was speaking to Simra.

“Well Uk said that he is a fighter”.

This was a reference to when Zafer purposely let the inverse Arcanie smash his head. It was a whole week after the incident and he finds only now that his action was in fact noted.

He suddenly felt somewhat bad for taking the Book of Runes and Curses from the Temple. Well, not like the book belonged to Temper, but he just hoped nobody finds out.

The Priest walked over to Zafer, “alright now, it’s just better to show you than to explain”, he squatted and grabbed him by the legs.

“Hey! Wha-“, he was too afraid to resist but was also scared of what was going on.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Nonetheless, it suddenly all made sense to him.

The Priest threw him of the cliff.

The droplets of water and frozen ice particles were colliding with his face as he was accelerating towards the foothill, and then he hit the ground, leaving his body print in the snow layer.

Zafer felt no pain from the fall and just stood up unscratched.

The effect of the white potion was indeed easier to show than to explain.

“Don’t be mad”, the Priest approached him from behind, “nobody jumped voluntarily the first time”.

Behind them was a lake that was formed by the waterfall, but falling into it would just wet their clothes and maybe even sink those who wore Miyalin. Not to mention how cold it was.

Zafer wore a special coat made only for this weather, but those who were training their anomalies were rarely getting sick anyways.

The two of them waited for both officers to get down as well, and once they did, they set on a hike towards the suspicious area where snow was melted.

The uneven and steep terrain was covered with snow, making their every step more difficult than it should be. The constant uphills and downhills as well as the slippery ground made it quite troublesome to progress, and as the time went on, it was obvious that Zafer definitely wasn’t the one that will slow them down.

Due to his constant financial struggles, Zafer never relied on portals for travelling like the most paladins did.

It was safe to say that his calves and legs were the second most prominent muscle on his body, right after his forearms, but that was thanks to his anomaly anyways.

The distances that he would usually travel were quite enormous since most important cities were just that far away from each other.

He would sometimes come across a farmer or a caravan that were transporting goods who were willing to take him with them on a trip, in return for safety from monsters, beasts, and robbers.

This was happening too rarely however, since the pathways that Zafer took were usually those that horses or caravans could not travel over.

To him this was just a normal walk outside, but for the 2nd officer it posed quite a challenge. The only reason why Simra and the Priest were keeping up was because of their battle experience.

To become an officer of a faction, one was not only required to perform excellent on the battlefield, but also to do a lot of paperwork, construction work, and so on.

Since the 2nd officer wasn’t known for his fighting capabilities, he had to make up for this by doing paperwork.

This extra time spent in an office took a noticeable tool on his physical capability.

Luckily, his torture ended an hour later when they halted on a viewpoint to scout at the dried area with binoculars from afar.

“So, Zafer, you are the only one here with the Iron Fist anomaly. Can you break Miyalin yet?”, the 2nd officer asked him while Simra was looking through the binoculars.

“N-not yet. But I can break iron!”, he over-exaggerated. He could barely break iron.

The officer smirked, “well I’m glad that I brought my axe”.

It was obvious that he was picking up a fight, but Zafer could not do anything about it. The fact that he could not break Miyalin was his fault.

Usually, paladins with the Iron Fist anomaly were given a special treatment, since it was one of the biggest advantages to have on a battlefield.

The paladin whose armour or axe first broke usually died, and the Iron Fist anomaly could break Miyalin faster than any weapon.

It seemed to everyone that Zafer was given extra privilege by Simra, but it definitely wasn’t due to his A-6.

Everyone else remained silent on that topic, Simra and Priest didn’t pay any attention.

“So?”

“They are building a cannon. It’s almost done”, Simra was still looking through the binoculars.

“Which one?”

“The 101”

That was a name of the cannon.

The priest laughed, “a 101? And what are they trying to do with it? That thing can’t even reach Razihelnor from here!”

Simra didn’t find it funny, “I don’t know. It’s Nele”.

Most of the experienced paladins knew each other very well due to the years of being around.

Nele was an experienced paladin known for being the best cannoneer and had destroyed a fair number of fortresses.

Faction fortresses.

“Which faction does he belong to?”, Zafer has never heard of him.

“None. He is the leader of the strongest gang”.

Gang was a party of people who were conducting business just like factions did, although they were not seen as one officially.

The difference was that anyone who wasn’t a member of some recognized faction was not allowed to use Miyalin or to grow magic plants which were the main source of income for any paladin.

Gangs were practically illegal factions.

Nevertheless, most gangs delved into this kind of business since the National Security wasn’t numerically strong enough to raid and seize every single one of them, so they were usually just waiting for factions to raid and get rid of them.

Such raids were happening frequently since no gang was usually strong or smart enough to withstand the pressure from the major 3 factions, but those gangs who did were especially dangerous and cunning.

This time the strongest gang was trying to raid Temper!

Since cannons could not be brought over, they were usually constructed right in front of the fortress. The melted snow area was where the cannon was currently being built.

Now since they know who was behind this, their next mission was probably going to be to get rid of the enemy.

Or so did Zafer assume.

“What is he doing?”, the Priest asked.

He was referring to the gang leader, Nele.

“He is looking at us with a pair of binoculars”, Simra put his binoculars down.

“Why don’t we just wait for him to finish the 101 and see what he does with it?”

The Priest was a very experienced paladin and Zafer will only come to understand that in the future, as he keeps making progress.

To Zer Ox (the Priest), it was laughable that Nele was trying to raid Razihelnor with the 101 cannon.

However, Simra frowned, “don’t underestimate him. He used the same cannon to raid the Atlantic Republic. We aren’t going to let him finish constructing that cannon”.

Although Simra was the 3rd officer, he had the strongest say among them, and this will be their mission.

As soon as Simra issued the order, the snow beneath all 4 of them suddenly got scattered in all directions, revealing an adult male covered in Miyalin. His body was rotating horizontally midair, kicking the Priest and the 2nd officer in chest with all his might.

The impact of the kick was as strong as if he struck them with an Miyalin axe, which was unbelievable.

This was an experienced gang member.

Both Priest and 2nd officer flew in the opposite directions of each other, rolling downhill.

Simra also got caught by surprise, and was about to summon his Miyalin axe, but man’s hand grabbed Simra’s palm. Due to how the summoning rune worked, that was impossible now.

Nonetheless, there was still another person present on their side. Zafer

He dashed forward, unsheathing his iron sword as there wasn’t anything that he could do with his Iron Fist anomaly. Almost the entirety of man’s body was covered with Miyalin armour, expect for his head.

That was exactly where he aimed.

The man gazed at Zafer with a faint smile as if he was taking forever to reach him, but when he finally did, the man just let go of Simra’s palm and swung with his hand at Zafer.

CRACK

The iron sword got broken just like that.

Zafer got kicked and ended up the same way that the Priest did.

On the bright side, this allowed Simra to finally summon his axe and engage in combat.

The priest and 2nd officer already recovered but weren’t going to assist Simra. Their teamwork and experience told them there was no need.

What was currently required was to destroy the 101 cannon.

Simra’s orders were absolute.

The person they were dealing with right now was the same one who chased the Atlantic Republic into despair and ruin. If the whole gang was here, they stood no chance of killing or arresting anyone, so the main goal at this point was to just destroy the cannon and retreat.

Simra was currently overpowering the gang member in terms of skill and technique, which was to be expected. As far as Zafer knew, Simra was the strongest member of the Temper province.

Zafer took some time to recover because he was drinking the potions that were in his backpack. He was ready to assist Simra. The purple potion gave him strength and the blue potion gave him speed.

However, as soon as he arrived at the scene ready to fight, a loud explosion resounded between the mountains, making everyone’s ears turn off for a couple of seconds.

Zafer reluctantly flicked his body, scared by the loud sound.

Simra and the man didn’t get scared but stopped fighting.

The explosion’s sound was boosted by the echo of the mountains.

Zafer didn’t know what it’s source was. Was that an anomaly?

Simra was as baffled but knew that this wasn’t Priests or 2nd officers doing.

Something happened, but he could not see what.

Everything was as peaceful as it used to be.

“What was that?”, Simra had a bad feeling.

The man smiled, “it seems that the cannon has fired”.

Simra turned around looking at Razihelnor. One cannon ball could not destroy a whole city.

There was no way that was possible.

Right?

Nevertheless, both Simra and Zafer soon understood that it was.

The silence and buzzing in their ears got replaced by a horrifying sound, and now he saw what it was. It was never about the cannon ball in the first place.

All the mountains around them trembled due to tons of snow mass gliding downhill.

It was an avalanche, and it was coming straight towards them.

The gang member summoned a large sword that had an oblong hole in it’s very middle. He then swung it vertically in the air, cutting the fabric of space and thus opening a portal. It was just a line, but if stretched with hands, one could fit and pass through it with no problem.

Simra quickly did the same but with his Miyalin axe, “Zafer! Come!”.

The man smiled gazing at the Razihelnor, however, his smile than turned into a poker face. There was no avalanche falling on the capital of Temper. The snow above it stood fix in the place.

“Wow. That damned Banana. He thought of this didn’t he?”, the gang member stepped with one leg through the portal, but then something unexpected happened.

Zafer who was supposed to run towards Simra and escape through the portal actually jumped on him with all his might, pushing him away from the portal! As a result, Zafer accidentally fell through his portal.

Simra’s eyes were wide opened.

The avalanche was already in front of them, and the gang member would not get up in time.

Did Zafer just kill him?

Simra glanced at the portal Zafer passed through, contemplating if he should follow him, but there was literally no time anymore.

He quickly passed through his own portal and closed it.

This happened the very last moment.

The gang member got buried bellow the tens of metres of snow and died.

On the other side, the snow streamed through Zafer’s portal since it was still opened, but due to how portals worked, it got closed a couple a minute later.

Zafer stood up, scanning his surroundings.

He was in a swamp, possibly enemy territory.

The portal could have led him on a whole opposite side of the Pashtrik country! He was in a wilderness by himself, but this was nothing new to him.

The only problem was how he is going to return to the civilization without knowing where he is.