Volume 6: Temple in the Mountainside

**Temple in the Mountainside** is the Sixth Volume in the **Toxic Soviets Comic Series**.

## Full Volume

🔗- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eby8cg82AiTmxUGMgZv38zJ1Q2cdgaE0/view?usp=sharing

## Overview

The Soviets, with the exception of a squad of KGB agents tasked with hunting down Faded and Anne, return to Moscow following the failure of the mission to capture the Queen. Late at night, Heydar is contemplating his role in the Soviet government and his purpose, believing that he is not trusted and, just like in his family, he is deemed worthless. In his sleep, he is confronted by Heydarius, who urges Heydar to leave his position behind and go to Yakutsk, Siberia in order to meet him there so he can reach his "true power" and prove his worth to everyone, an offer which Heydar accepts, albeit skeptically. Meanwhile Leon, accompanied by Joseph and Svoboda, is confronted by Abbie, who is accompanied by Hokaj, Lazar and a few soldiers. Abbie challenges Leon on his violation of international law in Poland and his operation, demanding that he steps down. Lazar and Hokaj, although careless, "agree" with Abbie but Leon notes the absence of Grill, stating that a consensus can’t be reached without a unanimous agreement and walking away from Abbie. Back in Poland, Faded, who is tired out by running from the KGB while holding Anne, finds a spot deep in the woods to rest, where Anne demands he unhands her and sobs at the events which occurred, leaving Faded (who was only interested in his monetary prize) nervous and confused.

In the morning, Heydar takes the train for Siberia and after quite some time arrives there. He exits the train only to see a depressing, bland and foggy place made up of snow, plain buildings and people. After consulting with Heydarius for where he must head, he attempts to ask the natives but with no response from anyone. Eventually he stumbles upon a sickly old homeless man, who advises Heydar that he must go through the ”Jann Village" to reach the "Temple of Khamnent", his destination. Heydar gets emotional after seeing the old man but leaves off to his path. Back with Faded and Anne, KGB officers had spotted them, causing Faded to run with all his power in order to avoid being caught. However he meets a dead end blocked by a large mountain, and out of his sheer will to live and survive, Faded runs and climbs up the mountain while carrying Anne while avoiding the gunshots of the officers below him. After a tense and adrenaline-inducing moment, Faded and Anne make it up the top of the mountain and proceeds to make a monologue taunting the KGB officers, but is halted by the gunshots headed his way, forcing him to retreat in the cave.

Simultaneously, Leon is seen watching foreign news on his operation, where they cover the public outrage that broke out after his violation of diplomatical immunity and international law. Meanwhile, the Polish news channel shows the Polish government’s official declaration of war following the emergency government assembled by the Dukes and Officers of Poland. Leon shuts off the TV and notices Grill, who had left for some time to spend time with his family. In a personal moment, Leon and Grill laugh together as Grill urges Leon to visit his family, and it is revealed that Grill has a young daughter named Sarah after Leon asked how she was doing. However, once Leon reveals to Grill that Heydar had been gone for some days, Grill is shocked and outraged, urging Leon that he must go find and check up on him for public safety, despite Leon’s apparent disinterest. The following day, Grill, Joseph and Svoboda fly to Siberia via helicopter, where they meet the Governor-General of the region in the Red Army’s military base. The Governor greets himself and praises Grill for his ventures as a legendary warrior and revolutionary, and as Grill thanks him, he asks if his men can watch over the helicopter until he returns again, to which the Governor agreed. He later expressed his uncertainty on the crew’s intentions and survival in Siberia to his soldiers, but does not have fear knowing Grill’s abilities. The crew then enters the main city, where they find out about Heydar’s whereabouts through the same old man that he had talked to, leading them to find his tracks.

At dusk, Heydar is walking through the gravel path towards the Jann Village to reach the Temple, but the air gets progressively thicker and thicker as the sun keeps setting, making Heydar weak and tired and making him think he’s hallucinating when he sees a strange creature walk past him. In the end he gets knocked out by a mysterious figure and wakes up at night, only to find himself tied up in a tree and surrounded by mysterious cloaked figures known as the "Kibaal" who reveal themselves to be deformed and beastly in their appearance. As the mysterious cultists confront Heydar on his trespassing and are about to sacrifice him, they are stopped by Heydarius, who saves Heydar by telling them that he is a hero headed to the temple to reclaim the "glory of their ancestors" and vanquish the evil from there. Heydar is then taken to the Jann Village, where he enters a hospital. Inside it is a sickly newborn child, where they tell Heydar that the defects are caused by the curse in the air that had been cast ages ago and that more and more of their young are dying. Heydar then agrees to their proposal of bringing them a bright gold crystal lying in the temple to cure them from the curse, and the entire village is informed of Heydar’s heroic aspirations. They gather to celebrate and cheer for him, and as Heydar is leaving, he finds out that he is going to face severe danger in his mission, leaving him shocked and regretful. Heydar then talks with Heydarius as they’re headed to the temple, where he tries to motivate and emotionally pressure him into fulfilling his duty. Heydarius then explains the medal’s power of manipulating energy from the environment around the user and it is revealed that he was present when it was forged, confirming Heydarius’s identity as an ancient being.

The KGB has no choices left but to climb the mountain themselves in order to capture Faded and Anne, but find failure in doing so amidst the heavy rain. Meanwhile, Faded seems to completely disregard the severity of Anne’s situation and tries to lighten up the mood by asking Anne how her day was, to which she responds angrily, much to Faded’s carelessness. After some fake remarks made by Faded, who pretends to feel sorry for Anne, Faded reveals that he did it all for the money following Anne’s question. Faded then tells Anne that they’d be staying in the cave until the KGB gets to them, with Anne simultaneously being disgusted by the place’s filth. Meanwhile in Siberia, Heydar wakes up before dawn strikes, where he makes a fire to keep him warm. However, he is disturbed upon hearing distant screams for help, which leads him to rush in order to investigate the situation and save the person. Upon arriving though, he just sees a young girl called Emilia on top of a tree, with strange creatures of the same type that he encountered before surrounding her on the ground. Emilia tries to get them a2y from her but is stopped when Heydar instead jumps in to distract them and give Emilia time to run away. However, as Heydar is panicking while running away from the animals, Emilia watches and tells Heydar to climb up on the tree. Heydar climbs up, although tired, and they go on to greet themselves to each other, with Emilia revealing that she is a "seasoned explorer" in Yakutsk just before tripping and falling off a tree branch. The two continue to talk, with Emilia mentioning her affinity for the strange creatures and revealing that her father is the Governor-General of Siberia. Suddenly, one of the creatures attempts to climb up the tree, leaving Heydar in shock, but is suddenly stopped when Grill arrives as he throws his wrench and kills the animal. As the animals scatter, Heydar confronts Grill and wonders how he found him, where it’s revealed that they didn’t travel through the gravel path and thus didn’t go through the Jann Village. Grill orders Heydar to come with him and resume his work in the government, but Heydar angrily refuses and swears at Grill. Grill then tells Heydar that he should hand over his medal, which Heydar taunting Grill and telling him to come get it himself. TBA