This first chapter is a tale that is passed down in this story that tells the origin of the Assassins in Alagaësia. The next chapter will be the start of the main story and I look forward to any and all feedback I receive.
In the year of 1789 a group of twelve Assassins from all over the globe -three of them being master level, and the rest of them being instructors- traveled to the island of Palau Belitung located in Indonesia. They were targeting a group of Templars whom were transporting three apples of Eden to send to a more secure Templar-controlled region.
The Assassins knew that this could be an excellent chance to get an advantage in their struggle that has lasted for centuries but were weary of the risk that the assignment would have; the Templars would know that it would be too large of a target for them to pass up and would make preparations for their arrival. They used their wealth and political standing to influence the ports and harbor masters to allow their men to search every ship and its cargo that came into port on that island.
The thing that the Templars didn't expect was that the Assassins were disguised on some of the several ships that the Templars arrived on by sneaking onto them while crossing the Java Sea in various ways, some hid amongst the cargo for the duration of the voyage while others killed some of the crew members and took their place.
What impressed the group was what Nicolas Mathis -an low instructor-leveled Assassin at the age of nineteen from France- did to board one of the ships; a week before his targeted ship set sail, he had a look at the set course of the ship and copied it down. He then bought a one-manned boat and set out to the ocean and scanned the sea with his eagle vision while he waited for the sip to come to him. He was able to spot the large ship at the horizon and immediately scuttled his boat and swam to a spot that the ship would sail across then climbed the bow of it when it crossed next to him. Because his robes were a dark blue, he wasn't spotted when the ship passed next to him. Nicolas spent the rest of the ships voyage resting on the forward ram, shielded from both sharp eyes and the sun's harmful rays.
When they arrived at shore all of the Assassins disembarked and regrouped in the small towns that were dotted throughout the island and established their different bases of operations while awaiting the arrival of the ships carrying the apples. The twelve of them lived as civilians for an entire month until they received word of the arrival of the apples. For days they tracked the movements of the couriers until they were in just a few radius of each other and were ready to converge on one another and be sent away with an entire fleet guarding them.
The Assassins then launched their attack on the separate targets, killing the convoys and the couriers and escaping with the apples to another predetermined location. During the attacks however, one of the Assassins were killed while another two were injured and bleeding at a steady rate, which slowed down their escape dramatically and arrived at their destination in the woods almost a day late.
Once all of the Assassins were reunited along with the body of their deceased brother, they entrusted the three apples with the three master Assassins. But once all of the apples were exposed to one another they began to shake uncontrollably in their hand and engulfed the eleven Assassins in a white dome. They began to panic at the supernatural occurrence, two of them tried to break the solid barrier by striking it with their weapons with no effect. The apples started to hate up in the master Assassins hands to the point that they dropped them due to the heat that they produced.
They fell to the ground and started to glow red from the heat and started to catch some of the grass on fire along with melting to everyone's surprise. Not wanting to see all of their work wasted, the Assassins tried to cool down the artifacts by dumping their water canisters onto them and the fires but only to watch the apples melt into a liquid state and into the ground, only then that the dome collapse and left them in the woods.
With their prize and all of their water gone they still had to get their wounded treated but noticed that they were lost as well. The forest looked different from where they had stopped, the trees and bushes had switched positions from where they had met up and the tree that they had marked was completely gone. After deciding that they needed to find out where they were they all exchanged supplies like ammo and gunpowder to each other while they bandaged the wounded then started jogging so that the two who were carrying the body could keep up.
The group had expected to find a settlement within a day but after the third day of traveling they knew that they couldn't have been going in the right direction. It was during one of their stops by a river that they finally met one of the local inhabitants but were in for a surprise.
Thud. They heard as some of them bent down to take a drink. Thud. They heard again and paused from their rest. Thud. This time it was much louder and they all looked around at the surrounding trees, keeping an eye out for whatever was causing the sound.
Then all of a sudden an ear-piercing roar let out above them as a dragon dove in front of the group and landed on the other side of the river. The Assassins drew their swords and pistols and braced themselves for a fight. The nobody in the group knew what to do, they all have heard of the fire-breathing reptiles in stories and knew that if this thing wanted to it could kill all of them.
The dragon just stared at the for a few seconds to see what they would do before shifting its body to reveal a human on its back. The Assassins didn't know how to respond to what was happening but nobody wanted to make the first move. The rider dismounted the grey dragon and hailed the Assassins claiming that his name was Edvard son of Milan and that they were trespassing in the rider's training grounds. The Assassins questioned Edvard of where exactly they were and about his dragon.
Edvard could clearly tell that they weren't from Alagaësia once he peeked into all of their minds and was curious to know more about them. He talked with them for awhile long from across the small river to keep his and his dragon's distance, he then told them to follow him to meet with the other riders as he took off into the air.
The Assassins were eager to keep moving and followed the rider on foot, they were all asking the master Assassins what they should do and how they should proceed. They didn't have an answer for them and told them to stay vigilant and not to attack or speak to anyone unless told to do so.
They only took a single rest to check up on the Assassins that were injured while they were in Indonesia during the two hour hike; they followed Edvard until they reached a clearing in the woods that revealed a large settlement with dozens of dragons and their riders flying throughout the sky.
Edvard, along with two other riders and their dragons, landed in front of the group and walked with them into the camp. The riders and the Assassins conversed during the short trip until one of the riders, a human female by the name of Stephanie, noticed the blood stain on two of Assassin's robes where they were injured. She asked them if she could inspect the wounds to which they agreed, then she said a phrase in a language that the two men didn't recognize.
They both felt a tingling sensation from the tissue and watched as the area was completely healed. Not knowing what had happened to them, all that they could do was t give their thanks to the dragon rider.
All of the Assassins questioned on why they were there once they reached one of the main buildings; following their orders, all of the instructor-leveled Assassins allowed their leaders to speak for the group. They answered the riders truthfully but still had their minds searched unknowingly by the riders for anything that they might not like.
The three Assassins talked about their order and the war with the Templars to a certain point when they were asked if they were mercenaries, saying that they fight to free people from slavery and corrupt leaders while they help keep pace in other lands. The riders only nodded and told them that they were welcome to rest and resupply in one of the traveler areas for a few days.
That night, Nicolas' curiosity got the better of him and he went to look around to watch the dragons and the riders. He was absolutely fascinated by the creatures and was even rejected by one of the riders when he asked if he could ride their dragon in exchange for some of his throwing knives. He was able to get one of the other riders to show him around and led him to where the dragons would nest and told him stories about some of the legendary riders and dragons that have stayed there in the past.
He was then shown the building where people from all around the world where people could come to see if a dragon would hatch for them. Nicolas saw two rows of thirteen dragon eggs of various colors on pedestals that reached up to his waist. Each row had two guards stationed at the end of the columns in case anyone tried to steal or damage the eggs.
That night he went back and told the rest of his friends what he had learned; he was expecting to be scolded for leaving them in a foreign land but was told that most of the others also left to explore as well.
Nicolas woke up before the sun was able to peak over the horizon the next morning, he was restless and wanted to learn more about this place. He went to libraries, book stores, story tellers and more just so he could gather whatever information he could even though few places were open while he was awake. His search for information led him back to the dragon eggs, he entered the building and watched from a corner as some people would walk in and touch the eggs while waiting to see if one of them would hatch for them.
Once he was alone in the room, with the exception of the guards, he walked up to the eggs and examined them closely. To him they looked like large gems that were polished and placed into a museum or a rich man's private collection. No two eggs were quite alike, most had different colors than others but while some shared the same color they still had slightly different sizes and shades. He made his way across the first row of eggs just inspecting them until he felt something tugging on his mind. His gaze shifted to a bright green egg that was sitting on a pedestal in the back row.
While approaching it slowly, he never looked away from it. It drew him into it like a mosquito to a lamp that he would have at the bow of a boat. Once he was in front of it he just stood there for a little while, gazing at the slightly darker green lines looked like veins going across the shell. He suddenly got the urge to reach out and to touch the glossy surface. As he reached out the guards eyed him cautiously as they did to everyone that went up to touch them.
The egg felt just as he had expected it to, a smooth surface yet he could feel an aura of power and mystery surrounding over it. He then felt a small vibration coming from the egg and took his hands off of it, thinking that he wasn't being as gentle as he should have been. The egg continued to shake and the guards took notice; one of them left the room with a sense of urgency while the others shut the doors and sealed him inside.
Believing that they might have been trying to attack him, he reached into his side pouch and retrieved his nine-section chain whip that he used as him primary weapon. It reached four and a half feet and had a solid dart at the end of the metal chain. He spun the weapon to keep the guards back to which they rose their weapons in a defensive stance. They claimed that they weren't going to harm him and told him to look at the egg.
While keeping his whip in motion, he peered over his shoulder to find a small green dragon laying amongst the broken shell. After looking back at the guards he put the chain whip away to get a look at the dragon and consulted his company on what had happened. They claimed that he was chosen by the dragon to be its rider then was told to touch the dragon. Nicolas removed his left glove and hesitated for a moment before reaching out to the dragon. As soon as he felt the scales on its head a sharp pain shot up his arm and he removed his hand to find a glowing white circle on his palm.
They were greeted by Edvard along with three other riders, the guard that ran out, and two of his fellow Assassins, they questioned him on what happened. After explaining that the dragon had hatched for him, he and the other Assassins were invited to stay at their training camp of Hvitr Datia, or 'White Mist' as they called it.
In the months that followed, Nicolas was trained to be a rider along with his dragon, Palau, that he named after the island that they were on a few days ago. She proved to be a challenge since he started to share his thoughts with her and often wished that he was still able to have the privacy that he once had.
The rest of the Assassins continued their work as peace keepers just as they did before; with the dragon riders being the ultimate authority in the land, they didn't have to do the assassination missions that they did so well. After the first year of living in Alagaësia the Assassins knew that the chances of returning home were slim; not wanting the order to die in this land, they started to train others to be Assassins just as they used to. It would take many years before the first few would be ready to be considered an Assassin but they knew the importance of keeping a government in check.
Nicolas was still a fully fledged member of the order and him along with the other instructor Assassins eventually reached the title of Master Assassin. He still gave the order his full support and was even able to convince the other riders to grant the Assassins a white dragon egg so that one day it might hatch for someone else of the order.
After twenty years of staying in Alagaësia the Assassins fears came to light, a rider named Galbatorix recruited Morzan and many other riders who called themselves the Forsworn, started to hunt down and kill every other dragon and rider that they saw including Nicolas and Palau. The Forsworn drove the Assassins and those still training into hiding in Surda where they built a new training ground along one of its rivers.
After Galbatorix rose to power with the Forsworn at his command, the Assassins were able to find work as 'peace keepers' they assisted a man by the name of Brom in the planning of their assassinations and extended to him their services for the time being. Most of the original Assassins died in the line of duty due not only to the hazards but their age started to take its toll on them during battle. They made sure that whenever one of them were to die in battle that all of their equipment was retrieved especially their pistols. They wanted to make sure that their technology wasn't duplicated or used by anyone outside of the order during their entire time in Alagaësia.
Throughout the next eighty years many Assassins came and went, a good number of them being descendants of the original twelve member. They spent their time in Surda either training or planning an assassination of some corrupt leader in the Empire's land. Having around a square mile of land to use for their purposes, they made the most of it; having gardens on the roofs of buildings instead of plowing the lands. They build artificial structures in the river for their parkour training so that if someone were to fall they would land in the water instead of rock.
But in the center of the town was a shrine that anyone could enter at any time that the sun was up, sitting on its original pedestal while being guarded by two Assassins, lay the same white egg with red vein-like line running across it that Nicolas granted the Assassins almost one hundred years ago and yet still was unknown by Galbatorix. There it laid, waiting for its rider that would one day help avenge the deaths of the riders and Assassins whom died in the name of peace.