CHAPTER 1 The heat was sweltering in the tavern, of course, the press of all the bodies didn't help. Then, out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning lit up the room. Not even a second later, a peal of thunder split the air with an ear-grabbing power. "Damn, that was close," said the man standing next to the window. He turned around and growled, "Where is he. He was supposed to be here three hours ago." At that instant, something, or someone, banged on the door. "That's him. About time," he adds under his breath. He walks over to the door and opens it. As he peers out, there's nothing to be seen through the wind-driven rain. "Geoffry, I've been here the whole time," a voice rings out. Geoffry spins around trying to find the source of the voice. "The reason I chose tonight is because of this storm. You don't realize how easy it is to sneak into somewhere, in the midst of a storm such as this."
"Show yourself assassin," Geoffry bellows out.
"Very well," the voice replies as he drops behind Geoffry from the rafters above.
"Boo," he whispers, as he lands causing Geoffry to stumble away, spinning as he does so.
"I gathered all I could here, just as you asked," Geoffry says, as the man walks into the center of the room. As he does so the noise drops into nonexistence. Even in the sudden silence, the man makes no noise as he approaches a table. As he sits and eats, everyone watches. He keeps his hood up even in the stifling air, making it impossible to distinguish his features. His clothes were of the finest make. Light gray, with a strange symbol, on the forehead of his hood. It looked similar to a pair of wings, as I look upon the symbol I remember seeing a similar symbol, I don't remember where I saw the symbol, but remember it I do. He carried many weapons, hooked to a harness: A longbow, a full quiver of arrows, a cutlass, a strange looking war hatchet, and two spring blades on his wrist. As he shifted quick glints of light appeared on his body where tiny pieces of metal hinted at where other hidden weapons were on his body. He ate carefully, entirely at ease, yet poised for a fight if need be. This was not a man you wanted to cross.
The man slowly scans the room, meeting the eyes of all who dared to look in them. As his gaze came aligned with mine, a strange feeling came upon me, one that I was not able to describe, until later. "Him," he whispered. The tavern was so quiet; it seemed that he spoke normally. The men in the tavern shifted so that everyone could catch a glimpse of me. "He is the one," he said, breaking my line of thought, and bringing me back to the matter at hand.
"What do you mean," I asked, trying to keep the surprise and slight fear from my voice.
The man stands and walks over as he replies, "I was sent here to choose an apprentice, my mentor commanded it, and so I have chosen you.
"How old are are you?"
"I recently celebrated my 17th name day."
"Excellent, what are you called?"
"I am called Arconn."
"An elvish name. Are you not human?"
"Yes, I am human. I am known as Arconn, in remembrance of an elf that once saved my father's life."
"Your father, where is he? Should he not be here?"
"Alas, my father died from a sickness, not two summers ago. We layed him neath a grand oak tree beside our house, according to his last wishes."
The stranger stops beside me and gazes down at me, yet because of his cowl, I cannot see his expression, I now realize he is only above average height. Right around 5' 9" at most.
"Stand," he commands. I jump to my feet.
He looks me up and down, taking in my figure. He slowly begins to circle me, commanding me to be still as I start to follow him. As he finishes his circuit, he starts to speak to himself. "Could lose some weight, and add a bit of muscle, but the training will do most of that. Has a decent height. Nice big hands. All in all a fine young man. Yes, he will do nicely." He turns to me sharply, "Gather your belongings, and meet me five leagues north of here in the morning."
He turns to leave as I cry out, "Wait a minute, why?!"
"To start your training," he yells over his shoulder as he leaves.
When he is gone people glance about at each other trying to process what had just happened. After a couple of minutes, the talking starts up again. As I look around, I see Geoffry, standing around still trying to get over the fact of what happened. After a few minutes of this, he finally dismisses everyone that wishes to leave. I get up from my seat, after sitting down to think over the events that transpired and head out into the storm. As I pull the hood up on my cloak, I notice that the rain has stopped. In fact, it appears as if there was no storm in the first place. As I walk through the small village, I glance around, taking in the village, as this might be the last time I see it in a while. I walk through the North village gates and walk the five leagues to my family's farm. As I walk, I churn the events over and over in my mind. Finally, I turn off the road on to a dirt track and walk the two hundred feet to the main house. As I walk in the house, my mother pops her head out of the kitchen.
"Oh, good. You're home. Arconn, come meet mister Creed."
"Creed? Who is that, and what kind of name is Creed?"
"Oh, that would be me," a voice says. "I stopped here because of the storm. Your ma'am was kind enough to let me in.
"You must be the great Arconn, your ma'am has been talking about you non-stop."
"That's not true," my ma'am buts in. "I told him nothing but the essentials."
As they exchange this verbal sparring, I study this mister Creed. For some reason, his voice is strangely familiar. As I watch, he finishes walking down the steps, and steps into the light. He had short brown hair, with light brown stubble, and piercing green eyes.
He finally finishes with my mother and turns back to me.
"I should probably properly introduce myself. I am actually an old friend of your dad. We knew each other many years ago. I am sorry to hear of his passing. My name is Jeremy Creed."
"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Creed. If I might ask, what brings you to the area?"
"Straight to the point I see. Good for you. A mixture of business and pleasure. This was the pleasure part. I heard that your dad was here in the area and hoped to visit with him."
"Okay. Ma'am, I'm going to head to bed if you don't need me."
"But what about dinner? It's almost ready," she says.
"Okay, let me get cleaned up.
"Oh, I also need to talk to you about something that occurred at the tavern earlier."
"Oh, really. What happened?"
"A strange man showed up. Apparently, that's what the meeting was about. At least that's what it sounded like with what Geoffry said. Anyways he offered me an apprenticeship. Well more like a demand than an offer. He told me to meet him, 5 leagues, north of the village, in the morning."
"Well, that's nice, what is his profession?"
"I'm not altogether sure. Geoffry called him an assassin, but I don't know. Ma'am what's wrong." As I was talking Ma'am face went bright white, as all the blood drained from her face.
"Nothing, I'm fine. But, Jeremy, I thought that this was your pleasure, not your business." Her face went from white to bright red.
There were very few times I had seen my mother angry, this was one of those times.
"Yes, this is both my business and my pleasure. Please, Marie. At least let me talk to him he must know before he can accept."
"No. I forbid it. He is the only family I have left. I will not let you take him. If he were to leave, and die what would I do, how could I live with myself knowing that I allowed that to happen?"
"If he were to accept you could come back with us..."
"No, I left that life. You know why. I could never allow myself to go back there."
"Even if you came with us, you wouldn't have to live that life."
"Wait, wait, wait. Wait. What life?"
"Marie, we have to tell him."
"Fine, but don't involve me. I don't want that life." My mother turns away and re-enters the kitchen.
Jeremy sighs, "Your mother is extraordinary. She was one of our best. After she met your father, she changed. She brought him back and started training him. Soon after that, they got married. When she found out she was pregnant with you, she left the brotherhood. Expressing she didn't want you to have to live that life, but would let you choose when you were old enough. That time has come.
"It is time to tell you about your heritage. You are descended from a long line of assassins who belong to a brotherhood, known as the Assassins' Creed. We are more than assassins for hire, we are warriors for the Light. We fight to defend the people from rulers, and other hidden sects, whose purposes aren't as noble as ours. Our greatest enemy from the founding of our brotherhood, are the Paladins. They wield fierce magic. The ability to negate all other magic. There is an unconfirmed rumor that the first assassin was once a high ranking Paladin officer. We tried to trace his descendants, but were unable to after several generations."
"Wait. How does this concern me?"
"You must understand the background of the brotherhood before you can accept my offer."
"Hold on. YOUR offer?"
"Yes, I was the one in the tavern. I lied about being sent here to find an apprentice. That was just for the benefit of the others in the tavern. I was sent to find and retrieve YOU."
"Me? Why me?"
"Because you belong to the Creed. We have a saying, 'Your blood is not your own. It belongs to the Creed.' And it is very true. Our best warriors are descended from the original 13 assassins. 12 to fight, one to lead. Today, we number almost a thousand. Several of the original bloodlines centuries ago. 6 of the 13 original bloodlines remain."
"How long has this war lasted?"
"It has lasted for millennia. The exact number of years was lost to the sands of time. The only one who truly knows has yet to be found."
"What do you mean, "yet to be found?" Surely your historians should know, and have it written down somewhere."
"Your right, our historians have diaries dating back to over two millennia. However, even those diaries speak of the founding as if it occurred long before them. The one who knows is the firstborn of the founder. That is another reason we tried to trace the founder's descendants. To find the one. There are signs we were told to watch for. Only months ago the fifth of eight signs appeared. 5 red dawns in a row. It was this sign that sent me into motion, to find you. But it is not just you, but all assassins across Middle Earth. The sign was to tell the world the Paladins are on the move. We have only a single year from that sign to gather our forces. To meet the Paladins in battle. We must defeat them, or they will destroy the world as we know it. Arconn, We need you. You and the other young of the Creed might make the difference between victory and defeat.
"Arconn, we need you. If we fail, we need you and the others to continue on the Creed. In one on one fights, assassins can almost always come out on top. But in big fights... It is not uncommon for only one or maybe two assassins to escape. We might be better trained, faster, and agiler, but they wear a strange and special armor that sets them apart. Light and very flexible, the metal is as a second skin. It is hard to get into, therefore hard to get out of. Most just wear the armor from the time they get into it to the time the war ends, or they die on the battlefield."
"Wait, you want me to help you defeat these guys when you describe them as undefeatable."
"They are not UN-defeatable, just hard to kill. That is why we need the descendant of the founder. With him, or her, we will win. It is said the descendant will have magic power, the power of fire, but will also have the ability to negate magic. You can only cast spells up to a certain distance, the descendant will be able to cast his spells up to twice the range of any spell caster, or magic user, alive, even that of a wizard. That is incredibly rare. Practically non-existent. With the descendant on our side, we will win and protect this realm.
As the firstborn of an assassin bloodline, you will have a magical ability. You might notice weird things that have happened while you were young. Think back to your youth, anything strange that might have occurred, that stuck out to you."
As I sit back and think through my life, I notice weird things, but none of them would be considered magical. I'm pretty sure rolling your tongue isn't magical. I sit there for who knows how long before Jeremy asks,"Anything?"
"Nothing that would be considered magical," I reply.
"Are you sure, I mean completely sure."
"I'm telling you nothing."
"That's odd. That's never happened that I know of. Very well we will have to talk the healers at the Homebase."
"Wait, I never said that I was going with you."
"Right, I got a bit ahead of myself. Sorry. It's just that we need you and could almost literally die, without you. You might just be the one who could save us all. Please, come with me."
"What about my mother? Who will look out for her if I leave?"
He lets out a small chuckle, "Your ma'am is far from unable to look out for herself. She only said that to try to convince you to stay. If you leave, she will be fine. Even as an apprentice you'll make more than enough money to send here to your mother to help her hire help for the farm, and still have money to expand the farm. Then keep and save the money you don't spend, and you can buy everything you need after your apprenticeship ends. It will last for roughly ten years, so when you're done, you will be in your prime, ready to fight for and guard the light.
"We have a saying, 'When other men blindly follow the truth, remember, nothing is true. When other men are inhibited by their morality or law, remember, everything is permitted. We work in the dark to serve the light. We are Assassins.'
"Come with me and fulfill the promise in your blood. Fulfill your destiny, whatever that may be."
I sit for a minute and think. Jeremy gets up and moves around the room. I finally say, "Very well. I will go. But you must promise me nothing will befall my ma'am."
"I cannot promise that will happen, but I can promise your mother will be taken care of."
"Bother not yourself with me, my son, I shall be fine. It is you, that needs your attention. Learn much, Learn well. Soak up all your mentors teach you. That could be the difference between life or death. In your training, you will have challenges that can, and might, kill you. Don't become overconfident. That is the main reason only one or two of us come out of a fight. We become too reckless, then as we are facing one, another kills us from behind. I had many friends killed that way. Don't become one of them.
"Now go upstairs to your room, and pack your bags with the essentials. When you bring down you things we will dine then you shall be free to leave in the morning, but beware, the longer you wait, the closer the day of the great war comes, meaningless preparation.
"When you train think of me little, but know that my love and my pride are with you, draping over you as if a cloak."
As I turn to face my ma'am, I saw tears in her eyes, and I could feel her love, as tangible a cloak around me. As her tears started to fall, I could feel my own welling up in my eyes.
I walk over and gather her in my arms, giving her a hug that I haven't given her in years. After a couple of seconds, she pulls away. Smiling through her tears, she sends me up to my room while she sets up the table for dinner.
While in my room, I take two leather sacks and stuff them with some clothes. I then crawl under my bed and pull up the loose floorboard under it where I stash all my most prized possessions. I pull out a bag with 50 gold pieces, 100 silver dollars, and 400 bronze pennies, along with a long dagger and a sheath that I bought earlier that year for 60 gold pieces, taking a good chunk of my savings. I shimmy out from under my bed and place my money and dagger in one of my bags. I look around my room trying to think if I'm missing something.
"I know that feeling. Feeling your forgetting something yet not knowing what it is."
I spin around at the sound of the voice and see Jeremy standing in the doorway of my room.
"You scared me. How did you get up the stairs without making them creak?"
"I didn't come up the stairs. I came through your window."
"Wait a minute. You climbed up the side of the house, and through my window, to get to my door, without anybody noticing?"
"Pretty much. Though I think that your Ma'am might know. Not a lot of things escape her notice. Oh, come on. Admit that was kind of cool," he says as he notices that I'm not impressed.
"Okay, fine. I'll admit that was kind of cool, but why the demonstration," I ask using air quotes.
"So you can see what your training will bring you. Not only will it give you strength and speed, but it will also give you amazing fighting abilities, specifically hand to hand, with slight range training, centered around throwing knives, the bow, and a blowpipe."
"How long does this training last?"
"That depends on your abilities. For most born into the Creed, a maximum of five years. For those brought into the Creed, a minimum of ten years."
"Why so short for those born into the Creed?"
"No one truly knows. The main theory is that they are born to fight, to preserve the Creed, and so gain their parent's abilities, making them naturally better, in what we teach them. There are some who take as long as those who brought to the Creed because they are lazy and don't work hard."
"How much would I make?"
"Depends on your mentor. But you should make an average of ohh, 500 pieces. A month."
"Hold on, 500 GOLD pieces a MONTH.?"
"Yes. 500 at least every month during your apprenticeship. After that, you earn money by doing odd jobs. Some jobs pay more than others, and some are only given to people in a certain class. Your class is determined at your graduation by a panel of elders, chosen at random, by how your training went, how well you did, and what you're best at."
"How many are chosen?"
"Eight are chosen for each apprentice and come at random times to watch you train. You won't know they are there until you turn and see them. And sometimes not even then. At the time your mentor deems you ready, the elders will choose eight tasks, one for each elder, that you must pass. You decide how and what order to do them in, but all must be passed to become a full brother. Some tests can kill you if you aren't careful. However, if you train hard, you will be able to pass the tests with ease."
"How many people die during the tests?"
"Not many. Only one person on average dies a year. The most we have had die is five. For several years in a row, we had nobody die."
"Really? So few? I would have thought there would be more people who die."
"Sure, but as I said, if you work hard, you will pass with ease."
"Do you often fight with the paladins?"
"Not a huge amount, but certainly a good portion of our skirmishes are with the paladins."
"You have battles with others?"
"Oh, sure. Most of the other battles are with the guards of targets we fail to assassinate stealthily. Some battles are with city guards, and others are with different underground organizations, whose motives aren't as righteous as ours."
While having this discussion, Jeremy moved over to my bed, sat down, and gestured me to do the same.
As I sat and talked with him, I felt very at ease with him, even though he was still a complete stranger to me. The only people I felt like that with was my parents.
"You're feeling the connection of the Creed."
"Sorry, what?"
"That feeling of ease you're experiencing is a positive side effect of the Creed. When around other assassins of the Creed you will be at ease. Unless they have betrayed our cause. One of the order betrayed us and gave information to the paladins of one of our top secret strongholds. However, by sheer dumb luck, he was killed by a pirate before he could complete his betrayal. Unfortunately, that pirate, whose name was Edward Kenway, sold the information to the paladins in the hope of gaining money. Thankfully he helped us defeat them in the end, and became a brother in the Creed.
"Now, it is getting late. Come down to eat, then we must go to bed early, for we rise early on the morrow, to head to our main stronghold. I will also give you some training on the way so that you are prepared."
We got up and headed downstairs where my mother had prepared a lovely stew with the last of the meat from the town butcher.
After that, I left Jeremy and my ma'am to catch up and went upstairs. However, I didn't go straight to bed. I sat up and stared at my candle watching the flame flicker back and forth, as I turn over all Jeremy and I had talked about. Eventually, the candle flickered out, and I fell asleep. However, I did not sleep easy that night. That night I dreamed like I never had before. I saw a field wrecked, and filled with carnage. Buzzards flying down to feast on the bloody, bloated remains of soldiers. Amongst the bodies, I saw glimpses, of the clothes of assassins. I woke up in cold sweat. After calming down and falling back asleep, I didn't dream the rest of the night.
"Show yourself assassin," Geoffry bellows out.
"Very well," the voice replies as he drops behind Geoffry from the rafters above.
"Boo," he whispers, as he lands causing Geoffry to stumble away, spinning as he does so.
"I gathered all I could here, just as you asked," Geoffry says, as the man walks into the center of the room. As he does so the noise drops into nonexistence. Even in the sudden silence, the man makes no noise as he approaches a table. As he sits and eats, everyone watches. He keeps his hood up even in the stifling air, making it impossible to distinguish his features. His clothes were of the finest make. Light gray, with a strange symbol, on the forehead of his hood. It looked similar to a pair of wings, as I look upon the symbol I remember seeing a similar symbol, I don't remember where I saw the symbol, but remember it I do. He carried many weapons, hooked to a harness: A longbow, a full quiver of arrows, a cutlass, a strange looking war hatchet, and two spring blades on his wrist. As he shifted quick glints of light appeared on his body where tiny pieces of metal hinted at where other hidden weapons were on his body. He ate carefully, entirely at ease, yet poised for a fight if need be. This was not a man you wanted to cross.
The man slowly scans the room, meeting the eyes of all who dared to look in them. As his gaze came aligned with mine, a strange feeling came upon me, one that I was not able to describe, until later. "Him," he whispered. The tavern was so quiet; it seemed that he spoke normally. The men in the tavern shifted so that everyone could catch a glimpse of me. "He is the one," he said, breaking my line of thought, and bringing me back to the matter at hand.
"What do you mean," I asked, trying to keep the surprise and slight fear from my voice.
The man stands and walks over as he replies, "I was sent here to choose an apprentice, my mentor commanded it, and so I have chosen you.
"How old are are you?"
"I recently celebrated my 17th name day."
"Excellent, what are you called?"
"I am called Arconn."
"An elvish name. Are you not human?"
"Yes, I am human. I am known as Arconn, in remembrance of an elf that once saved my father's life."
"Your father, where is he? Should he not be here?"
"Alas, my father died from a sickness, not two summers ago. We layed him neath a grand oak tree beside our house, according to his last wishes."
The stranger stops beside me and gazes down at me, yet because of his cowl, I cannot see his expression, I now realize he is only above average height. Right around 5' 9" at most.
"Stand," he commands. I jump to my feet.
He looks me up and down, taking in my figure. He slowly begins to circle me, commanding me to be still as I start to follow him. As he finishes his circuit, he starts to speak to himself. "Could lose some weight, and add a bit of muscle, but the training will do most of that. Has a decent height. Nice big hands. All in all a fine young man. Yes, he will do nicely." He turns to me sharply, "Gather your belongings, and meet me five leagues north of here in the morning."
He turns to leave as I cry out, "Wait a minute, why?!"
"To start your training," he yells over his shoulder as he leaves.
When he is gone people glance about at each other trying to process what had just happened. After a couple of minutes, the talking starts up again. As I look around, I see Geoffry, standing around still trying to get over the fact of what happened. After a few minutes of this, he finally dismisses everyone that wishes to leave. I get up from my seat, after sitting down to think over the events that transpired and head out into the storm. As I pull the hood up on my cloak, I notice that the rain has stopped. In fact, it appears as if there was no storm in the first place. As I walk through the small village, I glance around, taking in the village, as this might be the last time I see it in a while. I walk through the North village gates and walk the five leagues to my family's farm. As I walk, I churn the events over and over in my mind. Finally, I turn off the road on to a dirt track and walk the two hundred feet to the main house. As I walk in the house, my mother pops her head out of the kitchen.
"Oh, good. You're home. Arconn, come meet mister Creed."
"Creed? Who is that, and what kind of name is Creed?"
"Oh, that would be me," a voice says. "I stopped here because of the storm. Your ma'am was kind enough to let me in.
"You must be the great Arconn, your ma'am has been talking about you non-stop."
"That's not true," my ma'am buts in. "I told him nothing but the essentials."
As they exchange this verbal sparring, I study this mister Creed. For some reason, his voice is strangely familiar. As I watch, he finishes walking down the steps, and steps into the light. He had short brown hair, with light brown stubble, and piercing green eyes.
He finally finishes with my mother and turns back to me.
"I should probably properly introduce myself. I am actually an old friend of your dad. We knew each other many years ago. I am sorry to hear of his passing. My name is Jeremy Creed."
"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Creed. If I might ask, what brings you to the area?"
"Straight to the point I see. Good for you. A mixture of business and pleasure. This was the pleasure part. I heard that your dad was here in the area and hoped to visit with him."
"Okay. Ma'am, I'm going to head to bed if you don't need me."
"But what about dinner? It's almost ready," she says.
"Okay, let me get cleaned up.
"Oh, I also need to talk to you about something that occurred at the tavern earlier."
"Oh, really. What happened?"
"A strange man showed up. Apparently, that's what the meeting was about. At least that's what it sounded like with what Geoffry said. Anyways he offered me an apprenticeship. Well more like a demand than an offer. He told me to meet him, 5 leagues, north of the village, in the morning."
"Well, that's nice, what is his profession?"
"I'm not altogether sure. Geoffry called him an assassin, but I don't know. Ma'am what's wrong." As I was talking Ma'am face went bright white, as all the blood drained from her face.
"Nothing, I'm fine. But, Jeremy, I thought that this was your pleasure, not your business." Her face went from white to bright red.
There were very few times I had seen my mother angry, this was one of those times.
"Yes, this is both my business and my pleasure. Please, Marie. At least let me talk to him he must know before he can accept."
"No. I forbid it. He is the only family I have left. I will not let you take him. If he were to leave, and die what would I do, how could I live with myself knowing that I allowed that to happen?"
"If he were to accept you could come back with us..."
"No, I left that life. You know why. I could never allow myself to go back there."
"Even if you came with us, you wouldn't have to live that life."
"Wait, wait, wait. Wait. What life?"
"Marie, we have to tell him."
"Fine, but don't involve me. I don't want that life." My mother turns away and re-enters the kitchen.
Jeremy sighs, "Your mother is extraordinary. She was one of our best. After she met your father, she changed. She brought him back and started training him. Soon after that, they got married. When she found out she was pregnant with you, she left the brotherhood. Expressing she didn't want you to have to live that life, but would let you choose when you were old enough. That time has come.
"It is time to tell you about your heritage. You are descended from a long line of assassins who belong to a brotherhood, known as the Assassins' Creed. We are more than assassins for hire, we are warriors for the Light. We fight to defend the people from rulers, and other hidden sects, whose purposes aren't as noble as ours. Our greatest enemy from the founding of our brotherhood, are the Paladins. They wield fierce magic. The ability to negate all other magic. There is an unconfirmed rumor that the first assassin was once a high ranking Paladin officer. We tried to trace his descendants, but were unable to after several generations."
"Wait. How does this concern me?"
"You must understand the background of the brotherhood before you can accept my offer."
"Hold on. YOUR offer?"
"Yes, I was the one in the tavern. I lied about being sent here to find an apprentice. That was just for the benefit of the others in the tavern. I was sent to find and retrieve YOU."
"Me? Why me?"
"Because you belong to the Creed. We have a saying, 'Your blood is not your own. It belongs to the Creed.' And it is very true. Our best warriors are descended from the original 13 assassins. 12 to fight, one to lead. Today, we number almost a thousand. Several of the original bloodlines centuries ago. 6 of the 13 original bloodlines remain."
"How long has this war lasted?"
"It has lasted for millennia. The exact number of years was lost to the sands of time. The only one who truly knows has yet to be found."
"What do you mean, "yet to be found?" Surely your historians should know, and have it written down somewhere."
"Your right, our historians have diaries dating back to over two millennia. However, even those diaries speak of the founding as if it occurred long before them. The one who knows is the firstborn of the founder. That is another reason we tried to trace the founder's descendants. To find the one. There are signs we were told to watch for. Only months ago the fifth of eight signs appeared. 5 red dawns in a row. It was this sign that sent me into motion, to find you. But it is not just you, but all assassins across Middle Earth. The sign was to tell the world the Paladins are on the move. We have only a single year from that sign to gather our forces. To meet the Paladins in battle. We must defeat them, or they will destroy the world as we know it. Arconn, We need you. You and the other young of the Creed might make the difference between victory and defeat.
"Arconn, we need you. If we fail, we need you and the others to continue on the Creed. In one on one fights, assassins can almost always come out on top. But in big fights... It is not uncommon for only one or maybe two assassins to escape. We might be better trained, faster, and agiler, but they wear a strange and special armor that sets them apart. Light and very flexible, the metal is as a second skin. It is hard to get into, therefore hard to get out of. Most just wear the armor from the time they get into it to the time the war ends, or they die on the battlefield."
"Wait, you want me to help you defeat these guys when you describe them as undefeatable."
"They are not UN-defeatable, just hard to kill. That is why we need the descendant of the founder. With him, or her, we will win. It is said the descendant will have magic power, the power of fire, but will also have the ability to negate magic. You can only cast spells up to a certain distance, the descendant will be able to cast his spells up to twice the range of any spell caster, or magic user, alive, even that of a wizard. That is incredibly rare. Practically non-existent. With the descendant on our side, we will win and protect this realm.
As the firstborn of an assassin bloodline, you will have a magical ability. You might notice weird things that have happened while you were young. Think back to your youth, anything strange that might have occurred, that stuck out to you."
As I sit back and think through my life, I notice weird things, but none of them would be considered magical. I'm pretty sure rolling your tongue isn't magical. I sit there for who knows how long before Jeremy asks,"Anything?"
"Nothing that would be considered magical," I reply.
"Are you sure, I mean completely sure."
"I'm telling you nothing."
"That's odd. That's never happened that I know of. Very well we will have to talk the healers at the Homebase."
"Wait, I never said that I was going with you."
"Right, I got a bit ahead of myself. Sorry. It's just that we need you and could almost literally die, without you. You might just be the one who could save us all. Please, come with me."
"What about my mother? Who will look out for her if I leave?"
He lets out a small chuckle, "Your ma'am is far from unable to look out for herself. She only said that to try to convince you to stay. If you leave, she will be fine. Even as an apprentice you'll make more than enough money to send here to your mother to help her hire help for the farm, and still have money to expand the farm. Then keep and save the money you don't spend, and you can buy everything you need after your apprenticeship ends. It will last for roughly ten years, so when you're done, you will be in your prime, ready to fight for and guard the light.
"We have a saying, 'When other men blindly follow the truth, remember, nothing is true. When other men are inhibited by their morality or law, remember, everything is permitted. We work in the dark to serve the light. We are Assassins.'
"Come with me and fulfill the promise in your blood. Fulfill your destiny, whatever that may be."
I sit for a minute and think. Jeremy gets up and moves around the room. I finally say, "Very well. I will go. But you must promise me nothing will befall my ma'am."
"I cannot promise that will happen, but I can promise your mother will be taken care of."
"Bother not yourself with me, my son, I shall be fine. It is you, that needs your attention. Learn much, Learn well. Soak up all your mentors teach you. That could be the difference between life or death. In your training, you will have challenges that can, and might, kill you. Don't become overconfident. That is the main reason only one or two of us come out of a fight. We become too reckless, then as we are facing one, another kills us from behind. I had many friends killed that way. Don't become one of them.
"Now go upstairs to your room, and pack your bags with the essentials. When you bring down you things we will dine then you shall be free to leave in the morning, but beware, the longer you wait, the closer the day of the great war comes, meaningless preparation.
"When you train think of me little, but know that my love and my pride are with you, draping over you as if a cloak."
As I turn to face my ma'am, I saw tears in her eyes, and I could feel her love, as tangible a cloak around me. As her tears started to fall, I could feel my own welling up in my eyes.
I walk over and gather her in my arms, giving her a hug that I haven't given her in years. After a couple of seconds, she pulls away. Smiling through her tears, she sends me up to my room while she sets up the table for dinner.
While in my room, I take two leather sacks and stuff them with some clothes. I then crawl under my bed and pull up the loose floorboard under it where I stash all my most prized possessions. I pull out a bag with 50 gold pieces, 100 silver dollars, and 400 bronze pennies, along with a long dagger and a sheath that I bought earlier that year for 60 gold pieces, taking a good chunk of my savings. I shimmy out from under my bed and place my money and dagger in one of my bags. I look around my room trying to think if I'm missing something.
"I know that feeling. Feeling your forgetting something yet not knowing what it is."
I spin around at the sound of the voice and see Jeremy standing in the doorway of my room.
"You scared me. How did you get up the stairs without making them creak?"
"I didn't come up the stairs. I came through your window."
"Wait a minute. You climbed up the side of the house, and through my window, to get to my door, without anybody noticing?"
"Pretty much. Though I think that your Ma'am might know. Not a lot of things escape her notice. Oh, come on. Admit that was kind of cool," he says as he notices that I'm not impressed.
"Okay, fine. I'll admit that was kind of cool, but why the demonstration," I ask using air quotes.
"So you can see what your training will bring you. Not only will it give you strength and speed, but it will also give you amazing fighting abilities, specifically hand to hand, with slight range training, centered around throwing knives, the bow, and a blowpipe."
"How long does this training last?"
"That depends on your abilities. For most born into the Creed, a maximum of five years. For those brought into the Creed, a minimum of ten years."
"Why so short for those born into the Creed?"
"No one truly knows. The main theory is that they are born to fight, to preserve the Creed, and so gain their parent's abilities, making them naturally better, in what we teach them. There are some who take as long as those who brought to the Creed because they are lazy and don't work hard."
"How much would I make?"
"Depends on your mentor. But you should make an average of ohh, 500 pieces. A month."
"Hold on, 500 GOLD pieces a MONTH.?"
"Yes. 500 at least every month during your apprenticeship. After that, you earn money by doing odd jobs. Some jobs pay more than others, and some are only given to people in a certain class. Your class is determined at your graduation by a panel of elders, chosen at random, by how your training went, how well you did, and what you're best at."
"How many are chosen?"
"Eight are chosen for each apprentice and come at random times to watch you train. You won't know they are there until you turn and see them. And sometimes not even then. At the time your mentor deems you ready, the elders will choose eight tasks, one for each elder, that you must pass. You decide how and what order to do them in, but all must be passed to become a full brother. Some tests can kill you if you aren't careful. However, if you train hard, you will be able to pass the tests with ease."
"How many people die during the tests?"
"Not many. Only one person on average dies a year. The most we have had die is five. For several years in a row, we had nobody die."
"Really? So few? I would have thought there would be more people who die."
"Sure, but as I said, if you work hard, you will pass with ease."
"Do you often fight with the paladins?"
"Not a huge amount, but certainly a good portion of our skirmishes are with the paladins."
"You have battles with others?"
"Oh, sure. Most of the other battles are with the guards of targets we fail to assassinate stealthily. Some battles are with city guards, and others are with different underground organizations, whose motives aren't as righteous as ours."
While having this discussion, Jeremy moved over to my bed, sat down, and gestured me to do the same.
As I sat and talked with him, I felt very at ease with him, even though he was still a complete stranger to me. The only people I felt like that with was my parents.
"You're feeling the connection of the Creed."
"Sorry, what?"
"That feeling of ease you're experiencing is a positive side effect of the Creed. When around other assassins of the Creed you will be at ease. Unless they have betrayed our cause. One of the order betrayed us and gave information to the paladins of one of our top secret strongholds. However, by sheer dumb luck, he was killed by a pirate before he could complete his betrayal. Unfortunately, that pirate, whose name was Edward Kenway, sold the information to the paladins in the hope of gaining money. Thankfully he helped us defeat them in the end, and became a brother in the Creed.
"Now, it is getting late. Come down to eat, then we must go to bed early, for we rise early on the morrow, to head to our main stronghold. I will also give you some training on the way so that you are prepared."
We got up and headed downstairs where my mother had prepared a lovely stew with the last of the meat from the town butcher.
After that, I left Jeremy and my ma'am to catch up and went upstairs. However, I didn't go straight to bed. I sat up and stared at my candle watching the flame flicker back and forth, as I turn over all Jeremy and I had talked about. Eventually, the candle flickered out, and I fell asleep. However, I did not sleep easy that night. That night I dreamed like I never had before. I saw a field wrecked, and filled with carnage. Buzzards flying down to feast on the bloody, bloated remains of soldiers. Amongst the bodies, I saw glimpses, of the clothes of assassins. I woke up in cold sweat. After calming down and falling back asleep, I didn't dream the rest of the night.