The Lost Memory
The Memory
Desmond Miles
What the hell? I think to myself as I look at the strange scriptures and writings on the bedroom wall. Where the hell did they come from? I try to think about how long I have been away from my room, and I couldn't have been gone from my bedroom long enough for someone to write these cynical markings. I look at the wall up and down. The symbols make no sense. Scriptures in another language, complex mathematical equations, fingerprints, and so much more. And what I can actually comprehend, I don't understand; 'I entered the abyss and never returned'. I begin to feel nauseous at the sight and feel myself getting lightheaded.
I look around the room and notice that my vision has been altered. It's as though everything is pulsating around me. Everything is a blur, it's so surreal. Is this what Eagle Vision felt like for Altair? All these things that I see… these hallucinations… I don't know how to explain it. I begin to question if I am even seeing any of this at all. I try to chalk it up to exhaustion, and maybe dehydration is causing me to see these symbols.
I walk up to the bedroom wall and press my fingers against the symbols, trying to make them real in my mind. I retract my hand back when I realize what was used to draw the symbols. I try to explain it away, but my mind can't overlook the fact that these symbols were written in blood. I examine the streaks in the symbols to see that someone used their bare hands and smeared blood on the walls. The thought makes me want to vomit and I stagger away from the wall.
Warren Vidic, the corrupt son of a bitch that had me brought here, told me that we were finished, and that they found its whereabouts, but what the fuck did that mean? What did the locate? I was thrown out of the Animus so quickly that I couldn't assess the situation with Altair after he defeated Al Mualim.
I feel like I am going insane with all these images in my head, and I try to distinguish between what is real and what is not. I remember seeing something when I was thrown out of the Animus. As Lucy and Warren walked away, my vision changed. It must have been the Eagle Vision as Lucy described to me. It showed me that Lucy was glowing white and Warren was glowing red. If this was anything like the Eagle Vision that Altair would see in the Animus, those who were helping Altair with his missions would glow white and his enemies, red. If I am somehow experiencing Eagle Vision then this just proved what I already had a feeling for; that Lucy is not the enemy but a friend, and Warren is the one to be watched carefully.
I try to bring myself back to reality and think about me and getting out of here. I'm not sure if Lucy and Warren will return. If what Warren said was true, then they are done with me and my memories of my ancestor. If that's the case, then what are they going to do with me? Abstergo Industries is obviously not a pharmaceutical company as to which they claim. My best guess is that they will think that I know too much—which is quite the opposite—and will have me killed. Is that what happened to Subject 16? Maybe Subject 16 knew something about Abstergo that they don't want the world to be aware of. Well for one, kidnapping people and forcing them into a machine that does...God knows what…has to be some sort of felony.
I look at the wall again. I try to tell myself that what I see before me is my mind playing tricks on me. These writings are not real; they are not in front on me. I have come to the conclusion that I must be seeing things; maybe exhaustion or dehydration. I decide it best to leave my room. I know that if I continue to stare at this wall any longer I will fall into an abyss of madness. I go to the Animus. I look deeply into it. I begin to hear a light humming noise coming from the machine. As if it is calling to me, drawing me in. How can something so plain possess so much power? I look through the glass on top of the Animus and see an endless sea of wires wrapping around one another, all hooked up to something important. The wires crawl within the machine as veins crawl within our bodies.
The Animus continues to hum and I feel myself drawn towards it. I press my hand onto the platform of the machine. I can feel a low vibration of the machine as if it is alive. I pull my hand away and stagger away from the machine. I head to Lucy's computer. I look onto the screen as the Abstergo Industries logo slowly bounces from one edge of the screen to the other. I tap on the mouse and the screen saver disappears, showing me the main screen of the computer. It isn't locked. I know it's wrong, but as the files sit in their folders begging for me to open them; I can't help but be curious of what was so interesting on this computer that kept her head hovering over the screen for hours on end. My father constantly told me to be cautious of my surroundings and taught me that everyone is out to get me; to trust no one. So, there is a chance that this computer might hold information about what Abstergo plans on doing with me and who is involved.
I begin opening files. I look around the room and cannot find any obvious cameras watching me. I go back to the computer and start reading what files I can. A lot of the files are in code and I cannot decipher any of them in time. My heart drops in the pits of my stomach when I see a folder that is titled "DESMOND". I hover over the file icon, afraid to open the file, when I see that the folder was created in October 2011. I step away from the computer for a moment. Abstergo has had a file on me, an entire year before grabbing me. The thought makes me sick. I click on the folder and it opens hundreds of pictures of me leaving my apartment, the grocery store, and my bar. Some of the pictures are extremely close, as if the person who took them was standing right next to me when they took the photo. The photos date from October 2011 all the way to September 1,2012, when I was taken by Abstergo. My hands shake as I exit out of the folder.
I consider leaving well enough alone, and exiting out of the computer entirely, but I decide to dig up some more information. If Abstergo was watching me for an entire year before grabbing me, then I want to know what they wanted from me. I open up the email icon and staring back at me is un unread email at the very top of the thread with the subject line: To Desmond. Please Read. It's very important. I swallow hard as I click on the email. I can't even fathom what can be so important that she cannot tell me in person. I wonder if she knew I was going to look in her inbox. Am I really that predictable?
I open the e-mail and read the message.
Desmond,
I know that you are probably beyond confused at this point, but you must bear with me. There are certain memories that I couldn't show you under Warren's supervision. Please don't wonder why because this goes far beyond you and anything you can control. Now Desmond, you must do as I instruct the second you get this message and not a second later. Type in the code, NRXFPXNEXF1XFIXFEXL, into the Animus' main screen where it asks for a "memory code". This must be in that order with no space and in all caps. This code will unlock the lost memories that I so desperately kept from Warren. Please do this for me, Desmond and please pay attention. This is the cipher to the code that Warren and Abstergo have been looking for, so do not tell anyone. It is a long memory and may repeat the ones that you have already seen, but I couldn't shorten it anymore than I already have. Do not be alarmed if it doesn't match the memories you have just seen. Some memories were altered by me to protect this memory. Good luck with making sense of it. This truly goes beyond us all.
Good Luck,
Lucy Stillman
When I finish the letter, I stand frozen at the computer. I have no clue what this means but I know that I have to do what Lucy tells me. She seemed frantic in writing this email. And I have to say that I'm also pretty curious as to what Lucy is trying to hide from Warren so desperately.
I go to the Animus' main screen and type in the code. It's really annoying going back and forth from the letter to the main screen. Why couldn't Lucy make the code to this memory sorter instead of this long and obscure code.
I finally have the entire code in the computer and press enter. A window pops up that reads, no life forms detected in Animus! I press ok and move towards the machine. I lay down on the Animus. I feel as though I am in a coffin, being displayed at a funeral. I wait to be thrown into Altair's memory as I have always been, but nothing happens. That glass halo thing doesn't move in front of my face, and I'm not transported into Altair's memories.
"Goddamn it, Lucy! How am I supposed to do this myself?" I yell aloud.
I think deeply about how I can pull this off. There is obviously a way to do this alone, otherwise Lucy wouldn't go through all this trouble just to be stopped by something as stupid as this. This equipment is beyond anything I have seen in the real world. There has to be a way that one person can place themselves in the Animus without needing another person's assistance. I think of all the ways someone can do this by himself. I think of a remote, but if Lucy were to make a remote and hide it, then she would have told me in the letter, so I rule that out. One thought comes to my mind and it's worth a shot because I am desperate at this point.
"Enter code." I say loudly and clearly.
A few seconds pass by and I figure voice activation is not the right way, but I am startled when I hear the all too familiar sound of the Animus finding the memory. Then, I'm flung into the white wormhole where Altair's lost memory lies.