Chapter 37
In the darkness of the catacombs, Ezio felt a terrible pain in his heart as he awoke from troubled sleep. He was slumped in the corner of
a prison cell of some kind of underground dungeon.
"Did you have a nightmare?" a rough voice asked from the cell next to his.
"No amico. Only a bad feeling."
Having been in the prison for two days, Ezio had already begun planning his escape. He started by speaking with his cellmate in hopes of
learning anything he could about the Templars.
What he gathered was that his new friend's name was Stagio and he owned a farm with his family 20 miles East of Florence. The soldiers
had rallied them as well as several other families from the surrounding villages to take refuge in Florence when the plague has been
discovered running rampant across the countryside. They were told that their only hope was to remain quarantined in the city and keep
all possibly infected civilians underground.
As "safe" as they were, things were not all they seemed. Every day, more and more cells became empty as people were taken into what
Stagio called "the light room". Anyone who entered was either never seen again, or returned to their cells in a dazed stupor, never
regaining sanity.
"A bad feeling…" Stagio sighed. "I've had one of those for weeks now." The farmer picked up a small pebble from the cold ground and
rolled it around in his palm. "The worst part is…" he sniffed, "not being able to do anything about it."
Ezio looked up, "Be strong my friend. We will get out of this place, and we will find your family."
Stagio almost laughed as he shook his head at Ezio, "you think we're going to escape?"
Ezio's face turned stern, "I know. And when we do, I have a favor to ask of you."
"I'm listening…"
"Will you fight with me, and will you help me save the others?" Ezio gestured to the other cells.
Stagio's eyes beamed dully like he was trying with all his strength to believe the assassin, but his common sense told him it was
impossible. "If you get us out of here, and reunite me with my wife and daughters, I will fight to the death for you."
Ezio nodded graciously, "Grazie Stagio. I will get us out of here when the moment is right." Ezio reached his hand through the bars to
grip Stagio's in a firm and trusting handshake.
The both looked up to see a handful of guards pull a tired old man from a cell and guide him down the hallway. The man walked slowly
and his eyes drooped to the ground. At the end of the walkway, another guard routinely swung open the shaded red door, spilling light
into the prison. The prisoner briefly locked eyes with Ezio, his empty expression telling the story that he had nothing left to lose.
The guards pulled him into the room and slammed the door shut, changing the prison back into a dark pit of despair once more. Stagio
pressed his forehead against the bars and sighed a prayer for the man. "It is over for that one…" he muttered.
Without a sound Ezio stared, full of wonder and disgust at the faded red door. The shadows dancing beneath the frame glowed from
flickering torches until a brilliant and golden ambiance stretched eery fingers of light down the hall. He could make out the muffled
screaming of the man and a terrible screech that he did not recognize. Then suddenly… it was silent.
Ezio blinked as a chill burst through his body. "This has been happening every day?" Stagio only nodded. Ezio felt a crushing amount of
dread as he was left only to wonder where Alcina could be. Perhaps she found a way to escape. He could only hope.
"Do you worry for your wife?" the farmer asked plainly.
Ezio felt a surprising rush of embarrassment flush his cheeks. "She is not my wife," he rolled his head back against the wall and found
himself smiling lightly.
"Oh," Stagio smiled back, reading the young man's expression. "I only assumed by your devotion." Ezio was so thankful for his new
friend. Despite the dread, he still attempted to keep their morale from fading.
"Stagio my good man, answer me this. If you were to see a beautiful horse running free in the countryside, which would you rather do?
Should you capture it so that no other may have it, but see it's desire for freedom in it's eyes day by day… or would you rather accept
that there are beauties that simply cannot be tamed, and just allow nature to be unbroken and free?" Ezio added intentional humor to his
tone.
Stagio shrugged with thought at the analogy, unsure of what answer to give. Ezio pointed with a grin, "you see? That is my crisis."
"Are you the horse or is she?" Stagio laughed. "It sounds to me like you are the one who wishes to remain free."
Ezio laughed softly and wiped away dry blood from his healing busted lip. "No no amico. She is the wild and untamable spirit. So beautiful just as she is…" Ezio smiled a bitter half smile, trying to think positively, but still afraid for Alcina's well being. Without meaning to, he found himself absentmindedly wringing out the chill from his fingers.
With a gleam in his eye, Stagio finally spoke, "If it were I… I would walk up to the beautiful creature and ask it what she wants." Ezio
turned sharply with a thoughtful expression, hoping Stagio would continue. His smile widened even further when he did, "Cannot love be
it's own wild, untamable freedom? Is that not what it is meant to be? I think… concesso, I am an old man… but I believe that two beings
can survive together in such a domain without 'breaking' one another the way a foal is broken." The assassin gave a heartfelt smile to his
comrade, having heard more wisdom in the past few minutes than the past few years of his life.
"Grazie Stagio. I am thankful you are with me."
Stagio again only nodded before asking, "You do not think your lady has fallen to any harm do you?"
Ezio shook his head confidently, "No. This woman has more determination than anyone I have seen and far too much fire in her blood for
her own good. Wherever she is, she is safe. I am certain."
Alcina felt her eyes flutter open as her vision began to clear. She was standing, but could not feel the ground beneath her. Her surroundings were darker than anything she had ever experienced, while straight ahead and in every direction was a faint, glowing horizon line. With each step, she seemed to be traveling nowhere. Gentle clouds of fog swirled around her feet as she pushed herself to run as quickly as she could, destined to make headway. No matter how fast or hard she pushed, she never seemed to travel any farther, or run out of breath.
She refused to give in to panic as she exhaled loudly in exasperation. "Alcina… Alcina Gavino…" she heard a breathy whisper beckon out to her. She shot a glance over her shoulder but saw no one. For miles and miles, there was no one but her. "Alcina…" it whispered again, closer this time.
"Hello? Is someone there?" her voice only disappeared into space. "Hello?" the distorted sound of her voice bounced back, whipping past her ears in a mocking echo.
"Hello? ...Hello?" the call of her voice changed pitch and tone and transformed itself into a presence that was no longer her own. The worried pull in her stomach felt like a bottomless pit as she worked her jaw into a brave line.
"Who is that? Who's there?" she yelled again. She waited anxiously for her echo to bounce back as her now shaky hands reached into the emptiness. She swallowed softly as she asked as calmly as possible, "…Is- is someone there?"
The soft rumbling of her echo brewed in the distance until all she could hear was her own cautious breathing, sounding as loud as thunder.
"Yes."
The silence was broken by a loud crash that swelled into an even louder tearing sound that made her heart leap into her throat. Without warning the ground below her began to crack and fracture like glass. A giant fissure of glowing white splinters bloomed all the way to the horizon, with her feet being the very center. The traveling ravine of pure white light crackled and stretched as far as her eyes could see, sprawling out into the black abyss like lightning through a pitch black night.
She gasped aloud one last time before the ground exploded beneath her into a fragmented cloud of black, sparkling shards. Down into the unknown she plummeted, shielding her face beneath her crossed arms. Time felt sluggish as she continued to fall from darkness and into the pit of blinding, white emptiness. The broken fragments around her dissolved into the air like smoke, leaving only
her confused body crashed to the floor with a 'thud'. She grunted softly as she fluidly rolled to her feet and into a crouch like a tiger in a pit, ready to fight against all odds. Taking in her new prison, she seemed to be trapped in a perfectly square room made entirely of glistening, white tiles. There were no doors, or windows or even a sense of depth and space.
"Alcina Gavino?" a voice inquired.
She whipped around to face her captor, but saw no one. "Who the hell are you?" She rose her fists defensively, ready to fight with her bare hands.
"Woah, hey! Relax. I'm right here," the voice sounded as close and as real as any person, but still she was alone, until a strange mist began to formulate before her. She watched in wonder and confusion as the form took shape and resembled the outline of a man, but lacking any sort of detail or features. Was it some sort of ghost? Was she now in limbo and doomed to be trapped with other spirits such as this one?
"Why you bring me here?" she snapped. "What the hell do you want?!"
The apparition appeared to hold up cautious and pleeding hands, "Now hold on just a second…" before the voice could finish, Alcina pounced; her fist aimed perfectly at what would be the vision's jaw. To her bewilderment, she fell straight through his body and landed hard on the ground. "Now yah see, I told you to wait a second. So why don't you calm down girl and let me explain!"
Her lips tightened in a hard scowl as she fought the urge shout in anger. She couldn't hurt it, and she had other way than brute force to defend herself. She was stuck. "Alright… you have my attention," she smoothed her hands over her legs as if to dust them off, then she pulled herself to her feet.
"Jesus..." the ghost sighed. "Look, I know this seems strange, and probably terrifying, but you need to listen to what I have to say." The ghost slowly became more and more clear as little sparling flexs and pixels of color danced and hummed into focus.
Alcina took a few steps back and began to walk cautious around the translucent form, eying over the unfathomable image that stood before her. "Tell me who you are first," she demanded.
He sighed and dropped his head, "I can't tell you that. That would be breaking the rules," the figure spoke. "Oh, and forgive this creepy hologram version of me, it's still buffering. Well- I guess I'm still buffering." He bobbed his shoulders as if lauging at his own confusing joke.
"I do not understand…" Alcina muttered.
"Right right, I don't expect you to. But that's not the point. The fact of the matter is, is that you and I don't have much time right now. I'm really… really crossing the line here and abusing my power, so we need to hurry and wrap this up before she finds out what I've done."
"She?" Alcina questioned.
"She… yeah. Let's see… not sure if I should tell you that one yet." The mirage flickered for a quick moment as he seemed to scratch his head in thought.
Alcina stopped her circling and raised her chin in a cautious gesture. No matter how hard she tried, she could not place the accent she was hearing. What confused her even more, was how she was somehow able to understand it when she knew she had never heard it before in her life. "I need to know one thing…" He wait as her jaw began grinding itself into an anxious line again, "Am-am I… dead? Is this hell?"
The hologram before her began to materialize facial features and finer details. It's hazy blue form seemed to almost smile at her. "No Alcina. You're not dead." He wagged a knowing finger, "This place however, is it's own private hell, but not the one you're thinking of. So no… you're not in hell. Not yet." She looked away, unsure if she should believe him or not. "Look, I promise everything will be made clear. Just hear me out first, and then we can talk. Deal?"
She gazed at what was now becoming a decipherable face and dark eyes beaming back at her. "Alcina, you are in what is called the Animus; the very depths of it, to be precise. I brought you here just before your heart stopped beating and your conscious began to slip away from your living body." His fingers fluttered in the air like an escaping bird as his developed feet began pacing around their small box of a room. "Your last breath and synapses in your brain left you with just enough energy that I could pull you here through the mainframe. It was incredibly hard, so I hope you're impressed." His fingers came together in his hands like a little steeple as he did his best to explain. "Along the way, I was able to distract the animus by setting up plenty of false doors, security overrides and a decent amount of rabbit trails so you couldn't be found and so that I could have just a few moments to pass on my message." She could only imagine what her expression must look like from his perspective. "Yah see, I'm not 'sposed to be interfering with the time line. But quite frankly…" his pacing suddenly stopped and his hands dropped to his sides. His gray eyes pierced at her with urgency, "You can't die yet Alcina. You need to stay alive, or otherwise everything will get all sorts of messed up."
Alcina could feel her mouth slipping open to speak, but no words could escape. The hologram man approached her and held her by the shoulders, but she felt nothing, "Stay with me okay? I know this is confusing. And honestly, you're not meant to understand any of this yet. But you will someday." He withdrew his hands as the details of his clothes began to materialize as excited eyebrows perched over his intense eyes.
"Are you one of those God's? One of those things who came before?" she muttered in slight disgust.
"No, I'm not," he sounded relieved to say. "I'm just your typical, charming, ordinary gentleman from Boston, Mass." He opened his arms in comedic pride. "But like I said, I can't tell you my name, cause that would be cheating." He wagged a finger.
"Cheating?"
"Yes ma'am." He examined his hands as a faded amount of color began to paint itself across his sharpened features. "Am I handsome yet?" he grinned. Alcina glared back, unamused. "Got it, not a big on jokes," he mumbled to himself. "But listen to me… I'm getting off point. It's only a matter of time before Juno discovers what I've done and finds us here. So, just believe me when I say that I am here to help."
"All I want to know is why! Why did I keep hearing those voices in my head? What is it these monsters want from me?!"
His head hung in shame briefly with genuine sympathy, "I'm sorry… the voices were a, well, I guess you could call them a side effect to being in contact to the piece of Eden." The man was no longer translucent or foggy and finally stood before her wearing the most unusual clothing and hair slicked
back in blonde, loose waves. "When you killed Salvatore, you sparked a chain of events that no one could have predicted. The piece of Eden is what brought him back to life, and you two were then bound to one another through your life energy. Due to his corrupted heart, he began feeding off of you and your energy. But not just your energy, your actual essence... your soul, all while neither of you had a clue it was happening. Well, actually… I'm sure you did, you just didn't know the details. That's why you were having those nightmares and seeing things. It's because of the corruption of the pieces of Eden. You were being attacked Alcina from the inside out."
"So what now?" she exclaimed. "What can I do about it now? Am I trapped here in this purgatory?"
"Well," he smiled and tilted his head in her direction. "As much as I'd love the company here, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do." he handsomely grinned a mischievous smile. "I'm gonna send you back." His thumb pointed back at himself with pride.
Her perplexed expression softened, "You? You have that power?" she was rather impressed with the stranger, even if this was some kind of hellish dream.
"Well, I've never tried before. But right now, your body is an empty shell. The 'you' that's standing before me is your subconscious. Your 'soul'... if you believe in that kind of thing," he suddenly sounded bitter. "I've never brought someone back this way before, but I've always wanted to try it for myself... it gets rather lonely in here."
Fighting her better judgement, she felt an amazing amount of trust, and even pity swelling in her heart. "Then come with me," she muttered. "Save yourself." She found her hand reaching for his. His lower lip retreated into his mouth as he bit down with regret.
His eyes glimmered like cold, gray stones. "I uh-... I can't." He ran a thumb over her knuckles and seemed hurt by the fact that their was no sensation of touch; just smoke dancing through her fingers.
He winced as if pained to argue, "I would if I could. But my body is long gone. This-" he gestured with open arms, "This is my eternity." Again, her bewildered spirit hurt for him. She felt the sudden feeling that she needed to save him somehow. "Hey, don't look so bummed out. I'm fine. I decided a long time ago that if I couldn't make a difference while I was alive, I would do everything in my power while my mind was trapped here to make a difference. I have a lot of sins I need to atone for," he shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalant smile, reminding her of someone.
"Can you tell me if Ezio is alright?" she felt her heart pounding with worry.
His hands instant lifted in a calming manner, "Ezio is fine, but he's worried sick about you. You'll meet up with him when this is all over. That is… if I haven't fucked up the time line too terribly."
Alcina did her best to take in all the deranged information she was hearing.
"Before I send you back, I've got one last thing to tell you," he reached for her hands and held them in his own. His sarcastic tone had drastically changed into something much more sincere, "You have no idea how important you are. You have GOT to stay alive. I'm warning you now… your journey won't be an easy one. But everyone is depending on you. People who haven't even been born yet and ideas that have yet to come to be, will all hang in the balance of your decisions." Alcina stared into his sad looking eyes and tried to hide a nervous gulp. "Hey," he continued. "You've got this ok?" He gripped her arm in reassurance, but again she felt nothing. Even though she didn't know him, and even though she knew she should be terrified, there was a calmness that this stranger brought to her that allowed her to listen to what he had to say.
Her chin fell and her eyes became hooded beneath dark lashes. "But- I don't want this. I never wanted to be the Protector or to be part of this horrible mess. How many have died because of these pieces of Eden? It ruins everyone who pursues it. And look at me... I have killed hundreds of people, and what has that brought? Nothing but suffering to myself and to others." Before she knew it, her tone was angry. All her rage and disdain had come to the surface and she had nowhere else to release it. "How many more children will grow up, alone, confused and hurt like my brother... like ME. No. I refuse to fight any longer. If I go back, I'm living for myself. I can't watch anymore people die because of this war. This is not my battle. I will not fight one more day of my life." He looked at her with a disappointed face that made her swallow painfully, but she faked a fierce and unaffected look.
"I get it yah know?" He nodded, "that's your decision. War is messy. It kills us here, and here," he pointed to his chest and then tapped his temple. "I'm more fucked up than you could ever know because of war and killing. Look, I'm not good with motivational speeches, but I will tell you this... if you quit now, everything will be for nothing. Hundreds of thousands more will die, and they will win." He pointed a finger toward the invisible ceiling of white light. "I wasted my life, and maybe that's why I feel that my true purpose is this. THIS moment; to tell you that if you don't fight back, then none of us stand a chance."
Her furrowed brows relaxed and she thought deeply over his words. He was right, he wasn't good at motivational speeches. He released her and took a step back and looked her over from head to toe and shook his head with amusement, "God damn. I still can't believe it's you…" he smiled to himself in
awe.
"I have one last question," she abruptly changed the subject.
"Shoot," he pointed a finger in her direction like a pistol.
"Were you the voice trying to communicate with my brother all those years? Why did you torment him so?"
The stranger grit his teeth revealing that this was a touchy subject, "No. Not the entire time. That was her. She used Donato to resurrect the pieces of Eden. It's because of him that her whole plan even took form. I've been trying to reach out to him only recently to try to open his eyes to the truth, but it's up to him if he wants to remain blind or not. I can't make him do the right thing. Just like I can't make you keep fighting." He jumped suddenly as his eyes darted around the white room, able to hear something hear something she couldn't. "Shit…" his breath was just above a paniced whisper. "We gotta get you out of here before she gets through. She knows what I'm doing. Everything will be for nothing if you get trapped in here. Trust me… the animus is no dream vacation. Come here." He extended his open palms. "Just put your hands over mine and I'll sever the connection. You'll wake up in your body and your strength will be restored... I think... I mean, it should."
She did as she was told and anxiously extended her hands above his, hovering a few inches away from him. A loud pounding began to shake their surroundings as a red, angry light began to dim over the room. Something was coming for them, something big. She looked up anxiously to see his face was suddenly very near to hers, protective and serious. She couldn't help but gaze into his eyes one last time as they were unlike any she had ever seen. Beautiful and steely gray, but filled to the brim with unfathomable sadness. "Damn it... come on," he muttered, trying to focus on whatever it was he doing. She felt her hands begin to warm as an electrical charge danced between their palms. Whatever he was doing, she prayed he did it faster as their world became blood red and pulsed as the banging grew as loud as thunder like a giant was trying to beat down the door of their hiding place. Her saviors forehead creased and finally relaxed as the walls began to dissolve around them and the floor began to blur like hot tears. The sparks became a brilliant flow of light and energy charging upwards from his hands and into hers. The melting room was now closing in around them, blowing her hair in every direction from the rush of movement as the world began to tear itself apart.
"This is it," his voice pained. "Remember Alcina, I can't make this decision for you. All I can do is help you get a second chance. It's up to you what you do with it."
She nodded bravely. "Will I ever see you again?" she asked, her voice sounding more worried than she meant to.
He smiled as if she had asked him some kind of a sick joke, "Maybe I'll let you buy me a drink one day." Again, she had no idea what he was talking about.
She looked down to see their bodies fading away into the abyss. "I have one last question," she shouted above the noise. "Are you an angel?"
The blonde haired stranger shook his head incredulously and faked a smile before his image was violently washed away, "There's no such thing."
Translations:
Amico – friend
Concesso - granted