Chapter Seventeen: Conversation with a God
He looked like an ordinary man, beautiful and exquisitely crafted by nature, but an ordinary man all the same. If not for his eyes he would have passed as a human on any street, but no human possessed such bright eyes, ethereal blue encircled by the brightest of violets. He was perfection, a beautiful androgynous face that bordered between beautiful and handsome, his body showed a great strength, but the lack of scars and the gentle expression that filled his expression showed that this man found strength in words rather than brute strength. His armour was made of the purest gold and it shone brightly even within the shadows where this man sat, eyeing Desmond with a sympathetic look. Even the way he sat, back straight, legs crossed, a goblet of drink in one hand and an obscure artefact that looked similar to an Apple of Eden in the other hand. He placed both upon a nearby table as Desmond approached.
Desmond, who'd been seeking ancient stone carvings and artefacts did not know how to react to the presence before him. He had no doubt he was staring at an Isu, one of the people who had come before, but unlike Minerva, who had clearly been a projection from an ancient computer, this Isu seemed to be flesh and bone. Desmond was tempted to touch the porcelain skin of the deity before him, to ascertain if he was indeed real but Desmond knew that such forwardness would not be welcome and could easily result in his death. After shock passed, the questions of 'how have you lived so long' disappearing from his mind, fury took its place and he almost screamed, 'how dare you!' to this being's face but the Isu's expression gave him pause. There was no evil in the face of the man before him, in fact Desmond thought he saw…regret.
"Desmond Miles." The creature spoke, his voice echoing throughout the chamber in a way that a human voice could never replicate. "It was time we met, though in truth I had hoped we'd meet much sooner and this, but there are others who have worked to ensure we'd never have met."
"Others." Desmond stated.
The being smiled. "Come now, little one, do you believe a technologically advanced and long-lived race like the Isu would have disappeared into obscurity in quiet acceptance? Certainly, no Isu would accept humanity taking over after our glorious reign upon this planet. When our most esteemed scientists discovered the fate of Earth, that we'd be leaving a gem of beauty to be torn apart by humanity many sought to subvert this destiny, to change the future."
"You hate humanity?" Desmond spat out.
The God laughed but again Desmond was struck by the lack of cruelty, this being did not believe he was being rude or cruel, he was simply speaking the truth as he saw it. "Tell me Desmond, if a worm rose from the dirt beneath your feet and demanded that you bow to it, would you?" The God uncrossed his legs and rose to his feet, towering above Desmond even though they stood many metres apart. "Your species shares our appearance in many ways, but you lack our beauty, our strength, our intellect. You are but a monkey trying to act as an Isu."
"I did not come here to be insulted." Desmond stated.
The God looked confused, albeit briefly, and Desmond was struck once again by the knowledge that this Isu had not meant what he said as an insult, he'd said it as a matter-of-fact. "No." The God agreed. "You did not come here to discuss the faults of humanity. If you had, you would leave this place far more enlightened than when you entered. Although your humanity prevents you from understanding so much. Your minds are so…limited. It was of endless fascination to our scientists when we first created you from apes. We spent many a century studying what information you could and could not retain. Your selective and limited memory made you useless for intellectual pursuits, and yet despite your inability to retain knowledge, to break a vicious cycle of ignorance and bias, you have managed to populate the world. At times you astonish even us, the Isu with your perseverance, uniting against a common enemy and rising above stereotypes and labels only to use those stereotypes and labels as an excuse to forget unity moments later and descend into madness and chaos." The God sighed. "Leaving the Earth to humanity is a mistake and the thoughts and knowledge of what is to come, frightens me. Especially since, in your time, your people are looking to conquer the stars. Your taint spreading across the beautiful cosmos is a terrifying thought. All that hatred and bias, the ignorance reaching places of such exquisite beauty is why so many Isu seek to control your species, to prevent the destruction we know you will cause."
"So you will stop me saving my people." Desmond asked.
The God smiled. "I should. Your bloodline is dangerous, Desmond. Your lovers Altair and Ezio are good men, but not all of your ancestors or descendants are. Despite your species inherent failures, you and your lovers hold yourself to a noble standard, a standard man finds difficult to adhere to. Humanity thrives on destruction and this concept of peace, of the freedom of choice for all is a choice that those who want power will always fight against. The Templars and the Assassin's will never seize to exist, because as long as humanity exists there must be chaos and order. The urge to destroy is in your species very nature, even the urge for order is fuelled by a chaotic instinct, the instinct for control. Because order needs a leader and all humans fight to be that leader, the wolf and not the sheep." The God moved his hand and the room lit up, an image of Al Mualim projected between the Isu and Desmond. "Al Mualim, the leader of the assassin order, the supposed leader of peace, who killed only those opposed to the freedom of man was truly a tyrant, one of ten Templars who sought to control humanity and he had Altair kill his nine competitors so he would be the master, the leader of all."
"Why show me this?" Desmond asked, carefully walking around the projected image to look at the Isu once more.
"Because if you do not see, then no one will." The Isu replied. "My people, what remains of the Isu have lost hope that humanity will see reason, those who once thought to share Earth with man are turning their gazes away. Humans simply are incapable of understanding. Your species possess eyes and yet they cannot see. That blindness will lead humanity to its destruction but humanity is a species of cruelty and it will take everything else with it. But you Desmond, you and your bloodline have a chance no other human has. You have the limitations of humanity but your watered down Isu blood gives you far more potential than humanity can and will ever have. Your eagle vision gives you a glimpse into what the world truly looks like. Through that gift you have touched upon true Earth, seen her ethereal beauty and felt the magic she possesses, you have seen in part what will be destroyed by humanity if your species continues down its dark path."
"But what is the point of showing me this? What can I do? What is it you want me to do?" Desmond asked.
"You seek to save Ezio from Altair's blade." The Isu stated.
"Altair would never…"
Suddenly Al Mualim's projection changed and a familiar cloaked Templar took his place, Desmond gasped as the Templar's Assassin leapt, his stance familiar as he flew through the air. A moment later Ezio appeared, battling another Templar, unaware of the Templar flying towards him, blade extended.
The Isu hummed as Desmond stumbled back terrified at what he saw. The God dispelled the image and looked at Desmond with sympathy. "The Piece of Eden spoke to Altair, told him the truth of things, just as I now speak to you. Altair saw what humanity may become and he realised the truth that the Assassin order cannot overcome the Templar order, that this silent war throughout the many millennia has in its own way controlled the human population. If the Assassin order wins, chaos reigns, if the Templar Order wins, there will be no life, just puppets on invisible strings. Ezio's influence over you and Connor have meant that you have turned from this path, the Templar order has supremacy right now and for the Assassin Order to return from obscurity you must rise and eliminate the enemy you have so far sympathised with."
"Haytham Kenway."
The Isu nodded. "Humanity cannot have peace; peace brings about contentment which leads to boredom and which is followed by chaos and destruction. The Templar must be the leaders the voices of order and greed. The Assassin's must be the chaos, the voices of passion and freedom."
"And what of the Isu? You've already said your people aren't happy with the status quo."
"We have our own agenda, Desmond." The Isu replied. "One that we have spent far more millennia working on then your people have memory of. We do not seek to destroy, to cull and harm. Your people do that to yourselves without the Isu helping, we only seek to manage humanity, to prevent your species tendency to destroy from harming our world."
"And how will you do that?"
"You understanding of the Pieces of Eden's are not entirely incorrect." The Isu stated. "I was greatly surprised by your ability to see more than your species is usually capable of. Your intellect concerns my kin, you present an unforeseen danger as no human with Isu ancestry has yet to look beyond the tainted gaze of humanity, we believed it wasn't possible, that your human blood prevented such a thing and your existence proves we may have to be more active in our approach towards humanity."
"Stop talking in circles!" Desmond yelled. "What do you intend to do with the POEs?"
The God smirked, his expression turning cruel. "Nothing. We intend to do nothing. The POE's are sentient, they do syphon energy, they do affect the souls and the thoughts of the people that wield them but out of the many POE's created, only a few are in direct contact with the Isu. That evil you attribute to the POE's, that is all humanity's evil. The POE does nothing more than store and filter the intent of its wielder. The POE has one simple task, to impose order on humanity, to subvert humanity's will to harm. Any man who holds a POE is driven to impose that order on his peers, but humanity opposes order. The wielder becomes more and more opposed to the peace he seeks to create, he thinks of more and more demands, more laws and ideas that are created by humanity's twisted sense of morality. The wielder inflicts more pain, more control in a misguided sense of morality and since no other human is free from his control, no one can check his behaviour, his thoughts, so chaos and order fight within him mind, destroying his soul without an ounce of blood being spilled, no violent shouts, instead the man drives himself mad with power and regret."
Desmond swallows down bile, beginning to realise the extent of the POEs influence.
"A good man is only as good as the friends he has, or as the culture he comes from." The Isu continued. "The POE knows this; it is influenced by this. The POE itself is not evil, it is a tool, an attempt to effect peace upon a violent species. With a human wielder it cannot achieve its full potential, instead it is trapped in an endless cycle of order and chaos. You humans see the POE in history and you associate the evil of the people to that device and in doing so you once again create an excuse for humanity's evil, you disassociate yourselves from the crimes your people. It is far more comforting to think a metal ball cause Hitler's genocide and the death of 300 Spartans, rather than blaming the people who manipulated and worked to create these wars. The German people hailed Hitler as a hero because he told them what they wanted to hear, he manipulated them by using their distrust of the Jewish people. Had they all been under the control of the POE, then all would have saluted him, but instead there is a photo of a man who saw beyond the madness and instead refused to salute. There are German families who hid Jewish families, Muslim women who used their hijabs and burkas to shroud Jewish people and the star of David from sight." The Isu was clearly impassioned and Desmond was taken aback by both the God's emotional speech and the emotion in the God's eyes. "The POEs may be powerful, but to affect a whole world? You lived Altair's memories, you saw that Al Mualim was only able to control the town in which he lived with the POE in his hand, perhaps a hundred or more people and that was it, anyone beyond the protective walls was untouched. The POEs range is limited and yet the World Wars affected the whole world. It was not the POE that influenced the evil of Hitler, Hitler was already capable of evil, but it was the German people who gave Hitler the reach he eventually achieved, and it was the world community who pushed back and stopped his reign of terror. The only thing the POE gave Hitler was power over his immediate peers and the confidence to inflict his version of order upon the people."
"But there are hundreds of POEs. Are you telling me they cannot do more harm if brought together?"
The Isu sighed. "You humans are so obsessed with power. There have been many cults and orders over the years who have realised that the more POEs they have the more power over humanity they have. Even your assassin order seeks to obtain and control every POE, to protect humanity from the Templar's misuse of the objects. The assassin order believes it can overcome and be unaffected by the POEs if they secure these items in places they consider safe. Humanity simply does not understand the power and influence these devices have, assassin's are not Isu, they are human and humans are slaves to their failings, their instincts and their greed. What they are truly doing is bringing the POEs together, creating a network of powerful tools whose purpose for existence is controlling humanity."
Desmond blinked in slow realisation. "That's what you Isu want. That's why you want this silent war to continue. Regardless of who wins each battle, we would unite the POEs, to the point the POEs have enough power to subjugate more human lives and then you Isu could just stroll in and take control!"
"Such an elaborate conspiracy theory." The Isu teased.
"And true!"
"Even if it was, who would believe you?" The Isu asked. "Who would listen to your words? Human greed would take over and they would continue to hoard the POEs, believing they can overcome their fates by installing new and elaborate security measures. The Isu can think far beyond your human capabilities, nothing humans could do would keep us from the POEs if we sought them out."
"Then what do you intend?"
"We intend to let humanity do what it wants. We will let humanity gather the POEs, we will let the humans subjugate themselves. We need not do any harm to your kind. Not all of us what to do harm to your kind. Some of us don't even want your kind wiped from existence. We simply want to control your species natural tendency towards violence, to stop humanity destroying everything in its path, including itself."
"Why tell me this?"
"Because I am one of the Isu who doesn't want to see humanity destroyed. I have seen your potential, I have seen the devastation of wars and tyrants, but I have also seen mothers face these tyrants to protect their young, I've seen people come together to fight against the immorality of others. I've watched humans destroy themselves and things of beauty and I have wept with shame and horror, but I have also seen communities come together to rebuild and recover from disaster and I have wept tears of joy. Your species may be stupid and useless but you have so much potential to be good, to leave a legacy worthy of remembering despite your limitations."
"What can save Ezio and Altair?" Desmond whispered, pleading.
"You."
"What?"
"There is only one thing that you need to do and that is reach Altair first. The POE has a weak hold on your bloodline, it is why Altair, Ezio and you can wield the object and not be as affected as the other humans. Altair is not acting out the will of the POE, he is doing what he believes is right because he's been shown what will happen if this silent war between Assassins and Templars is not continued. But Altair is also seeking a way out, he no more wishes to harm Ezio than you do. Reach him first, speak to him, convince him to work on ways of rebuilding the Assassin Order, to make it an equal force to the Templar Order."
"And it will work?"
"As long as one of my kin are not manipulating the POE in your possession, you will be fine. There are some who wish to see an end to your bloodline and will use the greed of humanity to see it destroyed. Why do you think Warren Vidic and Abstergo targeted you and your father? You and Altair can resist the call, others can't. Make sure you speak to Altair as privately as you can. Save your lover and in doing so, you save humanity. At least for a time."
"And we continue collecting POEs until we are nothing more than mindless sheep waiting for an Isu master." Desmond countered.
"Do not fear the POEs, Desmond. They are not the true threat to humanity." The Isu warned.
And suddenly the chamber that had been alight with blinding golden and yellow glows went dark. The Isu and the lights disappearing as if they were never there. Instead Desmond stood in a cavern, dripping with water filtering through miles of rock from the lake above. The only evidence that what Desmond had experienced was real was a shimmer of gold at his feet. As he stooped to pick up the object he felt a gust of air rush past him as his fingers touched the cool metal. He studied the item intently as he rose to his full height. It was a circular piece of metal, perfect size to be a medallion or to be soldered on to the hilt of a blade or onto armour. It depicted the classic Greek or Roman God, stood before a glowing sun, its rays reaching every edge of the piece. Desmond knew he was looking at the depiction of the Isu he'd just spoken to, the engraving had the same gentle face and elegant flowing hairstyle the Isu had. Desmond felt a subtle and warm power in the artefact, his fingers tingled as if he was touching something filled with static. The Isu had given him proof of his existence, proof Desmond could show Altair to prove his story was true. Now he just had to get to his lover's and he didn't know how long he had.
Hurry.
And was it just him or did the wind itself whisper?
Perhaps he was just hearing things, but Desmond decided to heed the warning and instruction and fled the chamber. He somehow knew he did not have much time.
Author Note:
So, I have spent SOOO many hours playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey and to be honest the whole end was disappointing. So many unanswered questions.
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(Spoilers are coming here so if you haven't played the game Assassin's Creed Odyssey and intend to or are playing the game and haven't finished it, please stop reading here.)
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Why was Layla so important?
Why did our character had to remain alive until they passed the staff onto Layla?
But the thing that stood out to me is when Alexio's or Kassandra telling Layla that neither side can win, order and chaos must exist together. Yin and yang. But the game developers never really go in to detail and since I have yet to play the Atlantis DLC I am not sure if anything is really revealed in that addition to the game. So of course, when there is a mystery my brain goes into overdrive, conspiracy theories and ideas flit through my head. And although I am not 100% sure, I believe it is mentioned quite often that there are Isu still hidden throughout the world, and not just in the Atlantis DLC and the images seen by Ezio, Altair and Desmond.
Juno and John (Reincarnation of Aita) are still very much alive, although Juno exists as a sentience in machines and John is a reincarnation and not the original Isu. So, taking a popular conspiracy theory of aliens walking amongst us and replace aliens with Isu, I wonder if it the game is subtly implying that the Isu are still active with their incredible technology, manipulating history and as we saw throughout the games, the Precursor's seem to have the technology and ability to see through time.
So, this is my take on AC Odyssey and the new information and contexts linked to the Isu. My character is the classic Isu, speaking of history and the future as if it has already come to pass. His depiction of seeing humans as inferior is based on Lucifer from Supernatural. But I thought it also very interesting to give him a detached demeanour to humanity, like humans are merely animals and pets to him, having him treat Desmond as inferior, a stupid beast compared to him was a way for me to create this subtle power-play between the two, between a God and a subject. The indifferent attitude to Desmond by the Isu, the lack of realisation at the insults the Isu is unintentionally giving Desmond is similar to the way some humans treat animals, i.e. I feel sorry for the horses in war, they are just stupid beasts who don't know why they are there. (I've actually heard this said T.T). This sort of casual insult paired with sympathy and compassion is how some of us humans see animals, as dumb and only useful tools. As the Isu would see us in a similar way to how humans view beasts of burden, I wanted the Isu to have that as a personality.
Again, I must stress anything written in this story is written as part of the fiction and does not represent my views. I certainly don't view humanity as inherently violent and stupid, and I do believe we have the potential for great and noble things, so no I do not share the despair and subtle hatred written throughout this story! And I certainly don't see animals as dumb and only useful as tools, in fact science has proven especially in terms of predatory animals, that they are as smart as they need to be for their environment. Predators wouldn't catch their prey if there wasn't any tactical thoughts and planning going on inside their heads. Prey wouldn't realise they could jump a wall or crevice to lose their hunters if they didn't have a brain. And some animals know to flee to water, since predators like wolves can't hunt well in water. So, no I don't think animals are stupid and I am not saying all humans think animals are stupid!
Moving on...
I hope this chapter is everything you've been waiting for after a long wait. It has taken me the time to write this chapter, not only because of work but also because I've been trying to put together something that feels right. And considering last chapter and the discussion of sentient POEs, this encounter with an Isu did not seem farfetched and did not feel like a complete left-turn into madness for the story. Disagree or want to share your opinion, review or PM me. I am always interested in hearing different perspectives. Did you like my Isu or should I never mention him again! O.O
I wanted a semi-happy ending to the story so I took a Disney perspective at the end. What can overcome mind control?
!Love!
:)
Until next time,
Kelral Orlyana