*Hello hello hello everyone!
We are officially continuing with writing and this one will be about me and a friend I made recently called Ashy!
We are inserting ourselves into the Assassin's Creed universe, and we are making a brand new story!
I've already done a similar fan fiction in the Left 4 Dead 2 universe which I finished recently, check that out!
Without further ado, let's begin!*
...
It was as peaceful of a night as you could imagine. Most of the town was already monitored, symbolizing the revolution's beginning. Even the distant crows in the city were silenced by the shrieking sound of the giant clock tower in the middle of Osijek, Croatia.
Both of the hands of the giant clock struck the very top of the tower, both pointing upwards towards the sky, indicating the start of a new day.
A lonely figure covered by the shadows of the night, only revealed by a single street light that never shut off, stood there and lit a cigarette.
After inhaling for a short period, the figure exhaled a puff of smoke, whilst creating different shapes of the smoke clouds.
The cold breath could be visible in the chilling air of that night, as could the smoke.
On the small and lonely town square only habited by crows and disease-spreading rodents, a shadow of a body could be seen running through it and leaping up to a building complex across from our figure.
The figure sighed and looked up as the moonlight revealed it.
"Guess I'm running tonight."
The figure put his hood on, threw away the cigarette and bolted through the town square, quickly followed the shadow, leapt as high as several metres and gripped one of the decoration statues of the building he was climbing.
What a way to start the night...a chase.
It only took a few moments for the shadow to realise it was being followed, so it picked up the pace.
However, this was no problem for the assassin. He quickly upped the pace himself, almost like he shifted gears as if he was a vehicle. The roof designs were very flat, but varying in height, ranging from huge leaps of faith downwards to very large climbing sessions per rooftop. The assassin quickly started catching up to the shadow as it was getting tired, but the assassin wasn't. It seemed like his stamina was monstrous. There was a huge jump between rooftops incoming, and they were very high up.
The shadow quickly stopped itself from flying off the edge of the building and turned around, but the assassin was already there, pointing his hand at the shadow.
"What do you want?! I'll give you anything, just spare me!" The figure quickly took a defensive approach and attempted to bargain its freedom.
"I'm only here because of a contract, friend. This goes two ways. You give me the information I want regarding your leader, or I send you flying off this building." The assassin pointed his hand down as he kept his wrist locked onto the target, one of his hidden blade holders showing.
Suddenly, a heavier accented person could be heard behind the assassin.
"Drop the weapon or I drop you, dog!"
The assassin turned his head towards the bigger fella behind him, not removing his wrist from the direction of the first person. The bigger guy seemed to be armed with a double-handed axe and he only gave the assassin enough time to gaze at him before swinging.
The assassin barely strafed to the right in time before kicking the man in the chest, making him drop his weapon. A firm elbow down the big man's back was enough to pin him to the ground, followed by a stomp to the man's head before an ever faster withdrawal of the assassin's hidden blade. The hidden blade was lunged into the large man's neck, killing him instantly.
The assassin quickly exhaled, straightened his back and looked back at the timid figure, who was on the literal edge of the building now.
"Now, there's no need for that. I will let you go if you give me the info." The assassin lowered his arms to indicate a safer situation, but the figure couldn't even get a word in. He murmured and mumbled until not a single sound came out of his mouth, but he didn't jump, he just stood there.
"If you won't jump off yourself, I'll help you."
The assassin pointed his wrist at the man yet again as he pulled a small lever with his other hand, which engaged a spring mechanism. He quickly let go of the lever within a second and fired off a gunshot from his hidden gun within his hidden blade holder. The noise startled all the crows nearby, and that's all that could be heard for the rest of the night.
...
Fast-forward to early morning the same day. People could be seen walking the streets in suits, jackets and heavy clothing. It was a cold winter morning, after all. Occasional greetings and hello's could be heard from a few people around the street. But our focus isn't on the streets of Osijek.
Our attention shifts to the sewer canal underneath the street, which was the home to many rodents, garbage and all the leaky pipes in the city.
We find ourselves in a dark and cold room in the sewer system, containing a single table and chair, where a relatively tall person was sitting. They were wearing a hood, but not even the hood could hide the length of the person's hair. They were playing around with a throwing knife in one of their hands.
Suddenly, a figure approached the hooded person from the darkness in front of them.
"Ashley, is it?" A deep voice could be heard from the older man who emerged from the darkness.
"Yes, it is. I was sent here for transfer." Ashley answered as she put her knife away.
"Well, you seem physically capable enough. I've heard good things from Hugh about you. I will take you to the sanctuary after you fill out these papers, am I clear?" The man placed a paper in front of Ashley and handed her a pen.
Ashley read through the paper quickly and felt like questioning it.
"What's with the paper?"
"We need some sort of physical evidence of the person who's about to enter the Creed. This seems to be the easiest and most painless way, so we stuck with it."
After listening, Ashley quickly signed it and stood up as she slid the paper and pen to the other end of the table.
"The name's Kane, by the way."
Kane snapped his fingers and a second assassin emerged from the darkness, grabbing the signed paper.
"I'll take you to the sanctuary and we will parkour over there. Quickly follow, now." Kane turned and quickly ran up a ladder nearby.
"At least it's something I'm good at." Ashley shrugged her shoulders and followed him almost just as fast.
...
Meanwhile, in the actual sanctuary on the other side of town, it was underground and full of artefacts and decorative pieces of armour, weapons and architecture. It was built with very high ceilings and had several different rooms, such as the armoury, the training grounds, the main grounds and so on.
An assassin could be seen entering the sanctuary from one of the ceiling secret entrances. He carefully dropped through each pillar and stone pole going across different heights of the ceilings, until he eventually landed on the ground floor.
A very tall and muscular man was walking through the hallways, almost like he was expecting something. Or someone, of course.
"Look who decided to show up!" The man quickly turned his gaze towards the assassin. "Luka, what the hell did you do?"
Luka quickly turned his head towards the large man and put on a very confused expression.
"I assassinated the man you told me to assassinate, Hugh." He leaned against a statuette that was a bit taller than him. "After he refused to talk, of course."
"You were supposed to bring him back at all costs, did you not understand the assignment?" Hugh raised his voice even further and began doing several hand movements, articulating his anger.
"Well, I think you could have explained it a bit better. Simply telling me to gain information from someone OR murder them when they don't want to talk is what you told me yesterday." Luka shrugged his shoulders and straightened himself, his height reaching up to Hugh's shoulders. "Look, either way, it's done. We will need to gather information somewhere else. No need to cry about it now."
Hugh sighed and softened his expression.
"You're right. Let's just forget about it. It is what it is."
"That's the Hugh I know and love." Luka patted Hugh's shoulder as he asked another question. "Oh, right. We have a transfer assassin coming in today, don't we?"
"Yes, her name's Ashley. We could use more recruits anyway, which is also something I wanted to talk to you about." Hugh began walking away from Luka and signalled him with his hand to follow him. Luka quickly followed.
They began walking through the sanctuary, moving towards Hugh's office.
"I thought we had assassins on assignments and missions outside the city, are they not an option anymore?" Luka questioned with uncertainty in his voice.
"Those assassins will be out on missions for a lot longer than I anticipated. I'm not even certain they'll be back by the start of next year." They entered through the door to Hugh's office as Hugh walked up to his desk and sat down in his huge wingback chair. It was appropriate for the size of the man. He began flustering through unfinished paperwork at his desk.
"That's quite unfortunate, but what do you want me to do about it?" Luka questioned as he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow.
"I'm not sure, to be honest. I thought maybe you'd have an idea." Hugh placed both of his arms on his desk, puzzled.
Luka looked around the room as he was thinking. He started walking back and forth. After a while, he concluded.
"What about those bands of thieves we keep encountering on our missions? They started appearing more frequently over the last few months." Luka sat down in a chair next to an armour stand whilst crossing his legs.
"I just don't believe we can trust thieves to be trained murderers, you know? It's a fine idea due to their natural agility, but I feel like training would take too long." Hugh made an argument very convincingly.
"You do have a point. Other than that, I got nothing. We'll have to just keep moving until we see some kind of solution." Luka got up and pointed towards the door. "I will probably head towards the training grounds if that's okay."
Hugh nodded in confirmation and waved his hand in Luke's direction.
"Feel free to, but don't forget tonight is the final ceremony for your full initiation into the Creed! You will finally join the Creed as an official member after all these years of training!" Hugh smiled honestly and raised his hand towards the ceiling as if he was cheering Luka on.
"Thank you, my brother. I will not disappoint." Luka also raised his hand towards the ceiling and left the room after a moment.
Luka started walking through the lonely hallways of the sanctuary, thinking about his current position in the creed and all the years of training he had to go through.
"Hugh's right. That shit would take way too long." Luka gripped his cigarette pack but waited until he made it to the main grounds, which were more open.
As he stepped into the main grounds he lit a cigarette and placed his lighter back into his pocket. He quickly heard some noise coming from the vents high above him, indicating that somebody's made it back to the sanctuary. He quickly darted his vision along with the vents as he tracked the sound. After a few moments, Luka's eyes were fixated on a vent cover that somebody opened as they entered the main grounds. Not one, but two figures dropped down from the vent and landed on a statue overlooking the main grounds before eventually landing on the ground. Both of the figures landed near perfectly.
"SHIT LANDING, KANE!" Luka shouted from across the main grounds and started walking towards Kane.
Kane and Ashley straightened up as Ashley hid behind Kane's massive figure.
"You do a better one, dickhead." Kane shouted back as he and Luke exchanged a friendly handshake. Kane turned around as he moved out of the way. "Ah yes, Luka! Our new recruit is here! Meet Ashley. She's an assassin from England." Kane introduced Ashley as he pointed his open hands towards her.
Ashley was a tall woman, only slightly less than a head taller than Luka. She looked very agile and seemed to be in great shape. She moved her very long blond hair out of the way so she could look at Luka.
"England? You travelled far to get here. Hugh must have put a lot of effort into getting you here." Ashley shrugged her shoulders as Luka changed his expression. "Nonetheless, welcome. Very happy to be working alongside you."
He offered a handshake which Ashley gladly accepted and nodded.
"Same here." She happily exclaimed.
"Your initiation is tonight, ain't it, Luka? It just so happens Ashley's will be held together with yours." Kane said as he proudly looked at Luka and patted him on the back.
"Oh, shit. That's pretty cool. Glad to be a part of it." Luka lifted his head and winked at Ashley.
Ashley winked back and smiled.
"Well, you two can get some conversations in later. I have to take Ashley to Hugh, help him fill out some paperwork regarding Ashley's transfer." Kane straightened himself and began moving his foot towards the direction of Hugh's office.
"Kane, you know Hugh always needs help with his paperwork," Luka said sarcastically, through a chuckle. "Very lovely meeting you, Ashley."
"Very lovely meeting you too, Luka," Ashley replied positively. "Also, Ash, if it's easier."
Luka happily smiled again and finished his cigarette.
"Come, Ashley." Kane gestured with his hand for Ashley to follow and she did.
After a few moments, Luka started moving towards the training grounds as Ashley and Kane walked out of his field of vision.
Luka shook his head and nodded firmly to himself.
"Good find, Hugh. Good find."
...
The training grounds looked just like they were out of a ninja movie. Plenty of dummies, plenty of punching bags hanging off the ceiling and it even had a big boxing ring in the middle of it. There were plenty of targets for practising arrow shooting, as well.
One punching bag was bouncing around heavily, attempting to resist the current training session of one of our assassins. It was a nice way for Luka to build his stamina and practice combinations.
A right hook followed by a liver blow leading into an uppercut, all whilst swaying his upper body. A classic infighter style. That was one of the shorter combinations, as Luka has a love for boxing and takes pride in his stamina.
After a while of repeating this combination, he rested his open hand on the punching bag as he looked at the clock. 6:00 PM. It was almost time for the initiation. He pushed the punching bag and landed a piercing right on it. It was thrown across the air as he finished his session and grabbed a towel just as Hugh walked in.
"What's up, Hugh?" Luka turned towards him as he wiped some of the sweat off of his head.
"Just checking in, making sure you're prepared." Hugh extended his arms as he walked forward.
"The thing's in an hour, right? I still have to shower." Luka grabbed another towel for his shower.
"Take your time, but I was wondering what weapon you would pick? Our blacksmiths can whip anything up within a week." Hugh asked curiously.
"You'll see in an hour. Patience is a virtue for any assassin, you know?" Luka paused at the door to the showers and winked at Hugh before he entered the room. He left Hugh standing in the training room, disappointed and cross-armed.
...
Fast-forward an hour and we find ourselves in the main hall of the sanctuary which was dutifully decorated with a big statue of grandmaster Altair, a big ceremonial table and several banners with the assassin logo on them.
Luka walked in with more than a surprised expression. He walked up to the ceremonial table and kneeled as Ashley did the same next to him.
Hugh and Kane stood side by side in front of the huge statue as they prepared to start the initiation.
Kane nodded at Hugh as Hugh turned towards the two young assassins.
"Tonight we shall commence the ceremony of initiation for two assassins, Luka and Ashley! Both of you, step forward!"
And so, they did.
"First, Luka." Hugh grabbed a sword from the ceremonial table and placed it upon both of Luka's shoulders as he shouted again. "Grandmaster Altair, welcome this soul known as Luka to the Creed tonight!"
Luka took a bow as he let Ashley step forward.
Hugh repeated the process.
"Grandmaster Altair, welcome this soul known as Ashley to the Creed tonight!"
After Ashley's bow, they took a moment to admire the statue of Altair and his spirit. The greatest leader of the Creed that ever lived. Even around 800 years later, his Creed still stands. Hopefully, our new assassins can continue his legacy.
"Alright, now to get to the fun part. Your primary weapons! The weapons you'll be using in most of your missions as your strongest weapons! Have you thought about them, you two?" Kane happily broke the silence with enthusiasm.
"I got mine in mind." Luka turned his gaze towards Ashley.
"Same here." Ashley returned the gaze.
...
A few awkward seconds passed.
"Well, are we gonna get to hear it or are you gonna have a staring contest, you doofs?" Kane broke the silence once more.
Luka and Ashley gave each other that special look again.
"On three."
One.
Two.
Three.
"The Billhook."
"A folding compound bow."
Hugh and Kane's expressions both lit up as they shared the same special look between themselves.
*END OF CHAPTER 1.
Chapter 1 is finished! I appreciate everyone who stopped by and thank you for the previous support! Have a wonderful day and stay safe during these times, everyone!*