Altair and Connor walked back to the village quietly. They founded the people confused by what happened. Connor walked to his mother and the clan mother.
Maria looked from them to Altair and started to run to him. Hugging him, she made him groan in pain between teeth.
"Sorry…" She said apologetically.
Altair nodded and kissed her. Maria kissed him back.
"Are you ok, dear?" he asked seconds later after they separated.
"Yes…" She said. "I'm glad you made it in time…"
Altair nodded.
At this moment, Connor interrupted them cleaning his throat and said:
"We should go back to the house… Achilles will want to talk to you…"
Altair nodded.
Connor then looked at his mother and said something to her in his language. She nodded and entered the construction.
X ~ X ~ X
As soon they opened the door, they found Achilles waiting for them.
"We need to talk…" Achilles said before turning around to his office.
Altair knew he couldn't sustain the story they had told yesterday any longer. He and Maria looked at each other before starting walking.
Once in the office, they saw Achilles sitting in front of two chairs.
"Sit…" Achilles said.
Altair and Maria walked to the chairs and sat down.
"Do you know what you have in hands?" Achilles asked him.
Altair became alert.
"Yes…" He answered drily. "Why?"
"I know what this sphere is and felt its power…" Achilles said. "Years ago…"
Altair raised an eyebrow as his left hand held the apple more tightly.
"What do you mean?" Maria asked, confused.
"There are many others around the world…" Achilles said.
Altair remembered the map that he and Malik had seen after the death of Al – Mualim. Besides that, William Lake had one too.
"Besides them, there are other objects and temples… temples that are activated by them…" Achilles explained. "And it was in one of these temples that I felt an energy like that…"
Neither Altair nor Maria couldn't believe what they were hearing. Temples? Objects?
"How do you succeed in stopping it?" Achilles asked again.
Altair cleared his throat before answering.
"It reacts to my command…" He said.
"And where did you find it?" Connor asked.
Altair thought before explaining:
"The apple… I took it from his previous owner after I killed him… he was my mentor, but was consumed by its power…"
Achilles remembered very well what had happened years before… this power corrupted himself, but Shay Comarc put some judgment with a bullet on his leg…
"And you weren't?" Connor asked again.
"I controlled it, didn't I?" Altair answered with another question.
Connor became quiet. At this moment, Zio appeared in the office with a wood box in her hand.
"Well, returning…" Altair said. "Power, control and conquest of…"
Altair stopped, then continued:
"Of our land… it was what moved him…"
Achilles nodded.
"Why do you want to know this?" Maria asked.
Achilles looked at her.
"Because this is a very powerful weapon…" Achilles explained.
Yes, we know it…" Altair said and Maria nodded. "And the people you fight against want it…"
"Yes, our enemies…" Achilles said. "Since a long time ago, we fight people like your mentor… our brotherhood fights the Templars…"
Altair and Maria were surprised.
"Are you Assassins?" Altair asked.
"As much as you are…" Achilles answered.
"How do you know that?" Maria asked without believing.
"I suppose in your left glove there is a hidden blade?" Achilles asked Altair.
Altair turned his left hand and showed him the hidden blade.
"And because of your finger…" The older man said. "It was a costume of the Assassins cut off a part of the finger because of the hidden blade…"
Altair didn't know how to react. He remained quiet, showing his discomfort with all of this. Besides him, Maria was surprised by what she had heard.
"What do you mean by was?" She asked.
Achilles ignored her and continued to speak with Altair:
"Which brings us to another subject… your names…"
"What about them?" Altair asked drily.
"Your names aren't John and Mary…" Connor said.
"If not, what do you think our real names are?" He asked Achilles roughly and Connor.
Achilles then got up and walked towards his desk. He picked up a closed book with his arm and returned to his chair. Opening the book, he explained while trying to find the right page:
"Your question yesterday was on my mind…"
Achilles then looked at Maria. Altair also looked at her.
"What question?" He asked her.
"I'll tell you later…" She said softly.
Altair nodded. Achilles continued:
"Then, when the doctor examined you, I saw the tattoo on your back… I remembered I had seen it before… I looked at this book and I found it…"
Achilles stopped flipping through the book when he found what he was looking for. Looking at them, said:
"Your real names are Altair Ibn La' Ahad e Maria Thorpe...
At that, neither Altair nor Maria didn't know how to react. How could this man know so much about them?
"How?" Altair asked, puzzled. "How did you find about us?"
"The reason I know too much about you is that on this book, there is a page wrote about you…" Achilles said, showing them the book.
Altair picked it up and looked at the page. Besides him, Maria was shocked.
On the page, there was a text and portrays of him and his tattoo. Maria was also portrayed, right below.
"As you can see, it was easy to discover who you really were…" Achilles said.
Altair recognized the text and the drawings. It was from Malik…
"They did it.." He said softly.
Maria looked at him. She knew what he was talking about.
"But… this is impossible…" She said.
"No, impossible is you appear here, almost six hundred years..." Connor said.
Altair looked at him.
"Is this a joke, right?" He asked. "It isn't 1193?"
Connor denied with his head and Achilles said:
"We are in 1772… and this book tells the history of the Assassins…"
"It can't be…" Maria whispered.
Altair looked at her.
"Maria, are you ok?" He asked her.
She didn't answer.
Altair so picked up her hand. It was icy. Looking again at her, he saw she was paler than a ghost.
"Hey, look at me…" Altair said, putting a hand on her face.
She looked at him tearfully for a few seconds and then passed out. Altair held her before she hit the floor.
"Maria…" Altair said.
Because he was hurt, he couldn't stand the effort and two ended up falling. Altair hit his broken ribs on the floor and almost passed out because of the pain.
Connor and Achilles went to help him. Zio hurried to Maria to see if she was all right.
Even in pain, Altair could sit on the floor, with his back on Achilles' desk, with his and Connor's help.
"Is she ok?" He asked Zio, apprehensive.
"Yes…" Zio said to him. "She's just in shock because of what she heard…"
Altair nodded, relieved.
"Is it ok if Connor takes her to your room?" Achilles asked. "We need to finish our conversation…"
Altair looked at Connor. He hated the idea of another man touching Maria, but there was no other way, since the subject at hand was as much as important to him as she was.
Reluctantly, he nodded.
Zio got up and gave some space to her son. Connor then picked up Maria on his arms and left the room. Zio followed them.
"After Connor, come back here…" Achilles said. Then, turning back to Altair, he asked: "How is that even possible?"
"The apple is responsible…" Altair said.
Achilles looked at the apple and nodded… Obvious…
"It has many powers…" Achilles said.
Altair nodded and said:
"Why this happened, I don't know… why it didn't kill us too…"
Achilles was about to ask what he meant, when Connor interrupted them.
"My mother is with Maria…"
"Thank you…" Altair said.
Then, lowering his eyes, Altair said:
"Abbas, an ex- Assassin who became a Templar, attacked us with two other men… a man whose name I don't know and English named William Lake… they had another apple with them…"
Achilles and Connor nodded. Altair stopped a little, remembering what had happened, then continued:
"Alerted by my apple what was about to happen, I left it with Maria and went to face them… I was captured… and Maria came to help me…"
Altair stopped a little
He stopped again for a few seconds.
"When we were with our apples, William and I… we hold the apples and they met, creating a huge explosion… and then, Maria and I woke up here in a clearing only to be attacked by wolves… the rest you know…"
"It's incredible…Connor said.
"It can be, but that's what happened…" Altair said looking at him.
Achilles got up and said:
"I guess it may want something from you…Connor…"
Connor went to pick up the box and returned with it opened.
"There's only one way to discover that…"
Achilles picked up another apple. This one was a little transparent and gave it to Altair.
"We're going to leave you alone…." Said Achilles before leaving the office with Connor