Altair started to look at the apple in his hands as soon as they left, turning it from side to side. Seconds later, it began to shine.
Startled, he threw it in front of him, where it stopped on the wooden floor. It started to shine more, and suddenly a female figure appeared from the apple.
"Greetings, Eagle of Masyaf…" The woman said to him.
"What sorcery is this?" Altair asked, not believing in his eyes.
"I know you're scared, but I can assure you there's no magic…" The woman said again.
Altair didn't know what to think.
"What are you?" He asked seconds later.
"My name is Minerva…" The woman said. "You must be wondering why I can talk to you…"
Altair nodded.
"Because you're the chosen one…" Minerva explained.
"Me?" He asked, pointing to himself. "Chosen for what?"
"You and your partner, Maria, are here for a reason…" Minerva said. "But it is you, the one who is responsible for fixing everything.."
Altair didn't understand what this being, Minerva, was talking about.
"Fix everything? I'm not understanding…" He said.
Minerva showed him holographic images.
"I'm part of an ancient civilization that inhabited the Earth before yours… we developed technology, including the apples of Eden… however, we couldn't save ourselves from a disaster that provoked our extinction…" Minerva explained. "But that doesn't matter… what you need to know is this: one of us, called Juno, greedy for power and wanting to be our savior, rebelled and stole one of the apples… Abbas' apple…"
Altair started to understand what she was saying.
"Masyaf's attack was her doing?" He asked.
Minerva nodded.
"And the explosion?" He asked again.
"That was us…" Minerva said.
"And us appearing here?" Altair asked again.
"That was also our doing…" Minerva explained. "We knew that you couldn't stop Abbas with your apple, so we decided to give you the technology, so you can stop him and fix what he did after the explosion…"
"And what did he do?" Altair asked curiously.
Minerva remained quiet. But when she spoke again, she didn't answer him, just said:
"What you have to do is find the other six pieces of Eden so you can restore what he did.."
"How can we do this?" Altair asked.
"Everything depends on you…" Minerva said
Altair didn't know how to react after knowing all of this.
"This is all you need to know for now…"
He looked at Minerva.
"Wait, I have more questions…" He said.
"We'll talk again while you're here…"
With this, she disappeared and the apple stopped shinning. Altair was alone once again.
He remained there, sitting alone for a few minutes, just trying to organize his thoughts with what he has heard.
Only when he heard the news about Maria, did he react.
Getting up with Connor's help, Altair walked to the room she was and entered slowly. She smiled at him from where she was sitting on the bed.
"You scared me…" Altair said, approaching.
"I'm sorry…" Maria said.
He nodded and turned to Zio.
"Zio, can you excuse us?" He asked.
"Sure…" Zio said, leaving the room.
Altair then sat on the chair in front of Maria. When she saw his expression, she asked:
"Did something happen?"
"Yeah…" He said, affirming with his head. "I still don't believe in what had happened in the office…"
"What happened?" Maria asked a few seconds later. "Don't make me guess…"
"It's nothing bad…" Altair said, picking up her hands between his. "It's just hard to believe…"
Maria nodded. Altair lowered his eyes and waited a few seconds before speaking.
"After you passed out, Connor brought you here and I stayed talking with Achilles… I told him about what had happened in Masyaf…"
Maria nodded looking at him.
"By then, Connor was already back…" He completed.
"And?" Maria asked.
"His people have another apple…" Altair said, looking at her.
Maria raised her eyebrows.
"And how they got it?" She asked.
"He said his people had it for a long time…" Altair answered and took a deep breath. "Maria, what I'm going to tell you really happened… and I don't know what to think of it all…"
"What is it?" She asked.
"I saw a woman…" He said. "I thought it was magic, but she said it was not…"
Maria thought he was joking, because he does it sometimes, but when she saw his expression, she knew he was deadly serious.
"Coming… from the apple?" She asked, taking her hands off his. He nodded.
"I know this is surreal, but that's exactly what had happened…" He said.
When Maria started laughing, he looked down, put a finger on his lips, scratching his scar as the other hand was on his leg.
"She knew about Masyaf…" He said seconds later.
Maria was stopping laughing as she absorbed what he said.
"What?" She asked.
"She knew about Masyaf…" He repeated, straightening himself slowly.
"How?" Maria asked, intrigued.
"Minerva, as she was called…" He started. "… told me she was from an ancient civilization before ours and they had created the apples of Eden… how they were betrayed by one of them and how she stole one of the apples…"
Maria nodded.
"It was Abbas' apple…" He finished.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
He nodded.
"The explosion was their doing..." Altair continued. "They also brought us here..."
Maria became quiet when she heard this.
"Minerva also said what we have to do to fix what Abbas did after the explosion…" Altair finished.
"And what did he do?" Maria asked.
"We have to talk with Achilles to know what happened…" Altair said. "But while we don't recuperate the lost pieces of Eden, we can't go home and stop Abbas…"
"Did she say how many?" She asked again.
"Six…" Altair said. "But I don't know if we have to more things other than that… she wasn't specific…"
Maria was thoughtful.
"Do you think she wants us to fight with them?" She asked after a minute.
"Why?" Altair asked.
"Perhaps… she knows they can help us?" She offered while raising her shoulders.
Altair thought for a few seconds.
"It makes sense…" He agreed.
Maria got up, but Altair made her sit again.
"I also need to confess something to you.." Altair said seconds later.
"What?" Maria asked.
"Indirectly, what if I knew this was going to happen?" Altair asked her.
"What?" Maria asked, surprised. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I thought it was just images… I didn't know what they were…" Altair explained. "Now, I know they weren't…"
Maria took a deep breath.
"Please, don't hide things from me anymore…" Maria pleaded.
"I won't…" Altair promised.
Maria nodded and kissed him.
"Let's speak with Achilles…" She said, seconds later.
Altair nodded.