2 The Academy
WELCOME TO LEGACY ACADEMY The school of discovering the past...
I sort of scoff and laugh at the banner above my head as I walk into the school. They really want us to think that we are doing this for the good of the common good of the world. Everywhere I look, there is something that has to do with Abstergo Entertainment. I know it's the company that runs this place and I suppose it's the same one the taxi driver was talking about. I can see that this company obviously has the money and power to build this place but I still don't get what he means.
My black and white Converse squeak on the polished wooden and glazed-over floor of the main hallway to the Academy as I observe at my surroundings which look too perfect, clean, and large to be real. The walls are lined with different large T.V. screens and posters about what we as students will be studying and working on here at the Academy. I notice a camera or two in just about every corner or the room and there are most likely ones that we can't see.
Eyes scanning the millions of signs and pretty screens and shelves out with brochures and pamphlets laid out for us, I manage to find the Student Dorms sign hanging above a small hallway in the far right corner where I will be living for the next year. Hauling my duffel bag over my right shoulder, I make my way down the quiet hallway only filled with other workers of Abstergo all going about with purpose but no students. I don't expect there will be many of us, but I had hoped for some people my age to be wandering around her just as clueless as me. Thankfully at the Academy, we don't have to share a room with any other person.
We are the first group of kids ever to be brought to the Academy to work for Abstergo so they can extract and do more research on our memories. Throughout the summer months after our sophomore year of high school, parents or guardians signed us up so we could be put through a series of tests that would determine if we were a descendant of one of the past Assassins or not. And it was truly only yesterday that we received confirmation that we would be enrolled in the Academy if we made it that far into the test. My entire Foster home went through the test program which Abstergo calls the S.D. or the Specific Descendant Blood Tests or what most people call them the S. . I was the only one out of ten that made it past the second test. But so did a whole lot of other kids from across the country.
As I walk down the long narrow hallway, I see a girl with dark brown curls that bounce when she walks, bright emerald green eyes, and a large smile that she puts on when I pass by before she continues to try and balance her multiple bags and suitcase on her arms and against her leg while fidgeting with her key card as she keeps switching which side it needs to scan like a hotel room key.
"Stupid thing," She mutters. "If only you could help me, Altair."
I stop in my tracks and stare at the girl silently out of the corner of my eye as I think, Oh my god she can talk to them too?! I scream inside my head feeling excited. But part of me knows that this girl probably is related to Altair but not actually able to see and hear him like me and Shao Jun. It's too good to be true. I'm completely under the impression that I have a serious condition. She continues to quietly mutter to herself as I quietly sigh and continue on down the hallway.
I slowly walk, keeping my eyes down as I look at my map and the room number scribbled in blue ink by a cranky old woman at the front desk of this place. My room number is 2112 and of course, I have the awkward moment like the brown haired girl of fumbling with and then dropping my key card and then awkwardly bending down to pick it up and then annoyingly, the duffel bag slips off my shoulder when I straighten up to try again.
It takes me a few tries but I finally see the small red light on the scanned turn green and my dark tinted glass door slides open to reveal my room.
...
"You're doing fine, Skyler; you need to just relax your mind and your body," Marcie says quickly to me.
"Right," I say a bit breathless as I try to calm down while beads of sweat form on my forehead. I never expected that it would be so hard to be put into an Animus. I take a few deep breaths before slowly leaning back in my seat and closing my eyes as the world around me fades into the same blank room I now stand in again.
"Now, try again and just relax yourself," Marcie says calmly to me although I hear her voice all around me in the blank room I sort of stand in. "None of this is actually happening to you."
It's not really a room, more of an open space that seems to stretch infinitely in whichever direction I move or walk in. I don't actually notice my appearance until I push back short dark black hair away from my eyes instead of long wavy dark hair like normal.
"Holy crap," I mutter slowly as I look down at my smaller hands and see lighter skin and longer fingers, and wrists that are covered in the black and red sleeves of someone else's robes and pointy glass sticks are slipped into the straps of the pads tied to my arms and there is a long strap that goes across my chest and back. I reach up and feel the handle of a sword that isn't mine. I try not to look too excited when I realize who I have become. I am Shao Jun.
There seems to be something wrong with the computer system," Marcie says from above me in a stressed voice. "You're surprisingly a descendant but you're appearing as someone who we though had no more living ones in this century. Who is Shao Jun?" She completely says the name wrong and I can almost hear Shao Jun's puffs of annoyance inside my head.
"You mean you're saying that Shao Jun has no more living descendants?" I ask as I look around the weird loading room I wander around in as my ancestor. The place has begun to take some sort of form. The colors in this place have turned into these black and red colors that don't clash together but sort of float together but don't touch or mix in these weird shapes and floating movements of color on the ground at my feet and in my surroundings and above me as I walk and look around.
"Yes," Marcie says to me. "But what's weird is you were classified as mentally disordered until around the age of ten and it changed oddly to now and that has been the same for the other students that have come who are actually descendants like you."
Maybe I'm not the only one, I think in my head as I continue to admire my appearance once again. I think I totally pull off the Shao Jun look.
"Well unfortunately," Marcie says sadly. "We have no known memories on your ancestor on file. We will have to go to Abstergo's main database later in the week but from what I can tell you, I think this is a yes. A very definite yes. You will be a student at Legacy Academy this fall."
...
I can honestly say that it is nothing like I expected it would be. To my left is a large bed with a clean and neat dark blue comforter and fluffy white pillows to match. A large, tall, gray wardrobe with two large drawers on the bottom pushed against the wall. On the right side is a large T.V. and clean gray couch to match as Powered By Abstergo Entertainment flashes across the screen next to the colored symbol in a dark red and black background to match my loading screen. I suppose they found her files after all.
I set down my things on the ground at my feet before beginning to walk around my new living quarters for the first time. There is a neat desk with a fancy-looking computer hooked up and a small black tablet resting beside it. I can't believe this is all mine.
This place is so cool!
Shao Jun's figure suddenly appears beside me as she smiles and looks around the room in awe like I did not two minutes ago.
I chuckle. "This place is pretty sweet. And it's all for me."
"You know, you really should see someone about that condition of yours. Talking to yourself is not very healthy."
I quickly turn around and Shao Jun disappears beside me. My eyes meet the full brown eyes and curly brown hair to match of a boy with a red duffel bag at his feet and beneath blue jacket he wears a We As Human T-shirt, one of my favorite bands.
"I- I wasn't..." He's caught me off guard and I begin to stumble over my own words like one often do when one get nervous. After a few failed attempts at trying to regain some ground, the boy cuts me off with a laugh.
"I was only kidding, " he says taking another step into my room. "I see them too."
"Yo- you do?" I ask, my words coming out a bit more sarcastic than I intended.
The boy scoffs at me with another grin. "Yeah, I do." He walks into my room and looks around the small space. "So, this is what our rooms look like?" He seems to not be asking anyone on particular only the air or maybe he's not kidding and there's another Ghost in the room besides my own. I don't particularly care to find out and this kid seems to me, incredibly rude and conceited to be someone I wish to be around.
I calmly clear my throat and the boy slowly turns around to face me. "Aren't you going to introduce yourself before coming into my room unannounced?" I put my hands on my hips and glare over at him.
"Oh," the boy chuckles lightly for a moment before taking a few steps to close the distance between us. He slowly outstretches his hand to me. "The name's Tito. Tito Selosse."
"Tito," I say it slowly almost doubting he's telling me the truth. I force back my laughs and look at him in the face searching for his answer.
"This is the part where you say your name, not mine," Tito says grinning at me.
"O-oh, I'm Skyler." I say outstretching my hand to him. "Skyler Wilkinson." Tito takes my hand and shakes it lightly before dropping it, not taking his dark brown eyes from mine.
...
"Tomorrow?" I repeat with a shocked look to match.
"Yes," Marcie says calmly. "You and the other students we chose will be brought to the school by your own means of transportation and start unpacking and getting acquainted with one another over the weekend before classes start on Monday."
"Why so early?" I ask.
"Because testing will need to start immediately in order for your blood to stay fresh and the computers have to generate the proper loading screens for your individual Animus and many other things that can't wait too long to be started."
"We have to do more blood tests?" I ask trying to keep the complaining from my voice.
Marcie nods with a small smile. "You will most likely do one or two per week depending on how much work you get done and if you are required to give a report or presentation on how well you are synchronizing with your ancestor."
"Oh," I mumble.
She hands me a folder along with a card and a thick packet as she says, "the folder contains simple rules and guidelines of the school, a map, your schedule, and any informational things and instructional procedures you need to know. The card is for your emergency key to get into your room but most of the time you will be using your tablet that will already be provided for you in your room. And the packet is something Abstergo will need you to fill out for medical concerns, emergency contact information, any allergies or medical conditions we need to be aware of, and any other simple information we need to know about you and your background. But you don't need to worry about most of it, just your parents our guardians."
"Thanks," I say to the woman.
As I turn to leave, Marcie calls to me. "Wait." I turn around to look at her. "Don't forget that this company is very powerful it has more resources and financing that you will ever know, Just a warning for the future." And with that, she turns to leave, walks down the quiet hallway, and disappears into one of the doors.
I look down at the things in my arms and sigh with a small smile. "Well, Shao Jun. This is going to be a whole different experience for the both of us."