Chapter 7— "The Revelations of the Two Conspiracies, Part 3: The Lost Archive of the New World Order"
Katja Winter/ Ezio Auditore/ Altair Ibn-La'Ahad/ Desmond Miles
Katja looked at Basim as he said to her while attaching several electroshock cables connected to a battery to various parts of her body, "We're in Cyprus, the Templars' old headquarters. They used to own the entirety of Cyprus during their heyday."
"The CIA and Abstergo created an advanced version of MK-Ultra designed to help bring out the Isu consciousness in a Sage by destroying their human consciousness… driving them insane through torture until they leave reality. A woman named Fulke also used a method similar to this on Eivor's fellow viking, Sigurd, and Tyr's Sage, during their and my time in the 9th century. I'm about to utilize said methods on you in order to bring out Baldr."
Katja trembled as Sadiq struck together a set of electroshock cables, causing them to emit loud sparks to scare her, before he placed them on her breasts.
"You may have experienced agonizing pain like this at some point before in your life, Katja, but due to your condition you've likely forgotten what said pain felt like. It's time I helped you rejog your memories."
Katja cried, "Wait, Basim! You're an Assassin; you're supposed to be on my side… right? Where do you fit into this?"
Basim said, "I'm on neither the side of the Assassins nor the Templars… just like you. I'm not on anyone's side but Loki's."
"With that said, I do wonder… You mentioned Catastrophe, and a Salakar before you tried and failed to kill me… Perhaps Baldr can show me what you meant by that."
"NO!" screamed Katja as Basim walked over to the battery and activated the current.
Katja screamed and shook violently against her restraints as the pain caused by the electricity caused her to start to dissociate.
She woke to find herself on a strange island.
Parts of it looked like a natural, tropical island, but other parts of it looked bizarre; the various artificial pillars on the ground, floating cubes in the sky, and images moving in the water flickered before Katja's eyes.
This isn't part of Epstein's island… is it? She thought for a moment. No… it can't be.
Then she turned around to look at Desmond and another man.
"She looks like a regular Eve, straight off the pages of Paradise Lost," joked the other man. "Desmond, did you have to bring her here naked?"
Looking down at her body, Katja covered her breasts in embarrassment.
"Sorry about that, Katja… I'll get you some clothes," said Desmond as he snapped his fingers.
Once he did this, Katja found herself wearing her favorite T-shirt and sweatpants she wore at night when living with Lucas at his Tuscan estate.
"Where am I?" said Katja.
"Animus Island," said Desmond. "Only instead of being inside an Animus… we're inside your head."
"I dissociated again," said Katja.
"Basim's torture got to you," said Desmond. "We have a limited amount of time to achieve the sync nexus. If we run out of time…"
"My human consciousness, and my human alters, will all fade out of existence," said Katja. "I know."
Looking at the other man again, Katja asked Desmond, "Who's that?"
"Oh," said Desmond. "That's Clay Kaczmarek… Subject 16."
"At your service," said Clay as he bowed sarcastically toward Katja.
Katja said, "What's he doing in my head?"
"Back when I was in a coma," said Desmond, "he passed his memories onto me via the Animus. If I manage to walk you through the remaining memories of Altair and Ezio, as well as my memories and Clay's… it's likely we'll achieve the sync nexus and you'll awaken from your dissociative slumber."
Katja said to Desmond, "All right. We'd better get started, then."
Desmond nodded, and said, "We'll start with Altair's memories… See that translucent barrier between those two pillars?"
"Yeah?"
"That's a door. Walk through it."
Katja nodded, and walked over to the pillars in the middle of the island.
She took a breath before entering Altair's part of the island.
Seeing several glowing images and symbols floating in the air as she carried the Apple of Eden through the hallways of the Masyaf library in Old Altair's place, she heard Desmond say to her, "This memory is where we need to get to. It's unstable right now though. We'll work our way up to this. In the meantime, try to stay calm so you don't desynchronize with the memories, Katja."
"All right," said Katja as the dimly lit hallways started to dissolve around her, along with the symbols coming from the Apple until she found herself floating in limbo.
Katja's consciousness woke to find herself in shock as she couldn't feel her body. She assumed she was still inside her mind, but she didn't even have a self-image.
"Desmond, Clay, what's happening to me?"
"Incredible… but also incredibly terrifying. We're experiencing near complete dissociation from Katja's point of view," said Desmond's voice.
"Near-complete dissociation?" said Katja.
"Your human consciousness is fading, Katja," said Clay's voice. "We're trying to ground you back into your body to prevent your consciousness from being overtaken by Baldr's due to Basim's torture."
"Only this feels a lot less like some bizarre out-of-body experience and more like something I experienced while I was in a coma," said Desmond. "I was inside the core of the Animus."
"Right…" said Clay's voice. "No memories, no sensory experiences… Everything's just a raw stream of consciousness, as if she'd never lived at all… but her base identity is still intact enough to function."
Katja could feel herself fading in and out. What was happening to her was terrifying enough.
"Katja, stay with us!" said Desmond. "See that glowing blue symbol over there on the wall of this room?"
Katja, or rather, "Katja" looked over in the direction of a glowing blue light on the walls of this strange imaginary room.
"That'll help us access the core memory of Altair's that we need to get to for the sync nexus. At this point it's our only chance of keeping your consciousness intact… Try to remember something that comforts you, Katja… and it'll help you find the strength to get over to the symbol."
Katja heard herself talking to them using her voice, but it sounded as distant as her moving point of view felt; it was like she was listening to herself instead of talking. Her voice was quiet and suggested she was in a trance.
"For the first few years living with Lucas, I was a teenager. It took time for me to get over the trauma inflicted on me when I was forced to be a sex slave for the Templars. He was helping me overcome it. He had me see some of the world's best private therapists, and made sure I lived a full life. When I wasn't at his home in Tuscany, I traveled with him around the world to various exotic places. The world seemed so small when I was a child, but Lucas helped me see much more of it. He helped me learn what it was like to feel human… and he helped give me an education, to the extent that I had surpassed most people my age by the time I was fifteen."
As she moved closer toward the blue symbol, stumbling clumsily around some blocks in the way of her path, she could hear herself continue talking. "Still, despite that my life with him was comfortable, and he never forced himself on me… I doubted him. The lifestyle of the daughter of the most powerful man in the world, the new CEO of Abstergo, all seemed too good to be true… I was worried it was another trick my tormentors on Epstein's island were playing on me."
"At some point a few weeks after I turned sixteen, when he thought I was healed enough, he had me start undergoing training in the Animus to allegedly help me uncover some more of my alternate identities, and see if they were based on any real people," said Katja as she approached the blue symbol.
"Ironically it was this that made me trust him more. I knew this life would not come without a cost. Human love is conditional; there is no such thing as unconditional love. Everyone wants something in return in an interpersonal relationship… and at the time, I knew this had something to do with what Lucas truly wanted."
"After that… I started to relax around him more, and truly see him as the loving father I never had…"
"Activate the symbol, Katja, and quickly," said Clay. "Basim's torture is getting to you."
The glowing blue symbol on the walls of this strange imaginary room lit up even brighter before Katja.
Before the light blinded Katja and the room disappeared, Katja realized that the symbol was that of a hand pattern, and she could faintly see an outline of her own hand and arm reaching out…
Back in reality, Katja was screaming and panting.
"Who am I talking to now?" said Basim as he increased the voltage on the battery connected to the electroshock cables he applied to Katja's naked body.
"Answer me!" said Basim as he took a new set of electroshock cables and pressed them together in front of her face, causing sparks to fly in an attempt to scare her.
"You are a terrible Assassin, Basim… or should I say Hidden One?" said Katja.
"Your accent sounds native to the Middle East… Ah… of course. I'm talking to Altair Ibn-La'Ahad," said Basim. "Looks like we're making progress… Unfortunately you're not the alter I'm looking for."
Basim then walked back over to the battery, and proceeded to turn on the current again.
"You have seen to my books… ?" said Altair to his son, Darim. They were both old men, and Altair was at death's door.
"Yes… Some we have sent to the Polos. The rest will go with me to Alexandria," said Darim.
"Good. Very good."
"Father, I do not understand… why did you build a library if you did not intend to keep your books?"
"You should go," said Altair. "When the Mongols return, Masyaf must be empty."
"I see. This is not a library at all. It is a vault."
"It must stay hidden, Darim. Far from eager hands. At least until it has passed on the secret it contains."
"What secret?"
"Go, son. Go be with your family… and live well."
Darim approached Altair and embraced him with a hug. "All that is good in me, began with you, father."
And as the doors of the Masyaf library closed and locked in place, as the five Masyaf Keys that opened it had been scattered across Constantinople by the Polos… Altair was now locked inside the vault with the Apple and the final Masyaf Key in hand.
As Altair extinguished the torches lining the halls to the Masyaf library one by one, Katja could hear his memories playing out in his head.
"In much wisdom, is much grief… and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow…" said Al Mualim.
"As I learned about the world as it truly was with my education… and the Animus," said Katja, "as well as the history of it and its people… I realized how truly sad the story of humanity was. Humanity was never truly free. Living means suffering, and living to fight, to prevent the suffering of others, meant that you had to take on their suffering in addition to your own…"
"What does it tell you? What do you see?" said Maria.
"Strange visions and messages…" said Altair. "Of ones who came before, of their rise and their fall…"
"At times I wondered if it was part of our nature to suffer, or if it was something we could transcend," said Katja. "After all… we were created as a slave race by the Isu, as I would eventually learn..."
"But what happens to us, Altair? To our family! What does the Apple say?" said Maria.
"Who were the ones who came before? What brought them here? How long ago?" said Altair.
"Who were the Isu? What brought them here? How long ago?" said Katja. "The immortal question that most humans didn't know existed, while those that did, would likely never be able to answer…"
"Get rid of that thing!" shouted Maria.
"This is my duty, Maria!" said Altair.
As Altair planted the Apple in its hidden chamber in the Vault, Katja continued hearing his memory play out as he said, "If you are asked, say that I sent the Apple away. Tell them I sent it to Cyprus, or Cipango, or that I dropped it into the sea. Tell them anything to keep it away from this place. This Apple must not be found, not until the time is right."
Altair pressed his hand against a loose brick in the wall to seal the hidden chamber's doors.
Altair, now old and weary, walked toward the chair in the center of the library to rest for a moment.
As he grasped the chair with his old and brittle hands, and sat down in it, he reached for the Masyaf Key in one of his Assassin robe's pockets, and held it out, imprinting his last memories on the Key and reminiscing about his life until the last life in his body left it.
Katja found her alter speaking to his in the library.
"Katja," said Altair. "This is not over. I saw a glimpse of a revelation long ago, within the Apple, Katja. A revelation of a conspiracy within a conspiracy, and a prophecy to stop it within another prophecy. That prophecy centers around you and Elijah, my descendant… while the other prophecy it lies within centers around a man named Sam Fisher… the Second Sage of the Judeo-Christian god, Yahweh."
"Sam Fisher?" said Katja. "The Fourth Echelon spy? What does he have to do with all this?"
"He will attempt to stop Lucas's first conspiracy, the one involving the Red Mercury devices, and if he succeeds… he will pave way for you and the Assassins to stop the second conspiracy involving the Eye."
"After that, it will be up to you, Katja…" said Altair. "Only you can prevent the final Catastrophe. Either you will prevent said Catastrophe… or you will start it…"
Katja said to Altair, "I don't understand…"
"At the time, neither did I. But now things are starting to come full circle…" said Altair as he looked at Old Ezio's alter staring at them from across the room. "Go, Katja. Continue and achieve the nexus."
"What about you?" said Katja. "Will you help me?"
"When you need me, I will be there," said Old Altair. "When you don't… I will be here."
As her Old Altair went to the chair, and turned around only to disappear into the chair that contained his skeletal remains, Katja saw a glimpse of a younger Altair, smiling with his wife, Maria, and their sons.
And as Katja looked away from the fleeting image, she saw the memory's walls disappear, and the floor gave out from underneath her.
Katja landed on a block inside the strange room again, without a body once more.
"Good, we're getting closer to returning you to your body," said Desmond.
"Speaking of which, do I get to be an alter of Katja's?" said Clay.
"Surprisingly enough, yes," said Desmond. "She just doesn't need you that much, so you won't talk to her much. You'll just be staying in a 'room' inside her mind that represents your happy place, or a larger 'room' where you converse with her other alters."
"That sounds great. I'll take what I can get…" said Clay.
"Look up there, Katja," said Desmond.
"Katja" looked up toward another glowing blue symbol above a set of spiraling steps leading to it.
"Think you can get there?"
"Yes," Katja said as she continued to narrate her life semi-consciously.
"Lucas's training he had me undergo in the Animus was rigorous to say the least…" said Katja. "I may have taken on the memories and skills of the people whose lives I relived via the Animus, but for the most part I could only use them when they became an alter of mine, and said alter manifested."
"Even then, it was taxing on my mental health," said Katja as she walked toward the staircase. "At some point I tried to ask Lucas why he was having me do this… but until that day in Rome, he was cryptic about it. He said he eventually wanted me to relive the memory of a woman named Eivor Varinsdottir, a Viking shieldmaiden that lived during the 9th century. I would eventually come to learn that she was a Sage of Odin just like Lucas, and then the pieces of the puzzle would make more sense, albeit they were just beginning to."
As Katja walked up the staircase, she said, "Around that time, Lucas was having me make my debut into society as his adopted daughter. Despite his hidden intentions, this did make it seem like he truly wanted me to live a happy new life, one free of suffering…"
Katja could see glimpses on the walls of the room at the top of the staircase of Elijah and her together in Tuscany, her wearing her red dress, and Elijah wearing a tuxedo.
"...but it was all in vain in the end…"
"Put your hand on the symbol, Katja," said Desmond.
The glowing blue symbol was in the middle of the image of Elijah, and the brighter it got, the brighter he got as well.
Back in reality, Katja was screaming even louder before Basim turned off the current.
"ELIJAH!" Katja screamed.
Panting, Katja looked at Basim wide-eyed as he looked at her angrily.
"You're more stubborn than I thought," said Basim. "Ohm's law… Looks like I may have to increase the voltage to a level that may be harmful to you if I want to scare you enough to bring out the alter I want to talk to."
"I'll kill you if you touch her!" shouted Katja in an Italian accent.
"If I touch her?" Basim looked at Katja. "An Italian accent… Ezio Auditore da Firenze?"
"You remind me of the man who fought against me through all three of my adventures, Basim," said Katja.
"And who would that be?" said Basim. "I wasn't aware of such a man Ezio met in his time."
"Duccio," said Katja with a sly grin.
Basim frowned at this.
"You're nothing but a cowardly bully, Basim. Not to mention one who isn't afraid to hurt women."
Basim grimaced as he said, "You're right. I'm not afraid to hurt you at all," as he pressed the ends of the cables he was holding against the sides of Katja's forehead and zapped her using his own two hands.
Ezio was trekking up the mountains to Masyaf Castle with Sofia Sartor.
"Such a climb," said Sofia as they walked together. "E cosi bello qui. (It is so beautiful here.) This is where your Order began?"
"It began thousands of years ago, but here it was reborn," said Ezio.
"By the man you mentioned? Altair?" said Sofia.
"Altair Ibn La Ahad," said Ezio. "He built us up, then set us free."
"He saw the folly of keeping a castle like this. It had become a symbol of arrogance, and a beacon for all our enemies."
"And the mandate for menacing hoods… was that his idea as well?" joked Sofia.
Ezio laughed at this as they entered the Masyaf Castle training grounds.
"You mentioned a Creed before," said Sofia. "What is it?"
"Nothing is true, everything is permitted," said Ezio.
"That is rather cynical."
"It would be if it were a doctrine. But it is merely an observation of the nature of reality. To say that nothing is true, is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile, and that we must be the shepherds of our own civilization. To say that everything is permitted, is to understand that we are the architects of our own actions, and that we must live with their consequences… whether glorious or tragic."
"Do you regret your decision? To live as an Assassin for so long?" said Sofia.
"I do not remember making that decision. This life, it chose me."
As they entered Masyaf Castle's interior, Ezio said to Sofia, "For three decades I have served the memory of my father and brothers, and fought for those who have suffered the pain of injustice."
They entered the doors of the tunnels leading to the Masyaf Library.
"I do not regret those years, but it is time to live for myself, and to let them go. To let go of all of this."
"Then let go. You will not fall far."
The two of them approached the doors of the Masyaf Library's vault, and Ezio turned to tell Sofia, "The end of the road."
The doors had writing in Arabic above them, as well as the symbol of the Assassins. There were various slots in the doors where the five Masyaf Keys could go to open the doors' locking mechanism.
Ezio used his Eagle Vision to see the hidden constellation shapes lying underneath, and match the linings on the Masyaf Keys with said constellations.
"Knowledge, above all else… Altair was a profound man and a prolific writer. He built this place as a repository for all his wisdom. He saw many things in his life, and learned many secrets, both troubling and strange. Knowledge that would drive lesser men to despair."
"Does that worry you?" said Sofia.
"Sofia, you should know by now… I am not a lesser man," said Ezio as he placed the final Masyaf Key in the correct position in alignment with an eagle constellation.
As the vault doors opened, Ezio turned to Sofia.
"You had better come out of there alive," she said as she pressed her hand against his chest.
"I plan to," said Ezio as he held her hand, before turning and entering the vault.
Ezio grabbed a torch and lit the way, lighting several torches lining the walls that Altair had extinguished centuries before.
As Ezio approached Altair's corpse and the sixth Masyaf Key, he said, "No books, no wisdom… Just you, fratello mio (my brother)."
As Ezio took the Masyaf Key, he said, "Requiescat in pace, Altair."
As Altair's alter looked at Ezio from the spot he was sitting at while he experienced the contents of the Masyaf Key, he looked on as Ezio stored the key in his pocket and headed to the hidden vault containing the Apple of Eden.
"Another artifact?" said Ezio in surprise as he looked at the Apple.
Pulling his hand away from it, Ezio said, "No. You will stay here."
Backing away, he said, "I have seen enough for one life."
As light beams came from the Apple, Ezio shielded his eyes.
"Desmond?" said Ezio as Desmond's alter appeared before him with Altair's and Katja's.
"He's talking to me…" said Desmond.
"I heard your name once before, Desmond, a long time ago. And now it lingers in my mind like an image from an old dream."
Looking around the room as the light beams filled it, Ezio continued talking. "I do not know where you are, or by what means you can hear me… But I know you are listening."
Ezio removed his bracers, his armor, sword, and other weapons, and placed them on the floor.
"I have lived my life as best I could, not knowing its purpose, but drawn forward like a moth to a distant moon. And here at last, I discover a strange truth: that I am only a conduit for a message that eludes my understanding. Who are we, to have been so blessed to share our stories like this? To speak across centuries?"
"Maybe you will answer all the questions I have asked. Maybe you will be the one to make all this suffering worth something in the end. Now… listen…" said Ezio as he activated the Apple for Desmond to see.
As Altair, Ezio, Desmond, and Clay appeared before Katja within the Masyaf Vault, Ezio said to her, "You should know Katja… that despite that we seem real to you, despite that we are experiencing the world around you as if we are alive right beside you… we aren't."
"I've realized something during my time with you. The real me is long gone, as is the real Altair, the real Desmond, and…" Looking at Clay, he said, "...whoever you are."
"You're… dead?" said Katja.
"He's right," said Desmond. "In the end, we're just alternate identities you managed to create by interacting with the Animus… albeit ones based on real people, with their memories, experiences, and personas intact. Bleeding identities."
"Wait, so that means I still am dead?" said Clay.
Desmond turned to Clay and nodded.
"Shit," said Clay.
"I don't know how to feel about this," said Katja. "Until now, I was naive enough to think you were real. Real enough for me to believe I had brought you back from the dead."
"Unfortunately, while you are a human Salakar," said Ezio, "you are not a human Ankh."
"A human Salakar?" said Katja.
"The sync nexus is close…" said Desmond. "I can feel it."
"The Salakar had something to do with storing souls…" said Ezio. "I do not know how I know this… perhaps from one of your other alters?"
Katja put her hand to her chin while looking around.
"I recently saw a memory of mine…" said Katja. "I was a child. My parents–my real ones, that is–were abusive, or at least my father was. I am not sure about my mother. I was on my own after I ran from them. One night I saw an alter manifest that looked like that of a Ljosalfar… a light elf."
"I suspect that the Ljosalfar is what you are a true reincarnation of, Katja," said Desmond. "Not Baldr, as Lucas had believed you were. Baldr is merely another alter of yours. You're a human Salakar… you're storing his soul, along with countless others."
Katja said, "I- I don't believe it…"
Clay said, "It would make sense given how your mind works…"
"With that said…" said Ezio, "...perhaps we can keep your human self intact after all. I will do my best to assist you, Katja. But right now…"
Ezio turned back, and looked in Sofia's direction. "...I need to rest."
"All right, Ezio," said Katja.
"Just remember what I said about the Creed, Katja," said Ezio. "Would you believe in the Assassin's Creed more than the Templar's Creed… if you manage to forget about all the Assassins have done to you?"
"It's hard to forget," said Katja.
"Then, at the very least, try to forgive," said Ezio. "I suspect preventing Catastrophe, and fulfilling the second prophecy has something to do with it."
Ezio walked out of the Vault, and Katja could see a memory of him.
He was making love to Sofia.
Sofia gave birth to their children, Flavia and Marcello.
He lived at their small estate in Tuscany, tending to the vineyard while writing his memoirs during his final days.
Katja walked toward him as he was talking to another Assassin, a Chinese one.
"It is a long way home, no?" said Ezio.
"Much to see along the way," said the Chinese Assassin. "Thank you, Mentor."
The Chinese Assassin bowed toward Ezio.
"Here, this may be of use one day," said Ezio as he offered the Assassin a mysterious box.
Katja's eyes went wide at the box.
"The Precursor Box?" she said.
As Ezio handed Shao Jun the box, and she was about to open it, he said to her, "No… only if you lose your way."
Looking in the distance, Ezio said, "You should go."
The Assassin looked back at Ezio for a moment before walking towards Katja.
"Who are you?" said Katja.
"I am Shao Jun," said the Chinese Assassin. "This is my younger self."
As she multiplied into three different Assassins, one her older self with a Hidden Blade built into her shoe, one an Indian man with a sword, and one a Russian man with a rifle, she said, "and these are alters you will encounter along the way… Perhaps you can chronicle their adventures, and they can assist you with yours."
"I'll try," said Katja, trying to process what was happening.
"The Ljosalfar is contacting us…" said the older Shao Jun.
"We believe we will manifest after the first prophecy is fulfilled…" said the Indian man, Arbaaz Mir.
"...and we will assist you in fulfilling the second…" said the Russian man, Nikolai Orelov.
"But until then…" said Shao Jun.
"We will work in the darkness of your mind, to serve the light… the future of humanity," the three Assassins said in sync before disappearing.
In Florence, Ezio, now an old man with graying hair and a cough, was walking with Sofia and his children toward the marketplace.
Short on breath, Sofia had him sit on a bench nearby.
"You should have stayed home," she said to him.
"I am home," said Ezio.
"We will be right over here," said Sofia as she gave Ezio a kiss.
As Sofia and his family left him be for a moment, Ezio looked at them and smiled.
"I am home…"
… … … … …
Back in reality, Katja screamed until she ran out of breath.
She panted, and trembled violently in her restraints as Basim pulled the electrodes off of her for a moment.
"Damn you!" yelled Basim as he slammed his fist against the battery. "Where is Baldr! I want to speak to Baldr!"
Basim contacted Sadiq on his smartphone. "Sadiq… I am having trouble getting Baldr to manifest… and I assume we are running out of time… The Assassins, the Templars, and Lucas's Instruments are on their way?" Basim frowned. "Then bring the Engineers. This is our one chance at getting our son back."
Basim hung up, and said to Katja, "Forgive me, Katja, but I have no choice… This will likely cause considerable damage to your body, but it may be the only way to awaken Baldr."
"Don't do this, Basim!" said Katja.
"Then tell me… Who am I speaking to now?" said Basim.
"...Baldr."
Basim smirked. "You're a bad liar, Desmond," said Basim, "but then again, you were out of the game for a while before you re-joined the Assassins."
"Well now I'm back in," said Katja. "Look. If it'll save Katja, then I might as well tell you the truth. Katja isn't Baldr's reincarnation. You're looking for the wrong one… and so is Lucas."
"You really are a bad liar," said Basim with a frown. "Then whose reincarnation is she?"
"I don't know their specific name!" shouted Katja. "All I know is that they're a Ljosalfar. A light elf. Or as the Isu called them, an Ancient."
Basim rubbed his beard for a moment. "She did mention a Salakar while dissociating…" His eyes went wide. "If that's the case… She could be even more useful than I thought."
"Unfortunately, I still have to erase her human consciousness to contact her Isu– or rather, Ancient– consciousness… whatever it takes," said Basim as he readied the current. "Too bad you're also bad at playing chess, Desmond."
"Fuck… NO!" yelled Katja as Basim turned on the current and started to electrocute Katja at the battery's maximum power.
Katja screamed at the top of her lungs.
Katja yelled, "Gah," as she returned to the strange room without a body.
"You're going to have to climb to the last blue symbol a lot faster, Katja," said Desmond and Clay, "because at this point, Basim's torture isn't just burning through your alters, it's burning through your flesh… Won't be long until you're a vegetable."
"What do we do?" said Katja.
"Achieve the sync nexus," said Desmond.
"I'm in a lot of pain," said Katja. "My mind is struggling to cope with it."
"Then tell us a story," said Clay.
"When I escaped Lucas… in Rome… I instantly began to regret it… in spite of the fact that his revelation to me about his plans to blow up the world terrified me, along with the fact that he said he was a reincarnation of Odin, and that he thought I was a reincarnation of Baldr…" Katja shut her eyes as she stumbled across the collapsing blocks of the room through a set of lasers as the floor beneath her gave way to some dangerous-looking tiny glowing black blocks.
"Is that lava or something?"
"Best not to fall into it," said Clay.
"Right…" said Katja. "The story I'm telling isn't helping me feel better… Think… what story do I tell…"
"What about Elijah?" said Desmond.
"What about him?"
"Do you still love him?"
"Yes…"
"Think about your time with him."
"All right," said Katja as she managed to build a set of blocks to help her navigate through a grid of lasers.
"Elijah was the one Assassin I cared about," she said. "I couldn't help but be attracted to him… I could tell he was to me too. In Venice… I couldn't help myself… But now I'm not sure I should've had sex with him."
"Why? Because of the baby?" said Desmond. "Are you afraid of being a mother?"
"It's less that and more that I'm worried for my child's safety right now!"
"Then use that worry as strength, determination to get through this to protect your child!" said Desmond.
"All right!" said Katja as she jumped to the final block.
She could see a glimpse of her abusive father and negligent mother as she neared the button.
She screamed, and stumbled backward, rolling onto her non-existent hands and knees toward a ledge where she looked at the lava beneath her.
"Katja!" yelled Desmond.
"On second thought, I don't know if I'd be a good mother…" she said. "What if my child gets hurt because of me… like I was hurt because of him?"
"The fact that you're thinking of that implies you'll be a good mother!" said Desmond. "Now hit the fucking button before we all disappear!"
Katja got back onto her feet, and ran to the button, yelping as she hit it and it started to glow.
She could feel her father's fists raining down on her as he screamed at her. "You fucking bitch… You and your whore of a mother are the bane of my goddamn existence!"
"NO!" Katja cried, shielding her eyes as the floor collapsed beneath her.
To Katja's shock, she appeared in a room lined with the light of the Apple of Eden.
Tinia, the Greco-Roman Isu and Father of Understanding of the Capitoline Triad, appeared before her.
"Do you hear me, cipher? Can you see me?" Tinia said. "Ah. There you are. Good."
Katja and Desmond looked at Tinia as he said. "A strange place, this nexus of time. I am not used to the… calculations. That has always been Minerva's domain."
"I see you still have many questions. Who were we? What became of us? What do we desire of you?" said Tinia. "You will have your answers. Only listen and I will tell you how."
As an image of the sun and the various planets of the Milky Way appeared, Tinia said, "Both before the end and after, we sought to save the world. We built vaults within which to work, each dedicated to a different method of salvation. They were placed underground to avoid the war which raged above, and also as a precaution, should we fail in our efforts. Each vault's knowledge was transmitted to a single place."
An image of Earth.
A beam of light, focused on the Grand Temple in Turin, New York.
The image zoomed in to the underground temple where Desmond saved the world from the Second Catastrophe in 2012.
"It was our duty– mine, Minerva's, and Juno's– to sort and sample all that was collected. We chose those solutions which held the most promise, and devoted ourselves to testing their merits."
"Six we tried in succession, each more encouraging than the last. But none worked. And then the world ended…" said Tinia as the doors to the Grand Temple's sixth solution began to glow with more lines of blinding light.
Past the Earth, the Sun began to heat up, and ejected a coronal mass.
The solar flare which would begin the Toba Catastrophe.
The heat enveloped the Earth.
Humans and Isu alike looked at the glowing aurora borealis in the skies of Isu cities across the globe.
And then lightning struck the cities' buildings, causing them to collapse.
Pandemonium ensued.
The humans and Isu ran for their lives in vain.
Chunks of the Isu skyscrapers fell from the sky, destroying the ground and crushing people underneath them.
Nearby, in Eden, a terrified woman clutched her newborn baby.
As the floor collapsed, the humans fell into the burning crust of the Earth underneath it.
The global storm worsened. Entire buildings crumbled one by one in a matter of seconds, their clouds of smoke moving across the ground and enveloping the fleeing humans.
Statues were torn apart, explosions sent people flying.
Finally the fires caused the Earth to give way completely.
As the humans and Isu fell into the burning lava underneath.
As the burning fires of the sun approached the woman, her baby cried out as her eyes went wide, reflecting the fires… the end of the Isu era.
… … … … …
"The Earth shook for days. The fires burned for weeks. And when the ash had settled, less than ten thousand of your kind still lived… and far fewer of ours. But we carried on, together. To rebuild, and renew…"
"Listen. You must go there. To the place where we labored… labored and lost. Take my words. Pass them from your head into your hands. That is how you will open the way. But be warned: much still remains in flux. And I do not know how things will end– either in my time or yours."
As the Earth healed over time, and millennia passed, in the forests of Turin, a truck approached the Grand Temple.
"Wait, look!" said Rebecca. "His vitals are stabilizing… Something's happening… He's… he's moving!"
"Desmond…" said William Miles. "Can you hear me? Son?"
Now out of the Animus and his coma, Desmond looked around the truck.
His arms glowed next to the nearby Apple.
Looking toward William, Shaun, and Rebecca, Desmond said, "I know what we need to do."
They all looked at each other before William opened the doors to the truck, right as they arrived at the entrance to the Isu Grand Temple.
Back in the room full of the Apple's light, Desmond said to Katja, "While I was in a coma, the others put me back in the Animus to stabilize me. I relived the memories of Ezio searching for Leonardo Da Vinci, and came across the temple of Pythagoras. There, they found the Temple's coordinates through the memories, and Ezio said goodbye to his longtime friend, Leonardo. I found out its purpose through Ezio and Altair's last set of memories that helped me achieve the sync nexus that woke me up from my coma."
Clay said to Katja, "The Lost Archive. I passed my memories on to Desmond, and thus to you, Katja, back then. It showed Desmond information about my time working undercover with a triple agent working for both the Assassins and Abstergo, Lucy Stillman. The one who saved Desmond from Warren Vidic, only to plan to bring him back to Abstergo later under Vidic and the then-CEO of Abstergo, Alan Rikkin's orders."
"As for me…" said Desmond, "...all you need to know about my memories are that I ran away from home due to how much I hated training to be an Assassin, not understanding the purpose behind all the blood, sweat, and tears, and worked as a bartender for a while… Impregnated Elijah's mother at a party, then eventually got captured by Abstergo… and my past as an Assassin caught up to me."
Katja looked at Desmond as he said, "Juno had me kill Lucy to free me from Abstergo's agenda, but help me serve hers instead. You should know Katja… the Isu tend to use humanity for their own purposes at the expense of their lives. I was killed to save the world at the expense of resurrecting Juno. If Odin can be brought back, maybe she can too. You have to be cautious about the Isu around you, as well as the ones inside your own mind."
"What about Lucas?" said Katja. "Can I trust him?"
"Not trusting him is going to be vital to preventing Catastrophe, Katja," said Desmond. "Keep him close, but stay distant from him at the same time. It doesn't matter if you love him… if you want to prevent him from starting Ragnarok… you'll help the Assassins."
Katja said, "All right… I'll see what I can do. But for now, I need to go back to him."
"Perhaps you can find answers about his agenda there," said Desmond. "In the meantime, Clay and I will be in touch."
"Not me, actually," said Clay.
Desmond and Katja looked at Clay as the light grew blinding, and they all fell into it.
Back on Salakar Island, the trees and blocks were all dissolving into pieces before their eyes.
"Here it comes…" said Clay.
"What is this?" said Katja. "What's going on!"
"This is the end, Katja… We're scheduled for deletion!"
Clay grabbed Katja, and Desmond's alter dissolved into her.
"Stop!" yelled Katja as she tried to fight back against Clay. "What are you doing!"
"What is a person but the sum of their memories? We are the stories we live! The tales we tell ourselves!" yelled Clay as his alter's body began to dissolve with the rest of the island.
"Don't do this!" yelled Katja.
"I'm saving you, idiot!" said Clay. "You can lose alters, as well as your own consciousness… but you're not losing yours, Desmond's, or any others on my watch!"
Pushing Katja toward the remaining door out of her mind, Clay yelled to her, "GO!"
Not stopping, Katja got up and ran through the door before her consciousness disappeared.
… … … … …
Katja found herself talking to her Ljosalfar alter once more.
"The sync nexus has been achieved," said the Ljosalfar. "I am sending you some of my strength and abilities in order to protect you from Loki's torture."
"You must make it to the Grand Temple with Lucas," said the Ljosalfar alter. "There, you will find more of his motives, and how to stop his plans, fulfill the second prophecy. After that, you will help the Assassins locate his hideout where he will try to complete his first conspiracy… This conspiracy will help him solidify his control over the world."
"It won't be long before the first Red Mercury device's timer is started. You must work with the first prophet to stop it."
"The first prophet?" said Katja. "You mean Sam Fisher?"
"That's correct," said her light elf alter. "Now that the sync nexus has been achieved, Katja… awaken… Escape Basim, go back to Lucas, and awaken your next three alters in America."
"You mean the Chinese woman, the Indian man, and the Russian soldier?" said Katja.
"No…" said the Ljosalfar. "Haytham Kenway, the English Templar… his son, Connor Kenway, the Native American Assassin… and Aveline de Grandpre, another Assassin that lived in the Bayou."
The two Assassins and the Templar alters of hers appeared before Katja's eyes.
"Awaken!" said the light elf.
Just like that, Katja began to wake up.
Katja was muttering something in Aesir Isu dialect when she came to.
"Baldr? Is that you?" said Basim as he looked at the glowing Isu lines running along Katja's skin.
"No…" said Katja. "It's me… Katja Winter."
Basim screamed, "DAMN YOU, KATJA!"
He said to her, "We're out of time… I'm going to knock you out, take you and the Masyaf Keys to a different location. From there, we'll resume your conditioning with MK-Ultra until I get what I want out of you. Then Sadiq and I will trade you with Lucas in exchange for my son."
But before Basim could electrocute her to the point where she passed out, Katja managed to break free of the chair she was restrained to using a burst of energy that came from her body with the help of her light elf alter.
Basim turned from the battery he was about to activate to look at Katja, and shielded his eyes.
Before he could react, Katja beat him down, knocking him out.
The lines on Katja's skin disappeared, and she could see she had several shock burns on her skin and steam coming from where Basim had tortured her.
Lucas will have to heal me, said Katja. But first, I have to make it out of here before the Engineers find me.
Katja grabbed the Masyaf Keys and ran out of the Templar Cyprus hideout.
Katja saw the Engineers arrive via boats on the coast of Cyprus.
She quickly chucked the Masyaf Keys into the sea.
She then took Basim's rifle that was lying nearby in the sand, and started gunning down the Engineers' boats with it.
The remaining Engineers managed to make it ashore.
As they approached her, she shot some of them before she had to rely on fisticuffs to beat them to death in close quarters.
Altair, Ezio, and Desmond appeared to give her a boost in combat.
She managed to kill the rest of the Engineers with her bare hands.
Then, exhausted from Basim's torture, she collapsed in the sand.
Breathing heavily, she could hear the engine of a helicopter landing nearby.
Then she heard footsteps approaching her.
"Katja?" said a familiar voice.
"KATJA!"
Katja woke up in a bed with Lucas sitting nearby her.
Her wounds had been patched up and covered in bandages, disinfectant, and burn ointment. She was wearing a T-shirt and underwear.
"You're awake," said Lucas. "Thank god."
"Where are we?" said Katja.
"Cappadocia," said Lucas. "This is just a temporary stop though… We're going to fly to America in the morning. I have business to attend to there."
Katja briefly thought of what she was told by her alters in the sync nexus about the Grand Temple, and kept it to herself.
"Do you happen to know where the Masyaf Keys are, Katja?" said Lucas.
So he didn't find them, thought Katja. Good.
"I don't," Katja lied. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right," said Lucas. "This was just supposed to be a test for the Eye anyway."
Lucas frowned. "Sadiq and Basim will pay for what they did to you… along with the Assassins."
Katja nodded.
"Can I get something to eat, Lucas?" she said.
"Of course, Katja," said Lucas. "What do you want?"
Thinking of her time eating dinner with Elijah in Venice, she said to Lucas. "Pasta. Lots of it."
Lucas said, "I'll go order some."
He hugged Katja for a moment.
"I'm so relieved you're all right, Katja."
Katja hugged Lucas back, saying nothing.
As Lucas left the room, Katja looked down at her belly, and held it.
Despite that she hadn't been pregnant for very long yet, she could tell that she was going to give birth to Elijah's child.
