Arno stared out into the infinite waters of the ocean, feet hanging over the stone wall. Élise was somewhere on the docks, dressed in more sex-typical attire than usual, gathering information on Arno's next mark. It was a strange world he found himself. His dance partner turned out to be a Templar and a trained killer. But over the past few days, Arno could only describe his feelings with the Templars being uncomfortably comfortable.
In a way it was a poignant call to the past. The Assassin Order had once been but one more arm of the Templars, until the old man on the mountain betrayed the other nine guardians of the Apple of Eden, and in turn his student Altair Ibn-La'had turned against him.
Now both orders had spread far and wide, changed almost beyond recognition. But this was the Templar's original homeland, l'France, now the pinnacle of European high culture. Somewhere far to the east, in the lands of deserts and Mohammedans, the Levant lay, and so did Masyaf.
He had not spoken with Denis or Élise about what he heard from Alejandro Vives. He did not want to look too curious, or to admit he had acquired any sensitive information, as an Assassin. But that made him think of his future. Would he ever leave this life, rejoin the Assassins? Would he have any choice? Would the Templars stab him in the back before he could do the same to them? And if he did have a choice...
He could not deny Élise's views were starting to bleed into him. What had the Assassin's really fought for? Once their struggle had been about freedom verses slavery, but the Templars had changed. They had been helping the cause of freedom for at least a century. Baily's decrees in Paris had been despotic, but he could not deny their remarkable work in France, England, and America. Yet his old masters thought none of that mattered as long as they held the Apple.
But what of the Illuminati? Was this dynamic being repeated with them? Were the Templars to the Illuminati as the Assassins were to the Templars? The Illuminati were stronger in their drive to break humanity free of its barbarous past. But did that make them more devoted to the cause of liberty? Their anti-religious extremism was unsettling, for one, certainly not liberal. Yet both Assassins and Templars agreed religion was built on lies. Was it really worth that much to defend people's rights to live and worship a lie?
It was all so dizzying. Three different factions, vengeance, and...love? No, he did not love Élise. But -
He heard foot steps he recognized. He looked over. Élise was returning, dressed in lady-like attire like she had been when they first met, when he thought she still had a woman's innocence.
"What did you find?" he asked raising himself from the stone wall.
"I think I found the perfect time to strike."