Chapter 8– "The Crusade for Mass Genocide"
Masyaf Castle, An-Nusayriyah Mountains, Syria
Year 2034- Present Day
Elijah Miles- Age 29
Elijah was able to drive close to Masyaf in a disguised caravan in spite of the war ravaging Syria and the rest of the Middle East. This was thanks to another Umbra cell native to the Middle East, one live-streaming footage of war crimes, rescuing survivors, and recruiting them to Umbra's local resistance if they were willing to fight or do anything else useful to the cause.
Naturally KeepLeg owed Umbra a considerable favor in return for the resources required for Elijah's request. Elijah was in debt to both factions now, and he was running out of times he could use an I-owe-you.
The more he went over the meeting with KeepLeg, Umbra, and… Darcy, that he attended before heading out here in his mind, the more it seemed like a warning from Alfred and Marie.
Despite my differences with Darcy and the Brotherhood, Umbra has been a good ally, and if it weren't for KeepLeg's resources I wouldn't be able to pursue my goals… not to mention I'd probably have ended up dead in the Australian desert all those years ago without them.
As the caravan reached their destination, a small hideout near Masyaf, Elijah hopped out.
He saw glowing blue markings on the door with his gift.
That symbol again… Elijah thought as he looked at the blue marking that resonated the most. Damn it, their contact is an Assassin. Should've known.
Elijah knocked on the door.
"Passphrase?" a male Arabic voice said on the other side of the door.
"Eagle," said Elijah while reading the markings.
The man opened the door.
"You're late," he said. "Passport."
Elijah handed him his passport Eugene forged for him.
The man laughed. "The prodigal Son of No One returns to his homeland… posing as the son of a rich socialite from California. Whoever made this has a sense of humor."
"I heard it the whole way here," said Elijah. "You got horses by any chance?"
"Several. I will show you the way."
As they rode through the mountains in the middle of an approaching sandstorm, the Arabic man said to Elijah over their comms, "It is good for your sake that Umbra's technicians take such pride in their work, Elijah. It broke up the tension I've been feeling because of the war. I was considering sending you away due to your relationship with the Brotherhood."
"Word of Darcy's animosity for me travels this far?" said Elijah while riding his horse alongside him.
"No. Word of the son of Desmond Miles's stubbornness to join the Brotherhood travels this far," said the man. "Your surname has real infamy behind it, Elijah, whether you want it or not. Seeing you shun the Assassins makes us look weak to those who know of us. Word is it's not just us who are looking to recruit you, but the Templars are as well."
"The Templars would be idiots to try and recruit me given my history with them," said Elijah.
"From my understanding of it, they were relieved when you dealt a blow to the Instruments of the First Will like that, given the ongoing schism within Abstergo," said the man. "The thought of a thirteen-something boy taking down an actual Isu… that's like something out of a story of legend."
"If it's a legendary story," said Elijah, "then it's a legendary horror story… Seeing Juno's surreal figure as she screamed at me and the others present is something that stuck with me. It's a story to be forgotten."
"Well it's your story, Elijah," said the man, "or at least it's a chapter of your story. Each chapter shapes the next, but we are the true authors of the story regardless."
"Why do I feel like you're describing the Creed?"
"Because it's something I believe exists in all things," said the man. "I know what it's like to feel lost, Elijah. My parents were killed during the Gulf War. I survived, but I was too young to speak. A man found me lying on the side of a desert road not unlike this one. I was close to dying of dehydration and starvation; he saved my life. I tried to find out who my parents were for a large portion of my adolescence, and I like to think that this was why I decided to run away from the man at some point, despite all that he'd given me. When I had no choice but to come back, the man was dead of old age. That was when I learned…"
"...that he was an Assassin."
"We are responsible for our choices, Elijah. You may have to do the same thing as me at some point. Call it a feeling."
"Thanks for the insight," said Elijah before he said, "We're here."
They had reached Masyaf.
To both of their shock, the local inhabitants had been slaughtered.
"Genocide in Masyaf…" said Elijah as he got off his horse.
"It's not unusual here given the war," said the man as he jumped down from his.
"But it's not recent," said Elijah as he looked at the bodies. "They've been dead for a while… They stink, and they're decomposing."
Looking at several lines of fresh footprints (along with blood trails) in the sand leading up to Masyaf Castle, Elijah said, "I'll figure out who did this. My goal is up there anyway."
"Your goal?" said the man.
"I got a clue… Someone told me that there's a descendant of Eve being held in Masyaf, and that her DNA is the key to finding the Ankh of Eden."
"I see…" said the Arabic man as he frowned. "I'm heading back."
"I'll call you when I'm ready for an extraction," said Elijah. "What's your name by the way?"
"Altair Ibn-La'Ahad."
"No it isn't."
The man said as he headed back towards his horse, "You heard me when I said my parents were killed, right? I don't know who I am, therefore I am the Son of No One."
"...right," said Elijah.
As the man trotted back, Elijah was alone again.
Elijah managed to spot wires in the ground on the path up to Masyaf Castle. Apparently whoever was here had lined it with mines.
"Elijah," said a voice to him.
Elijah was considering shutting it out when he turned and realized it had a face.
"I don't understand…" said Elijah. "You're–"
"Altair Ibn La'Ahad," said Altair. "The real one that is."
"The real Altair died in 1257," said Elijah. "How are you here?"
"Through you, I suspect," said Altair.
"Is this what my father mentioned back in Hordaland? Something about the Bleeding Effect?"
Instead of giving answers, Altair said to Elijah, "I know a way we can sneak around. It involves going up the tower that we used to drop weights on Robert de Sable's army as they invaded Masyaf back during the Third Crusades."
Elijah said, "I don't understand… This doesn't make sense! You're clearly aware of what's happening in my time, even though you're dead. You're behaving more like an alternate personality, rather than a real ancestor whose memories are blurring with mine. That's not how the Bleeding Effect works."
"There's more going on than I can explain at the moment, Elijah," said Altair. "You'll have to trust me for now if you want to reach the Piece of Eden."
Grunting, Elijah said, "Lead the way, Altair."
Altair and Elijah climbed around the main route up towards the castle entrance by scaling the tower and some scaffolding leading towards the walls of the castle's side, overlooking a drop into the Orontes Valley below.
Don't look down, Elijah thought as he freeran across the narrow, rotting wooden scaffolding with Altair showing him the path ahead.
Elijah wiped the sweat off his forehead with his arm that didn't have the Hidden Blade attached to it. They managed to reach the castle walls, where an old haystack lay next to them, along with some very old skeletons.
"Those some old friends of yours?" Elijah said to Altair.
"Perhaps," said Altair. "I sense two enemies posing as lookouts at the top of the walls."
"Damn," said Elijah as he looked up and spotted two red blurs at the top of the castle wall himself with his Eagle Vision. "Snipers. It's a miracle the sandstorm is ravaging the place or else they would've spotted us."
"We'll have to take them out together," said Altair.
"What?" said Elijah. "But–"
"Quickly, Elijah," said Altair.
Shaking his head, Elijah thought to himself, this is going to end badly.
They scaled up the wall, then Elijah stabbed the first guard from the ledge with his Hidden Blade and threw him over.
He then quickly mantled onto the ledge and prepared to fight the second sniper who was now aiming at him.
Only for "Altair" to somehow slice through his arm with his own Hidden Blade, knocking the sniper's gun out of his hand, and then stab through his jugular after grabbing the stunned guard's helmet.
How the hell…
As Altair retracted his hidden blade into where his ring finger was cut off, Elijah said, "That didn't make any sense. You can't possibly be real, but those guards… they were real. How did I defeat them?"
"You defeated the first as yourself," said Altair. "You defeated the second as me."
"So strange…" said Elijah. "You really have become an alternate personality of mine… but you're enhancing my combat abilities as if I'm experiencing the Bleeding Effect."
Altair was looking at something below, in the front of the castle.
For a second, his image flickered before Elijah's eyes, almost like a glitch in the Animus.
"What's happening now, Altair?" said Elijah.
"A memory… of mine…"
Elijah looked down below.
"He stabbed me, all those years ago… stripped me of my abilities and my rank… I learned from my mistakes, but I always wondered… Did he truly believe I needed to better myself… or did he merely think I was too dangerous to his plans?" said Altair.
Elijah saw the memory too.
Altair had seemingly been executed by Al Mualim for disobeying all three tenets of the creed and endangering the Brotherhood, while the other Assassins managed to complete his mission for him.
But Elijah could see the truth.
Al Mualim was holding up an Apple of Eden to blind Altair and other Assassins present, making them all believe that was actually happening for a mere moment.
Elijah said to Altair, "I don't know what's happening to you now, Altair, but I still need your help. So try to shut out these memories if they're haunting you."
Altair looked at Elijah, and nodded.
They continued parkouring across the rooftops of Masyaf Castle, taking care to avoid being seen by other snipers.
Eventually they managed to access a hatch in the roof, and climb down into the castle interior.
Elijah looked down beneath them from the wooden beams in the ceiling.
What the hell…
There were men wearing the hoods of Assassins, toting modern automatic weapons and heavy armor.
When Elijah used his Eagle Vision to locate them, their auras were red.
"We'd better stay hidden," said Altair.
"Altair, what the fuck is this?" said Elijah. "Why are the Assassins committing genocide in their own backyard?"
"Those may be assassins, but they are not Assassins," said Altair. "Something is deeply wrong about all of this…"
"You're at least right about the last part."
Looking around, Elijah heard the sound of helicopter rotors.
"That's coming from the garden Al Mualim's office overlooks!" said Altair.
"Let's go to his office then," said Elijah.
Elijah managed to sneak his way through the castle, avoiding engaging in conflict with the Assassins and anticipating their paths to pass by them undisturbed.
Elijah crept up the stairway toward Al Mualim's old office.
A technician of some kind was at the top, staring at his laptop that was set up on Al Mualim's desk.
Elijah snuck behind him and slit his throat, then hid his body.
He then looked out the stained glass window overlooking the garden.
The Assassins were carrying a large metal crate of something out towards the helicopter that had just landed.
He could see someone in a black commando outfit and mask with trifocal goggles stepping out of the helicopter.
He could tell the commando was a woman, and he had seen those trifocal goggles before.
She was talking with several Assassins.
"Damn it," said Elijah, "I can't hear a thing she's saying because of the helicopter rotors, Altair! Is there some way you can help me?"
Elijah looked over toward Altair. "Altair?"
Altair was staring at the garden, his image flickering again.
Elijah saw what he was staring at.
Al Mualim's body, his neck covered in blood.
His hand extending out to grab the Apple of Eden, only for it to roll away out of reach.
The Apple projecting a holographic map for Altair to see.
"Destroy it, Altair… destroy it like you said you would!"
"I… I can't…"
Elijah said, "Altair, I know this place is bringing up memories you don't like. But you either need to stay focused and help me or I have to shut you out for my sake."
Suddenly Altair's image flickered. For a moment he still had the white Assassin robes and hood on.
The next moment he had gray robes instead, and he was clearly a lot older.
"What the hell…"
"The Apple told me of all this, close to a millennium ago. The messages were cryptic… too much for me to comprehend at the time… but now…"
"What did it say?" said Elijah.
"The Assassins… the Templars… and now the Isu and their Instruments… will all play a part in another Catastrophe… a human one."
Elijah frowned as he used his Eagle Vision to try and focus on the woman's voice now that the rotors had slowed down.
She opened the crate and examined what was inside.
"...are these Red Mercury bombs functional?"
"They're armed."
"Is what our partners in Japan said about their functionality true?"
"Yes. Our technicians say they're each twice the yield of the Tsar Bomba."
"The one that was tested or the one that was designed?"
"The latter."
Intense shivers went up and down Elijah's spine at the implications of this.
They've got access to some advanced version of Red Mercury… material to make nuclear bombs close to the size of a baseball. They said it was twice the yield of the Tsar Bomba that was too dangerous to be tested… that's what… 200 Megatons? The equivalent of 200 million tons of TNT… and whoever that woman is, whether they're working with the Assassins or not, are about to get their hands on it.
Elijah then thought, maybe my father was right about there being an imminent human catastrophe.
Looking out at the garden, Elijah saw that there were way too many Assassins guarding the helicopter for even him to take on with just a Hidden Blade and a suppressed handgun.
Fuck… what do I do? He thought.
"Good," said the female commando. "This checks out. I'll deliver them to the boss. Our first attack is imminent. Our second and third will come not long after."
She took out one of the Red Mercury bombs in the crate and held it in her hand, looking at it from behind her mask.
"You're to take this bomb and deploy it at the location and time of the first attack."
"We know the time. What's the location?"
The commando looked around at the other Assassins before saying, "Rome."
Elijah began to sweat and breathe heavily.
"We'll prep it for transport," said the Assassin talking to her. "What about the Red October?"
"That's my problem. You worry about yours," said the commando. "Speaking of which… my client wants his daughter back."
"The Wolf is acting alone," said the Assassin. "We don't know where he is."
"I beg to differ," said the commando. "After his little stunt in Cairo, we tracked him to here. No more games, no cute attempts at ultimatums. Bring him, and her, to me… now… or suffer the immediate consequences." The commando pointed at the pistol strapped to her hip, but Elijah could tell she was armed with more firepower than just a mere sidearm.
The Assassin talking with the commando looked at the others. One of them pressed their hand to their ear for a few seconds, then nodded toward the Assassin within talking distance of the commando.
"We'll take you to the Wolf," said the Assassin. "This way."
Elijah prepared to hide and follow from a distance far away enough that they'd at least mistake him for one of them when a now white-robed, younger version of Altair whispered to Elijah, "You need to see this, Elijah!"
"See what?" said Elijah.
Altair pointed to the technician's laptop.
"What about the laptop?"
"I do not understand it entirely… It merely offers an Eagle's perspective on the various rooms of Masyaf."
"Ah… I see. Cameras," said Elijah.
"One of said rooms has someone else in them. I suspect it's this 'client's daughter' the woman in the black armor and mask spoke of."
"Oh…" said Elijah. "By the way, how did you know all that already?"
"I'm not just learning from you, and vice versa," said Altair, who smiled slightly underneath his hood, "but I'm also taking advantage of your skill sets through you."
Elijah looked at the computer in shock.
"It's already been hacked into… How did you… ?"
Then upon looking at the malware manifesting on the screen that was uploaded to the computer via flash drive, Elijah realized it was his own program.
Looking at Altair, he said, "You can possess me?"
"I try to do so when you need help, but…" Altair looked at the laptop's screen.
Elijah did too.
The clients' daughter was a twenty-something woman with ocean blue eyes and yellow-blonde hair in a braided ponytail. She was bound to a chair, and gagged.
"...I suspect there are others who need my help too. And helping them may conflict with helping you… in ways even I can't comprehend..."
"What do you mean?" said Elijah. "You're saying I'm loaning my alter ego of you to others?"
"Not all others…"
"Then…" Elijah's thought process trailed off until he looked at the woman.
Who is she… and why is she reminding me of…
Looking back briefly to where Altair was, Elijah realized he had disappeared.
Elijah then looked back at the security camera feed on the laptop, and at the woman in distress.