Chapter 1 *edited*
After having placed the Apple on its pedestal, I sealed it away behind a stone wall before walking slowly towards the chair in this dark, silent and lonely tomb. The shelves within the room were empty save for the dust that had settled there, and I could hear nothing but my own feet shuffling across the stone floor.
My once powerful legs were a far cry from what they once were, and it barely took an hour of standing before they ached terribly from fatigue, forcing my mind to focus on finding a suitable location of rest before my legs decided to choose the floor. I could see my cushioned chair not more than seven feet from me, but even now that last stretch could be likened to a mile in my mind. I continued my trudge towards the chair despite the rest of my body joining with my legs to form a chorus of painful protests that assaulted my mind.
Having finally reached my final destination, I rub the tiredness away from my eyes, but they were already fogging up from weariness. Silently sighing to myself, I had no choice but to use my sense of touch to guide me. I slowly leaned towards the side of my chair and reached out to it with shaking hands. Shuffling around the chair, I slowly lowered myself down onto the soft plush of the cushion, hearing the pops and cracks my spine made that were barely audible. Flexing my fingers, I painfully cracked out the stiffness within my knuckles, sighing in relief as pain and fatigue gave way to relaxation and a small temporary source of peace.
As I sat there, I kept my face forward as if expecting somebody to come walking down the hall. I played around with the thought of giving my last words to the phantoms of my past as if they were always present by my side, but I never believed in things such as shades following your every footsteps waiting to strike you down when you were at your weakest, so as soon as the thoughts surfaced, they had dissipated. After all, if I were to have dark stalkers, their numbers would have been in the hundreds for all the men I had silenced. Before I got too carried away by that, however, I brought my mind back to ponder about something of far more importance: the artefact.
Although the tension within my wrists was still present, I slowly pulled the memory plate out of my robes. Placing the plate on my lap, I slowly looked over it, and I damned the thing for all the trouble it had given me. The plate in question was an artefact related to the Apple, but instead of it being able to control others around me, its main purpose seemed to be to store memories. Although I would say that I was not entirely clear of its full potential, I dare say that I have garnered a lot of useful, but troubling information from the artefact.
Once again, I let out a long, drawn out sigh as I contemplate the object. The cursed thing never failed to bring back memories every time I laid my eyes on it, but no: the memories were not of the ones that it stored, but it was of mine. It caused me to reflect upon myself as I questioned said object, and why would I go so far to protect it and the Apple from others who could gain use from it to help the world using its majesty. Oh yes: it’s coming back to me now. It seemed that old age tended to make one forget certain things, but the artefact helps me to remember.
Greed and Corruption was why I had intended to keep it away from others. Men in power would abuse its greatness and use the artefacts as tools to control the people and weapons in times of war. While it would be true to say that on the rarest of times that I have dabbled in the power of control with such artefacts, it was besides the point. Quickly repressing the memory of a time when I had nearly managed to influence a traitor slit his own throat, I brought the object closer to me, but with tired arms I could only go so far. Slowly looking down at the glowing object I could feel the power within it, and it eluded me on how much godly magic it held.
The memory plate slowly lighted up, and I felt as though the light was pulling me towards it as if it was taking a piece of me and storing it within itself. I highly doubted that, but even then its power was greatly unknown and otherworldly. Whether it was made from magic or was a long lost gift from the gods, it doesn't matter, because soon, it will hopefully be forgotten.
As my vision started to fog up again, I soon found myself losing reason to stare at the artefact, and I numbly placed it back on my lap. Keeping both hands on the object, I felt a small amount of heat radiating off of it, the warming my cold fingers. However, despite the warmth it gave my hands, the aches from the cold continued to slowly spread throughout my body. It seemed that my body was telling me that Death’s hand was on my shoulder, but that it allowed me to ponder before I left this world.
With shallow breaths, I inhaled warm air into my lungs, the air filling my lungs with temporary warmth before it quickly receded as I exhaled. Warmth, one of the simplest things in the world, was actually important to our lives. Through the day, the searing heat from the sun is cursed by everyone as it makes life more difficult than it should be, but despite that, we bask in it for it gives us comfort at night. Already my feet and legs were slowly getting cold, and my wrists and hands had lost their warmth. I couldn't tell whether the room temperature was declining or if this was just how it felt when your body tells you that your time is coming soon. I didn’t know, but I could at least say that my weary body was finished. My mind, on the other hand is not.
There was so much I wanted to learn and do, to discover new ways to improve life for my fellow man from gaining knowledge from the artefact. But for thirty or so years, I've spent my time on my feet. I didn’t regret not knowing everything, but I could've spent my time wisely to help others instead of being an arrogant boy wanting to prove himself to others. I don’t remember exactly what I wanted to prove, or why I felt the need to do so, but I knew who I wanted to show that I was an assassin and not a child…
Oh yes, it was now coming back to me. I wanted to show everyone in the Order that I wasn't a waste of resources, but a contributing member to our Order. I didn't want to be one of those kids who cleaned the halls, and ate the leftovers of dinner. I strived to be an Assassin, and with determination I was allowed to be trained under the tutelage of several Assassins who showed me the ways of The Creed. I quickly became one of the greats within The Order, and many have recognized the skills that I possessed. However, with my great prowess I rapidly grew unruly, not conforming to rules and demanding missions when I was but a boy of 16 years. Others normally had their first mission at their early twenties, but I soon convinced them that I was ready and more than capable of ending the life of my target.
Then once I have successfully completed the mission I soon became arrogant and overconfident thinking I was above the rest, and in some aspects, I was at some points. When it came to combat I was flawless, but without sword and knives I lacked the wisdom of an Assassin. Assassins were not men who killed others to make a statement or for personal gain, but were servants of the innocent. They were the ones who protected the average man, woman and child from ones who abused their power in society.
I would have continued to think through my past experiences, but soon, even my thoughts became erratic and jumbled like the rest of my body, making it difficult to recall moments in life that I felt were important to me. I desperately tried not to forget anything, but a blanket of darkness soon washed over my thoughts. I could recall many things, but they quickly became blurred. Everything was slowly fading away from me, but there was a single image that I was locked on to.
With great effort I held onto the image of my wife: Maria. Oh, how I missed her through the years. In the moments in life, I would have illusions of her. They were so real, and one time I tried to reach out to her. I called out her name, but she did not respond. Prolonged leering caused white momentary flashes on her, and then she would become a glaring white flash before she would wink out of existence. Those moments felt like hours, but to anyone but me it was all but a brief moment.
I deeply regretted not being able to foresee my mistakes, the error that had caused her life to quickly wither away in my arms. Anger: the bane of my existence. My anger had caused me so much trouble that I had to be consoled to snap me out of it before I caused harm to anyone. I haven't been able to give her a proper burial, and by the time I reclaimed my title as Master and ended the conflict with Abbas, her body was nowhere to be found. The grief it gave me knowing that somewhere her body was probably being eaten by the buzzards, rotting on the sands, her flesh cooked by the sun... It hurts just thinking about what became of her fate, and to this day it pains me for not letting her rest under the earth where all of our journeys end.
Then the deaths of Sef and Malik came to mind, but with the last of my strength, I pushed those memories aside for they gave me pain, and right now I did not wish to feel it. I wanted to remember them when they were alive. Even with my closest friend and youngest son, our relationship was unstable, but we did what we could to improve upon it… I would continue, but remembering seems to be as hard as lifting a brick with a finger now…
My eldest son did his best to give me company, but in my years I spent more time at my desk with books than spending my life with whatever family I had left. I don’t even remember spending time with my grandchildren or daughter-in-law, but despite my regrets, I had now come to terms with them as Death’s grip on my soul tightened. I wished I had the time to recall everything, and properly say farewell to them, but I was not able to. During my years, I had never really looked backed on my life as I only sought the future and the preservation of The Order.
I leaned back into the chair, placed my arms on the arm rests, and stared forward despite the fog blotting out everything in front of me. With my last conscious thought, I made a simple prayer despite religion not being a major part in my life. Although I did believe in some sort of afterlife, it was not the most popular version of it in the Christian eyes. I couldn’t quite explain how I saw the afterlife, but I prayed nonetheless for safe journey.
Soon, darkness overcame me, and I embraced it without fear.
In another realm the eyes of a conflicted being looked at the dying man as his breath slowly die out. To watch such a powerful man with so much promise quickly fall to old age, then wither away to be forgotten by the masses... Such a fate for the fading man should not transpire, but Humans were not meant to last forever, seeing that they were created to fall apart easily to keep them in line. However, I felt that this particular Human deserved so much more than to let his soul seep out of him and wither away in the cosmos like many millions before him.
He had accomplished so much, but despite everything he is cursed with mortality. I was aware of the past accomplishments of many men throughout their history, but as I watched him, I felt more strongly for him than the rest. Their lives were so short, like the blink of an eye for the onlooker. The power the spectator wielded was unchallenged by the Humans, but with a conflicted mind, it has yet to determine what to do with that power.
I stared down at the dying man with pity, knowing everything he accomplished would be lost forever, but with some indirect influence, maybe his name and legacy will last the ages? Hmmmm, I have to return to that thought another time. The man named Altair was on his last breaths, and looking at him it tore me apart to know that he was used as a pawn by them. He could’ve been so much more, but they had a responsibility that could save the Humans from extinction.
Glancing at the ageing Memory Seal on his lap I reached out to it, but stopped knowing that I could not directly interact with anything physical without a Puppet of sorts. I looked past the man to the safe that sealed away a Piece of Eden from the ones who would only create more chaos on this Earth. Without a well-abled puppet, I wouldn’t be able to protect the Apple, and even then it needed Human interaction to do anything with it, so I held no real influence in this realm.
Watching Altair grow from a child to a force of nature was an endearing experience, and I wish I could’ve done so much more for him, but even I do not know how to prevent death... However, Quickly looking over the dying man and to the artifact, an idea came to my mind: The Temple Vaults.
Soon, everything around me faded to darkness, and then gold scriptures of ancient data surrounded me in the endless void. In the physical Realm of Earth, it was known as The Grand Temple, but to us it was simply called the Nexus, acting as the central hub connecting the other Temples to retain all the information that is gathered. The Nexus is also a gateway of sorts that connects both Realms. The Realm of Deities resided within The Nexus, but it was unreachable to mortals. Our Realm was an endless void containing endless streams of information keeping everything we knew carefully archived to aid us when we needed guidance, but it also served a second purpose: It predicted future events through analyzing past and current events. With this, I foresaw his death, but at the time I wasn't concerned about trivial things such as death. After many millennia, I soon became well acquainted with the death after the First Disaster, and being the witness to the endless violence that Humans commit.
With the power of the Nexus, I want through all the projects our people had done to prevent death, create immortality or to save one’s life through reincarnation. As I searched through the archives, however, I didn’t notice the second presence nearby.
“Merva, may I inquire of what you are doing?” Tinia asked as he steadily walked over to me. Repressing a sigh, I turned to look at him with a stoic expression on my face. I quickly gave him an answer to his question.
“Going through old records.”
“For what purpose?”
I mulled over the question, trying not to indicate to what I was truly doing. “To find an answer to an ancient curse.”
“What is this curse?” Tinia gave me a questioning look as he gestured around us with his hand. “Surely you have nothing to worry about.” True, my continued existence was owed to the Ancient Scriptures as my physical body, made of flesh, blood and bone was long gone. Our past selves couldn’t possibly live long enough to guide the imprinted strands into Humanity, but through Composing ourselves we became immortal. We were essentially living data, but immortal.
Hesitantly, I looked away for a brief moment to make sure that he wasn’t going to prevent me from completing my mission, but at the same time, I knew I didn’t have enough time to waste and stalling would only allow Altair to further drift away. “It’s not me I’m worrying about... it’s a Man.”
Tinia was silent for a short amount of time, but my patience was wavering with his incisive questioning, and his prolonged silence was slowly starting to irk me. The look he gave me didn’t tell me much, but I could tell that he was perplexed at what I had said. “Man? Human.” He paused for moment before finding the answer to his own question. “You’re trying to save his life.”
“I am.” I stared defiantly at him, daring him to stop me. I had great respect for him, but I would not let him prevent me from saving the life of Altair.
“Why?” He questioned before pausing to allow me to let the question sink in, but I already knew the reason. “Why would you not let nature take its course?”
“That man deserves more than to be forgotten to the sands of time.” I answered with ardor and clear conviction. Although I wasn't too sure if saving the life of a mortal was possible when his time comes, but I shall preserve his legacy even if death claims him.
“Altair.” I was not surprised that he knew the name of the man I was trying to save, seeing as how he also had access to the Ancient Scriptures.
“He doesn’t have much time left.” Time, something I grew used to exist without as time within the Nexus didn’t truly exist in the traditional sense. The flow of time within our realm was convoluted and sometimes, it didn’t match with Earth’s time, but we could also affect the speed of time in here. To a Human, the very fabric wavers, and relations shift and obscure as their minds cannot comprehend our realm. I could spend years here searching for ways to save Altair, and on Earth a few seconds may have passed. Despite of that potential advantage however, time was still not on Altair’s side.
“Merva, you shouldn’t allow yourself to be affected by the death of a Man.” Tinia responded, asserting his cold words to me. “They were never meant to live long and you know that,” Humans, they were engineered to live short lives, and I was one of the many who made sure of that. “and singling out one Man from the millions seems doesn’t feel right.” Yes, I was aware of that, but despite that I could not feel the same as he did.
“I know what I’m doing, but he’s not like the rest.” I voiced my thoughts, but at the moment I could not give a good enough explanation as to why I singled him out. “I feel a connection to him, and-“
“Merva. Stop.” He ordered me, and with a sigh he glanced over a stray scripture that passed by us before speaking again. “I have never seen you so affected by the imminent death of one Man.” He stated, and it was true as we both know death shouldn’t be bothering us anymore, and it shouldn't as time had slowly calloused us when it came to death, but no matter what, even the ancient being of mind, understanding, and reason can still feel compassion. I never allowed death to affect me after the First Disaster, but as for Altair, I've been by his side through his whole life; I’ve been his Guardian Angel of sorts, watching over him to make sure his bloodline would never truly die as his DNA contained the Gene Song within it, allowing us to commune, and hopefully guide Man to salvation, but as I watched Altair, I grew attached to him in a certain manner. He is but a child compared to me; A Child and the Angel.
“I have witnessed strength that would make our past selves be wary of.” Strength as in a mental sense with his will to never let anything defeat him, and even then his will endured even when he nearly died many times before his time. Any man wouldn’t dare experience the life he had, but Altair proved time and time again that nothing would stop him. “He has done so much to ensure that The Cross has not gained victory, thus saving Man in the foreseeable future, and he at least deserves another chance at life in peace and harmony.” I didn’t know how I might manage to save him, but I shall eventually prevail. I just know it, and then I would watch over the blood line once more.
“What you’re asking is not possible in this plane.” Tinia stated once more as he finally finished asking questions, and was now directing this conversation. His words troubled me, but I knew that somewhere in the scattered Temple Vaults, there was a way to save him. However, before I could continue my thoughts, he spoke once more. “But, not impossible in another.”
Slightly taken aback by what he said, I question with some small amount of anticipation. “What do you mean?”
“His soul can be sealed with the Soul Vessel, but I’m not too sure if the Vaults are able communicate with one another after such a long time.” The Soul Vessel? Instantly, the information poured into my mind and I quickly went through what was given to me. The Soul Vessel was similar to the Composer, but it was only meant to retrieve and store souls in an Organic Computer by transforming said soul into a data cluster. The Organic Computer would then store the data within itself. The Organic Computer had the capability to scan its immediate surroundings and change it to what was suitable, and Altair would still retain his memories. Although there is the danger that his soul could get corrupted, it seems to be the only way. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, after all.
Once I felt that I had read through enough information I chose to speak once more. “We have to do something.”
Tinia seemed to agree with me now that the Human was not going to die. “Merva, let me have access to Altair’s Gene Song.” Instantly, I telepathically allowed him to access the link that allowed me to commune with Altair. Within moments, our surrounding changed back to the dark library. I silently sighed with relief after seeing that Altair was still breathing, but now we were on Earth, and we didn’t have much time either.
Once again Tinia spoke, the Memory Seal now glowing brightly. “There, the Terminus is active with it communicating with both The Apple of Eden and the Soul Vessel.” The power within the Memory Seal felt different… “The Apple is now communicating with the Memory Seal.” I could feel something in the air, and soon enough Memory Seal wass emitting a soft glow of gold indication it’s communicating with the Apple. Soon, a sphere of hard light appeared around Altair’s unconscious form, and from what I could sense it was capturing the drifting soul of Altair, and converting the soul into data.
Smiling at the prospect that Altair had been saved and was now given a second chance at a peaceful life he deserved, I looked over to Tinia. Although I knew that we had saved Altair, I still wanted verbal confirmation to give me assurance that we had done it. “Are you sure this will save him?”
The sphere around Altair shrunk until it disappeared into the Memory Seal, and the soft golden glow slowly faded as the process seemed to finish up. Tinia back at me before he answered my question. “Yes, the Soul Vessel will capture, translate the soul into data and then store him in the Organic Computer.”
Feeling the need to express my gratefulness, I spoke with sincere gratitude. “Thanks for what you have-.”
Just before I could finish, however, he silenced me with a raised hand. “I’m not finished speaking.” Given a moment of pause, our surroundings once again turned into the dark void with golden data streaming around us. “The Soul Vessel wasn’t intended to be used in the Earthly Realm, because the soul will become corrupted and the body will be disfigured. It can be only transferred to another Plane of Existence.” Taken back by the jarring statement I felt the urge to question him, but I kept myself composed.
“Do you know where he would be going?” Of course we were aware that there were many planes of existences, and in fact, we had documented several of them, but we never left for those as it took great power to transport a single person through the walls that separated the planes.
“Yes, I know where he would find peace in life.” He affirmed one last time before he faded away to carry on with his duties.
“Thank you.” With Altair now saved, I connected with the Souls Vessel, and made sure that nothing went wrong. Looking over at the now empty body of Altair, I contemplate what I have done. I was clearly affected by his coming death, and it was because of my compassion for his life that I wanted to save him. Now, with him gone I could no longer watch over him. Next time, I had to refrain from acting on emotion rather than reason. I had a duty to preform, and I shan’t allow myself to be taken over by emotion ever again.
In the end, Altair’s soul and new body was now one, and soon, he would transcend the walls of existence to live in another plane, but how would his new body develop in the world he would be residing in? How would he manage to adjust to his new body and adapt to living in a new world? I didn’t know the answer to those, but hopefully Altair would thank us when he discovered the message I placed within his memories.
Now, I must watch over Altair’s son so that the blood line wouldn’t be destroyed.
Oh hey yo! So, I decided to spend a couple days dedicating some time to writing this roughly written story, eh. I'm pretty sure the only reason why I written this is because of the cover art, and that's about it, eh. So far I think I did pretty good, although I am aware that I need to fix some shit, eh. But I'm a terrible editor, so, I may need to find myself an editor so I can pump out more chapters without having to mess with the editing side of things for too long, eh. I may have pulled shit out of my ass, and taken sciency things from other 'verses but I feel as though it works well with the story, eh. Also I may have made Minerva and Jupiter a little OOC, but I needed to somehow get Altair out of Earth to pone lands, eh. Don't think too hard on it, just go with it...
Also the way I would normally write is with story boards and comics, and this is my first attempt after many years to venture in the traditional form of writing, eh.
Update - So, I finally got myself an editor who goes by the name Firestreak2018, eh. This dude is pretty great, and I like to thank the dude with a good old handjob, but I can't because the internet doesn't allow me to do that across the tubes that binds us together, eh. So, if you see any grammar or spelling errors then go yell at Firestreak2018, but if you wish to complain about the story and how it's been directed then come at me bros, eh.
Chapter 2 *edited*
A lone bird soared across the sky, scanning the vast prairie far below. It had been on the search for hours on end, looking for something to eat, but once again it had to go with a day without a meal. With its energy too low for it to bear, it slowly descended from the sky to seek rest, but before it came close to the ground, its keen eyes spotted something unusual in the distance.
From its altitude, it could easily spot anything scurrying across the land. Well, that is if only anything walked the lands so that it could get the meals it dearly sought. At the moment, its eyes could make out a white, fluid ball that hovered just above the tall dry grass. It would've simply ignored it, guessing that it wouldn't be edible (as determined by its unnatural appearance), but if it wasn’t for the fact that a soft blue glow that faded in and out of existence from the oddity, the bird simply could not tear his gaze away. Every couple of seconds, a near invisible wave of blue coloured rays would rapidly travel across the land. The fluid sphere was beating like a heart with waves of energy pulsing from it.
With nothing else on its mind, as well as having its curiosity peaked, the predator quickly flew towards the unnatural anomaly. As it flew, it kept its eyes on the pulsating orb, and as it did so, it noticed that the beating had slowly came to a halt. The wind seemed to have picked up speed around the floating, pulsating orb, and then, out of nowhere, a bright flash came from the sphere and blinded the bird. Surprised from the sudden loss of its sight, the bird sounded a panicked clatter, but kept itself from falling from the sky with self-discipline. However, as soon as its vision returned to it, the bird quickly took notice that the sphere had vanished from its sight.
The bird was left miffed that its object of interest had disappeared, but just as it was about to turn its sight away from the area where the orb once was, it spotted a white lump that was splayed across the dry grass down below. Interest quickly returned to its once crestfallen state, and it descended as fast as it could before the white lump winked out of existence like the orb did. Just before it embarrassed itself with an ungraceful crash, however, the bird spread out its claws and landed flawlessly on top of the white object.
When consciousness returned to him, he was startled as he felt something crash against him. Flailing around, he felt the thing that had awoken him remove itself from his person, and soon Altair found himself in discomfort in the darkness.
As he lay on the ground, a soft burning sensation washed over his body, and as it continued, he slowly began to regain feeling across his old body. Not knowing why he was on the ground, Altair thought it best to do a self-assessment to make sure he didn’t have anything damaged. Knowing his old body, he could’ve broke something for all he knew, and he didn’t want to sit on his chair with a broken leg or rib.
Having lost his sight, he was unable to visually check himself over, so he opted to physically go over his person instead. Although he didn’t know how he would manage to do so, seeing as how he was unable to feel much of anything, but he decided that by patting himself over, any intense pains that screamed out from the numbness he felt on his whole body would alert him as to what injury he had sustained and at what degree of severity it was. Slowly, he tried to lift his arm, but it felt like it was being held down. Soon, he gave up on trying to lift his arm as it seemed adamant on not budging a single inch. For all he knew, his arms could be broken, but he couldn’t fully determine that yet until he was able to give himself a proper self-assessment.
Instead, he opted to focus on breathing as it was already becoming a chore to do so, but it was nothing that Altair could not overcome. Every time he breathed in, his lungs would give a dull burning sensation, as if it was struggling to take in air. It was entirely possible that they were punctured from a broken rib, but like his arms, he couldn’t conclude that thought unless he regained his senses and the ability to move. As he continued to work on his breathing, he noticed that he had yet to taste any blood in his mouth. He was sure that blood would’ve found its way to his throat if his lungs were punctured, so it was safe to assume that nothing was wrong with his chest.
He didn’t know how long he laid there sprawled on the ground, but as time passed by, breathing became less of a chore. Now that he was more at ease, he once again opened his eyes, but was slightly dismayed to see a grey fog. Thinking that blinking away the fog out of his eyes would help, Altair rapidly blinked for a few moments, but the enduring presence of the fog led him to conclude that he was either blind, or he had sustained a concussion that made him temporarily lose his sense of sight. Altair hoped for the latter as he wished that his blindness would not be permanent, and that time would give Altair back his sight he closed his eyes. But in the meantime, he also had the task of focusing his attention on trying to not fall asleep as the loss of consciousness could bring some danger with it.
Still feeling the burning sensation everywhere, he slowly began to do some small body movements with his arms and legs, trying to wiggle his feet around to improve his circulation. Hopefully it was just a blood circulation problem that could be easily fixed with some simple stretches, and self-massages.
Slowly, oh so slowly, he began to regain a sense of feeling through his body, but soon it all gave way to numbness…
AND PINS AND NEEDLES!
OH BY THE PRIEST’S BEARD IT’S ALL OVER MY BODY!
It seemed that even Altair was not immune to the aftereffects of the lack of muscle movement. Oh how Altair disliked receiving the unbearable prickling under the skin, but at the very least, it did ease his worries about any damage to his body as he soon began to regain feeling.
With much effort, he changed his position to help get rid of the prickling sensation, and he slowly began to move his limbs once more to let the blood flow again. Satisfied that the uncomfortable burn across his body was gone along with the prickling he now could feel his body, but what troubled him most was that he couldn’t feel his feet and hands. Panicking, he brought his right arm close to his face, but with him being blind, he couldn’t see what was wrong, and so he placed his hand against his cheek.
For a few silent moments he tried to process what he felt, but his mind was left dull and void. Feeling no blood or exposed bone he began to question whether his hands had been amputated or not. Maybe his stubs were cauterized? No, that was impossible! He should still be in the safety of his tomb…
Wait a moment…
With his face being the most receptive to touch, he moved his head to the side and rubbed it against the ground. As he felt the ground against his cheek, he expected to feel the cold stone flooring, but instead of that, he felt the unmistakable prickling of grass against his cheek. Ceasing his investigation he concluded that he was outside on a patch or field of grass, but the question was: how did he end up outside with missing hands? Slowly he opened his eyes, and felt a wave of relief wash over him as he realised that his vision was improving with the fog in his sight dissipating, but he still had trouble seeing through the blurs. He couldn't make out much with his limited vision, but he speculated that he was in a vast field of green grass.
Now that he had some amount of sight restored to his eyes, he began to check his hand, and froze when he received a fuzzy visualization of a white stump, taking the place of where his hand should’ve been. Moving down from his stump, he saw a long, brown blur and assumed it to be his leather wrist guards. He knew that his hidden blades were attached to them so that he was not weaponless. With that in mind, he concluded that most of his arm still remained intact despite the loss of his hand.
Feeling the need to get up, he rolled over and lay on his stomach, pushing himself off the ground with his arms right after. However, as he did so, he was startled once again to feel another missing hand on his left arm. Keeping his composure together, he tried his best to not panic and moved to stand. With the remains of his strength, he managed to stand up on his hind limbs, but for some odd reason as tried to stand on two legs, he had trouble keeping his balance, and his hips were getting sore… It didn’t feel entirely natural to stand on his legs anymore.
Ignoring the pain in his hips, he noticed his vision now returning to him, but as he looked onward, he saw nothing but an endless expanse of grass. Unconcerned about his location at the moment, Altair looked down at himself, and noticed that his white robes were still on, along with red sash. But as he looked further down, he was disturbed to see that his feet were also replaced with stubs! He tried to calm himself down with all the rising panic in his heart, but bringing up his arms to his eyes, he could now clearly look at the stumps where his hands used to be. Silently, he stared at his stumps examining them to make sense of his current situation. Noticing that there were no indications that his hands were cut off, he wondered how he could just lose his hands, but then as he stared closer at them, he also notices that there was a layer of white fur on his stumps. His wrists, as he had remarked, were also covered in white fur.
Looking back at his feet, he assumed that they were magically removed too, replaced by the same stumps covered in fur. Moving his lower robes aside, he inspected his legs and found that they too were covered in white fur, but then he noticed that his knees didn’t look right at all. His knees looked to be double jointed, and the lower knees bent backwards. So, it appeared that he seemed to have hinge legs now…
As Altair looked himself over he noticed that his nose seemed to be bigger too. Having difficulty checking over his nose, he opted to feel it with his stumps and visualize how it looked from touch. Placing a stump on his face, he moved it over to where his nose should be, but then it began to get stranger when his jaw also extended with his nose. Moving his tongue inside his mouth also felt different. He notices that he seemed to be missing his sharper teeth, flatter molars seemingly having replaced them. Grinding his teeth against one another, he tried to find any other changes, but nothing else other than his teeth were all flat.
Not too sure if anything else changed, Altair ended his self-assessment for the moment, and looked around him once more. Relying on his memory, Altair couldn’t help but feel slightly disorientated as he realized that this was a place he had never been to before. The color in everything just seemed to pop out more, and the details looked to be simpler than back at the Holy Lands.
Sighing, he began to think over what may have transpired.
Rubbing one of his stumps against his forehead Altair closed his eyes and thought back to what happened before he woke up here. Now, the only thing that he could remember was that he locked away the Apple of Eden, then sat on the chair and awaited death.
I awaited death.
I died.
Looking up to the sky, he aimlessly searched for answers. Altair suspected reincarnation must’ve been the reason why his body had succumbed to these changes without his knowledge, but what kind of sorcery could change your whole body structure? He had gained a great amount of knowledge from the Apple, but he didn’t come across any form of sorcery such as this. His gaze fell to the sun, and as he basked under its warm rays as his mind turned to a nameless God he prayed to. He had made a simple prayer back before he lost consciousness in the tomb, and his belief of something after death might’ve been the reason why he was here. He was not entirely sure if this was the afterlife such as heaven, or if he had been given the chance to live another life in a bright, colorful world. Slowly, he began to view the power of faith under a different light now. If he was going to put his faith in anything, it shall be the sun, because its brilliant aura brought light and warmth to the lands and the people. It was like the sun was a body of magic watching over the lands.
Looking around him once more, he didn’t see any angels to greet him to a heaven. So, at the moment it was safe to assume he’d been given another chance at life, but why would he be given another chance? He had killed more people than he could ever count, and in some instances, he had accidentally caused the deaths of his fellow men and his wife. Still confused about his situation, he looked to the sun for guidance, but it didn’t give him a single clue to aid him. Maybe he didn’t need to be guided by faith. After all, he had the view that faith blinds people, believing that God may only interact with mortals when they were conceived, and when death takes them.
Altair’s first step caused him to trip from a sudden loss of balance. Landing on the hard ground with a dull thud, he groaned in annoyance. Slowly, he got up once more, but with more of a struggle this time as his legs felt immensely uncomfortable. His hinge knees ached when he tried walking on two legs. Groaning loudly, he only managed to take seven steps forward before falling on his stomach.
Choosing to lay there on the ground, Altair contemplated what to do. Apparently walking wouldn’t get him anywhere, and he was not going to crawl. Now knowing that walking was going to be a difficult task, he would need to learn how to walk all over again with his new anatomy. It shouldn’t be too difficult to relearn to walk, seeing as how he had been walking, running and climbing through his life. Letting out a sigh as the aches in his legs and hips finally subsided, he made another attempt at walking.
Once more, he used his front limbs to push him up off the ground, and then he lifted himself off the ground with the aid of his legs. He was about to try standing on twos once more, but oddly enough, he felt much more comfortable standing on all fours. His legs and hips weren’t aching, his spine didn’t feel stressed from such a position, and his arms felt like they could support himself. He felt somewhat annoyed that he may have been turned into some sort of animal, thinking back on how four legged animals walk...
animals...
He was going to be walking like an animal. The thought bothered him greatly, but he quickly calmed himself down and thought back to how a dog or horse walks. The only animal that he could think of at the moment was a horse, because he spent more time with a horse than he did with a dog or cat. Thinking on how a horse gaits, Altair slowly placed his left leg forward, then his left arm, his right leg going next before his right arm. He would’ve suspected that he might come across much difficulty or pain, but he realized that walking on all fours didn’t hurt unlike the two legged method he previously attempted. It was a simple sequence of walking: Left leg and left arm, right leg and right arm.
The whole ordeal still felt unnatural to him, but like any good assassin, he could adapt to whatever situation pretty quickly. If assassins could not adapt, then their lives were at risk, and Altair was known to be a natural to challenge whatever was thrown at him and come out on top. Feeling like he was making some progress, he continued to walk forward.
He looked up towards the sun to see what time of the day it was at the moment, and he guessed that it should be early or mid-afternoon, so he had plenty of daylight before the sun goes down. Even then, however, he would continue his trek under the stars. Noticing that there was no sign of immediate danger around him, he put more concentration on his footwork, but was still aware of his surroundings. Altair did not know how long he had been walking in the grassland, but after what felt like an been an hour or so, he could tell that he was really getting the hang of walking. Although his foot placement was still flawed, coupled with a few stumbles here and there, Altair felt confident enough to pick up the pace.
After a while, Altair began to feel something missing from his attire. Stopping, he quickly looked over himself, but saw nothing missing. He still had his Master Robes, sash and his leather wrist guards. Despite of all that, however, he couldn’t shake the feeling of nakedness, and it only took a while more before he then noticed that he didn’t feel the linen hood placed on his head. He tried to peek behind him, and he let out a grateful sigh when he found that his hood was not damaged or missing, although he was now having trouble with how he was going to put his hood on…
Looking back at his right stump that was planted on the ground, he began to ponder. He shouldn’t fall over if he used one of his limbs to move his hood back up because he would still have three other limbs to support himself. Shrugging, he lifted his right arm off the ground and used it to push his hood back in place. His ears did feel somewhat uncomfortable now with the hood placed atop his head, so with his right arm, he feels over his head again and searched for his ears. Feeling the stump making contact with his… ears?.. It seemed that his ears too had grown in length. Feeling the need to procure a mirror or find a lake so that he could see what had happened to him, he continued with his trek, although truth be told, he didn’t really have much of an idea on where he was going, but he simply felt the need to keep moving forward with the hope that eventually, he would find something.
Not having an accurate idea of how long he had been walking, he looked up to the placement of the sun, and noticed that it didn’t move that far across the sky. Not too sure why it felt like it had been hours since he started walking, but maybe it had to do with the fact he didn’t have anything on his mind except keeping constant track of his leg movement and foot planting. Well, Altair had heard many people (especially kids) remark that time for them slows when they were bored or when they had nothing to do. The same case should have been happening to him since all he was doing is walking, but it really felt like he’d walked for hours…. Not having a true answer, he opted for the simple explanation of boredom messing with his perception of time.
So, with not having much clue of how much time really passed, he finally came across a dirt road, but then noticed many round imprints in the dirt road. Looking over to his own stump and to the round marks, he gave an inquisitive hum. Slowly placing his stump next the round mark, he pressed it in the dirt, and lifted his arm away. He was slightly taken aback that both his and the mark on the dirt looked identical, and he began to suspect that there were more people that might be similar to him.
Looking to the right of the road, he only saw that the path seemed to have no end as far as he could see. Although in the far off in the horizon he can make out mountains, the trek that way could potentially be a long one with no immediate source of food, water or shelter. And if he did make the trek to the mountains, what was to say that there was nothing there but rock and mountain snow? Looking at the opposite direction, he noticed a lake off into the distance, and where there was a lake, there usually was a settlement. Fishing villages were one of the most common settlements that could be found when venturing towards lakes, and if there was a village, he could possibly acquire information of the land he found himself in. Feeling as though he had a real destination now, Altair took to the dirt road, and quickly picked up the pace so he could quickly find the answers he craved.
His time on the road wasn't very interesting to reflect on, seeing how there was nothing but dirt road and grassland all around him, as well as the mountains behind him in the far off in the horizon, but judging from the sun, he had probably spent about two hours trekking towards the lake. Considering that he was at the age of 93, Altair had to admit that he was surprised that he had lasted so long, but he quickly came up with his own answer for his lack of aches and fatigue: the new form that he had taken must have been much younger than the one he left back in his tomb. It was the only real explanation that he could come up with that made mild sense, considering how little information he had at the moment. All in all, he was just pleased that he could proceed to trek long distances without any burning agony from his legs.
Looking down at the road, he inspected it, and from what he could tell, it was a road that was frequently travelled. He could tell that the road seemed to be used to transport goods seeing how there were plenty of track marks from wheels in the dirt. Although he was not surprised to see more hoof marks in the ground seeing as how he too was a being with hooves, but with keen eyes, he spotted several imprints that would indicate that a large bird had set foot here, and that there were paw marks of a lion present too. With evidence that a large predatory cat was lurking around, Altair kept close attention to his surrounds, the thought of being caught off guard and attacked by a hungry lion being less than desirable. As Altair made haste towards the lake at the end of the dirt road, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being closely followed.
Slowly coming to a stop, he quickly scanned his immediate surroundings with sharp eyes, but seeing nothing that would cause him harm, he listened for movement instead. All was quiet around him, with only the sound of the breeze stirring the leaves of trees filling his ears.
Then he heard movement.
Looking above, he spotted a bird of sorts, possibly a small species of Eagle. It glided through the sky for a moment, and then it quickly flew past him along the dirt road. It seemed as though it was heading towards the lake too, but it was not waiting for him. Taking this as a divine sign of sorts, he continued towards his destination in a light canter down the dirt road.
After a while, he finally made it to his destination: the lake. Although he was relieved to see a large settlement at the other side of the lake, he felt the need to check his reflection, and to get a drink. Walking on all fours, he made his way to the edge of the lake, and he would've been freaking out if he hadn't already had an idea on how he looked like a long time ago during his self-assessment. Even then, his large eyes widened even more so as he took in his appearance.
Pulling back the hood, Altair took a good look at his face. Opening his mouth, Altair noticed that his new teeth looked to be more of a herbivore’s than an omnivore, something which greatly disappointed him, seeing as how he enjoyed the occasional dinner with meat as the main course. If the nature of animals and their teeth worked the same here, then he would end up eating a non-meat diet with plenty of plants in his life. Closing his mouth, he took in the fact that his nose and jaw seemed to have turned into a squarish, slightly rounded muzzle that bore similarities from a small horse or pony. The more he inspected himself, the more it started making sense why he no longer had hands or feet with his form. Now closer resembling a horse, but unlike the hooves from horses back home, his hooves seemed to be covered in fur with most of the bone-like structures barely visible. Although he could feel the hardened structure through the fur, the bottom of his arm was the most jarring to him. He would've suspected to see the bottom of a hoof, but instead there was nothing there with only a flat, fur covered surface. It was nothing like the hooves of horses, but in this realm, some things may have had some differences as compared to his home.
Sighing, he took a look back at his irregular face, taking special notice of his irises that were still brown like before. Although he was worried that his eyes might fall out of their sockets after seeing how large his eyes are, they felt like they were secured in there and that they shouldn't pop out. Despite of that security, he still felt the need to take extra care for his eyes if he didn't want to damage or lose them, and considering how large they were, he needed to make sure nothing got into them. He also seemed to have a light stubble, which was odd, considering how horses or ponies wouldn't be able to grow any, and his hair was still remarkably short and raven black. It seemed Altair still retained some of his features in his past life, but others were slightly altered in this new body. It was not something that he was thinking of when passing on to another life or entering paradise, but he was not going to complain about it since God seemed to think this will work out for him.
Feeling somewhat content with his looks, Altair placed his muzzle in the lake and drank his fill of much-needed water. Feeling much better with cool water washing away the dryness of his mouth and throat, he placed his hood back on and made his way around the large lake towards the settlement. It didn't take too long to reach the large village, but he didn't walk into the settlement just yet. He'd rather observe the large village than to go into the area blind, because he didn't know what could be within the area, and would rather examine the place to look for anything that would pose a threat. He was only just about half a kilometre from the village limits, but from what he could roughly tell that there was plenty of movement within the village. Seeing nothing that could be considered an immediate threat, he slowly moved closer towards the village, although he continued to stick close to the edge of the lake.
As he moved closer, he could spot many equine-like beings such as himself, but they came in a large array of colours, though that wasn’t what he was fully looking at. What Atair was looking at was the large, half beasts that walked amongst the equines within the settlement. From what Altair could gather, these half beasts greatly resembled the Griffins of ancient lore from many countries and city states he visited on his travels. He had the rare opportunity to travel, experience and study the many different cultures and religions, and the Griffin was a popular creature, with many places having statues and paintings of these ancient beasts. Altair didn't know what to make of this discovery, but these stories told that these half beasts were dangerous, with them often preying on men for food. So, why would meat-eating beasts like them peacefully walk amongst their prey? There had to be something he is missing, but Altair lacked any information to come to any factual conclusion.
Right now, he needed to retrieve information somehow, and from what he could tell, there weren't any armed guards posted anywhere. It should have been pretty easy to walk into the village without drawing too much attention on him- “FREEZE STRANGER!”
Taken by surprise, Altair looked around his immediate vicinity, but he couldn't find anyone around him. Before he could question his hearing and sanity, however, he heard heavy flapping of wings. Slowly looking skywards, he felt his jaw slacken in surprise: There were three of those half beasts (or more appropriately named Griffins) donned in somewhat functional looking armour, and they were armed with swords and spears. They were currently descending from the air to the ground near him, and deciding that it would be a wiser choice to listen, he stayed put, seeing that they had the advantage of flight, and numbers. He had to admit that the oddest thing was that they spoke in foreign words, but he could easily recognize it. They spoke in English, but why would they speak in the language that supposedly originated from Provincia Britannia or the Kingdom of England?
The moment the three of those half beasts landed, he instinctively reached for a blade on his form, but then he remembered that he didn’t have any weapons to defend himself with. Moreover, he had yet to figure out how to even draw out his hidden blade, so he was practically defenseless in combat. Sighing softly in annoyance, Altair looked towards the Griffins as they reached for their swords too, but it was only their leader that brought his sword out of its sheath, although he had not pointed his blade at Altair.
“Stranger, what are you doing way out here?” The thing spoke like any other city guard you’d meet back in the Holy Land with their deep, gruff voices full of authority.
Altair was well versed in the English language thanks to Maria, but it had been a while indeed since he uttered a word in that tongue. Still, he could not be the silent stranger. Altair decided to keep his speech simple to keep himself from saying anything that might offend them. “Resting.” The assassin hoped that they wouldn’t antagonize him as he was well aware that he could not fend for himself, seeing how he was not completely used to his body, and that he had yet to test his abilities with this new form.
The thing looked down to him through its helm’s t-slit visor. “Oh? is that so?” The thing spoke with disbelief in his tone, but it kept itself from mocking him. Then, it used its free hand to point at him, although Altair wasn’t too sure of what.
“Is there something wrong?” Altair asked as he looked over their weapons. So far, it seemed that their weaponry was nothing special. Just simple broad swords and spears, nothing too fancy or elaborate, meaning that these men, or Griffins in this case, preferred efficiency when it came to their equipment. Same thing went for their armor which mainly consisted of simple leather armor for the two other Guards, and studded armor for the leader who was addressing him, but they all used the same iron helm. Though it was odd that they wouldn’t carry a shield on their person in the event of a clash.
“You look mighty suspicious with your get up.” The half beast said as his comrades moved to surround him.
Taking short glances at the other two, Altair once again spoke, but with some amount of agitation in his words. “What are you implying?” Questioning the beast wouldn’t get him anywhere, and he needed to stay calm.
“Nothing, just that why would a pony-” Ah, interesting. Seems as though they have the word Pony, and Altair also found it interesting to know that he had taken the form of a pony.”-like you hide underneath a hood?” Unsure if the half beast was playing with him now, Altair answered in the best way he could without telling them what he was as he knew how the Guards would react if he said that he was an Assassin.
“The robes I wear is of significance to my culture.” Not entirely a lie, but Altair was not trying to intimidate the Guards by saying ‘I wear these robes, because I’m the master of an Order of Assassins’. That would be preposterous, insane even. What kind of idiot would reveal such things in the first place? The prolonged presence of the guards was making him nervous, and he wished that the Guards would just buy his words and leave him be.
“I don’t believe you.” The leader declared as its subordinates lowered their spears and pointed them at Altair. Of course… Why was he even naive enough to think that Guards would leave people like him alone? He had to agree that he did look suspicious as compared to the other ponies that he had seen at the village, however. “I never heard of a culture that wears garb such as yours, and Ponies never try to hide their identity unless they’re guilty of something.” …Well, he couldn’t blame the buzzard, but it had no proof that Altair had committed a crime or would be committing one. It was unfair, of course, but even Guards tended to abuse their authority to get things done their way.
Knowing that if he didn't convince the Guard that he was not a criminal, he was most likely going to be thrown in a prison, and like anyone else, Altair really didn’t want to be behind bars because of a misunderstanding. “Guard, I swear to you I haven’t done any unlawful acts-.” He tried to make a plea, but the half beast cut him off before he was even finished speaking.
Knowing that he could not defend himself, and that resisting them then would most likely end with injuries for him, Altair submitted. “I’m taking you in for being suspicious of a criminal.” Well, that certainly was an odd reason to detain anyone, but it probably cancelled out the possibility of being hanged or anything of the like. Once the leader of these Guards said those words, the other two were quick to grab him by the forelegs, and one of them placed some sort of cuffs on his forelegs. Putting up no resistance, they easily dragged him towards the village. Altair didn’t know what they were going to do to him, but he was already coming up with a plan as they came closer to the village.
Okay, so, uuuuuh, well, I like to say that I think this chapter could've been better paced and written, and edited, but god dammit I spent so long on this I just want to get this out of the way, and move on, eh. Like seriously, this chapter was a little of a pain in the ass for me to write, and I did what I could with my limited writing skills, eh. Now, I'm tired as fuck, like seriously, I'm really tired, and I don't have the will to continue this chapter, eh. I may come back to this and fix up some of my lazy bullshit here, but at the moment I just wanted to write, and publish two chapters to test the waters, eh.
If you see any bullshit in my story just comment or PM, then I'll maybe get to fixing those, eh. Really depends how tired I am at the time, eh. I truly can't wait until people start tearing this story a new asshole, eh. This is truly exciting, eh.
Update - Once again Firestreak2018 has edited this, and I would like to make him my pet, because he's pretty much a better editor than I and I would love to make him mine, eh. 
