Assassin: Savior of Canterlot

Niko wandered through the streets of Canterlot, searching for potential sources of information. He decided to look around the historical district a bit, might as well enjoy himself on his first night on the job. He walked the old cobblestone streets, admiring old buildings and scenery. He became lost in thought. Scenes played through his head, scenes of people fighting for freedom and liberty. Scenes of peace, occasionally interrupted by outcries against an unjust nation.

He was snapped from his trance when he heard a metal clunk coming from below him. He looked down to check the source of the sound. He saw an old fashioned manhole cover underneath his left foot. He found it strange that it would make a sound, the township normally seals all of the manhole covers to ensure no one falls in. That and it helps keep the drug addicts out. He lifted the manhole cover and peered down into the dark hole. The manhole didn't have a ladder that you could use to climb down. Niko sighed and leapt down into the hole.

he reached the bottom in seconds, and the sounds of his feet impacting the ground reverberated through the tunnel. The moon light only light the tunnel for two or three feet in any direction. He contemplated leaving, but something about the tunnel fascinated him. If he were to venture further into the dark, damp cavern, he would have to rely on his other senses. He decided on the option of exploration, and started walking into the swirling dark abyss. As he walked, his vision became less and less useful to him. But he could heard the sounds echoing off the walls, and they were painting a picture of the tunnel ahead for him. he closed his eyes and started walking again, the sound helping him through the tunnel. But he found one small problem, the sound would only help him when he was close to a wall, and they didn't help him see what was on the ground.

"ow! Fuck!" he said. He had stepped on an old pipe laying on the ground, and it rolled out from under his foot. He landed on his side, luckily managing to stop himself from breaking anything. He stood up and brushed himself off and closed his eyes again. he took a few deep breaths, and something remarkable happened. he saw everything through a vale of blue. It showed him the cracks and contours of the walls around him, and made debris on the ground visible. he began walking again, seeing everything with his eyes shut.

"what is this?" Niko asked himself. He walked for a good fifty feet, eventually ending up in a big room. the room had a set of torches on the walls, and a strange pedestal in the middle of the room. Niko opened his eyes and scanned the room. he traced his field of vision around the room, until his eyes met the pedestal. He eyed the pedestal with a meticulous gaze. it had a strange triangle shaped symbol on it. The two upward facing sides of the triangle were straight, and the bottom side was arched downward. He approached the pedestal to further examine it.

upon closer inspection, he noticed a handprint on top of the slab of rock. It was a print of a left hand, with a smaller version of the symbol on it.  Niko looked at his hand, and back to the pedestal. He placed his hand in the hand print, and as soon as he did, visions started flashing before his eyes. A voice echoed through his head, repeating one simple phrase. "nothing is true, everything is permitted." these visions that accompanied the voice were not just some random visions, they were events. Generations of assassins fighting, and dying for what they believed in. Amongst all the information, one thing stuck out. It was a name, and a motive. The Templars.

he removed his hand from the pedestal, but the visions continued. He stumbled backward a few feet, and the visions stopped. Niko shook his head and looked at his hand. The same symbol that was on the pedestal, was burned into the palm of his hand. He kept thinking about the Templars, and Viper Head. eventually, something clicked. The Templars and Viper Head are either working together, or they're the same thing. He looked back at the symbol on his hand.

"Looks like my enemies are bigger than I thought. Oh well, the bigger they are, the harder they die." with that, Niko turned to leave.

Niko walked back through the tunnels, his new sense of sight guiding him through the damp cavern. The new sense intrigued him, and he wondered how such a thing was possible. One thing was for certain, it was better than his attempt at sonar. His ears were good, but not good enough for any kind of echo location. He came to the pipe he tripped on earlier, and kicked it to the side of the tunnel. He planned on coming back, but with his new found allies next time.

He came to the vertical entrance of the tunnel, and gazed up through it. He noticed that the pipe leading down was made of brick. Because of their age, there were broken and cracked bricks, along with gaps where the grout had partially eroded away. He leapt up and grabbed the brick surface, using the gaps in the brick work as hand grips. At first he was unable to use his legs to climb to surface, due to the gap between the floor and the wall of the entrance. But after a few moments of using his arms to pull himself up, he was able to use his legs and feet to speed up the climbing process.

He would place his feet in the spaces were chunks of brick had long since fallen out, and use them to leap higher and grab the wall again. He repeated the process of climbing and finding a gap for foot placement, until he reached the top. He pulled himself up out of the hole and quietly put the manhole cover back on. He looked around for anyone who might have seen him, trying to keep his find a secret. Once he was sure that the coast was clear he took off, back into the shadows.