//------------------------------// // Tension of the Bow // Story: Creed of Three // by Dusk Writer //------------------------------// “Ugh.” Ezio opened his eyes and sat up, placing a hand to his forehead to try and quell his raging headache. He dropped his hand and looked around the small room he had been placed into. It looked like a mix between a jail cell and a hospital room, just not like any hospital he had seen. There were odd machines surrounding him and a beeping noise emanating from one of them. However, something felt different, something he couldn’t quite place a finger on. Suddenly, an idea struck him. He threw off the blankets from his body to see that while he still had his robes on, he was young again. He quickly slid off the bed, accidentally popping a small strange circle off of his right forearm. He went to front of the room where there were several iron bars and a lock keeping him from freedom. As he proceeded to wrap his hands around a couple of the bars and test them, a very familiar voice spoke up from the adjacent cell. “Finally awake huh?” Not bothering to try and remember who the voice belonged to, he immediately went to a crouched position, reaching for his sword. When all he grabbed was air, he quickly did an inventory of all his items. He had nothing except for his the robes on his back. He stood back up and walked to the iron bars again. Looking through the bars of the window, he observed the white assassin before speaking, “Speak assassin, so I would know your name.” The white assassin looked up into Ezio’s eyes and spoke his name, although Ezio had a sinking feeling he already what it was, “My name is Altair Ibn-La’Ahad. Now I would know your name, grey assassin.” Ezio quickly recovered from his shock and placed his right hand across his chest to lay it upon his heart. “Ezio Firenze Auditore at your service, Mentor.” Altair smirked at the odd little quip of ‘mentor’. He stood up, yet again feeling the glory of being young again; no arthritis, no foggy memory, not even everyone scrambling to help him as though he could do nothing. It was amazing. Shaking his head clear of the distracting thoughts, he looked to Ezio again. “I do not recognize your accent, and your robes are not like any I have seen. I would know your story. Ezio let a soft chuckle before shaking his head and saying, “It is a long one, Mentor.” Altair looked around the small hospi-cell as he had decided to call it, then returning his gaze to the young assassin, “We have plenty of time if you haven’t noticed.” Ezio closed his eyes, as if recalling a distant memory, which of course he was. His eyes opened and he looked to Altair, “It all started when my family was betrayed by one of its closest friends.” ~~~~~ Connor pulled some moss down from one of the nearby trees and began wrapping it around the claw marks on his upper arm. After the incident with the Apple, which the ‘Discord’ creature had told him could save and protect his people, he had slowly jogged into the nearby forest, unconsciousness preying on his mind like a hungry wolf. He had dove into the forest behind a shrubbery with a small white fence around it (Odd) as he watched the other two assassins collapse to the ground where they stood. A few seconds later, a white creature that appeared to be the offspring of a horse, bird, and narwhal descended upon them, surely to devour their unmoving bodies. That was about when he had lost the battle with the dream world. He had awoken about five hours later according to the position of the sun. As he stood up, he began to realize how much taller than the shrubbery he was. The point was made incredibly relevant when a small gasp made his head shoot up to spot what had made the noise. A mint-green horse with a golden instrument on its flank was staring at him. He would have instantly shot it with an arrow if it hadn’t seemed so… human. After a few seconds of thought, he instead turned and fled deeper into the forest. After running and climbing through trees for about twenty minutes, he stopped at a particularly old tree that had small stream running alongside it. About a meter from the river, there lay a human ribcage with only a head attached; the arms and legs cut off (More odd). He didn’t think about it for too long, knowing he should probably keep moving. That was when the thing attacked him. At first, he thought it was a bear; it certainly sounded like one. He jumped quickly to his right, barely dodging the giant paw smashed down where he had stood mere moments before. He whirled around, and the sight nearly made his heart stop. In front of him stood a lion with the wings of a bat, the tail of a scorpion, and the size of an elephant. He reached back to behind his waist and pulled out the tomahawk he always used. He would need to be quick and agile; the sword would only slow him down. Man and beast began to circle each other in the small clearing. The manticore (As he would later learn it was called) moved first, ducking down onto its front legs so the tail could dart forward and impale its target. But alas, it struck only dirt as the Native American rolled backwards out of range. He began to charge forward towards its face as it recovered from the attack but he was swiped aside by a paw. He slid to a stop at the base of a tree, wincing as some dirt got into the new opening in his skin. The thumping in the ground caused him to look up and scramble out of the way as the manticore charged into the tree and transformed it from single organism to thousands of splinters. He stumbled to his feet and saw that the manticore was a little dazed after running into the tree, so, he took his chance. He ran forward as fast as he could and jumped forwards and up, grabbing onto one of the segments of the poisonous tail. He twisted until he straddled the base of the appendage and began hacking at it until it fell to the ground twitching. The beast roared in pain as it attempted to swat the human off of its back, but to no avail. He slowly crawled his way up its back, and after several seconds of struggling, he finally managed to reach its thick neck. He raised his tomahawk, ready to bring the sharp blade down into its brain, when a branch that the manticore had run by smacked it from his hand. After ducking down again and getting his bearings, he straddled the monster’s wide neck much like he would a horse. He pulled his bow off of his back, knocked two arrows, and fired them into the back of the manticore’s skull directly into its brain. The manticore let out a final roar of defiance, then collapsed to the ground dead. Connor slid off the neck and barely caught himself. After removing the two arrows from the manticore’s head and retrieving his tomahawk, he limped further into the forest. He was brought back from his recollection by more noises. He quickly hid in a bush next to a path that he had just noticed. The chittering noises were coming closer, and as he watched, two ponies walked around the corner. One was a light tan color with a pink mane. Around its neck was a golden necklace that had a pink butterfly and matching pink butterflies on the flank. The other one was quite a bit bigger, and because of the golden armor it wore, he could see no discerning marks other than its white fur and blue mane. They were probably some twisted person’s pets. He suddenly realized that with his proximity to the path, they would without a doubt notice them, they would freak, and their owners would come running. He quickly took out another two arrows and angled them so that they would pierce the creatures’ temples. He waited for a few seconds as the tension of the bow grew tight. ~~~~~ “And that is finally, how I awoke to find myself in this cell.” Ezio had finally finished his story and Altair had stayed awake for all of it, paying close attention. “So, you got here the same way I did; the Apple of Eden?” When Ezio simply nodded his head, Altair continued, “I wonder what that other boy was talking about, ‘Use it to save my people.’ Doesn’t he know that the Apple only turns friends upon each other?” Ezio opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the slamming of the dungeon door. He would say he heard footsteps, if he hadn’t recognized the sound from when he went from city to city. Sure enough, an intimidating stallion followed closely by two ponies in golden armor trotted up to their two cells. This stallion wasn’t intimidating because he was abnormally large, being almost as tall as the two assassins, but rather because he had the type of face that said he could kill you without trying. It wasn’t a cocky look, just a face that knew the facts. He was taller than his escorts by a factor of two, although his posture said he considered them his equals. In front of his eyes, a strange type of rimless golden glasses kept them from seeing into his eyes. His mane and tail were both incredibly short and were a black so deep it seemed to absorb the light around them. His coat was a dark olive green and multiple scars were located all around his body not unlike the craters on the moon. One impressive scar ran along his entire left length. The only piece of armor he wore was a gold piece with the symbol of the Sun that went across his chest. On his flank was a picture of an oddly shaped shield, two katanas of some kind crossing in front of it, with the skull of a dragon sporting a crack on top of those. After a silent staring match between the oversized pony and the two humans that lasted for several minutes, the giant spoke in a deep, rough voice that sent chills down Ezio’s back, “My name is Legend, general of the Royal Guard of our ruler Princess Celestia. And now, that very same pony has called for your presence in the throne room.”