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.
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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.