Oliver Bowden - Assassins Creed: Brotherhood

Lay down your weapons and surrender, Assassins. You are surrounded and outnumbered! shouted the lead soldier, stepping forward.

Before he could utter another word, Ezio had sprung from his stance, energy returning to his weary limbs. The lead guard had no time to react, not expecting his opponent to be so bold in the face of such overwhelming odds. Ezios sword arm circled in a blur, the blade whistling as it sliced through the airthe guard tried in vain to raise his sword to parry, but Ezios movement was simply too quick. The Assassins sword hit its mark with unfaltering accuracy, slicing into the guards exposed necka plume of blood following its impact. The three remaining guards stood motionlessastonished at the speed of the Assassin, and idiotic in the face of such a skilled foe. This delay was their death. Ezios blade had barely finished its first lethal arc as he raised his left hand, the mechanism of his hidden-blade clicking as the lethal spike revealed itself from his sleeve.

It pierced the second guard between the eyes before he could even twitch a muscle in defense.

ASSASSINS CREED: RENAISSANCE

ASSASSINS CREED: BROTHERHOOD

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ASSASSINS CREED: BROTHERHOOD

An Ace Book / published by arrangement with Penguin Books Ltd. and Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd.

PRINTING HISTORY
Ace premium edition / December 2010

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ISBN: 978-1-101-49840-8

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Special thanks to Yves Guillemot, Jean Guesdon, Jeffrey Yohalem, Corey May, Ethan Petty, Matt Turner. And also Alain Corre, Laurent Detoc, Sebastien Puel, Geoffroy Sardin, Sophie Ferre-Pidoux, Xavier Guilbert, Tommy Franois, Cecile Russeil, Christele Jalady, The Ubisoft Legal Department, Charlie Patterson, Chris Marcus, Eric Gallant, Maria Loreto, Guillaume Carmona.

The events of the past extraordinary fifteen minuteswhich might have been fifteen hours, even days, so long had they seemedran through Ezios head once more as he stumbled, his brain reeling, from the Vault beneath the Sistine Chapel.

He remembered, though it seemed like a dream, that in the depths of the Vault he had seen a vast sarcophagus made of what looked like granite. As hed approached it, it had begun to glow, but with a light that was welcoming.

He touched its lid, and it had opened as if it were light as a feather. From it a warm yellow light glowed, and from within that glow arose a figure whose features Ezio could not make out, although he knew he was looking at a woman. A woman of unnatural stature, who wore a helmet, and on whose right shoulder sat a tawny owl.

The light surrounding her was blinding.

Greetings, O Prophet, she saidcalling him by the name that had been mysteriously assigned to him. I have been waiting for you for ten thousand seasons.

Ezio dared not look up.

Show me the Apple.

Humbly, Ezio proffered it.

Ah. Her hand caressed the air over it but she did not touch it. It glowed and pulsated. Her eyes bore into him. We must speak. She tilted her head, as if considering something. Ezio, raising his head, thought he could see the trace of a smile on the iridescent face.

Who are you?

Ohmany names have I. When died, it was Minerva.

Ezio recognized the name. Goddess of Wisdom! The owl on your shoulder. The helmet. Of course. He bowed his head.

We are gone now. The gods your forefathers worshipped. Juno, queen of the gods, and my father, Jupiter, its king, who brought me forth to life through his forehead. I was the daughter, not of his loins, but of his brain!

Ezio was transfixed. He looked at the statues ranged around the walls. Venus. Mercury. Vulcan. Mar

There was a noise like glass breaking in the distance, or the sound a falling star might makeit was her laughter. Nonot gods. We simply came before. Even when we walked the world, Humankind struggled to understand our existence. We were just more advanced in Time. She paused. But, although you may not comprehend us, you must take note of our Warning.

I do not understand!

Dont be frightened. I wish to speak to you but also through you. You are the Chosen One for your Time. The Prophet .

Ezio felt a mothers warmth embrace all his weariness.

Minerva raised her arms above her and the roof of the Vault became the Firmament. Her glittering face bore an expression of inexpressible sadness.

Listen! And see!

Ezio could hardly bear the memory: He had seen the whole Earth and the heavens surrounding it as far as the Milky Way, the galaxy, and his mind could barely comprehend his vision. He saw a worldhis worlddestroyed by Man, and a windswept plain. But then he saw peoplebroken, ephemeral, but undismayed.

We gave you Eden, said Minerva. But it became Hades. The world burned until naught remained but ash. But we created you in our image, and we created you, whatever you did, however much cancerous evil was in you, by choice, because we gave you choice, to survive! And we rebuilt. After the devastation, we rebuilt the world and it has become, after eons, the world you know and inhabit. We endeavored to ensure that such a tragedy would never again be repeated.