Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

Chapter 15

Ezio struggled to make sense of the words - everything he knew about his father, about his family, now seemed to be half-truths.How could his father hide this from him?All this sounds so unbelievable, so strange.Ezio weighed his words carefully - there must have been a reason for his father's choice of secrecy. "There are many things I don't know about my father. I accept this. Please forgive me for questioning your words, but why does he keep these secrets so tight?"

Mario was silent for a moment before replying, "Do you know the Knights Templar?"

"I've heard of it."

"They were formed centuries ago, right after the First Crusade, and then they became an elite force fighting for God - monks in armor, in fact. They swore abstinence and lived in poverty. As the years went by, their reputation changed. I do not know when they began to intervene in the international financial industry, and they were very successful. Other orders - Knights Hospitalier and Teutonic The Knights - began to question them, and their power even caused the kings to worry. They established a base in the south of France, intending to form their own country. They did not pay taxes, had a private army, and their behavior began to be domineering. Finally , nearly 200 years ago, Philip IV of France set out to deal with them. After a terrible purge, the Templars were either arrested or forced to flee, the rest were massacred, and the Pope announced their expulsion. But the king of France failed to exterminate them--there are fifteen thousand of their houses of worship in all of Europe. However, after the confiscation of their estates and wealth, the Knights Templar seem to have disappeared, and their power depends on Woke up and ceased to exist.”

"What happened to them?"

Mario shook his head. "Needless to say, this is just a ruse to ensure their survival. They went underground, hoarded the salvaged wealth, kept the organization afloat, and more focused on their real purpose."

"What is their purpose?"

Mario's eyes flashed with anger. "It is their purpose to dominate the world. There is only one organization dedicated to stopping them. And that is the Order of the Assassins, the organization to which your father—and I—are fortunate enough to belong."

It took Ezio a while to fully understand. "Alberti is also a member of the Knights Templar?"

Mario nodded solemnly. "Exactly. Everyone on your father's list."

"And - Vieri?"

"He was also part of it, along with his father Francisco, and the whole Pazzi family."

Ezio pondered. "That explains a lot..." he said. "There's something I haven't shown you—"

He rolled up his sleeves, revealing the weapon strapped to his wrist.

"Oh," said Mario, "you're smart to wait to show me until you can trust me completely. I'm still wondering where it went. Looks like you fixed it. It's your father's , was passed down to him from our father, who in turn inherited it from our grandfather. It was damaged by your father in a... confrontation many years ago, but he was never able to find both A craftsman skilled enough and reliable enough to fix it. Well done to you, boy."

"Even so," Ezio said, "all these stories of Assassins and Templars sound like old legends—there smelt of fantasy."

Mario smiled. "It's like an old vellum full of mysterious writing, isn't it?"

"Do you know about ancient books?"

Mario shrugged. "Did you forget? You gave it to me with those papers."

"Can you tell me what that is?" For some reason, Ezio didn't want to involve Leonardo unless it was really necessary.

"Oh, the person who helped you restore this weapon must have understood at least part of the text," Mario said, raising his hand to stop Ezio who was about to speak, "but I won't ask you the bottom line. I understand. You want to protect someone, and I respect your thoughts. But that piece of paper is more than just instructions for your weapon. The pages of this ancient tome are scattered all over Italy. It is an account of the origin, purpose and A guide to the craft. You can call it 'Assassin's Creed' if you like. Your father believed that there was a great secret in that ancient book. A secret that could change the world." Thinking of this, he was silent for a moment. "Maybe that's why they came to him."

Ezio felt dizzy - the amount of information was too much for him to digest for a while. "Assassins, Templars, that strange tome—"

"I will guide you, Ezio. But first you must learn to open your mind, and always remember one thing: nothing is true, nothing is allowed."

At that time, no matter how much Ezio pressed, Mario refused to confide a word.His uncle just kept pushing him through the rigors of combat training, and he found himself practicing from dawn to dusk with the young mercenaries on the drill grounds, and at night too tired to sleep.Then, one day...

"Well done, my nephew!" his uncle said to him, "I think you are ready."

Ezio was overjoyed. "Thank you, Uncle, for what you taught me."

Mario responded with a bear hug. "You are my family! These are my duties and what I want to do!"

"I'm glad you persuaded me to stay."

Mario eyed him sharply. "So—have you reconsidered leaving?"

Ezio met his gaze. "I'm sorry, Uncle, but I've made up my mind. For the safety of Mamma and Claudia—I'm going to go over to the coast and take a boat to Spain."

Mario didn't hide his displeasure. "Forgive me, my nephew, but I do not teach you these arts to pass the time, nor to benefit yourself. I teach you them to prepare you to stand against our enemies."

"If they find me, I will."

"So," said Mario with a bitter tone, "are you really going to leave? Leave behind everything your father fought for and gave his life for? Deny your own bloodline? Very good! I can't pretend I'm not disappointed Look—in fact, I'm very disappointed. But so be it. Orazio will take you to the convent, and when you're sure your mother is in a condition to travel, he'll see you off. Good luck."

After speaking, Mario turned around and strode away.

A few days later, Ezio patiently waited for his mother to fully recover in a peaceful and quiet environment, while he himself prepared to leave with a heavy heart.Finally, he visited the convent again, intending to take them away just like that.He found that their condition was much better than expected.Claudia befriended several young nuns, and Ezio discovered, to his surprise and displeasure, that she began to be drawn to convent life.His mother's body was recovering steadily but slowly, but the female abbot expressed objection to his plan, saying that his mother still needed to recuperate and could not start traveling for the time being.

So he returns to Mario's castle with apprehension, an apprehension he knows will only grow.

During that time, some kind of military preparation was going on in Monteriggioni, which at this time was coming to a head.The sight disturbed him.There was no trace of his uncle, but he managed to find Orazio in the map room.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Where's my uncle?"

"He's preparing for battle."

"What? With whom?"

"Oh, if you're going to stay, I think he'll tell you. But we both know you're going to go."

"But……"

"Listen, your old friend Vieri de' Pazzi is recruiting at San Gimignano. He has tripled the garrison there, and has given word that when he is ready, he will come to Monterey. Juni was razed to the ground. So we plan to pre-emptively crush that ignorant little snake, and also teach the Pazzi family a lesson that won't be forgotten too soon."

Ezio took a deep breath.This incident changed everything.Perhaps this was fate—this was the thrill his subconscious craved. "Where is my uncle?"

"In the stables."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ezio turned and left.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"To the stables! There must be a horse of mine there too!"

Orazio watched him leave with a smile on his face.

(End of this chapter)