Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

Chapter 60

After Ezio touched the last hole, the door opened.

Behind the door was a spacious corridor with walls made of glass and embedded with ancient sculptures in plain stone, marble, and bronze.In alcoves in the walls were sarcophagi, each bearing runic script that Ezio found he could read—the names of the ancient Roman gods, but all of them were sealed.

As he walked through the passages, Ezio was amazed by the strange architecture and decoration style here: it seemed to be a strange mixture of ancient and modern styles-and there were some shapes and shapes he had never seen before, but his Instinct told him that those might belong to the distant future.There are reliefs on the walls about major events in ancient times, which seem to show not only the evolution of human beings, but also the force that led people to evolve.

The silhouettes depicted in the reliefs, many of which appeared to Ezio to be human, were dressed in clothes he had never seen before.He saw other patterns, but did not know whether they were carvings, paintings, or images of nothingness—forests falling into the sea, apes, apples, staffs, men and women, shrouds, swords, pyramids, and colossi , pagodas and statues, boats traveling underwater, and weird gleaming screens, as if conveying all knowledge, all information...

What Ezio recognized was not only the Apple and the Staff, but also a greatsword, and the Shroud of Jesus, all held in the hands of a human-looking, but not-human figure.He identified depictions of primitive civilizations.

Finally, in the depths of the tomb, he found a huge granite coffin.As Ezio approached, it began to glow, a welcoming light.He touched the massive lid and it lifted with a loud hiss, as if light as a feather, and as if stuck to his fingers.Then the coffin lid slid open.There was a pleasant yellow glow from the sarcophagus—it was warm and caring, like sunlight.Ezio covered his eyes.

Immediately afterwards, a figure in the sarcophagus stood up.Ezio could not see the features of the figure clearly, but he knew that he was facing a woman.She looked at Ezio with fiery eyes that were constantly shifting, and spoke—at first like a bird's song, and then into his language.

Ezio saw that she was wearing a helmet.An owl rests on the shoulder.He looks down.

"Welcome, Prophet," said the Goddess, "I have waited countless ages for you."

Ezio dared not look up.

"It's good of you to be here," continued the figure, "and you've brought apples too. Let me see."

Ezio humbly offered the Apple.

"Ah." Her hand brushed the air above the apple without touching it.It radiates and pulsates.Her eyes fixed on him. "We must talk." She tilted her head, as if in thought, and Ezio thought he saw a smile on that iridescent face.

"Who are you?" he asked boldly.

She sighed. "Oh - I have many names... When I died, it was Minerva. Before that, it was Merva and Meera... and many, many more... Look!" she pointed at Ezio as he passed by The row of sarcophagi.Whenever she pointed at one of them, it cast pale moonlight. "And my family...Juno, formerly known as Juni...Jupiter, formerly known as Tinia..."

Ezio was stunned. "You are the ancient gods..."

The sound that followed was like distant glass breaking, or falling stars—it was her laughter. "No—not gods. We just came... earlier. Your race was still trying to make sense of our existence as we walked the world. We were more... ahead of time... your minds weren't Not ready for us..." She paused, "Maybe not now...maybe never. But that's okay." Her tone turned serious. "Even if you can't understand our words, you can understand our warning..."

She fell silent.During this silence, Ezio said, "I don't understand a single word of what you're saying."

"My child, these words are not for you...these are..." As she spoke, she looked towards the darkness beyond the tomb, a darkness that the walls and time itself could not restrain.

"What is it?" Ezio asked respectfully and horrified, "What are you talking about? There's no one else here!"

Minerva bent over him and moved closer to him, he felt the warmth of a mother enveloping him, and his tiredness and pain were swept away. "I am not speaking to you, but through you. You are the prophet." She raised her arms, and the ceiling of the tomb became the sky.Minerva's luminous, illusory face was filled with an expression of infinite sorrow. "You've played your part...you've identified his location...but please be quiet now...so we can talk." She looked sad. "listen!"

Ezio could see the sky and the stars and hear them singing.He could see the earth spinning, as if he were looking down on it from space.He could make out the continent, and even several cities on the continent.

"When we were flesh and blood and our homeland was intact, your race betrayed us. We created you. We gave you life!" She paused, and if a goddess could shed tears, she I'm afraid I've shed tears.Visions of war loomed, savage humans fighting their former masters with handcrafted weapons.

"We are strong. But you are many. And we all desire war."

A view of Earth emerges, seemingly close up, but the perspective is still from space.The Earth was receding and getting smaller, and Ezio could see that it was just one of several planets orbiting that massive star, the Sun.

"We were so busy with our earthly affairs that we forgot about the sky. When we noticed..."

As Minerva spoke, Ezio saw a gigantic corona forming around the sun, emitting an unbearable radiance that licked the Earth.

"We gave you the Garden of Eden. But both of us created war and death, and made Eden a hell. The world burned until there was nothing but ashes. It should have ended. But we created you in our own image. We created you so that you could survive!"

Ezio saw an ash-covered arm reaching out to the sky from the wreckage following the total destruction brought upon Earth by the sun.Then, in the sky where the ceiling of the tomb became, an image of a windswept plain emerged.Men are walking on the plains - scarred, short-lived, but courageous.

"We have rebuilt the world," continued Minerva, "with all our pains, we have rebuilt it! As the earth slowly healed, life returned to the world, and the bountiful earth grew green again... We work hard to ensure that such tragedies never happen again."

Ezio looked up at the sky again.There the horizon appeared.On the horizon there appeared temples and houses, word-like carvings, libraries piled with scrolls, ships, cities, music and dance--shapes and figures from ancient times and civilizations unknown to him, but he could recognize , those are the works of his compatriots...

"But now we are going to die," said Minerva, "and time is against us...truth will turn into myth and legend. What we create will be misunderstood. But Ezio, let my words Preserve these messages to mark our passing forever."

A picture of this tomb appears on the ceiling, along with others like it.

Ezio watched the scene as if in a dream.

"But please let my words give you hope. You must find other temples. Temples like this one. Built by those who hate war. Their efforts are to protect us from the fire. If You can find them, and if you can save their work, maybe the world can be saved too."

At this point Ezio saw Earth again.A city, like San Gimignano, only bigger, is shown on the ceiling of the catacombs; then a city of the future; on the city.Then all merged into one, the image of the sun.

"But you must hurry," said Minerva, "for time is short. Beware of the Templar Cross—there are many who will stand in your way."

Ezio looked up.He could see the sun burning angrily, as if waiting for something.Then it suddenly seemed to explode, and in the explosion he thought he saw a red cross on a white background representing the Knights Templar.

The image in front of him gradually faded.In the end, only Minerva and Ezio remained, and the voice of the goddess became faint, as if coming from an endless tunnel. "It's over...my people must now leave this world...all of us...but the message has been delivered...it's up to you now. There's nothing we can do."

Then there was only darkness and silence around, and the tomb turned back into a dark and empty subterranean room.

Ezio turned and left.He returned to the antechamber of the catacomb and saw Rodrigo lying on a couch with green bile oozing from the corners of his mouth.

"I'm dying," Rodrigo said, "I've taken the poison I prepared for the moment of failure, because there's no room for me in this world. But tell me—before I leave forever this rage and Before the world of tears—tell me, what did you see in the tomb? Who did you meet?"

Ezio looked at him. "There's nothing there," he said.

He went back the way he had come, through the Sistine Chapel, out into the sunlight, and found his friend waiting for him there.

New worlds are waiting for him to create.

(End of this chapter)