He's so cocky, prideful and self-assured. All that overconfidence got to his head, he wasn't prepared for when the rug got pulled from right under him.
Hands tied behind his back with a sturdy rope binding, it digs into his wrists ever so slightly since you had removed his bracers. You left him without weapons nor protection. Anything can be used as a weapon in the hands of an assassin.
Altaïr sneers at you whenever you pass by where he's being held. Making numerous mocking taunts in order to get a reaction out of you. He's always been the impatient type. Quick to show his aptitude and capabilities when the opportunity presents itself.
Then there's that self-congratulatory upturn of his lips at the tick in your jaw. The muscles obvious tense with how your possibly gritting or clenching your teeth. Seems like he struck a nerve there with his continuous jabs at the church.
Soon that complacent expression is besmeared with tears and pearly beads of your spend. His tongue lolled out like a dog thirsty for water, avidly polishing off the softening cock that was buried in his mouth just moments earlier.
"This means nothing," he grumbles out even as he suckles on the flared head. It's almost as if he's willing more of your heady flavor to seep out the slit. It doesn't tastes like anything he's had before, something compulsively moreish, addictive even.
At this point, Altaïr's knees and legs are prickling with numbness from having been kneeling for so long. Not that he pays it any heed. His sole focus is on working you up again.
If only circumstances were different and you weren't affiliated with the order of the church, just maybe he'd consider something entirely out of the ordinary.
When he feels your cock starting to twitch back to life and harden due to his ministrations, he greedily laps at the underside of the crown where a prominent vein gets his upmost attention. Adamant and diligently doing what he can to get it to full mast.
"Couldn't help yourself, could you?" His voice drips with such arrogance that makes you want to make him a withering mess.
"Watch yourself." Your warning falls to deaf ears, it does little to deter him from being a smart aleck. It may be that Altaïr is need of some..admonishment and reformation.
Who hasn't heard of Altair? About a powerful weapon, which, however, changed one master after another. He lasted the longest with Malik, but you haven't seen him for a long time.
Everyone in Masyaf knew Altair and everyone talked about him. Maybe it was because they demoted him to the rookie level yesterday. That was your level as well, but what could you do when you only recently joined the assassins?
You were one of the masters, people who controlled special weapons, and today was finally the day when they would assign you a weapon. That's how it was on Masyaf, and assassins with weapons were stronger than those with ordinary ones. Occasionally, rather exceptionally, it happened that a master was assigned his rightful weapon.
You climbed the stairs to Al Mualim's office, eager to find out who you would be working with. All you knew was that it would be a sword. Which narrowed down your choices, but you still had no idea who it could be.
You expected a lot, but you certainly didn't expect Altair next to the Grandmaster. Maybe your weapon will still arrive there, your mind flashed, and you tried to stay calm.
“Safety and peace be with you Master Altair,” you greeted them.
"You too," they returned your greeting. Altair just muttered something but kept his eyes on you the whole time. The younger assassin looked like he was going to leave if the master didn't stop him.
"Altair, as you well know, you deprived your original master of your hand and since you were demoted to novice, another master must be assigned to you. Altair, this is Y/N, your new master," he told him sternly. Before you could say anything, he took up the word assassin.
"You can't be serious? She's a novice!" he protested.
"So are you. Plus, Y/N has proven what she's capable of and I'm sure she's well on her way to the top," Grandmaster replied calmly. "So I've decided and I won't change my decision," he added sternly when he noticed Altair was about to object.
After the Grandmaster released you, you headed outside the fortress, to a small area out of sight of the city, where you were to fight Altair. Not with him, but against him. He wanted to see how good you were with the sword.
He pissed you off when he added that he didn't want a master to drag him down. You had to do something not to punch him. How could he even say such a thing to you? Especially when you were now on the same level.
You were able to keep up with them in a fight and it felt like you could read his every move and avoid him. However, this was also true for him, and neither was able to strike a blow at the other.
After a few days, the Grandmaster sent you on your first mission outside the fortress. You were looking forward to it. You can finally show off all your skills. You have arrived at Acre, where you first went to the local rafiq.
You wanted to find out the necessary information first and then kill. But your weapon was of a different opinion and while you were out scouting, he took matters into his own hands. It all dawned on you when alarm bells rang through the city. You immediately ran to the switchboard to find out what happened.
Altair was already there, covered in blood and was being scolded by rafiq for his carelessness and rashness. It annoyed you too because it was your mutual mission and you wanted to help him with it too. But you didn't say anything to him when you saw how rafiq scolded him.
This is how the mission went in Damascus too. There he locked you in the base and went on a solo quest again. You had the impression that he locked you in there because you made it clear to him along the way that you would not take this mission away from him.
You didn't understand how he did it, but you thought, or hoped, that Altair would get some kind of warning from the Grandmaster. Especially with how the rafiqs were always furious with his behaviour and lack of information.
You didn't say anything about the mission to Jerusalem, where your third mission was located. You kept your own plan to yourself. If Altair wants to work solo then so be it, but he won't get rid of you that easily.
You arrived in Jerusalem in the evening and the original plan was to go to sleep as soon as you arrived at the base. You lay down on your pillows and close your eyes. But you were just pretending to be asleep.
This tactic paid off for you as very soon you heard footsteps and someone climbing out. You got up just in time to see Altair disappear from your sight. You were on your feet that moment, following him around town from a safe distance.
You followed him to the small gallows that was teeming with soldiers and where you noticed an assassin tied up on the stage. He wasn't in uniform, but you recognized him by his face. From the wall, you saw Altair sneaking through the shadows like a true assassin and striking at the right moment like a true killer.
The moment he killed the first guard and freed the captured assassin with his throwing knife, the fight began. Bells rang through the city and the assassin was at a clear disadvantage. You admired how he was able to stay calm in such numbers and cover one attack after another.
However, you were starting to like this less and less as more guards rushed up there. Altair slowly found himself trapped and threatened to be attacked from behind. You ran across the roof and jumped on a soldier who was about to stab Altair in the back.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you at the base?" he barked at you when he noticed you.
“Thanks would do,” you snapped as you covered his back.
You were fighting a group of soldiers, there were more and more of them, and in the confusion, you accidentally lost your sword. Or rather, they attacked you in such a style that they knocked it out of your hand. Now you only had a small dagger and a hidden blade for defence and against swords and spears it wasn't such a win.
You were starting to have trouble keeping them off your body. You fended off one as the other attacked. You lost track of where the next attack was coming from.
By the time you noticed it, it was already too late. Although you partially dodged, the sword cut you in the side. Like nothing he passed through the leather protection belt to the flesh.
You cursed in pain and drove the hidden blade into your attacker's throat. Another soldier lunged at you as something skittered through the air and you grabbed your sword. It was light and held so well that you had the impression that it was custom-made for you.
You had the impression as if everything around you slowed down, and darkened and only the enemies remained visible. With this sword, you had a sense of completeness and were able to better focus on the soldiers and read their movements.
Before you knew it, the fight was over and you were breathing hard in the middle of a pile of bodies. However, before you could speculate how you did it, you heard a scream and the sound of heavy footsteps coming towards you.
Not a second late, you sheathed your sword and started climbing the nearest building. Your side hurt like hell, even though you were still bleeding, but that had to go away.
As soon as you got to the roof you ran away. But you were slowly running out of strength, so you hid in the nearest garden. There you leaned your back against the wooden wall and waited for the situation in the city to calm down.
However, you didn't expect the sword to turn into a human, let alone Altair. You completely forgot about him during the fight. You thought he took some opportunity to escape.
"What made you think of following me there?" he asked you sternly and took your hand. He examined it from different angles and gently ran his fingers over it. It was the hand they cut you in and knocked out your sword. However, there was nothing with your hand, only the metal was slightly scratched.
"It's okay, I don't…" you stuttered as pain shot through your side. Like someone stabbed you in the wound again. Altair immediately noticed the blood and crouched down to get a better look.
There was still a lot of blood coming out of your side. Altair leaned over to you, took off your leather belt and tied the red scarf you had around your waist pressing against your wound like a makeshift bandage. Altair grunted something before deciding that you needed to get back to base as soon as possible.
Once the bells had quieted, you left your hiding place. You have reached the edge of the roof. You were about to jump when Altair took you in his arms and started running with you.
"You know I can still run?" you asked him as you didn't understand him at all. He hasn't treated you like this in all this time. So far, he's acted more like you're just a burden. However, he shot you a look and didn't say anything about it. You preferred not to say anything for the rest of the trip.
Once you got to the base the assassin laid you down on the carpets and ordered you to lie down before walking into the room behind Malik. Suddenly there was shouting and an argument.
"What did you think? You want to kill all the masters Al Mualim assigns you?!" Malik shouted at him.
"Shout at me all you want, but first help me treat her! There will be time for arguments later!" Altair retorted sternly. You haven't experienced him like this. At that, Malik said something you didn't understand before they both walked over to you with clean bandages and water.
After the treatment, Malik left and only Altair was left, watching you with a stern look. You sat across from him with your head down, expecting a spanking.
"Why didn't you stay at the base? Did you want to get killed or something?" scolded you
"I didn't want to just idly wait here. Besides, if I hadn't followed you, they could have killed you," you answered honestly, looking at him hesitantly. His gaze remained stern for a moment before softening and sighing.
“I'll keep quiet about this disobedience in front of Al Mualim, but don't expect to get away with it unpunished,” he said more sternly than you expected, though, on the other hand, you were glad he would keep quiet about it in front of the Grandmaster.
Even if you were afraid of what the assassin would come up with for you. However, that was all he wanted to tell you and otherwise let you rest. You were glad for that, as you wondered to yourself how exhausted you were.
You woke up late at night and the only source of light was the moon shining down through the lattice. You were cold and pulled more of the blanket closer to you.
Then it dawned on you that you didn't have a blanket before you fell asleep. You also noticed that someone was lying right next to you, wrapping their arms around your waist so gently that they weren't pressing on your wound at all.
You wanted to turn around and see who was lying next to you, even though you had your suspicions. But as you wiggled, someone gently pulled you closer to him. This deterred you from moving any further and instead, you decided to check your tattoo. You rolled up your sleeve and smiled.
So you finally found your true weapon. Your wrist was no longer adorned with an ordinary grey sword. Rather, a sword with eagle wings and a hilt resembling an eagle's head with a golden eye. You had the impression that the eye perfectly captured his own eyes. As if he was looking at you through the tattoo.
You pulled your hand to your chest and closed your eyes with a happy smile. You placed your other hand lightly on top of his. Your tattoo confirmed it, and you came away safer than ever with the weapon that you embraced as if he wanted to protect you even in your sleep. Who would have thought that your weapon would be Altair?
Ever since you found out the truth and officially got together with Altair, your results have improved many times over. The Grandmaster could devote himself fully to your training and he rewarded you with little kisses, stealthy hugs and the like. But all hidden from the eyes of others.
With you by his side he was, much calmer and made better decisions. You were also able to focus more on your training and you achieved the status of an assassin much earlier than you expected. Hard to tell if it was your hard training or the dragon's whim.
He paid much more attention to you in the safety of your rooms or underground room. He loved being able to hug you and have you close to him. Touches, kisses, hugs or dragon hugs. That was all he needed. Plus, when you were alone, he could afford to be himself. So he spent more time as a half-dragon.
He admired your courage and curiosity. You had so many questions for him that sometimes even he didn't have an answer to. He had no idea how much he loved when you stroked his horns or wings. It was in these moments that he was most relaxed and most vulnerable. The part he could only afford to reveal to you.
After some time, seeing how well you accepted him in this half-form of him, he decided it was time to show you his full dragon form.
And that's why you went alone into the desert one evening. Sure, he could change in Masyaf underground, but there wasn't that much free space for him to stretch his wings.
You drove into a nearby valley where you were sure no one would see you. Altair made sure that there were no bandits and that none of the assassins had any missions or detours. You camped there.
You prepared the wood and Altair lit the fire. You found it amazing that he could breathe fire. It saved such work. There you waited for dusk. Of course, he could have turned into a dragon earlier, but he would be less noticeable at night. Even though the giant white lizard glowed in the middle of the darkness exactly as it did during the day.
As the sun sank to the ground and the sky darkened, the assassin stripped down to his pants and transformed into his half-form. He stretched his wings a bit before he distanced himself from you. He needed space to change and he didn't want to accidentally hurt you.
You stood by the horses who were surprisingly calm and watched as white and gold scales covered Altair's entire body and the man turned into a dragon. It was the same majestic dragon you found sleeping in the cave at that time.
“Altair,” you said walking closer to him. The dragon lowered its head to the ground and you stroked its smooth scales. The dragon let you look at him for a while before he nudged you weakly with his snout and took off into the clouds. You watched in awe as he circled above your head.
You let him stretch his wings and you walked over to the fire yourself where you could watch him.
You thought when he started to sink to the ground that it was over, that he would either lie down next to you or change back. Little did you know that he would grab you in his claws and lift you into the air. You held on like a yelp and watched as the ground beneath you caved in.
"Altair! Bring me back down immediately!" you screamed at the top of your lungs, but it was as if the dragon didn't hear.
You were slowly getting sick and couldn't even enjoy the view. Heights weren't normally a problem for you, but this… This was new, and even though you knew Altair wasn't going to let you go, you were scared. You just hoped that he would land with you again soon.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Instead, Altair got the idea to throw you up. You screamed at the top of your lungs. What was on his mind? At one point you stopped mid-air before you started to fall down. You saw a big white blur before the dragon caught you. Or rather, you landed on his back.
You immediately wrapped your arms around his neck, which you wanted to strangle. As if apologizing to you, the dragon kept a constant height and pace so you were able to relax and even enjoy the view which was beyond magical. From this height, you could see the outline of Masyaf looming behind the rocks.
You held on more when you landed, but Altair tried not to throw you too much. He remained in his dragon form long into the night. You laid down right next to him and he covered you with his wing. Nothing could harm and at the same time, his body protected you from the cold.
You both loved these little trips. Altair always took you on a skywalk and for him this was a way to stretch out and release some steam in his dragon form.
One day you gave him a long red scarf as a present. You bought it for him for two things. First of all, when you wrapped it around his neck like a dragon, he looked like an assassin. And secondly, it gave you something to hold on to.
During your training, you set your own mission. You knew Altair had a soft spot for you and to be honest you had a crush on him too. However, you needed to put all these emotions aside.
You knew very well that the Grandmaster was hiding something and it also concerned the underground passages and the room with the dragon. You didn't know how or why yet, but it was definitely there. And the grandmaster was the key.
It may have been drastic, but you didn't come up with any other solution. Your tactic was to be cool and professional with him, without any emotion, and wait and watch for him to make a mistake.
Once you weren't well and so you weren’t in the mood or anyone and you had the impression that Altair might lose his mind, to find out what was bothering you. You hoped it would be the same now. That he will make a mistake and lead you to the truth.
Your efforts were not long in coming. You were the first to start calling him master again. When you said that to him for the first time in a long time, he looked at you uncomprehendingly. However, when he saw that it was not a mistake, he was speechless.
After a few days, it was clear that he was annoyed. Although he tried to disguise it, all the inhabitants of Masyaf recognized it. However, it did not lead to any error. Yet.
And finally, after almost a month, it happened. What you've been waiting for so long. Altair sent word to Jerusalem. You knew that if it was an administration to Jerusalem, it was to the only person who could help him.
A few days later, when you were patrolling the castle gate almost every day, the expected guest finally arrived. Malik left his horse on the outskirts of the city and walked to Masyaf.
From there you watched him from afar. Instead of going to the study or Altair's room, he headed to the underground. You followed him there as well, being careful not to lose sight of him.
Malik had a torch with him, so you knew very well that you had reached the gate. He glanced over his shoulder before stepping through her. However, you were hidden behind a pillar the whole time and you were quite far away and without a torch. There was no way he could see you. He finally got through.
You walked over to the gate and listened. You recognized Altair's voice as he discussed something with Malik. However, you didn't understand them from this distance. The worst part was that you had no idea how far they were from the gate. What if they were right next door? You would reveal yourself that very soon.
You heard the voices start to drift away so you decided to take a peek inside. You crouched in the farthest corner from where the voices were least audible and peeked through the illusion. You haven't seen them anywhere. With that, you crawled inside and hid behind the golden relics. You alternated these hiding places and slowly approached the voices.
You were so close you could see them. Malik had his back to you and Altair couldn't see past him. You could already notice something strange about him. The fact that he had his hood off was strange in itself, but even stranger were the white gold horns sticking out of his head.
Moreover, now you could see better, how snow-white wings stuck out from his back, resembling the wings of a bat. Just like the time he caught you on a failed jump. Likewise, a long reptilian tail flicked from side to side behind him. By the looks of it, you'd guess it was a crocodile if it wasn't connected to your master.
"... Everything was fine before. Now I don't know why she's avoiding me and it's driving me crazy," Altair complained. So your plan worked.
"And did you try to talk to her?" Malik suggested, rubbing his chin.
"What would I say to her?" he growled in response. You wanted to hear better and leaned out a little more. As you leaned on your hand, the gold shifted under your weight and several coins rolled to the ground.
The two men immediately perked up and looked in your direction. Fortunately, you were already hidden again. Your heart was in your ears from all the adrenaline. You heard footsteps approaching. That was bad. You immediately moved to another shelter.
"Did someone follow you?" Altair asked as he inspected your previous stash.
"I don't know about anyone," he replied and walked over to him. Altair crouched down to exactly where you were hiding before he smiled conspiratorially.
"It doesn't matter," he replied surprisingly calmly and headed for your next hiding place. You had to hide somewhere else.
This is how you played cat and mouse until you ran out of places to run and you found yourself in a dead end. You hoped he wouldn't come after you, but he didn't.
Altair appeared directly in front of you, his wings making him appear wider and blocking any possibility of your escape. You cringed and couldn't take your eyes off of him. As if there was an image that you needed to burn in your memory.
The first thing you noticed was the bright golden eyes with narrowed pupils and then the white spots on his face which you later found out were scales.
Altair reached out and helped you to your feet. He then put his arm around your waist and led you to Malik. Before you knew it, he pulled you closer and hugged you from behind. His head rested on top of yours. You tried to squirm out of his grip, but it was in vain. He had tremendous strength.
"Leave him. You don't have to worry about anything. He won't do anything else, he just needs to calm down," Malik said as he saw you struggle.
"What's this about?" you asked with a furrowed brow as you calmed down.
“Nothing,” you heard Altair murmur into your hair.
"You should tell her. She deserves to know the truth. She's seen you like this before anyway," Malik tried to convince him. However, the dragon hugged you even more and you felt him dig into your hair even more.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Malik asked you with a sigh, trying to change tactics when he saw his friend refusing to speak.
"I suspected something was up. I always saw Altair sneaking in here. I knew if I ignored him, he would make a mistake," you explained curtly. You felt Altair squeeze you lightly before letting go again. As if he was showing you that he didn't like it.
“Smart. And besides, it worked for you," Rafiq praised you.
“I'm not sure about that,” you replied. They just caught you.
"I think if you've come this far, you deserve to know the truth," he said, looking at Altair to see if he wanted to speak. However, the dragon remained silent.
"As you can see, the novice here is a dragon. As such, he has his strengths and weaknesses. For example, hoarding things and a certain selfishness or possessiveness. He simply has to have what he likes with him. Which is you. And thanks to your plan, when you kept your distance, it was destroying him. Like a dragon, he wanted to have you with him, but in order not to reveal himself, he couldn't show it," he explained. At his words, the dragon hugged you tighter again. Like he's afraid you'll run away from him.
To be honest, it was a lot to absorb. It made sense, but until now you thought that dragons were just legends, fairy tales to scare little children.
"I think it's best if we all go to sleep. At least Y/N can get it out of her head," he said before turning to his friend. "Altair, don't you want to finally let her go? Let her breathe a little?" he asked him. You felt the dragon reluctantly obey him and let you go.
“I didn't mind,” you shrugged. If it made Altair feel better then why not?
“You shouldn't have said that out loud,” you heard Malik say before the dragon hugged you again.
“You sleep with me tonight,” the dragon murmured, kissing you between your ear and jaw.
After that, he took you in his arms and carried you like that to his room which was located in one of the highest towers in Masyaf. There you took off your gear, but you were still wearing your uniform. He undressed and the only thing left on were his pants.
You were lying in bed and he lay right next to you and hugged you from behind. You didn't even move. You closed your eyes and tried to fall asleep.
You had no idea how much time had passed, but there was no sleep. No matter how hard you tried, your thoughts kept drifting to the assassin lying next to you.
You thought the dragon must have been asleep and you were the only one thinking too much when you felt his face brush against your hair before he lightly kissed you on the spot.
"I love you," he whispered almost inaudibly, but it was more than loud in the silence of the night. You didn't expect this. You turned around in his arms to look at him. The dragon looked unexpectedly vulnerable and you could see the desire in his eyes that shone in like two embers of coal.
"Altair…" you were about to tell him that you felt the same way when he stopped you.
"Don't say anything. I don't want to force you into anything. Let it go through your head," he said.
“I don't need to,” you closed your head and looked into his eyes. “I love you too,” you replied, feeling your cheeks burn from the confession.
"Are you serious?" he asked pulling you closer.
“Absolutely,” you replied with determination. At that, the dragon smiled and gently took your chin and leaned towards you. He kissed you on the lips carefully, as if he was afraid of hurting you. It was a short kiss, but it meant a lot.
When you pulled away, you laid down more comfortably right next to him. You placed a small kiss on his chest before closing your eyes. Altair was still hugging you and to top it off he covered you with his wing. You felt like he was protecting you from the whole world.
The night before you had your first patrol in the watchtower. The assassin who was supposed to replace you was late and you returned to your room later than planned. Therefore, it was no surprise when you finally woke up in the morning and noticed that the sun was suspiciously high.
You immediately jumped to your feet as you looked out the window and noticed that the day was already in full swing. In addition, you should have reported to the Grandmaster for the next lesson. You slipped into your uniform as fast as you could and adjusted your belt as you ran.
You almost bumped into several people along the way. One dropped the scrolls he was carrying in shock and the other almost fell over the railing. You took the stairs two at a time, it's a wonder the last one didn't slip under your feet.
Altair was waiting for you in his office and was just writing something down when you burst in like an unguided missile. You were glad you were wearing a hood since you didn't even have time to do your hair. Before you could catch your breath, you started apologizing for being late. It was a rare case for you, so he let it go this time.
The Grandmaster stood up from the table and looked you over with a look that indicated trouble. He always looked like this when someone did something or didn't do it the way he was supposed to. You mentally braced yourself for the worst when the master just sighed.
"That belt will only get in the way. You'll get tangled in it," he said disapprovingly.
"I'm sorry. I'll fix it right away," you replied and started untying it.
“I'll show you how,” he said as he walked over to you and took the belt from your hand before getting into the proper binding. The way he was crouched, you were thankful he couldn't see your face, which was now as red as the belt.
You felt awkward and were glad that no one here saw you like this. You tried to look everywhere you could, but your eyes always drifted to him anyway. Still with the belt in hand, Altair stood up, leaned over and began to adjust it from behind. You didn't even move.
"Okay, done," he said happily. You expected him to pull away immediately, but he didn't even move. You felt him rub his face against your forehead.
"You smell wonderful," he muttered almost inaudibly before finally pulling away. His eyes were burning with lust.
“Thank you,” you mumbled, feeling your face still burning as your heart raced. Altair smiled for a moment before tilting his head and as if nothing had happened between the two of you, he began to explain to you what was to come today.
It was around midnight when an earthquake hit Masyaf. Fortunately, it wasn't a big deal, but it was still felt. You were on patrol walking around the catacombs when you felt it. Moreover, you had the impression that it was coming from there. You gripped the torch tighter and headed inside.
You walked through a simple tunnel for the first few meters until you reached a familiar pillared room that was so vast you couldn't see the end. You always lost Altair in this room. You hesitated whether to go on.
You tried to find some clues in the torchlight that would tell you where to go. You didn't have the eagle eye like your master, but on the other hand, you had excellent intuition. Although Altair stood his ground that with the right training, you can learn it too.
Deeply excited, you closed your eyes and concentrated. When you opened your eyes again, you had the impression that everything around you was darker, even the fire in your hand lost its colour. Instead, you saw a flickering golden light in the distance. However, it was too far away for you to recognize what it was.
After a few seconds, the golden light disappeared and everything returned to its original colors. After that, you directly went to where you saw the light.
When you finally reached the end of the room, a giant stone gate stood before you. You didn't understand how such a gate could even be opened. You looked at the strange symbols that covered the gate and that almost came to life under the light.
You raised your hand intending to touch those symbols to see if it was a puzzle or something. Masyaf was known for such things. Instead of cold stone, your fingers went through. You ran your fingers through the void for a moment before withdrawing your hand again.
After a moment of hesitation, you reached for the gate again. This time you tried to feel some edges or an obstacle. The whole gate must have been one big illusion because your hand stopped at its edges.
Now more than ever you wondered what was on the other side. With your hand out in front of you, you touched the illusion before taking one big step and walking through. You had long ago learned to face fear and danger with your eyes open, but you still found yourself holding your breath.
You couldn't see anything for a moment before your view opened up to a vast room full of gold and all sorts of treasures. Some piles of gold were several meters high. You marvelled at all the wealth that was here and placed the torch in the holder on the edge of the wall. There were bowls of fire in the room to light it, so a torch was unnecessary.
Now was the time to explore. You walked around the first pile of gold and immediately stopped in your tracks. Now you were grateful for your training and the special shoes that made you walk as quietly as a cat. Behind the pile of gold lay a giant beast with white and golden scales. With his eyes closed he looked like he was sleeping.
You stood there, not daring to approach. You didn't want to accidentally wake the creature. The creature had a long elegant body with scales as white as fresh snow and some glittering with gold.
His large wings were pressed against his body and slowly rose and fell with each breath he took. He also had white and gold horns curled forward. As you examined his head, you noticed a scar that ran across his right lip. It kind of reminded you of Altair.
You took a few steps to the side when you noticed one small amulet with a dragon symbol, its body resembling the assassin symbol lying next to a pile of gold. The amulet caught your eye immediately and before you knew it you were heading towards it.
In no time you had the amulet in your hand. At that moment you had the impression that the dragon had moved. You didn't want to risk the beast waking up and having you for a snack. That's why you better leave with the amulet.
You were glad that no one was looking for you because according to the moon, you had the impression that there would be a changing of the guards soon.
The next day you were supposed to have training with one of the mentors early in the morning. As you walked out, you automatically put the locket around your neck. Although you had it partially hidden, it was still visible. When you arrived at the training ground, your mentor told you that Altair wanted to see you. You didn't understand why he would call you.
“Safety and peace,” you greeted as you walked into his study.
"Safety and peace to you too," Altair replied, moving closer to you. You had the impression that today his eyes were burning gold more than ever.
He looked you over from head to toe when he noticed the locket. He took it in his hand and examined it while it was still on your neck. You had no idea what to do. He must have known you took him from the cave.
"You should keep it. It suits you," he said just as you were about to confess and smiled. He didn't smile very often, although you had the impression that he smiled more often when you were around. He let go of the amulet and stopped smiling.
"However, that doesn't excuse you from being underground," he said sternly. And it was here. Scolding. What if he kicked you out of the brotherhood for that? Or will you not be much of an assassin anymore?
"Those underground passages are vast and even the best can get lost there. What if you can't find your way back?" he asked you still sternly even though you heard something else in his voice.
In the end, he reprimanded you about why you shouldn't go there and about the traps and dangers that were there. You got extra training to avoid any more wanderings like this.
You were supposed to make up one of your extra lessons that night. A leap of faith in the night. The leap of faith was difficult in itself for beginners and it was worse at night. Although you already had several jumps behind you, but now that you could not properly see the bottom, it was something else.
You stood on the ledge and looked around. You knew they were changing the hay under one of them, so there was nothing there. However, you didn't know which one it was.
You were looking around trying to find a haystack, completely oblivious to your surroundings. You knew that the Grandmaster himself was watching over you, but you knew that there were other novices as well. One of them was probably celebrating because he was hanging around and you noticed a bottle in one corner. You tried to ignore it and focus on the jump.
You finally remembered where the hay was missing and wanted to get off the ledge as soon as possible. Unfortunately for you, the drunk novice was hanging around you, and to keep his balance, he pushed you with such force that you staggered yourself. You had nothing to grab onto and before you knew it, you were falling into darkness.
You screamed and noticed something white rush behind you. It was Altair. He caught you in his arms before you hit the hard ground. He held your feet with one hand and protected your head with the other. You didn't see anything, but you felt the Grandmaster land on his feet. You didn't understand how he could do something like that.
"Aren't you hurt?" he asked you as he laid you down and checked you over to see if you were hurt. It was the first or maybe the second time you saw fear in his face. However, you were more interested in his eyes, which seemed to glow in the dark and the pupils were narrowed like a snake's.
“I'm fine,” you shooked your head. Although you were still taken aback by what happened, you were otherwise fine. You could see that he was a little relieved and the worry on his face was replaced by anger.
"Can you make it from here?" he asked.
"I can. The path is lit so it's no problem," you replied. That was enough for him as an answer. He turned his back on you and started running.
You had the impression that something was fluttering behind him. You'd compare it to a bat's wings and a snake's tail, but in the dark, it could just be your imagination. As you made your way back outside the gates of Masyaf, you could hear the Grandmaster scolding the drunken novice. You had the impression that the entire fortress heard it.
Your training and various exercises sometimes took place outside the fortress and outside the city itself. Together with Altair, you went to the desert, where a small enemy camp was supposed to be located.
The plan was to stay the night in the desert, reconnoitre the enemy's territory and get the flag from there, which was located in the very centre on high ground. After that, you were scheduled to go to Jerusalem, where the Grandmaster was supposed to have a meeting with the Rafiq there.
You had travelled some distance from Masyaf when the enemy camp that Altair spoke of appeared in front of you. You camped not far from it and it was up to you to get the necessary information.
Altair often taught you about the mistakes of his past, so he made sure that you used your intuition, but that you found out the necessary and correct information.
When evening came it was up to you to prepare the fire. You got wood and everything, but no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't get the fire going. You've probably tried all possible methods. Using sticks, stones... Nothing. You were slowly running out of patience.
“I'll do it,” Altair said after a while of you competing with the flintlocks. You nodded in agreement and handed him the rocks. Altair slammed them together a few times and you thought you didn't see any spark.
But he crouched down to the hearth and began to blow into it. You watched curiously as you noticed what seemed to be a flame coming out of his mouth. Suddenly, smoke appeared from the hearth and the fire was on. You couldn't believe your eyes.
“Thank you, Master,” you finally said, swallowing your other questions. How? What it was? Etc. He taught you to question, but right now you were questioning your eyesight.
"You're welcome. And Y/N? Just call me Altair," he said and you felt like his eyes were shining gold. But you attributed that to the illusion created by the flames.
You wanted to execute the infiltration plan at dawn when the guards were changing. You got in without any problems without anyone seeing you. You got to the flag and you had the impression that it was suspiciously easy.
Your suspicions were justified because as soon as you touched the flag, an arrow pierced your shoulder. You immediately pulled back and focused on the direction the arrow had come from. You noticed the archers. Looking around you found yourself surrounded. So they waited for you. It was a trap and you fell into it.
You broke the arrow so it wouldn't get in your way and even with the flag in hand you ran away. Now that you've had it, you're not going to leave it there. You jumped off the lookout tower and ran away.
You ran around the tents so they wouldn't see you, but when you got to the gate they were already waiting for you. They've completely blocked your path.
You drew your sword in your good hand and were thankful that you were learning to fight with both hands, just in case. Enemies rushed at you and you were clearly at a disadvantage.
Although you always tried to focus on the one closest to you, spotting who would attack and the like, despite that you knew that this was a problem. Fortunately for you, Altair was watching the whole situation and as soon as you were hit in the hand, help was on the way.
Just when you were starting to feel like you couldn't handle another attack, an assassin swooped in. He deflected one attack with his sword and blocked the other one aimed at you with his hand. You saw the sword go through his uniform, but you didn't see the blood. However, you had to focus on your opponents.
Together, you finally managed to kill the bandits and get to safety. At a sufficient distance, when you reached your camp and horses, you wanted to look at his hand. After all, you saw how the sword hit him. Altair showed her to you, but there was no injury on her. You looked at his hand in confusion.
"A lot was going on at once. Maybe someone else got hurt like that," he said, focusing his amber eyes on your shoulder, which was still bleeding and had a piece of arrows sticking out of it. "I'm more concerned about your injury," he said, inspecting it.
He carefully tried to help you out of your uniform, but it only got worse. A sharp pain shot through your shoulder and you looked unusually pale and exhausted. He didn't like this at all. This injury required proper treatment.
"We'll head straight for Jerusalem," Altair ordered. "Can you stay in the saddle?" he asked you worriedly. You nodded in agreement. After all, this little injury won't put you out of the game, right?
Unfortunately, you couldn't have been more wrong. After some time in the saddle, fatigue began to overtake you and the pain began to spread like a contagion throughout your body.
At one point you had the impression that your eyelids were made of stone and that you couldn't keep them open any longer. You blinked and then blinked again.
Then you could no longer open your eyelids and the peace of darkness enveloped you like a pleasant blanket. It wasn't until too late that you realized you fell asleep. It only dawned on you when a pair of hands grabbed you.
"You'd better ride with me," Altair said firmly. You nodded your head in agreement. He helped you onto his horse and settled behind you. He tied the reins of your horse to the saddle, held you around the waist with one hand so you wouldn't fall, and held the reins of his horse with the other. You leaned comfortably against his body, which warmed you pleasantly. Before you knew it, you fell asleep again.
You only woke up to the noise of people who were also heading to town. You stopped away from the main gate which was guarded by guards on each side.
"Can you get in?" Altair asked you as you regained your senses and surveyed your surroundings. Your shoulder still hurt, but you had already stopped bleeding.
"I'll make it. I'll blend in with those monks over there and sneak in with them undetected," you replied. Altair nodded his head in agreement. He helped you off the horse and onto the ground, putting his cloak over your shoulders. He didn't want your injury to attract unnecessary attention.
You did as you said and got through the guards to the city unnoticed. There you sat down on the bench and waited for the master, who joined you after a while. Together you walked through the alleys to the district where the base was located.
Normally you would have gotten there via the roof using parkour, but now you didn't want to risk making your injuries worse. Plus, you didn't want to risk running into the archers patrolling the rooftops.
When you finally reached the base here, you sat down on a bench in front of the building while the master made his way there via the roof. There was also a secret entrance, but only the local Rafiq knew about it. When you finally got inside, your injury was the priority.
Malik, the local Rafiq, with Altair's help, got rid of the rest of the arrow and tended to your wound, which began to bleed again. You were given the day off and rather your task was to rest. That wasn't a problem for you.
You lay down on the soft carpet that was littered with pillows and closed your eyes. You thought you were going to fall asleep again, but you probably weren't that tired again.
You still had your eyes closed and were listening to your surroundings. Nothing very interesting. That is until you heard the voice of the master and Rafiq. They were talking about something.
"…It was supposed to be a simple mission. I went to check it out myself. I have no idea where they turned up. If I wasn't sure myself, I wouldn't have sent her there," you recognized your master's voice.
"I see. I'll try to find out more in the city," Malik replied. There was silence for a moment.
“Now tell me since when have you personally been training the novices?” Malik asked in a different tone. Altair didn't answer.
"Does she know about it?" was Rafiq's next question.
"No. I didn't tell her the real reason. Besides, she indeed has potential," finally replied the Grandmaster.
"Just be careful," Rafiq said finally.
"I know. But sometimes I have this urge..." you didn't hear the end of that sentence. Overall, the conversation was weird and didn't make any sense to you.
Sure Altair acted strange at times, but what other reason could he have chosen to keep an eye on you? But now you had the impression that you wouldn't find out much. You'll have to go about it differently.
You left Jerusalem as soon as your shoulder healed. You surveyed the surrounding situation, Malik, who you found out was Altair's best friend, was overseeing your training for a while. Even so, they kept nudging each other. Malik kept calling him a novice, even in front of you, and it annoyed Altair.
Unlike the Grandmaster, Malik taught you in maps, documents, and generally in that direction. A proper assassin should develop both body and mind.
As a novice assassin, you came under the wing of the youngest Grandmaster, Altair himself. Under his training, you began to notice several quirks that you were determined to get to the bottom of. Including your developing relationship with the Grandmaster.
Altair stood in his study watching the novice training from the large window. He checked them here and there but otherwise didn't study them. He trusted the mentors who trained them to do a first-class job.
This time, even if he tried to focus his attention on something else, like his work, he always had to return to the window. One of the novices towered over all the others and got his attention.
You were one of the few who was interested in training and learning to be an assassin. You were a talent that was not seen here very often. A beautiful flower that grew in the inhospitable environment of the desert. One of the rafiqs noticed your talent and sent you here to Masyaf.
Although you were just a novice, you planned to change that soon. You wanted to become a full-fledged assassin and fight for people's freedom.
The mentor taught you new sword attacks that you learned naturally. During training, you had the impression that someone was watching you. But you didn't see anyone. That is, except as a mentor, but that was his duty.
You were halfway through training when someone approached the training ring. From his uniform, you guessed that he was someone in a high position. However, you didn't have time to follow him, because another novice rushed at you in a practice match and wanted to take advantage of your inattention.
You simply dodged his attack and sent him to the ground in a few simple moves. The mentor complimented you while giving your opponent some advice on what to avoid next time and what to improve on. After this fight, the mentor gave you a break before turning to the newcomer.
"Altair, what brings you here?" greeted the assassin's mentor. You immediately knew who it was by the name. Everyone on Masyaf has heard of Altair. The youngest Grandmaster in Assassin history. Looking at him, you got the impression that he was only a few years older than you.
“I wanted to see for myself how strong our novices are,” he replied, looking you over. You had the impression that his gaze lingered on you longer than on the others.
"I must say that we now have a really strong and skilled group," the mentor praised you. Altair nodded his head meaningfully before looking back at you.
"You?" he said to you. "What is your name?" he asked.
“Y/F/N,” you replied. Altair repeated your name before turning to your mentor.
"Starting tomorrow I will be personally supervising training Y/F/N. Is that okay with you?" he said and it didn't sound like a question at all.
"Sure. I see a lot of potential in Y/N. I'm sure you'll be happy with her," he replied. That was a shock to you. Train under a grandmaster? It just didn't happen to anyone. That was the first you heard about it.
And so it was that from the next day you were taught by the great Altair himself. Altair was strict about some things and tried to get the best out of you, but sometimes you wondered if there was more to it.
Several times you caught him watching you with his amber eyes with an almost dreamy expression. When you caught him staring, he would usually immediately look away, or immediately harden his gaze and go back into learning mode.
Moreover, every time you addressed him as a master, it caught him by surprise. You didn't understand why. That's how everyone at the castle addressed him.
Sometimes when you addressed him like that, he would stop, or you noticed how his cheeks turned pink, which he tried to hide in the shadow of his hood. But that happened at least. Especially the times you caught him staring and asked him if something was wrong.
He had a style of training that suited you. Sometimes he would give you little training missions like find and bring without being seen etc.
You also trained your fighting skills with him. He always explained a movement to you and how to do it. He let you try it a few times before you had to fight him. You had the impression that the fights were just some kind of game for him.
You could see the joy in his eyes at being able to fight with you. But he never spared you and so it happened that he always won. After the fight, he told you what you improved and what needed to be improved. However, he always praised you for improving. You hoped that one day you would be able to beat him in a fight.
Over time, you found out that the Grandmaster regularly went to the underground passages, which were so complex that they seemed like a labyrinth. Especially when you got into a giant corridor made up of thousands of columns where one had no idea how many steps he had walked. Everything looked the same there and it was easy to get lost there.
At first, you just waved it off that it was nothing, but your curiosity didn't stop you and you wanted to find out what was there. In the beginning, you tried to follow Altair, but somehow he always got lost. And so you set yourself the goal of one day finding out what is hidden there.