Assassin's Journey: The Lost Civilization.

Many civilizations have been lost throughout time, no matter how significant or insignificant they were. Some are just now being discovered.

One particular civilization was one of, if not the most powerful civilization in world history. This civilization was far more technologically advanced than other civilization of that time. But because of its lost records, the existence of this civilization seemed to be more romantic, a mere fable to entertain and teach the young Assassins a lesson, than a feasible one.

Until today.

During a treacherous and near deadly expedition through the Sahara desert, a group of Assassins found the ruins of appeared to be a city.

"Could it be…?" They all said to themselves and to each other.

They decided to push their luck and explore the ruins. Not much was found until one of them decided to use their eagle vision. Certain areas in the ruins glowed with a bright white hue. When they reached those areas, they found stone walls, fifteen in total. Each of the walls, once activated, displayed cryptic and mysterious messages in the form of pictures and writing.

All of these walls held a story, a story about the civilization that was once and never was again. The group pulled out their notebooks and carefully deciphered each walls that they found.

These were their records.

~AC~J~

It was already known that this civilization had technology highly advanced for their time. But it was soon found out why this technology never spread. This civilization was very introverted; they mainly kept to themselves. For reasons unknown, they did not wish to interact with other civilizations nor did they want to be discovered. It was questionable if this civilization even existed to begin with but no could take the time to come up with completely elaborate scheme just to satisfy us.

Other than being introverted, this civilization as whole was very spiritual and had a deep connection with the Earth. Subsequently, their religion was taken very seriously. They didn't believe in one God, but rather several. Six to be exact. They were called the Six Guardians or commonly abbreviated as The Six.

Now the story that surrounds The Six is a large one all on its own. In summary, The Six were known as the first six to have ever walked the face of the Earth. When the ones known as "The Ones Who came before" appeared, The Six retreated to what they predicted would be the most undesirable place on the Earth. The Deserts. What desert specifically hasn't been specified. It seems like they took refuge in the largest desert that was on the Earth at the time; somewhere between Northern Africa and the Middle East, which would appear to be present day Sahara Desert.

It was there they began to build their own civilization. The people were created in their image but minus their abilities. Once they grew their civilization to a proper number of a thousand to start, they left the physical world for the spiritual world. It was there that they would govern over their civilization and make sure that everything was kept at peace and chaos was kept at bay.

But before they left, they buried six artifacts. It appeared that they used these six powerful artifacts to build their civilization. They took these six artifacts, closed them in a box, and buried it in the sand about five miles away from where their civilization was settled. They believed that no one would be daring to travel that far away from the settlement but the main reason why they buried it was because it was a test.

They had high hope for their civilization but they were wise enough to know that it may not last forever. They wanted to know how their people would react to encountering power. The Six were wise in the concept of power. Citing from Lord Action, 19th Century, "Power Corrupts. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely".

There is a repeated phrase. Power Corrupts…Power Corrupts Absolutely…Absolute Power…

~AC~J~

The civilization had been alive for hundred years at this point and all was well. The Six were pleased. The people were happy and prospering, they now were 10,000 strong and counting. What especially impressed The Six wad the people believed in and worshipped them. The people even set up a holiday, converted into the Georgian calendar, on June 6th; it was the day of The Six. Take note, this holiday was placed into effect in the year 6 (according to their calendar).

These people had a strong faith and were highly gracious for the life that they had. They offered gifts such as food, paintings, and money. The Six were humbled at the people's obedience. They did not expect nor did they want it.

In honor of one hundred years of being on the planet Earth, The Six had briefly returned to bear gifts and to grant these people a minor ability. The gift of flying. These people were now able to soar in the skies and when they came down, no matter what height, they would always land safely in the sand.

But there was a condition; the longer their scarf was, the longer they would be able to fly in the skies. How they could make their scarves larger was to find certain marking scattered across the large settlement. These markings would always change places to add to the challenge. But the people willingly accepted.

The Six had also preached to make sure that the people knew what their freedoms were. They were free to do what they wished and say what they wished. They may rule over them, but they had all the freedom in the world. Continue to celebrate us because you wish to, and not out of pure obligation and obedience…

As the days became weeks, and the weeks became months, and then months to years, everyone was in the sky. Many contested to see who could fly the closest to the sun. It was a favorable and entertaining contest and it amused The Six.

All was well…

~AC~J~

One day, six adventurous young children ventured a little further out from the settlement to find rumored markings that would allow infinite ascension. They were markings that a select few found and those select few could stay in the skies as long as they wanted. It was up to them as to when they wanted to come down.

It wasn't until they were almost ten miles away they realized that they have wandered too far. It was well beyond night fall, they did not know how to get back, and knew their parents had to be worried sick about them. What a predicament they have gotten themselves into.

While they were trying to find their way back, one of them tripped over an object that was sticking out of the sand. He pulled the object out of the sand and found it to be a box. The box had the letters EDEN written in clean calligraphy. The others weren't too far away from him so he beckoned the rest of them to where he was sitting. The six of them gathered around as the boy slowly opened the box.

They were mesmerized by what was inside. Six objects all in varying shapes. There was a sphere, a pyramid, a cube, a prism, an octahedron, and a dodecahedron. Six in total. They each picked up one and held it in their hands. The objects glowed dimly in their hands and hummed quietly.

Soon all six objects began to glow brightly then shot up a bright golden light into the night sky, nearly outshining all the other stars in the sky. All of the six golden rays pointed in the same direction. They all deduced that the rays were pointing out a way back home. They followed the light and soon enough, the settlement was in sight. Before returning to their parents, they put the objects back in the box and hid it just on the outskirts of the settlement, buried underneath the sand. It was a place that only they knew and that no one else could find.

~AC~J~

Another twenty years had passed and the once strong civilization was destabilizing. A debate over the time period that existed between the time The Six descended onto Earth and when they left has arisen. They believed that the Day of the Six should not be on the sixth day of the sixth month. They did not believe that their time began in the year 6.

They believed that The Day of The Six celebrated should last from on the days they arrived and when they left, which evidently was not a long period by technical terms; it was a time period that lasted a total of six days.

Many believed that the year that The Six arrived on Earth was Year 0, Day 0 and that the day that they left was Year 0, Day 1.

More would argue that they day and year they arrived came out to -0 and up until the time they left, it had been Year 0. When they left, that was when the calendar officially began; Year 1, Day 1.

All of this clashed with the calendar that they had set in place so there was a proposal to change it. But many refused, claiming that it would cause an imbalance.

So yet another argument was born; The Six had arrived on year 0, day 0, but when they left it was year 0, day 6. The celebration, instead of lasting just a day, it should last six days. It should start on the sixth day of the sixth month and end on the twelfth day of the sixth month.

It did not solve the problem.

Quarrel soon tore apart the region as everyone was pitted against each other. Everyone had their beliefs and refused to consider the belief of another. It was a long and bloody civil war. A war that lasted for eight more years and brought the population from 10,000 to just below half of that.

The six children, now fully grown could not bear for their civilization to be reduced to rubble. They have lost so much and could not bear to witness more losses. They ventured out to the outskirts of the settlement to find the box they had discovered and buried all those years ago. If these six objects helped them find a path, perhaps it could help their civilization rediscover their path. They quickly dug up the box, opened it and retrieved the objects inside. They ran back to the settlement and stood at the center.

They called for all of them to stop; that there was no need for all this violence. No one listened. The six of them turned to each other and nodded. They raised the objects high and the objects responded immediately. The objects shined brightly and everyone stopped their fighting. They all turned to the center of the settlement where the six stood.

The six of them noticed that everyone's eyes had taken on a bright golden hue. They did not know what was happening but whatever they may have been doing was working.

One by one, they lowered their hands and the objects deactivated their power. Once everyone's eyes had returned to their normal hue they looked around and saw what had happened to their once prosperous civilization. They fell to their knees and began to sob and cry out. What had they done? Why had they done this?

Then they turned to the six standing in the center and realized that they had stopped all of this. They all bowed with their heads down, showing their gratitude. The six stood proud and happy. After almost a decade of conflict, it was all over.

It took two years to rebuild. The civilization wasn't strong but it wasn't terribly weak. With time and hard work they would be back to the way things were, perhaps stronger. A new era was marked: The Era of the New Civilization. Year 130, Month 13 Day 1 (Georgian Calendar conversion: January 1st ).

~AC~J~

Though The Six Guardians ruled over the civilization, Six Chiefs were left in direct charge. Their job was to manage the comings and goings of the settlement and made sure peace was maintained as well as order.

All seemed to be well in everyone's eyes. Except for one pair. In Dariande's eyes, all was not well. Dariande was one of the Six Chiefs and she carried the spherical, of what would be dubbed, piece of Eden. She felt that not all was right with the civilization. In the forty years that had passed, the Six Guardians had been forgotten about. The mindset now was that the Six Chiefs were their creators. And the other five had let that get to their heads. They demanded order and obedience.

Without much consent, the Six Chiefs had established a new celebration that overlooked another more important celebration in honor of their newly rebuilt civilization. January 1st up until July 1st was the celebration known as the Recreation. During these six months, everyone was forced to work to build their civilization and make it stronger than it ever was.

For the first few years, it was a great time. Much technology had been developed and the settlement grew gradually in size. And from this, a new transportation system was built. What would look like carpets and pieces of paper to us was a grand transportation system that allowed them to fly farther and faster; reaching any destination in virtually no time.

But after that time of industrialization, all following celebrations consisted of menial, hard, and arguably pointless labor. It was labor that left many exhausted and sore. The period afterwards which was the rest of July to December was used as rest. But with all that work to be done, it simply wasn't enough.

Dariande sat in her room looking out the window, watching the civilians work against their will. The other five would force their will upon them, using the pieces of Eden, and force them to work. The people did not consent to this, nor would they want to.

She watched their emotionless expressions but could also read exhaustion, pain, and sadness in their eyes. Their freedoms had been stripped. She knew this wasn't right. She looked at the spherical piece of Eden in her hands and asked. "Why has it come to this? This is not the way it should be."

The piece began to pulsate in a pattern. It closely resembled Morse code. Translation: Stay quiet and vigilant. Do not act, for we will know the time when to do so…

She sighed. Unlike the others, her belief and faith in the Six Guardians still held strong. Even in her ripe age of 60. And today was the day. She snuck off the settlement and created a centerpiece which consisted of wine, bread and half of her long scarf. "May these gifts show how sorry I am and what I am willing to give up in order to restore Freedom…"

~AC~J~

The rest periods soon shrunk in duration. The "celebration" period was gradually extended until December 25th, leaving the civilians just days to recover only to begin again right afterwards. The civilians began to grow restless. There was rebellion. But most importantly there was disorder and there was disobedience.

The Five Chiefs did not take too nicely to that. These "sins" were met with harsh retaliations. A lucky few were exiled and if they were to return, they would be killed.

The rest were publicly executed. Dismemberments, decapitations, drawn out tortures that left one begging for death. The civilization was bloody and chaotic once more.

War had broken out once again. The civilization against The Six Chiefs. And the people knew that Dariande was on their side…

"The People's Rebellion" was on in full but failing. Hundreds were killed in a matter of days, thousands would follow after. A population that stood at 100,000 was now down to 10,000 once more. All in a matter of two years.

In the crowd walked an old woman with an intention. She was still agile at her age of 62. In her arms held two sharpened knives. And at her side, a knapsack that held her piece of Eden. She was going to put an end to this before her people were killed off completely.

When she reached the front of the crowd, they stopped their actions and looked. She was finally going to act.

"What are you doing?" One of the five asked.

"Ending this!" And with that, she threw her two knives at two members of the five hitting them directly in the throat, killing them instantly. Before the rest had time to act, she pulled out three more knives and threw them at the remaining members. The Five tyrannical Chiefs were gone from the world. Immediately the crowd began to cheer and Dariande couldn't help but smile. They were finally free.

The five pieces of Eden began to glow along with the piece in Dariande's knapsack. The six pieces ascended into the sky and shone visibly bright against the sun's rays. The wind soon began to pick up along with the sand.

A sand storm was formed and engulfed the civilization. Dariande would lie on the ground, with her head down and covered her ears, not wanting to hear her people's final moments. The wind blew stronger and eventually picked her up and carried her away.

When it was all over, Dariande raised her head and was heartbroken by the sight. The civilization that she once knew was no more, reduced to pieces. The people gone with it. She began to cry. Her efforts had been in vain. All of their blood was on her hands.

She stood up and scouted the area, nothing was left. Not a trace of life was evident anywhere. She spotted a single brown hooded robe sticking out in the sand along with her piece of Eden. She put on the robes, placed the hood over head, and picked up the piece of Eden.

Her civilization might be gone but she was going to make sure that it was not forgotten. Using her piece of Eden, she would erect fifteen elaborately decorated stone walls with the story of her people encoded within them.

She had also erected another stone wall with a single message, pushing the amount to sixteen. Translated:

I have committed several assassinations, several acts of sins, in the name of humanity.

For the sake of freedom…

Though this battle has ended, I fear that it is still ongoing.

In times when freedom is threatened and stripped

One must make the ultimate sacrifice for there to be change.

Those who find this message and the fifteen others

Here is my final lesson to you:

Do not be afraid to disregard common knowledge and question your surroundings. Do not be afraid to hold strong to your beliefs let go of that of others.

Do not be afraid to step outside the boundaries of man and choose to push the boundaries of your Gods.

What you may see as true is true deception.

What you think is forbidden, is always permitted…

In her final moments, Dariande traveled south. She walked into a large garden and deemed this to be a good spot. She hid her piece of Eden high up in a tree and sat under it. She closed her eyes, became one with nature and prayed that no one would ever find this again…

For she would hate if a battle like this were to rise once more.

Well this is a weird crossover XD

I just feel like these two games could work so well together with the mysteriousness of Journey and the flexibility of Assassin's Creed XD

This actually a rewrite of a story I had under the same name but I thought that version was a bit lacking so I took it down and rewrote it into this. If you wanted to see what the first version looked like, it's on my dA profile (link is in my profile). It's in the "One Shot X-over" folder.

Thanks for reading this somewhat unconventional story. Please leave a review =)