ASSASSIN'S CREED

THE GALLIAN CHRONICLES

Prologue

Province of Gallia

Europa War I

Naggiar Plains

"Hold the line! We can't let them get through!" a Gallian soldier shouted, firing his SMG at the encroaching Imperial army right up until the moment an Imperial bullet slammed into his chest, killing him.

"There're too many, fall back!" a large, muscularly built lancer ordered as the Gallians prepared to retreat. Just then, a man walked past the muscular lancer and began to walk right towards the Imperial line. Surprised by the man, the Empire hesitated momentarily. The man carried no weapons except for a sword and a dagger on his belt and an Armored Tech style bullet shield, which he held at his side. His attire was what was most surprising about him as rather than the standard blue and red Gallian uniform, he was wearing a white robe with metal gauntlets and a brown leather sash tied over his stomach with a white hood that covered his head and hid his face from view.

"I have no interest in you men," the man declared plainly, "if you will stand aside then you will live to return to your homes." The Imperial soldiers were surprised by the threat and soon began to laugh at the man making them. After all, they'd been easily driving back the entire Gallian army all day. What could one man do. As they rose their weapons, not one of them was aware of the mistake they'd made. Raising the bullet shield, the Assassin charged, using the shield to deflect the bullets, he soon reached the Imperial line. Bashing the nearest Imp with the shield, he grabbed him and used him as a shield to absorb his own comrades fire, before throwing the lifeless man at his comrades. The confusion caused by the man's unorthodox attack method gave the Assassin the opening he needed as he grabbed another soldier and kicked the man's gun to the ground so the barrel was pointing up, rammed the man's head over the barrel, and kicked the trigger, causing the gun to discharge right into it's owners head. He then pulled both the gun and the corpse into his arms, using the corpse as a shield as he emptied the remaining 4 rounds into 4 more Imps. By this point, many of the men, terrified by the demon of a man who had begun to decimate their lines, turned and ran, but far more remained. Pressing his lips together, the man let out a loud wistle that sounded like the screech of an eagle. No sooner had he let out the call when three of the Imperial soldiers suddenly turned on their 'allies' using hidden blades to kill 15 soldiers who were near them before the other Imperials even realized what was happening. The surprise attack broke the Imperial ranks and while his three fellow assassins considered to deal death to the Imperial soldiers, the lead Assassin charged through the shattered lines towards his target. An old, mustached man who was standing near an Imperial tank. The Assassin was within feet of his target when the man realized his soldiers weren't going to be able to stop the man and turned, running around the tank. He was too late to have a chance of escaping as the Assassin leapt up to the top of the tank in three graceful bounds and leapt into the air, ejecting his hidden blade from his right gauntlet as he did. With incredible grace and accuracy, he landed on his target from behind and ran the hidden blade through his heart from behind.

"Enough of this," the assassin declared as he rolled his victim onto his back, "this war has claimed enough lives, but with your death, it will end, Templar."

"You think… you've gained peace for your land?" the man gasped, "you've accomplished nothing… my brothers… control the Empire… all… you've done… is… delay… the… inevitable…" his final words trailed off as the man let out his final breath.

"We shall see. Your death was necessary for progression towards peace. Even so, I take no pleasure in your death. Requiescat in Pace, your death will be the end of this war."

….

Gallian Border Town of Bruhl

15 years later

The town of Bruhl was in a panic as the local town watch labored to move the civilians to several trucks that were being used to transport the people to the safety of Randgriz. Bruhl was going to be a battlefield soon. The Imperial alliance had already crossed Gallia's border and while they had yet to attack any Gallian territory, there was no doubt that they would soon. The Imperial invasion had begun, and Bruhl would undoubtedly be one of the first towns conquered. Alicia Melchiott had lived in Bruhl for as long as she could remember it. She had been the baker's apprentice and served as part of the town guard since she was old enough to join, but had never thought she'd see the day when Bruhl would face such a dire threat. Many of the townspeople were terrified, and Alicia feared that they wouldn't be able to evacuate them all before the Empire arrived. She had heard stories growing up, about the heartless Imperial Alliance and the terrible things they had done to civilians they had captured during the first Europan War. She couldn't help but hope that the stories had been exaggerated.

"Alicia!" a woman's voice shouted from behind her. She turned to see her friend and fellow town guard, Susie Evans, running towards her.

"Susie, what's wrong!?" Alicia replied.

"Alicia, we just heard back from our scouts!" Susie replied desperately, "they're coming! The Imperial soldiers are coming, and they're bringing tanks with them!"

"Tanks!? How many?" Alicia asked as the two girls began to run towards the towns western gate.

"The scouts only said they saw one, but…" Susie replied fearfully.

"…but that's still one more then we have," Alicia replied, trying not to sound as frightened as she really was. The two girls were unaware of a middle-aged man hiding inside his doorway, watching and listening to their conversation. Closing the door, he walked calmly to a with a candlestick on it. Grabbing the stick, he pulled it down, causing a hidden door to open revealing a stairway leading down into the house's basement.

….

Most of the town watch had already gathered at the western gate of the city when Alicia and Susie arrived.

"Alright, is everyone here!?" the watch leader demanded when they arrive, "good, then close the gate." The soldiers in charge of the gate quickly followed his orders, pulling the gate shut. "Alright, listen up. We're making our stand here. The longer we keep the imperials from getting through this gate, the better chance our people have of reaching safety. No quarter and no retreat! We fight until the last man falls!" Alicia's heart sunk. That wasn't the order she'd wanted to hear. Their plan was pretty much a death sentence and it was unlikely that any of the town watch would ever walk back through that gate. Even so, if that was what it was going to take, she was ready. As quickly as they could, the men and women of the watch took cover behind sand bag barriers that had been erected for the towns defense. They'd block the bullets, but they'd do little good once the tank began firing. Susie huddled behind the sandbag next to Alicia's. She could hear her friends sobs as the gentle girl cried. Alicia wished she could at least do something to save her friend, but she knew it was in vain. They'd both volunteered for this, no one had forced them to become soldiers. They'd signed up knowing that the time might come when they'd have to do something more dangerous and difficult than simply repel the occasional raider group or break up a drunken brawl on main street.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a single, terrifying shout. "They're here." The two 18 year old girls both peered out above their sand bag barrier. Sure enough, dozens of Imperial Soldiers were beginning to appear in the distance on the road leading to Bruhl, their tank driving behind them. An entire squad of ruthless, trained imperial soldiers against Bruhl's make-shift militia. The Imps probably thought that they'd have the city taken with virtually no casualties within minutes. None of them were aware, as they began to pass the few farmhouses outside the city wall, of a white cloaked man moving quickly and gracefully across the rooftops above them, waiting for his moment to strike. The battle began and the tide quickly turned in the favor of the Empire. The town guard were being mowed down like cattle as the Imperial tank began to pound on the western gate with its rockets. As Alicia and the remaining guard returned fire, they knew it was only a matter of time before that tank destroyed the gate and the Imperial soldiers came charging. They were unaware of two imperial soldiers who suddenly found themselves impaled by a pair of rope darts and pulled up to a roof where they were left to strangle to death, hanging by a rope from the chimney of the house as the Assassin landed in a bale of hay to the side of the house. One Imp, who had heard the fall, stopped shooting and moved over to inspect the hay. He approached it carefully and was about to prod it with his gun when the Assassin struck, stabbing his hidden blade through the man's heart and pulling his body Into the hay for hiding. He slid out of the hay with one of the man's ragnite grenades attached to his belt and quickly made his way towards the tank, eliminating any Imps unfortunate enough to be in his path.

Alicia watched in dismay as two more of her fellow guards were gunned down by an Imp shocktrooper. She would have afraid that Susie had been shot as well, but she could hear here terrified friend shaking beside her. Alicia poked her rifle over the barrier just in time to see a Imperial grenade land at the base of her barrier. Her eyes widened with horror as she reacted, grabbing Susie and leaping away from the barrier, just as the grenade detonated. Both girls were sent flying as a sand bag landed on Alicia's leg, causing her to yell with pain as the bone in her leg snapped. Susie hit her head as she landed, knocking her unconscious and Alicia's leg was pinned and probably broken. If there had been a chance for either of them to survive before, it was gone now as Alicia, who wasn't fortunate enough to have been knocked unconscious, continued to watch her friends from the town guard be killed by the merciless Imperials as the gate began to crumble under the barrage of tank fire. It would only be able to handle another shot, maybe two if it was lucky, before it'd come down and the last defense of Bruhl would fall. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable boom.

She heard a boom, but it didn't come from the gate. Opening her eyes, she was amazed to see the smoking remains of the Imperial tank! The Imperial soldiers were obviously just as surprised as she was. They were even more surprised to see that even though they had obviously been winning that fight, all but about 10 of them now lay dead across the battlefield. That number was quickly cut to eight as the Assassin suddenly burst out of the smoke of the tank, stabbing down two soldiers who'd been standing near each other with his hidden blades before reaching two his belt and throwing three darts, each of which lodged themselves in the arms of Imperial soldiers. Almost instantly, the soldiers dropped to their knees, gasping for breath as the poison on the darts took effect, causing the men to suffocate. The remaining 3 soldiers panicked and opened fire on the Assassin who grabbed one of the still suffocating soldiers, ending his suffering by using him as a shield as he threw a smoke bomb at the feet of the remaining soldiers, causing them to stop shooting and began to cough as they inhaled a large amount of smoke. Alicia didn't see the Assassin charge into the smoke. All she knew was that when the smoke cleared, the Assassin stood in the middle of three dead Imperial soldiers. Then, he turned his attention to her, walking towards her and the unconscious Susie. As the man bent over Susie, the pain in Alicia's leg finally overwhelmed her and the world grew dark.