[IC] Assassins Creed: Egyptian Order

[Enso]

Abstergo Entertainment's office in New York City was a tall building, a skyscraper that took up an entire block of the city. It was 150 stories tall and went 40 more stories into the ground, though only two of those floors were in use. It was a behemoth of metal and glass and the people within controlled a vast majority of the world's entertainment industry. Dan was there today because he had received an email from Abstergo Entertainment saying that he had been chosen to help test a new product that Abstergo was planning to release. Dan was excited and that was an understatement, nobody outside the company ever got to product test for them, the fact that he was here was a miracle.

Dan was met in the lobby by a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties but in reality was maybe thirty years old (which was still older than Dan by about ten years) who greeted him with a smile and offered him a seat and a drink while they waited for the other product testers to arrive. Dan had watched the sample they had sent him on his Animus Omega at home and it was magnificent. It had looked so real, like he was really there in Egypt and the rep he had talked to on the phone had said that the sample had been low-res compared to what they had lined up for the testers at the New York office. Dan was could hardly sit still as he waited for the other testers to arrive.

[Jangel13]

I smiled wide listening to my iPod with my "battle music" as I named the playlist as I went to the lady in the lobby desk and I signed in and sat on a chair next to the guy I assumed was the other product tester listening to power by kanye west thinking it was the perfect song to listen to before fighting "the nobility"of Egypt as I wondered who else was going to come

[Argetlam350]

Zac sat with a few others awaiting to be a product tester of this ancient Egypt simulator. Ancient Egypt had always interested him so he couldn't pass up an opportunity to actually experience it, even if it was just a simulator. Now the only thing left was waiting for the other chosen product testers. It would be interesting to see who else had been selected. As he awaited for others to arrive he flipped through a book even about ancient Egypt culture, interested in mostly the mythology, such as the many assorted gods they followed and what each one represented in their culture.

[GreenGrenade]

Jonny had arrived at Abstergo Entertainment a few minutes after the first three testers. He greeted each one of them, shaking their hands, before taking a seat near the one called Dan. To say the least, Jonny was excited. He was a huge fan of the Animus console, and the fact that he was helping test the next iteration was mind-blowing, and he always was interested in Ancient Egyptian history, and knowing that that was the time period the simulation was set in was a plus.

He took out his phone and started playing a game, also developed by Abstergo, waiting for time to pass. However, he eventually got bored and turned the phone off, resorting to staring into space and thinking his thoughts. Where were the others? What was taking them so long to get there? Why couldn't they just start testing without them? Jonny couldn't answer those questions, and instead suppressed them, forcing himself to be patient.

[Mistress Dizzy]

Devika didn't know how she'd gotten so lucky. Getting to playtest an Abstergo game was one thing, but she'd thought they were just going to mail it to her like a demo. But flying out and doing it in person? That was beyond awesome. She entered the building, rearranging several loops of a gold necklace around her neck. Her style could be described as a lot of things. Chaotic, eclectic, vivid. To Devika, it was just hers. She was wearing a turquoise tunic covered in little cat silhouettes, gold leggings, and comfy flat boots. With a cheerful, dimpled grin, she waved at the small group in the lobby that could only be the other playtesters. Then she dashed the rest of the way toward them, her thick black curls and heavy curves bouncing.

"Hey! Isn't this great?!" She took a seat, energy evident in her bearing. "I seriously can't wait to get my hands on this game."

[Gummi Bunnies]

At first, she thought this was some kind of trick being played on her, because everyone knew that it was so rare for Abstergo to actually choose people to test out their games, to the point where the idea of it was like a miracle. Well...believe it or not, but Melody was one of those lucky testers. She wasn't that much into gaming, but she only played the games developed by Abstergo for how accurate each historic setting was to the real deal. If you knew Melody well enough, you would know that she was a fanatic with different kinds of histories within different kinds of cultures. There was one time where she actually forgot to study for a history test, and decided to play a certain game with that historic setting to get some of her study time back.

Walking into the waiting room where the other testers would be at, Melody readjusted her glasses as she shyly noticed that there was a good number of people here already. Her straight black hair was in a short ponytail, and she wore a simple white buttoned shirt, red plaid skirt, and black sneakers. Quietly, she took a seat, not sure on what to say at first due to the amount of people here. Melody was always sheltered, she took home schooling and online schooling for her entirety of high school, and she rarely talked to others outside her family. So...this was quite a new experience for her...

[Enso]

Dan was about to start talking to some of the others that had joined him in the lobby when a new person approached their group and cleared his throat. He was tall and looked a lot younger than he really was, just like the woman that had greeted Dan when he first arrived. The man smiled at the group and said "My name is David, I'll be your guide here at Abstergo Entertainment and I'll also be overlooking your testing of our new console, if you'll please follow me to the elevator, we'll be heading down into the basement where we have set up the testing area for you." Without missing a beat the man turned and began walking toward the elevator, Dan had to jog for a moment to catch up with him, he had already crossed most of the lobby unusually quickly.

[Jangel13]

I saw those two start moving so I unplugged one earphone so I could hear the last part about him leading us to the basement as I smiled and followed them both " I can only wonder what my ancestor is like" I said smiling knowing that would be on most of our minds considering where our ancestors would be during ancient Egypt. I listened to my music getting ready to go in 'arrows blazing' thinking it would be appropriate since their weren't guns in Egypt yet

[Mistress Dizzy]

Devika got up and nearly clapped her hands in excitement. "This is going to be awesome!" She rushed in the direction that the others were leaving in, wondering just what awaited them in the basement. She really wanted to write about this whole experience, but she knew there was a non-disclosure agreement that they'd all had to sign. Spoiling the game details would ruin the hype, right? It was going to be hard not to tell her friends.

[Enso]

The elevator ride was short, they only went down a few floors and when the elevator doors opened they were in a large, concrete room with very little furnishing. The fluorescent lights gave everything a sickly glow and, this far down, there were no windows to let in the sunlight. In the center of the room were several large chairs connected to one another by thick wires, monitors lined one of the walls, monitored by a group of men in lab coats who looked like scientists, they seemed to ignore the testers and kept shouting numbers and equations at each other over the hum of the large cooling fans.

"That's a game system? It's just a chair, how are we supposed to play a game on that? There's no screen." Dan asked as David crossed the room and layed a hand on the new Animus model, stroking the padded surface as if it were his baby.

"These," He said, taking his hand off the chair and motioning widely to the whole row of machines and monitors, "is the next generation of gaming. No monitors, no speakers, just you, the chair and your mind." David smiled widely, a slightly off putting face that reminded Dan of a mad scientist's smile straight out of an old horror movie. "You just sit in it and swing that little dome there at the top around to the front to block out the outside world and it transmits a short range electromagnetic field on the same frequency as the human brain. This allows it to show you images without a monitor, play sounds without a speaker. It is not just the next generation in gaming but in audio visual technology and you are the very first to test it. Come on, all of you, have a seat and tell us how it feels. We tried to make them as comfortable as possible and want an outsider's opinion."

Dan crossed the room to one of the chairs and sat down in it, setting his head in the headrest like David had said. There was a slight buzzing sound in his ears but it was comfortable, amazingly so. He could sleep in this chair. "It's great, I could live in this thing for the rest of my life." This statement prompted another creepy smile from David but this time he didn't say anything.

[Jangel13]

Why do you look so Damn creepy when you smile like that?" I asked the guy sighing softly as I took off my headphones putting my iPod in my pocket as I say in a chair and I relaxed and my back cracked slightly "well it's comfy I'll give you guys that much" I said smiling s little watching my screen go over my eyes

[GreenGrenade]

Jonny followed the group to the testing floor. The chairs- consoles- looked amazingly comfortable, and once Jonny sat in one, he was not disappointed. His muscles relaxed straight away, the chair shaped and cushioned so magnificently that it would instantly make the most anxious man in the world feel instantly at ease. Excited questions began to surge through his mind. When do they start? What's Ancient Egypt like? Who was his ancestor? Was it a peasant? Was it a nobleman? What was life like there? Was the simulation accurate?

He calmed himself with the thought that they, the testers, would soon find out. All he had to do was wait just a couple of more minutes. Only a few more minutes.

[Argetlam350]

Zac didn't question the guy, rather he gave the chair a test for himself. It was incredibly comfortable, seemingly shaping to his body. So far the experience was good but this was hardly anything what they would be experiencing if what they said about this console was true. He had his doubts that they could replicate actual places in a hundred percent accuracy or even get events right but that would soon be seen. Minutes seem to tick by as hours as they waited for all the others to get into the chairs.

[Mistress Dizzy]

Devika was too excited to notice the eerie grin of David's. She settled into the chair carefully, and sighed with pleasure. "Mmm... now this is nice." She crossed her legs at the ankle. "I could get used to a chair like this." While she almost wanted to bounce with excitement, she was also trying to calm herself. Would a high pulse rate or burst of adrenaline affect the machine? Then again, she was sure the great minds that had designed it had probably thought of all of that. She grinned wide, showing dimples. "I wonder who my ancestor is..." Maybe she would be an artisan? Or a dancer...

[Gummi Bunnies]

This was impressive. Never has she seen anything like this, no wonder a select number of beta testers were chosen, an immediate release of these consoles would literally cause an uproar. The excitement growing in Melody caused her to not even notice the man's strange smile as she went over to the chair, observing it's features and qualities before finally taking a seat. "This is amazing, I can't wait to own one of these later on," Melody mumbled as she made herself comfortable right away on the chair, the headset was above her head. While she was trying to settle herself down as she knew they would start soon, Melody was quite curious too on who her ancestor could be. Only time would tell...literally, when they would start the testing soon.

[Enso]

"Well, you're in luck because, instead of payment, you will be given one of theses, shipped to your address, one week before official release." David said, looking at Melody and grinning at the testers, this one seemed more genuine than the last. One of the testers had pointed out that his smile was "creepy" and he regained control immediately after, his smiles becoming genuine and kind. "You will be free to do whatever you like with your consoles when they arrive, even release screenshots and post video reviews. You cannot do any of this right now, of course, since we are still only alpha testing."

Before anyone could express their excitement at the revelation that they would be given their own consoles free of charge in a few months David nodded at the technicians at their monitors now that all of the testers were seated and they began typing furiously.

Before the information could even sink in the buzzing sound in Dan's ears grew louder and his vision blurred before everything went black and silent and he appeared in the same white room he had seen in the demo, but this time the others were inside with him, the worlds "WELCOME TO THE ANIMUS" scrawled on the wall in hieroglyphs. Dan wasn't sure how he could read it but he knew what it said and that amazed him. Suddenly the walls melted away and he, along with the others were standing in the room they had seen at the end of the demo, the Mentor sitting on his mountain of pillows, the Masters waiting patiently for he and the others to take their robes and equipment from them.

Dan held up a hand in front of his face, though his body was still he saw a hand before his eyes and it wasn't his. The skin was darker and the fingers weren't as slender as his own but he could still feel the world through this hand. The air was warm and a light breeze blew through the room. It smelled of spices and sand. "This is amazing," He said in Egyptian, the voice wasn't his own either.

Outside the game in the real world the technicians were talking furiously and David was growing impatient. "What's going on?" he demanded and one of the technicians looked at him.

"Well, sir, it isn't good." The technician said and ran a hand through his thinning hair. "We have a protocol breach, memories are bleeding through. Instead of translating everything like the software is supposed to it seems that the ancestors' memories are getting through and they can read and speak Egyptian."

"Which one?"

"All of them sir..."

David stood there and looked at the people, seemingly asleep in their chairs and crossed his arms. "Keep going, let me know if the bleeding effect gets any worse. We can't afford to pull the project this early."

[Argetlam350]

Before Zac could ask any questions, there was a noticeable humming sound and then everything blurred and faded away into darkness. Then there was nothing but silence before hieroglyphs appeared with which he could strangely read out what the hieroglyphs said. Then before he could think on how he could read the hieroglyphs before him, everything melted away and there he now stood, like in the demo that they had been shown. Before him were the others he assumed and at the head of the room was the Mentor, waiting along with the Masters to accept their robes and equipment.
He looked around in awe and amazed how everything looked. Someone spoke out on how amazing this all was and Zac had to agree. Oddly enough though he found the name Zac foreign to him. That wasn't his name in this period. No his name was Anpu, the jackal prince. That was what his name was and its meaning. His reasons here were to bring justice to his family and restore his honor of his family name among the citizens. It seemed everything about the present world was forgotten and that this ancient time now was the true present world, the other world was merely a dream.

[Jangel13]

I stood with the others seeing the hieroglyphs in front of us and oddly it looked like it made perfect sense then just like I saw in the demo I was standing with the others and the masters about to get our equipment but suddenly I felt this odd feeling of needing to touch my hip. I felt my fathers rapier at my hip, I had thought we were meant to get our equipment now but I remember that my father gave me this blade and I wouldn't part with it. Now I was thinking that I came here from Greece near the Mediterranean sea but I kept trying to tell myself that this is my ancestors memories and not my own but they felt so much more familiar then the ones I was trying to remember. then he heard one of his comrades speak in Egyptian but it seemed like it foreign but not as much as I thought it would be, after all I was Hispanic and didn't know any Egyptian but his words were easy if not simple to understand although if it was normal or not I couldn't tell. as I looked around wondering what was next

[GreenGrenade]

'Holy crap,' thought Jonny, in a language that was evidently Egyptian, as he was transported along with everyone else into the Animus. Though he could speak and understand Egyptian, he could not read the hieroglyphs. Strange. He noted a change of skin tone, as it was now much darker, and found that he was wearing a blue, hooded robe. At his hip was what he identified as a scimitar, appearing to have been custom made. Was his ancestor rich?

The memories that were flowing into his head seemed to imply otherwise. His name was Assim. He was born to a peasant family, and helped out on the family farm regularly due to his father's declining health. When his mother died, she passed onto him the deadly weapon that was now held at his hip. She told him to seek training, to join an order of sorts. He did as she wished. He now knew how to fight, how to climb, how to kill.

He was an Assassin.

[Mistress Dizzy]

Devika inhaled and exhaled, closing her eyes as the Animus took hold. When she opened them again, she was... different. Not as different as she would have thought, though.

Her body, clad in a simple robe, was still husky, but now she could feel muscle and power in her limbs and frame. Her hands, which should have been soft from a life of ease, had been roughened by training and hard work. Something in her memory told her that the robe around her body was less than the finest, that she still wasn't used to such rough cloth. A smile spread over her face, as a cute pair of dimples showed. Her beauty would hide her talent- no one expected a woman of her station to be able to do much but speak well, dress well, and marry well. No one would ever suspect her to be capable of killing. But she was, in fact, quite capable.