Assassin's Creed: Project Genesis Chpt 28

Al Najaf International Airport, Iraq

The plane had just arrived in the city of Najaf, just 40 miles south from Hillah and a little over an hour to the Borsippa Ziggurat. Cyril was in the cargo bay looking over the equipment he brought to make sure everything was accounted for. Higgs got out of the cockpit to stretch. “Man the flight here was blinding.” He grunted as he made his way down to the bay.

“Are we in Hillah?” Cyril asked looking out a window in the bay area.

Higgs shook his head. “Nah. This is Najaf. He grunted as he popped his own back. “Hillah doesn't have an airport, apparently. This is the closest I can get you, unless it's gonna be a problem?”

“Maybe. It really depends on my contact in Hillah.” Cyril reached into one of the cases with radio equipment and grabbed an ear piece for Maria and Seraphina. “Let me give him a call to see where they are at? Hopefully we aren't sitting ducks right now.”

There was a loud banging coming from the outside. Cyril and Higgs both snapped toward the cabin and started to make their way back up.

“Umm, should I open it?” Maria yelled down to the bay area.

Cyril came rushing up to the seating gallery and handed Maria the 2 ear pieces. “I got it. Go hide Seraphina just in case. Wait for my signal.”

Maria took the ear pieces and grabbed Seraphina, guiding her to a hideaway spot in the planes galley they designated.

Cyril pulled his pistol out, hiding it behind the door as he opened it to be greeted by one a man wearing a blue jumpsuit with a bright yellow safety vest and hard hat. It was a cargo crew agent. “Hello.” Cyril greeted casually.

The man looked at Cyril a little nervously. “Hi. There must have a been a glitch in the communications. We don't have your flight on records.”

Cyril popped his head outside to look around and only saw the baggage tractor and a few carts. “Yeah, come on in.” He stashed the gun behind him and stepped aside to let him in.

The agent walked into the plane as Cyril closed the hatch right behind him. “Do you have the time by any chance?” Cyril asked curiously.

“Only as much time as the sands allow it.” The agent casually shrugged.

Cyril studied the man for a moment. He got all the code words right. “You're here a lot quicker than I expected. I was actually just about to call for you guys.”

“Master Sagiri was pretty prepared and had a few of us in each airport after hearing you would arrive sometime today. Guess you went with Najaf. Why didn't you go to Baghdad?”

“Nope. Not going there again.” Higgs could be heard shouting up from the bay area.

Cyril shrugged “Pilots decision.”

“I see.” The man let out a little laugh. “It was a better decision here than there. I heard Baghdad was carefully monitoring all air crafts landing in today. Templars must have hint them off.” The man removed his hard hat and got comfortable. “So tell me exactly what is going on?”

Cyril exhaled deeply. “Well, it's a bit of a long story. All I know right now is that we need to get to the Borsippa Ziggurat before the Templar find something?”

The man looked up with more curiosity. “Did they discover a piece of Eden?”

“Something like that.” Cyril shrugged. “We really don't know what it is”

“I see.” The man started to nod in acknowledgment. “How can you be so sure? What source do you have to prove this?”

“OK girls, it's safe.” Cyril pointed at Seraphina once she emerged from the hiding compartment. “Her. She's all the source that I need.”

“Hmm.” The man didn't seem intrigued or interested once seeing the young child and Maria emerge from the hiding spot. “Really? A child?”

Cyril crossed his arms and gave him a stern look. “Don't let her appearance fool you. I assure you that she is way more than meets the eye.”

The man studied Seraphina for a moment. He started to tap frantically and thinking deeply to himself before he said anything. “Looks like the old portrayal of the gods may have been accurate.”

“What do you mean by that?” Cyril decided to drop his guard and sat down in front of him.

“Umm, to put it this way, the religions of old believed those of the Divine, the Isu, and their offspring had eyes that reflected the heavens.” He pointed to her eyes in disbelief. “Her eyes are that of a twilight sky between day and night. Those were only myths, right? Are those really her eyes?”

Seraphina nodded. “Yes they are.”

The man seemed very dumbfounded and very confused. “I...impossible. That's not a natural color. What is she?”

“I said it was a long story.” Cyril reached out and put his hands on the mans shoulders. “Now, how far to Master Sagiri so we can get this show on the road.”

“He's already here.” The man reached out a hand to Cyril still trying to grasp the impossible child that stood before him. “Master Sayaf Sagiri of the Persian brotherhood.”

Cyril shook his hand. “Cyril Solis from London. This kid here is Seraphina, And that's Maria.” He gestured Seraphina to shake his hand and winked.

Seraphina casually walked up to the man and shook his hand. After a pause, she nodded. “M hmm. True.”

“What was that about?” Sayaf looked between Cyril and Seraphina as if they were planning something

“OK, so now that you are here and we've confirmed who you are, I can break it down for you. I warned you, it's a long story.” Cyril smirked. “Now the question is, do you want to hear it....or do you want to see it?”

Sayaf was a bit leery of how Cyril worded that, but his curiosity got the best of him. “Show me.”

Cyril nodded and gestured Seraphina to come over. “Do your thing, kid.”

BORSIPPA ZIGGURAT

The search for the piece of Eden had already begun and their hard working excavations have been going almost non stop since they arrived to the site. The Abstergo team lead by Dr. Mera have started mapping and marking areas of the site that have already been cleared and searched by Lilli. Sam, the other hybrid child, was in the front of the search team as she was the one solely responsible for completely clearing blocked areas of debris with the help of the exo-suit enhancement provided.

One of the merchant soldiers came to report to Dr. Mera. “Sir, the Scout has just informed us that we are getting near an entrance to the underground structures.”

Dr. Mera smirked widely. “Did you know in the year 484BCE, Xerxes completely destroyed all access to this temple Nebuchadnezzar had been restoring and hiding?”

The soldier shook his head. “No, Sir. I did not know that.”

“And yet here we are, getting ready to uncover a secret temple that hasn't seen the light in over 2 Millennia within a matter of days. You are witnessing something historical.” Dr. Mera crossed his arms and stood proudly. “Any idea on how much further to the entrance.”

The soldier shook his head.

Dr. Mera and the soldier could hear Genesis' ghostly voice echoing within them. “REMEMBER TO TREAD SAFELY. THIS TEMPLE WAS HIDDEN FOR A REASON.”

“I'm sure we will be fine. We've gone on many excavations to find these pieces of Eden in the past. I'm sure this one wouldn't be much different.” Dr. Mera started to head toward the excavation are to see the progress himself. On his way there, he ran into a few of the soldiers patrolling the area. “Be on guard. Make sure nobody gets through these outside perimeters. We should be expecting some kind of company to try and interfere.”