Assassin's Creed: Unity Read Online Free PDF

descended on the house and there were tears to be heard from below stairs and the voices of the Crows were once more raised, this time in vindication.
    Again they were silenced by Father. When I looked out the windows, I could see men with muskets in the grounds. Around us, everybody was jumpy. Father came to embrace me time and time again—until I got so fed up I began wriggling away.
    vi
    “Élise, there’s something we have to tell you.”
    And this is the moment you’ve been waiting for, dear reader of this journal, whoever you are—the moment when the penny finally dropped, when I finally understood why I had been asked to keep so many
vérités cachées
, when I discovered why my father’s associates called him Grand Master, and when I realized what they meant by Templar and why “assassin” actually meant “Assassin.”
    They had called me into Father’s office and requested that chairs be gathered by the fire before asking the staff to withdraw completely. Father stood while Mother sat forward, her hands on her knees, comforting me with her eyes. I was reminded of once when I had a splinter and Mother held me and comforted me and hushed my tears while Father gripped my finger and removed the splinter.
    “Élise,” he began, “what we are about to say was to have waited until your tenth birthday. But events today have no doubt raised many questions in your mind, and your mother believes you are ready to be told, so . . . here we are.”
    I looked at Mother, who reached to take my hand, bathing me in a comforting smile.
    Father cleared his throat.
    This was it. Whatever dim ideas I’d formed about my future were about to change.
    “Élise,” he said, “you will one day become the French head of a secret international order that is centuries old. You, Élise de la Serre, will be a Templar Grand Master.”
    “Templar Grand Master?” I said, looking from Father to Mother.
    “Yes.”
    “Of France?” I said.
    “Yes. Presently, I hold that position. Your mother also holds a high rank within the Order. The gentlemen and Madame Levesque who visit, they too are Knights of the Order and, like us, they are committed to preserving its tenets.”
    I listened, not really understanding but wondering why, if all these knights were committed to the same thing, they spent every meeting shouting at one another.
    “What are Templars?” I asked instead.
    My father indicated himself and Mother, then extended his hand to include me in the circle. “We all are. We are Templars. We are members of a centuries-old secret order committed to making the world a better place.”
    I liked the sound of that. I liked the sound of making the world a better place. “How do you do it, Papa?”
    He smiled. “Ah, now, that is a very good question, Élise. Like any other large, ancient organization there are differing opinions on how best to achieve our ends. There are those who think we should violently oppose those who oppose us. Others who believe in peacefully spreading our beliefs.”
    “And what are they, monsieur?”
    He shrugged. “Our motto is, ‘May the father of understanding guide us.’ You see, what we Templars know is that despite exhortations otherwise, the people don’t want real freedom and true responsibility because these things are too great a burden to bear, and only the very strongest minds can do so.
    “We believe people are good but easily led toward wickedness, laziness and corruption, that they require good leaders to follow, leaders who will not exploit their negative characteristics but instead seek to celebrate the positive ones. We believe peace can be maintained this way.”
    I could literally feel my horizons expand as he spoke. “Do you hope to guide the people of France that way, Father?” I asked him.
    “Yes, Élise, yes we do.”
    “How?”
    “Well, let me ask you—how do
you
think?”
    My mind went blank. How did I think? It felt like the most difficult question I had ever been