Editing Ardyn Izunia

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A '''mysterious man''' was imprisoned within the [[Meidum Pyramid]] and freed by [[Bayek]] of [[Siwa]] around 47 BCE. 

==Biography==
{{Quote|O you door-keepers who guard your portals, who swallow souls and who gulp down the corpses of the dead. What a journey I have made, the things I have seen. I am but one of you.|an awestruck Bayek as he beholds the energy cage|Assassin's Creed: Origins|A Gift from the Gods}}
[[File:ACO A Gift from the Gods 10.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Bayek discovers the imprisoned man.]]
At the heart of the Meidum Pyramid, there lay a chamber with a four-sided energy cage whose glass-like walls radiated with shimmering golden light when active. For an unknown period of time, the man was held in suspended animation within this prison. The chamber itself was sealed behind a wall which depicted a sundial pointing to the hours of 06:00, 09:00, and 12:00 simultaneously. This illustration actually modelled the grand sundial situated just outside the pyramid whose {{wiki|gnomon}} was an [[obelisk]] and whose hourlines were grooves on the ground running to columns of [[Isu]]-like construction. When struck by the [[Sun]]'s rays, each of the columns opened to reveal mechanisms powered by an exposed blue crystal. To unlock the prison chamber, the columns corresponding to the hours of 06:00, 09:00, and 12:00 had to be activated, whereupon intense beams of blue energy would shoot up into the sky.<ref name="A Gift from the Gods">''[[Assassin's Creed: Origins]]'' – [[A Gift from the Gods]]</ref>

[[File:ACO A Gift from the Gods 13.png|thumb|250px|left|The man is freed as the energy cage collapses.]]
Around 47 BCE, [[Bayek]] of [[Siwa]] witnessed a small meteor falling from the sky to land just outside the Meidum Pyramid. Investigating the impact site, he discovered a secret entrance into the pyramid and took this to be a "sign from the gods". After inspecting the sundial graph on the wall within, he understood it as the solution to a puzzle involving the sundial outside and found that he could activate the requisite columns by releasing [[arrow]]s upon the crystals at the appropriate hours. When this was done, he ventured inside and beheld the energy cage hidden within and the murky silhouette of its captive. As he examined the front face of the cell's splendorous wall with his hand, the energy responded to his touch, and the walls shattered like glass. Bayek had unwittingly liberated the man from his prison.<ref name="A Gift from the Gods" />

On cue, a dragon encased in metal armour with wings composed of blades appeared in the night sky. Hovering above the pyramid, it released its wings into dozens of swords circling in the air around it before direct a volley of them down at the pyramid. The rain of glowing, white swords streaked down harmlessly through the pyramid's ceiling to land precisely in front of the freed man. They generated a tether between the man and the dragon above, which acted as a tractor beam that converted the man into a intangible form to be pulled into the dragon, with which he was then spirited away.<ref name="A Gift from the Gods" />

[[File:ACO A Gift from the Gods 16.png|thumb|250px|right|The liberated man being spirited away.]]
All this occurred without the man ever speaking a word to his rescuer, who had retreated behind a statue upon breaking the cage. However, left behind for Bayek was a mystical set of equipment: the [[Ultima Blade]], a [[falchion]]-like sword with an engine for a guard and [[Ziedrich]], an ornate, heavy kite shield.<ref name="A Gift from the Gods" />

==Behind the scenes==
The identity of the imprisoned man is [[w:c:finalfantasy:Ardyn Izunia|Ardyn Izunia]], a character from the 2016 video game ''{{Wiki|Final Fantasy XV}}''. He appears in ''[[Assassin's Creed: Origins]]'' as the subject of the quest "[[A Gift from the Gods]]", which is part of a special collaborative event crossing the two games over with one another. The dragon which whisks him away is [[w:c:finalfantasy:Bahamut (Final Fantasy XV)|Bahamut]], a god in the ''Final Fantasy XV'' story.

[[File:ACO A Gift from the Gods 6.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Bas-relief of Ardyn Izunia and Noctis Lucis Caelum.]]
Outside the pyramid, above the secret entrance to Ardyn Izunia's "tomb", is also a bas-relief depiction of Ardyn Izunia and [[w:c:finalfantasy:Noctis Lucis Caelum|Noctis Lucis Caelum]], the main protagonist of ''Final Fantasy XV'', in {{wiki|Art of ancient Egypt|ancient Egyptian art style}}.

==Appearances==
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Origins]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Individuals]]