In Pursuit of Truth

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In Pursuit of Truth was a virtual representation of one of Basim Ibn Ishaq's genetic memories relived through the Animus.

Description

Basim travels to Alamut, only to discover the meaning behind Qabiha's words.

Dialogue

Basim departed Anbar on horseback, with Nehal in tow. He galloped at full speed towards Alamut.

• Basim: Yah! Imshi (Go)!

Nehal looked back, as Anbar appeared to shrink smaller as the horse travelled further away. The duo and their horse reappeared shortly afterwards, in the middle of a scorching desert, as they continued pressing onwards to their destination.

• Basim: Yah Yah! Yalla (Let's go)!

Many days and nights have passed during the journey to Alamut, with Enkidu flying above. Over time, the horse's stamina started deteriorating due to being ill-suited for extensive desert travel, to the point it was able only to tread slowly. Basim pulled out a canister to drink water, but found it empty. The horse died en route, forcing Basim and Nehal to leave its corpse behind. The two braced a sandstorm along the way, but after a grueling journey through the desert, they finally arrived at Alamut, with the fortress spotted on the mountains. Weary from exhaustion, Basim and Nehal collapsed onto their knees near a stream, taking a moment to rehydrate themselves. Basim noticed the water being tainted red, revealed to be blood from a deceased soldier floating down the river. He looked right and saw two Abbasid solders killing a Hidden One. Realizing the danger they're in, Basim tried calling out to Nehal.

• Basim: NEHAL?!

Right when he turned around, a solder kicked him to the ground, knocking out the Hidden One.

• Basim: (pained gasp)

Basim barely opened his eyes and saw the solders about to execute him, but right before they had done so, another Hidden One killed them and saved Basim.

• Basim: R-Roshan...?

Basim's consciousness faded out. He later saw himself in dark nothingness, with the Jinni appearing again and him falling onto his back in fear. He then woke up from his nightmare, finding himself in front of a campfire.

• Basim: (gasp)

He then noticed his friend Nur sitting near him.

• Basim: Nur?
• Nur: Not the welcome you were expecting, eh? Well, at least you had the fortune to be elsewhere when the Tahirids came for us.
• Basim: What happened?
• Nur: I... fear Alamut has fallen. I was tasked with finding help. I went into the desert, to find other patrols. Then I found you.
• Basim: Were there... others? With me?
• Nur: No. Only you.
• Basim: Then Nehal lives. And Roshan?
• Nur: I had hoped she would be with you.
• Basim: Come, brother. We must head out. Find any survivors, and cleanse Alamut of its infestation.
• Nur: I... fear I cannot.

Basim realized Nur had been sitting in a pool of his own blood, in no condition to fight and was near death's door.

• Basim: How bad?

Nur lifted his hand away from his wound, revealing it located on his stomach. Basim became filled with anger.

• Basim: I will make every last one of them pay.
• Nur: Vengeance is not our way, brother.
• Basim: Our way? You sit bleeding to death and still cling to this... foolish dogma! And for what? Our Creed could not protect Alamut. And neither could I.

Nur struggled to remain conscious as he speaks to Basim.

• Nur: Nor I. But... our beliefs are why you still draw breath. And are why you must save any of us who may yet live.
• Basim: On that we can agree. You have my word.
• Nur: Waffaqaka Allah, Basim. There is nothing left to say, brother. Go. Save who you can.

Before he left, Basim approached Nur to be by him during his final moments.

• Nur: My horse... below... she is yours now. Good luck, my friend.
• Basim: Nur... Our patrols, our training... it feels like a lifetime ago.

After sorrowfully reminiscing about his and Nur's friendship, Basim departed from the cave and took the latter's horse to ride towards Alamut and save the Hidden Ones from the invaders.

• Basim: Steady... steady, girl. All is well. All is well. Your master left you in my care.

As he rode to the Hidden One's camp, Basim reminded himself of the main reason he came to Alamut in the first place.

• Basim: Our temple... Whatever lies beneath, I must see it for myself... no matter the cost.

He then finds corpses littered about, Hidden Ones and Abbasid soldiers alike.

• Basim: All this blood... and death... is this what Qabiha meant by "preparing the way"? Nehal, please be safe, wherever you are.

He dismounted from his horse and took to higher ground. He saw the camp in flames, and Abbasid solders holding Hidden Ones captive, including mentor Rayhan. One captive was executed.

• Basim: Some of my clan still live. Mentor Rayhan among them.
• Kabeer al-Jund: For all your reputation, I must say, I expected a far stronger response to our presence here. "Mentor", they call you. Is that so? And what exactly is it you teach here, eh? All I see are dead men and women. Men and women who thought you had something to offer them. To teach them.

Basim proceeded to kill the soldiers, including Kabeer, who had been holding the Hidden Ones hostage, thereby freeing them.

• Rayhan: Basim! What... Alhamdulillah! I do not see any others. Come, help me out of these restraints.

Basim freed his Mentor.

• Rayhan: Basim, how... I thought you were in Baghdad. Where are the others? Roshan?
• Basim: I came alone. For the same reason these men did. I know the truth, Mentor. About the temple and what it shelters. Our enemies told me as much. They urged me to seek it, because only I could.
• Rayhan: You...? Thus the Order used the Tahirids to decimate Alamut. Because you... you are their key.
• Basim: To what? What are you protecting that is worth all this bloodshed?
• Basim: Ancient ground. For generations, it has been our duty to watch over it. Defend it from the Order, who seek to exploit its secrets. The temple houses its entrance but, Basim, even though it is forbidden... I have searched. There is no means to access it.
• Basim: Then I will find a way myself.
• Rayhan: You must not. It is what the Order wants, don't you see? If what we protect should fall into the wrong hands...

Basim interrupted, convincing Rayhan that he will keep the Temple contents to himself and out of the Order's reach.

• Basim: It will fall into mine. Look around you. At what the Order is prepared to unleash upon us.

Rayhan reached his hand to his eyes, conflicted in his decision.

• Basim: If I can gain the knowledge they seek, it can be what finally gives us an edge in this endless war.

Hearing Basim's words and convinced that his justifications make sense, Rayhan nodded in approval for him to seek out the Temple.

• Basim: This is the way forward. For the Hidden Ones.

Basim took his leave. On the way to the Temple entrance, he saw a Hidden One held hostage by a soldier. Basim killed the soldier, saving the Hidden One.

• Hidden One: Shukran, Basim.

Basim approached the cave leading to the Temple, the same cave where Basim had been initiated into the Hidden Ones long ago.

• Basim: The Temple... Let us finish this. Nothing and no one shall get in my way. Not when I am this close.

Heading inside, Basim saw a lone solder crouching down. He effortlessly killed him.

• Basim: It will take more than you to stop me.

Basim found more soldiers stationed at the Temple entrance.

• Basim: More of them ahead. Suffice to say I am on the right path.
• Soldier 1: We should not be here. Our orders were to secure the temple, not to—
• Soldier 2: Not to enter it, I know! Damn the orders! You saw what we've fought through to get here. The men we've lost! You think we will gain anything once our masters acquire what they seek? You think we will be rewarded? Of course not. Whatever it is they want in here... it must be worth a fortune. Think of all the land you could buy. And the [servants!
• Soldier 3: Will you both shut up! Just find it, quickly. We will all think a lot more clearly without you two bickering like a pair of idiots!

Basim eliminated all of the soldiers, leaving him alone to find the Temple entrance.

• Basim: Now, to see if I can achieve what these intruders could not.

Basim approached a rock wall with a strange symbol.

• Basim: What magic is this? Wait... I know this symbol.
• Basim: (deep breath)

He placed his hand on the symbol, causing the rock wall to discard its disguise and reveal itself as a large, distinguishable door. Basim, sensing something is wrong, dodged a throwing knife before it could impale his head. Turning around, Basim was dismayed to learn that it was none other than his former master Roshan, who kept her word that she would end Basim's life if he decided to pursue the Temple.

• Roshan: I warned you what would happen.
• Basim: (deep breath)
• Roshan: Last chance.

Basim drew his blades, not backing down. Roshan in turn did the same. Master and pupil were to engage in a final duel to the death.

• Roshan: Very well.
• Basim: So it has come to this? Killing each other? Is this your idea of a brotherhood?
• Roshan: The brotherhood is unified. There is no place for those who would set themselves above it.
• Basim: Is that what you think I am doing?

• Roshan: Wake up, Basim! You walk the Order's path! The very people you swore to fight against. You're fulfilling their mission, endangering the very thing you swore to defend. Free will!
• Basim: And where is mine? How can I champion something denied to me? Your creed is flawed!

No matter how hard he fought, Basim could not break through Roshan's defensive stance, with the experienced Hidden One always parrying Basim's sword strikes and retaliating with a sword stab of her own. Basim noticed that Roshan might have a weak spot vulnerable to a stray throwing knife.

• Basim: There must... must be a way... to break her.
  Roshan's shoulder... it is unprotected.
  Take out the shoulder.
  Her shoulder... That is how to break her.
  Take out her arm, take out her blade.

Basim took out a throwing knife, either his own or by parrying Roshan's knives and taking them for himself, and hurled it at Roshan's unprotected shoulder, stabbing through her leather breastplate and considerably injuring her. She yanked out the knife lodged in her chest. Basim redirected Roshan's previous threat back to her.

• Basim: Last chance.

Roshan picked up her dagger and went on the offensive.

• Basim: I trusted you! I gave you everything I had and you lied to me. You knew. Since the night we fled Anbar, you knew my truth.
• Roshan: I only feared what it could spell. But I set my worries aside. I had to. You were but a young man, broken and alone. Desperate for guidance. Wanting to do good.
• Basim: I am still here!

• Roshan: No good can come from what lies beyond those doors.

As their duel drew to a close, Roshan dropped her dagger in the midst of their battle. Basim slashed the back of Roshan's leg, leaving her vulnerable to a swift kick, sending her to the ground. Basim sheathed his sword, readied his Hidden Blade and leapt up, using gravity's momentum to deliver a non-fatal stab to the chest. In no condition to fight and at the mercy of her former student, Roshan struggled to get up and could only slowly back away.

• Basim: Yield!

With Roshan backed against a pillar. Basim knelt down, repeating himself in a gentler, tearful tone.

• Basim: Yield.
• Nehal: Basim! Leave her. Come.

Nehal arrived, reminding Basim of what they came to do. Basim then told Roshan that seeking the Temple's contents was important to him.

• Basim: I never wanted this. But I need to know.
• Roshan: I do not want to lose you to what you may find in there. You do not have to look to the past, to know who you are. Who you can be. You can choose, Basim! Put your faith in me.
• Basim: I tried. And in the end, you thought it best to control me. No different than our enemies.
• Nehal: Basim. Over here.

Basim went over to Nehal, who was right by the Temple door.

• Nehal: I... I know what this is.

Nehal took Basim's dagger from its sheath, and gestured Basim to give her his hand. They both sliced the palm of his hand. Briefly wincing from pain, Basim realized his blood was the way forward.

• Basim: The key...

He touched his bloody hand onto the door, causing it to light up and open. Basim and Nehal entered the temple, leaving Roshan behind as the door closed behind them.

• Nehal: She will follow.
• Basim: No. She cannot. You saw it yourself.

Basim approached one of the chambers containing the same disc-like objects he saw at the Winter Palace.

• Basim: More of those objects. I wonder what truths lie within. What stories they serve to tell...

He redirected his attention towards the depths of the Temple.

• Basim: Whatever lies within carries grave importance. For the Hidden Ones, for the Order of the Ancients, for me. What have we walked into? Where has my path brought us?
• Nehal: You do not want to know why anyone was brought to this place.

The two headed deeper inside. Basim was surprised upon seeing structures that looked nothing like what he had seen in the outside world.

• Basim: Are my eyes deceiving me? Are you seeing this? Nehal?
• Nehal: I am... I am here.
• Basim: Wherever we are, it was built long ago. To serve what purpose, I do not know.
• Nehal: I do.
• Basim: How?
• Nehal: I... I do not know.
• Basim: Nehal... you are worrying me.

Basim and Nehal freeran across the ruins, approaching a peculiar door with a glowing symbol.

• Basim: Nehal, look in here.
• Nehal: (shaky breathing)
• Basim: Nehal, please, talk to me...
• Nehal: No... No, no, no... no... no!

Basim touched the door, thereby opening it and revealing a machine resembling a cell-like object, which he expresses familiarity with.

• Basim: I know this place... Nehal?

He noticed Nehal is nowhere in sight. He then redirected his attention back to the cell.

• Basim: (gasp)

Sensing something feels off, he grabbed the knob on the cell and attempted to open it.

• Basim: Ugh!

The cell then opened, releasing steam.

• Basim: It... it cannot be.

To his horror, he sees Nehal bound in the cell. He then flashbacks to his previous memories, realizing that "Nehal" wasn't real all along. All of her actions were done by him instead, including the killing of Al-Mutawakkil, where he was the one who snatched his dagger and stabbed him in self-defense. Basim snapped back to reality as Nehal called out to him.

• Nehal: Hrgh! Enough! Let me out of here!

To Basim's confusion, Nehal was suddenly not in the cell.

• Basim: How... What... what are you?
• Nehal: Look! See for yourself!

Nehal suddenly appeared standing next to him, activating a Memory Seal, displaying a holographic display depicting two unknown individuals, one who is a prisoner in the cell, and the other being a prison guard.

• Prisoner: srræsnos! dű hm làygw r zàrhàsi!
• Guard: Seylos!

The guard grabbed the prisoner and threw him out of his cell. The prisoner got onto his knees, before the guard slapped and kicked him.

• Basim: That is...

The guard wielded a dagger in one hand and knelt down to the prisoner, who was lying down in fear, mirroring one of Basim's nightmares with the Jinni.

• Basim: No!

A vision depicted Basim as his younger self as a street thief prior to becoming a Hidden One. He shoved the Jinni away, prompting it to retreat. At his breaking point, he angrily confronted the Jinni.

• Basim: Show yourself! You dare to hide from me now? After all you have put me through! Where are you?

• Basim: The jinni in my dreams. The figure from these visions. They are one and the same... Is this what I have been seeing? The memories of a life long ago? Are they mine? Is that why the jinni feels so real? My tormenter. The source of all that ails me. If this is so, then I must face you.

Basim then saw a depiction of Dervis' executed thieves being hanged on poles.

• Basim: No... Why am I seeing this?

• Basim: This space... As I move through it, I see nothing but the memories that stir my soul. In these moments of adversity is when I felt the jinni nearest. That unrelenting fear. Paralyzing me in my weakest state.

• Basim: I never understood what it was born of, or why it haunted me so. But I am beginning to remember. I am in a cold cell. Begging for it all to stop.

• Basim: Who I once was may seek retribution. But if I am to move beyond this pain, then what I want is peace.

• Basim: It is time to put an end to this.

A giant rock formation manifested in front of Basim, with a large door in front. Basim approached it.

• Basim: The cell. My cell. I am nearly there. No going back...

Basim opened the door, now appearing in his attire as a Hidden One recruit. Walking forward, he nearly tripped and fell off a cliff.

• Basim: Agh! The jinni... I can hear it. (tense breathing)

He performed a Leap of Faith to descend the cliff.

• Basim: (steadying breath)

Landing safely, Basim, now with his older bearded self, came face-to-face with the Jinni that had tormented him all his life.

• Basim: I know you now. I see you for what you are.

Basim, now in his robes as a Hidden Ones initiate, approached the Jinni.

• Basim: A crippling memory from a past life.

Powerless to instill fear into its victim, the Jinni could only watch as Basim knelt down to it.

• Basim: (Steadying breath) And that is where you will remain.

He touched the Jinni, causing it to dissolve into sand. Appearing in his robes as a Master, Basim expressed relief that his nightmares were finally over.

• Basim: (deep calm breaths) It is over.
• Nehal: ...No, Basim. It is only the beginning. For us. For what lies ahead. A deeper understanding of the world we left behind. And our place in it.

Basim and Nehal approached each other. As they did so, their actions were mirroring each other, symbolizing they were two halves of the same person.

• Basim: All my life I wrestled with who I was. Who I was meant to be. And there you were. All this time. The side of me I resisted. A reflection of who we... once were.
• Nehal: Of who we shall be once more. There is so much that awaits us. A new world. Let me show you...

However, Basim realized that if he and Nehal merged as one, she would disappear forever. Sounding on the verge of crying, Basim asked if this meant having to part with his longtime childhood friend forever.

• Basim: I will never see you again, will I?

Nehal shook her head, confirming his question.

• Basim: Will I be... alone?
• Nehal: You are never alone.

With words of comfort and assurance, Basim and Nehal touched hands together and dissolved into sand, which then spiraled upward into a singular point, symbolizing their consciousness merging into one.

Eventually, Basim woke up.

• Basim: (gasp) (catching breath) H-how...? How long has it been?

Basim emerged from the cave leading to the Temple, briefly blinded by the sun. Two Hidden Ones spotted Basim, and went down to greet him. Rayhan looked at Basim, and both exchanged smiles with each other.

Later that night, Basim walked alone, spotting Roshan and Rayhan talking. Disappointed in Rayhan supporting Basim's decision to seek the truth in the Temple, Roshan resigned from the Hidden Ones.

• Roshan: It is done. You made your choice. Now I make mine.

She took off her Hidden Blade and discarded it into the campfire. Beaten and broken, she left, refusing to look at her former pupil.

• Rayhan: Wada'an (farewell), Roshan bint-La'Ahad. It was an honor.

The mentor turned his attention to Basim, requesting a meeting with him.

• Rayhan: Come, Basim. We have much to discuss.
• Basim: That we do, "Mentor".

The two left.

The next day, Enkidu flew above Alamut, then dove down towards Basim, who was standing at the cliff edge. He reached out his arm for Enkidu to perch on. However, sensing that Basim wasn't the same as he once had been, Enkidu scratched Basim's face with his talons and flew off, disowning him. Though briefly pained by the loss of his last remaining companion, he shrugged it off with a light smile. He then reflected on his reawakened memories.

• Basim: This memory I buried of this place... ...this prison, the torture I suffered here... ...it festered for years, in darkness and dreams... ...masked as a jinni, to haunt and hollow me... ...until it consumed my waking life. But I have faced my past. My pain. Embraced it. I shed my skin once, in another time, another place. But I am whole again. I remember. And as for those who thought to bind me... ...should any of them still walk the earth, I so look forward to our reunion. But until that day... ...a new world awaits.

Outcome

Basim accepted the resurgent Isu memories from Loki, though not without consequences: his companion Nehal was revealed to have been a hallucination all along, his Master Roshan left the Brotherhood and his eagle Enkidu no longer recognized him.

References

• Assassin's Creed: Mirage