Search for the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus

I wanted to ask you something. Which is... what's your name? This article title is conjecture. Although the article subject is canon, no official name for it has been given.

In 2018, a search for the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus was undertaken by an Assassin cell assembled by the Mentor William Miles and led by the ex-Abstergo Industries employee-turned-Assassin Layla Hassan.

Prelude

In October 2016, at a secret Abstergo facility known as the Aerie, a group of teenagers were brought together in order to access a collective simulation known as the Ascendance Event. Led by the Templar and Instruments of the First Will member Isaiah, he had planned to use the teenagers to find the Trident of Eden. The psychiatrist Victoria Bibeau assisted him in his endeavors, though after all was said and done, she grew discontent with Abstergo and the Templars and ultimately defected to the Assassins.

In August 2018, the Assassins, having formed a temporary and uneasy alliance with the Templars, thwarted an attempted resurrection of the Isu Juno. However, it did not come without cost, as the Assassin Charlotte de la Cruz perished when the Abstergo facility in Australia, where Juno had been temporarily resurrected, was destroyed.

All too aware of the danger the Isu artifacts posed to humanity and in an effort to track down the Pieces of Eden before Abstergo, the Assassin Mentor William Miles assembled a team that included the newly inducted Layla Hassan and Victoria Bibeau, as well as the veteran Japanese Assassin Kiyoshi Takakura and historian Alannah Ryan. Kiyoshi, who had previously participated in the raid on the Abstrergo Australia facility, was cleared for the mission but was instructed not to overdo himself. Harlan Cunningham, another veteran Assassin, was also considered for the cell but declined as he was off-duty for personal reasons.

The search

Herodotos' Lost Histories

Layla retrieving the broken Spear of Leonidas

In October 2018, after using Abstergo research she had kept following her defection from the company, Layla Hassan located the Lost Histories of Herodotos. Through analysing and cross-referencing locations mentioned in the volume, Layla and her team located the broken Spear of Leonidas formerly owned by a Spartan misthios known as Kassandra, the granddaughter of King Leonidas I of Sparta.

Although the remnants of any genetic data present on the spear were severely damaged, Layla extrapolated what she could and formatted her Animus HR-8.5 to fill in the blanks with secondary information gleaned from Herodotos. Through the Animus, she was able to relive the memories of Kassandra throughout the Peloponnesian War from 431 to 422 BCE.

After learning the location and capabilities of the Forge, Layla excitedly expressed this to Victoria. However, the doctor showed significant concern for Layla's mental well-being after spending a long time in the Animus and instructed that she rest before going back to Kassandra's memories. After stretching her legs and talking to Alannah and Kiyoshi, Layla re-entered the Animus simulation.

Discovering Atlantis

When Kassandra met her father Pythagoras underneath Thera (then known as Santorini) by 422 BCE, Layla exited the Animus, excited that she had found Atlantis. Victoria, however, thought she was delirious and could not believe that Pythagoras had survived almost a century beyond his recorded historical death. After some reassuring from Layla, Victoria relented and the cell left their London hideout for the Altaïr II bound for Thera.

Layla standing before the Gateway to Atlantis

When the ship reached the verified coordinates, Layla disembarked and continued by diving underwater. Navigating the subnautical cave system, she eventually found the Gateway to the Lost City and, after changing out of her scuba gear, set up her Animus again to continue exploring Kassandra's memories, hoping to find an explanation on how to power up the Atlantean pillars.

Gaining the knowledge she needed, Layla activated the pillars and powered up an Isu map. After some brief troubleshooting, Layla got the mechanism working to its fullest capacity and, to her surprise, Kassandra herself—kept alive for over two thousand years by the power of the Staff of Hermes—appeared to greet her.

Warning Layla about the dangers of the Pieces of Eden, Kassandra instructed her to destroy all the artifacts once she accomplished her goal, to maintain the balance between order and chaos. After Layla promised to do so, Kassandra relinquished the Staff to her, thus completing her purpose as "the Keeper." Without the powers of the Staff preventing her from aging, Kassandra passed away moments later.

Learning the Staff's capabilities

Layla with the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus

Returning to the Animus to gather any loose data she might have missed, Layla witnessed Kassandra's interactions with Aletheia, an Isu whose consciousness was preserved within the Staff. To learn more about her role as the "Heir of Memories", Layla traveled to the tombs of Agamemnon, Eteokles, and Orion, which Aletheia had instructed Kassandra to find.

Inside the tombs, Layla discovered hidden symbols which served as part of the key needed to unlock the Great Seal to Atlantis. The other part was a password discovered by the sculptor Phidias, who had been murdered by Kassandra's brother Deimos. To learn the password, Layla reluctantly relived Deimos' memories, which would prove to have lasting negative effects.

After accessing the Great Seal, Layla finally met Aletheia, who offered to teach her about her role as the Heir of Memories. By reliving Kassandra's memories of exploring simulations created by Aletheia, Layla learned how to master the powers of the Staff and what her role as the Heir meant. Concerned for her well-being, Victoria soon followed Layla to Atlantis to monitor her.

The Assassins' location eventually became compromised as members of Sigma Team 6 descended upon them. While Kiyoshi eliminated the Sigma operatives who attacked the Altaïr II, Layla dealt with the Templars who entered the Great Seal to Atlantis. Later, during a Bleeding Effect-induced manic episode, Layla accidentally struck Victoria with the Staff when the doctor tried to forcefully end her Animus sessions. Immediately regretting her actions, Layla mourned her friend's death and begged Aletheia for a second chance to prove she would not let her emotions consume her.

Layla impaling Berg

After reliving the last of Kassandra's memories in Aletheia's simulations, Layla was awoken from the Animus as the Isu warned her about the presence of an interloper. The Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg, Sigma Team's leader, soon approached Layla and demanded the Staff. During their conversation, Layla offered to compromise with Berg, telling him the artifact could be used to heal his sick daughter Elina, but the Templar angrily cut her off for daring to speak his daughter's name.

Seeing she could not reason with Berg, Layla fought him and, with the Staff in her possession and all the skills she had gained through the Bleeding Effect, easily defeated him. After mocking the injured Berg, Layla decided not to kill him, though she still impaled his lower spine with the Staff, paralyzing him and causing him to pass out from blood loss. She then radioed the Altaïr II, asking to be extracted alongside the deceased Victoria and the unconscious Berg.

Aftermath

Although successful in retrieving the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, Layla's relationship with Kiyoshi and Alannah was damaged beyond repair after they learned about her unintentional killing of Victoria. As a result, Layla had to be re-assigned to a new Assassin cell, eventually being joined by Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane because of their similar experience with losing a teammate when Desmond Miles, under an Apple of Eden's influence, killed Lucy Stillman in 2012. To ensure a similar incident did not occur again, William Miles asked Shaun to place a mood stabilizer on Layla's neck, allowing her to keep the influence of both the Staff and the Bleeding Effect under control.

However, Layla struggled with the intense guilt she felt for Victoria's death and began smoking and taking pills to cope with her feelings. At one point, she tried writing a letter to Victoria's parents to inform them of the circumstances of their daughter's death and her role in it, but abandoned the idea halfway through. Kiyoshi was similarly affected by Victoria's death and, in 2019, recounted the incident to Kō Risa and her cousin Mari while explaining the dangers of the Bleeding Effect to them.

Following his defeat by Layla, Juhani Otso Berg was taken prisoner by the Assassins, who unsuccessfully tried to interrogate him several times. By November 2019, Berg remained a captive of the Brotherhood, though he would later escape and return to Abstergo, who restored his ability to walk through experimentation with a Staff of Eden.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (first appearance)
  • The Lost Tales of Greece
  • The Fate of Atlantis
• Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun (flashback only)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (indirect mention only)