Desmond's Journey

[Rosa Giovanno]

Desmond's Journey is a part of Animus Island in Assassin's Creed: Revelations. There are five parts, which are unlocked as you collect data fragments in the game. While playing through them, Desmond talks to himself and reveals some of his past and information about the Assassins in the present day. Almost like it's a video diary or something. I thought this might be helpful to have up here for some inspiration for modern chars or plotting. Below is all quoted from the game.

Part 1: Doubts

Incredible. This must be the core of the animus. No simulations, no environments. I can't even feel my own body! Everything's just... raw data. So am I still me... or am I some kind of computer program?

Home. I was born here. The Farm. Yeah. They called it the Farm. My parents, two dozen couples, some kids. A community. Hidden away. Small houses in the black hills. Right. Clear skies. Wood smoke, wind, and the stink of gasoline. Generators running day and night. I remember. We lived simply, almost like nomads. So far from everything. Ready to pack up and go at the drop of a hat. If we were discovered. If THEY found us.

The Farm. It wasn't much of one, was it? Not a proper farm. We grew some food. I don't remember any animals though. Maybe a few dogs.

The Assassins. I was born into it. I didn't choose. It was like... a birthright. You are an assassin, they told me. What did that even mean? Ever since I was young. They never stopped saying it. You are an assassin. You are an assassin. And this is our Creed...

"Nothing is true." What did that mean? A world without purpose?

"Everything is permitted." Everything is permitted?

"They're looking for us. And they will not stop until every one of us is dead." Yeah. I believed for a while, but I never understood. That's the trouble when you're born into something. Belief without understanding. Everyone was so serious. Scared too. All that talk of Assassins and Templars. The end of the world.

"Live by the Creed, Desmond. Empower yourself."

Every man has his limit, I guess. I can't remember when I stopped believing. When I stopped caring. God, it all sounded so stupid. I couldn't even hear the word "Templar" without laughing. And "Assassin", forget it... An ancient war, they said. An endless struggle. But I never cared. Who knew it was possible to bore a kid with war stories?

I guess I was... lonely. Alone in a crowd. If I could have told them that, maybe they would have listened. If only I could go back. If I could tell them I'm sorry.

[Rosa Giovanno]

Part 2: Training

The morning bell. God, I hated that. Ringing five days a week, just before dawn. Up before the birds. Me and the other kids. "Come on, Desmond! Get up! No lagging."

Exercise. Mandatory. A dip in the creek to get clean. Then oats with butter, and apple juice for breakfast. Eh. I must have walked a million miles before I was ten. But it was nice. I liked those days out in the hills. The hush, the open air, the deep dark of the forest. Crunch of boots on the dry ground.

"Can you see Rapid City from here?"
"No, no, that's much further east."

What is this war about? What are we fighting for? They never told me much. Just enough. They kept things shrouded. An air of secrecy. For my own good, they said. So we stayed hidden. Away in the black hills. If anyone ever knew who we were, or what we were doing, there'd be trouble.

"They're everywhere, Desmond. They have their hands in everything. Politics, war, finance, high-tech, agriculture. People are asleep, and while they dream, Abstergo builds a nightmare."

Abstergo. The first time I saw that name, it was on the side of a bottle of ibuprofen. Mom laughed when I asked her about it. Can't get away, she said. "We pick our battles, I guess. So many to choose from." She told me the average American household contains three dozen Abstergo owned products at any given moment. If you tried to purge them from your life completely, it would be a full time job.

So this was it. The global conspiracy, Abstergo. Fingers in every pie. Governments, Corporations, Universities. Mom and Dad made it sound so scary. But it didn't FEEL scary. An enemy has to have a face. But all I could see was a bottle of painkillers.

What scared me was the training. Sweat, tears, bloody lip every once in a while. "Focus, Desmond! focus!" How far were they going to push me? "Strength, speed, agility. No excuses." I couldn't stand it! What was the point! For years and years I thought some major catastrophe was on the horizon. I didn't know what to expect.

"One day you'll understand. You'll see. All this unease will be worth something. I promise." If they'd been more open with me. If they had shown me things, taken me places. Maybe it would have made more sense...

[Rosa Giovanno]

Part 3: Escape

I wanted out. I wanted my own life. To live my own way.

Sixteen years old. And where was I going? No idea. Just away. That's it. That was the plan. Not much of one.

They never guessed what I was doing, because I didn't know what I was doing. I just walked right out. Someone realized I was gone. They shouted. I started running.

"Desmond! Desmond!"

I just ran and ran and ran. All that training was finally worth something. God, it was so dark when I left. And the forest... endless. I didn't dare take the roads.

"Desmond, where are you?"

Mother, calling out. Begging me to stay. But I wouldn't.

I followed the hills down. Down until I hit a stream. I followed that to a river, and from the river to an old access road. I walked for hours that day, the summer sun keeping me warm well into the evening. Found a clearing after dark. Fell asleep beneath the stars. Never had a quieter night. Not before or since.

Walking, too scared to hitch a ride. What the hell was I doing? Lost in the badlands for a day. Felt like a week. Endless ocean of wrinkled earth. Can't believe a place could look so dead.

"I'm gonna die, aren't I? I'm gonna die here."

Finally met some girls from Illinois. So bubbly. So kind. One day drive to Omaha. Another to Chicago.

Then, somewhere, someone said to me... "If you got nothing, you go to New York. That way, if you leave with nothing, people don't ask why. And if you leave with something, you are one lucky son of a bitch." So that's where I went. New York City. Into skyscrapers and subways. Into filth and folly. Into the maddening crowds.

[Rosa Giovanno]

Part 4: Metropolis

Back to work when the sun goes down. Brooklyn JMZ into the city. Transfer at Washington square. Down to the Triangle. Rising from below like the living dead, into the sun, the light shocking my eyes. Walking those ten minutes between the subway and the bar always felt so good. But that feeling never lasted. Some days the city is a vampire. It steals all your best moments. They come and go in seconds, and fade away. You end up remembering only the worst.

Tending bar at Bad Weather, I just walked in and they handed me a shaker. Took me on for my ravishing looks. I think the owner had a little crush. My winning smile.

"Hey! What's that drink you invented?"

I laughed at my past. I laughed at my family. Joked about everything, even the end of the world.

"I had it last time."

"The Shirley Templar?"

"Shirley Templar? What's in it?"

"The usual, I just add some gin."

"Right on. Four of those!"

There was a big dream floating out there. And every night I saw people dreaming it. I don't know how they did it. It takes as much money to smile as to pay rent in this place. The more I missed my family, the more I hated myself for it. I told myself I wanted a new family. I wanted to start over.

"Hey Dez! You going to the after party?"

"Nah, I'm a little out of it."

Lights. Action. Bass drum. Mind-numbing. One hundred twenty four beats per. Twice the speed of a beating heart.

"So where you from?"

"He was raised in a cult or something like that. You know, out west!"

"My parents were conspiracy freaks. They live off the grid in the woods!"

"Seriously?"

God, they all looked so good. The girls in their skirts, batting eyes, the beads of sweat. Everyone was so beautiful in those flashing lights.

"You wanna dance!"

I was a new man. Born again. Alone but alive. Trying to forget.

"Come on!"

Let go, Desmond. Just let it go. Forget it.

[Rosa Giovanno]

Part 5: Regret

After nine years of being away, my old bitterness was back. I was tired again. I didn't want to admit that moving forward might mean taking a step back. But the shine of the city had faded. The freedom I felt was hollow without old friends, without family. And then... then they came for me. Abstergo. They had been looking for me. I couldn't believe it.

"Mister Miles?"

"Yeah..."

I spent half my life trying to forget everything my parents taught me, everything I thought I was a lie.

"Desmond Miles?"

"Yeah, what's this about?"

And suddenly, I wanted it all back. All that training, all that time. But I couldn't. Those days. They were gone.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"You have information we need, Mister Miles."

"Information? I'm a bartender for Christ's sake!"

"We know who you are. WHAT you are."

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't play coy with me, there isn't time. You're an assassin. You've got something my employers want. Locked away in that head of yours."

"Bastards!"

In a few short months, my life changed forever. I know my easiest days are behind me. But I don't want them back. Not now.

My name is Desmond Miles... and I am an assassin.

I AM an assassin.