"Damnit!"
I cursed under my breath, my fingers flying across the keyboard as I dodged yet another horde of guards chasing after me. The rooftops of Florence stretched before me, a vast playground of stone and opportunity—if only my stamina bar weren't draining faster than my will to live.
All I did was leave a single comment on a gaming forum. One tiny, innocent comment.
"Ezio is overrated. Altair and Edward were way better assassins."
And just like that, the entire Assassin's Creed fanbase descended upon me like a swarm of angry bees. The responses were brutal. Death threats? Check. Insults about my intelligence? Check. A particularly creative insult involving my mother, a haystack, and the phrase "you deserve a leap of faith off a cliff"? Double check.
But come on, was I really that wrong? Ezio was cool, sure. Charismatic? No doubt. But he had way too much plot armour. Meanwhile, Altair was a legend, and Edward was a goddamn pirate assassin—how was that not the coolest thing ever?
Still, none of that mattered right now because I had one goal: survive this godforsaken chase. My fingers moved on instinct, guiding Ezio through Florence's rooftops, weaving between chimneys, leaping across alleys, and desperately avoiding the guards hot on my tail.
"Come on, come on… just a little further."
I was almost at a hiding spot—a well-placed haystack that would let me break my line of sight and disappear. But just as I made the final leap—
BZZZT!
The screen flickered. My heart skipped a beat.
"NO! NO, YOU PIECE OF—"
The dreaded blue screen of death appeared. My PC, my lifeline, my faithful companion in the digital world, had just betrayed me in the worst moment possible.
And then—everything went black.
...
I gasped, but no sound came out.
The world around me was a swirling void, neither dark nor light. My body—or what remained of it—felt weightless, drifting in an ocean of nothingness.
Was I… dead?
No, this wasn't right. I didn't remember any truck hitting me. No cliché death by lightning. No vengeful fan breaking into my room for my "blasphemy" against Ezio Auditore.
Yet here I was, suspended in emptiness.
And then—
Ding!
A soft chime echoed in the void, followed by a mechanical yet oddly soothing voice.
[Choose one, Congratulation you are dead~]
My face crunched just instinctively. "The hell kind of greeting is that?"
[You have been selected for Reincarnation! 🎉]
[Reason: Exceptional... Criticism Skills]
Oh, great. So I died because I dissed Ezio on the internet, and now some cosmic gacha system decided I was worth reincarnating? What was this, karma with a sense of humour?
[Congratulations, lucky soul! You've been chosen for the "Assassin's Legacy Integration Program™!"]
[Destination: Renaissance Italy, 1475 – Florence]
[Role: Ezio Auditore's Younger Brother (Dante Auditore)]
[Identity Sync... 7%... 32%... 69%... Nice.]
[Complete!]
"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up! I didn't agree to anything!"
[Too late. No refunds.]
[Loading Talent Template... → Altair Ibn-La'Ahad]
[System Type: XP-Based RPG System - Inspired by Origins]
[Skill Tree: UNLOCKED]
[System Shop: Locked until Level 5]
[Difficulty Modifier: Hardcore (Because of your trash talk.)]
"OH, COME ON—"
I didn't get to finish the sentence.
The void shattered.
Suddenly, air filled my lungs like I was surfacing from the bottom of the ocean. My eyes snapped open—and what I saw wasn't my darkened room or the cursed blue screen. It was a wooden ceiling, painted by time and candle smoke.
I blinked.
I blinked again.
Wooden beams. Cracks in the ceiling. A faint scent of lavender mixed with the unmistakable staleness of… old Italy?
I sat up with a jolt—way faster than my body was apparently ready for, because dizziness hit me like a hidden blade to the skull.
"Ughh…"
My arms felt weird. Lighter. Thinner. Younger?
I glanced down.
Small hands. Pale skin. No scars, no callouses from years of gaming. My chest—also smaller. No, not that kind of small, thank god. Just… youthful. Like a teenager's.
A mirror. I needed a mirror.
I turned—and there it was, an ornate bronze-framed piece mounted above a wooden desk in the corner of the room. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stumbled toward it, my movements clumsy and uncoordinated, like a baby deer learning how legs worked.
When I reached the mirror, I froze.
Staring back at me was a boy. Around fifteen. Thick black hair that curled slightly near the temples. Eyes—hazel, with flecks of green and amber. A strong jawline just beginning to sharpen with age.
[Name: Dante Auditore]
[Age: 15]
[Level: 1]
[XP: 0/1000]
[Skill Points: 0]
[System Shop: Locked]
[Talent Template: Altair Ibn-La'Ahad]
[Welcome, Initiate.]
The blue system interface blinked into view like a hologram, its soft glow floating just behind my vision. Only I could see it, apparently. Great—standard system protagonist stuff. But this wasn't a novel. This was Assassin's Creed.
And I was right smack in the middle of it.
Knock knock.
The door creaked open. I flinched instinctively, almost falling into the desk.
"Dante?" came a familiar voice—deep, warm, and tinged with that thick Florentine accent I'd only heard through cutscenes before.
I turned.
Standing in the doorway was Giovanni Auditore. Ezio's father. The Giovanni. Alive. Tall, commanding, with that noble posture and calculating gaze that practically screamed "I used to be a badass Assassin before taxes and children."
He smiled softly. "You're awake, finally. You hit your head at the stables. Your mother was worried."
"…R-Right. The stables," I echoed. Because yeah, of course, the System would cover for me with some fake accident backstory.
I stepped forward on wobbly feet, heart pounding like a sync bar at 5%. Giovanni nodded approvingly.
"Come downstairs when you're ready. Your mother wants you to go with her on an errand."
I watched Giovanni walk away like a ghost from my screen had come to life. Only he wasn't just polygons anymore—he was real. Too real. The soft creak of wooden floorboards under his boots, the scent of leather and cedar from his clothes, the sheer weight of his presence…
I was living in Assassin's Creed.
And not just anywhere—I'd been dropped into 1475 Florence. Right before everything went to hell.
"Okay. Okay, Dante. You've done RPG intros before. You know how this works."
I looked back at the blue interface still floating in front of my vision.
—
[Main Quest Activated!]
Title: Welcome to the Brotherhood
Objective: Integrate into the Auditore family and survive until the execution of Giovanni Auditore.
Reward: +1500 XP, Unlock System Shop
Bonus Objective: Prevent the Auditore Tragedy
Bonus Reward: ???
—
Oh no. Nope. That was bad. That was very bad.
I knew the timeline. Ezio was seventeen in 1476. That meant we had less than a year before the Templars framed Giovanni and the Auditore family was torn apart. Less than a year before a literal hellstorm was unleashed—and I was smack in the middle of it.
I rubbed my temples. "So let me get this straight—I've got one year to go from Level 1 cosplay to full-fledged assassin, prevent one of the biggest tragedies in the franchise, and survive Hardcore Mode while babysitting my overconfident older brother."
Pause.
"…Yeah. Sounds about right."
I checked the interface again.
[Skill Tree: Available]
[Branches Unlocked: Altair Ibn-La'Ahad]
I tapped it mentally, and a glowing diagram appeared—interconnected nodes spreading out like a spiderweb.
Altair's branch was all precision and minimalism. Stealth Kills. Eagle Vision. Enhanced Climbing. Hidden Blade Mastery. Disarm Techniques. Mental Focus.
It was beautiful. Clean. Deadly.
But each skill required Skill Points, which I didn't have. Yet.
That meant one thing: I needed XP. Fast.
By the time I'd gotten dressed—some finely tailored doublet and trousers, courtesy of the Auditore fortune—I'd also managed to not fall down the stairs, which felt like a major win considering the disconnect between my new brain and this fifteen-year-old body.
The villa was grander than I'd ever imagined. Not the polygonal replica from the game—this was real marble, real warmth, real laughter echoing from the halls. I passed by a younger Claudia, her hair tied up in a neat braid as she scribbled something in a small journal.
"Morning, Dante," she said casually, not even looking up.
"Uh. Morning," I replied, somehow resisting the urge to ask her how it felt to eventually slap nobles in Brotherhood like a queen.
I made my way to the courtyard, where I spotted her—Maria Auditore, my new mother, chatting with servants near a carriage.
She turned to me, her expression softening immediately. "There you are. Feeling better?"
"Much," I said with a half-smile.
"Good. We have errands in the city. I thought it would be good for you to stretch your legs. Your brother is already out somewhere, probably charming another baker's daughter."
That tracks.
"Come, we leave shortly."
—
[New Quest Unlocked!]
Title: A Stroll Through Firenze
Objective: Accompany Maria Auditore to the city.
Optional Objective: Observe surroundings for Templar activity.
Reward: +100 XP
Bonus Reward: +1 Skill Point if Optional Objective Completed
—
Now that was more like it. A simple fetch quest with some XP and a juicy bonus? Classic early-game stuff. I could work with this.
As we stepped into the bustling streets of Florence, I felt it—the vibrancy, the danger, the history. This wasn't a game anymore.
It was my life.
And whether I liked it or not, the Brotherhood had just gained a new recruit.
Dante Auditore. Level 1.
Noob Assassin. Hardcore Mode.
Let's f*ing go.**
***
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