Crawley, England
1719
Arthur POV

I walk up to the entrance of the theater and open the doors. I am greeted by an usher, to whom I give my tickets. I take a right and go up a flight of stairs that lead me into a hallway with doors lining the right wall. I walk down the hall until I reach the last door at the end. I open the door and enter the booth where I'm supposed to sit. Sitting in the booth already is a blond man with a scar over his left eye. He turns to look at me, smiles, and gets up.

"Arthur." He says to me
"Lucas." I reply.

I pat the person who is my oldest friend on the back. Then we sit down and recall the last time we talked to each other in London. Then we move on to business.

"Did you find what you needed?" I ask.
"Yes. It was right where we thought it would be, too." He answers.

He takes out a small glowing object and puts it in my hand. It resembles a coin, somewhat. It's something that we've been looking for over the course of three years.

The key to a first civilization vault.

"It's magnificent." I whisper.
"It truly is. The key to a vault that holds one of the most powerful artifacts in the world, in the palm of your hand." Lucas responds.

I look at the key again. The light it emits is pulsating. I put the artifact in my pocket.

"The masters should be pleased." Lucas states.
"That they should." I reply.

We look down at the play. Romeo and Juliet. My favorite. I always enjoyed the thought of a couple whose love was so great that they would defy their families wishes. Lucas is not as interested.

"Should we be on our way?" He asks.
"No need to hurry, my friend. After all, we chose to meet at a play. Why not enjoy it?" I reply.
"It's because Juliet reminds you of Rose, isn't it?" He inquires with a smirk.
"N-no! What on earth makes you say that?!" I ask, blushing profusely at the mention of my girlfriend.

Lucas simply chuckles and continues watching the play. Then he decides to go a step farther.

"How did you two meet, anyway?" He asks.
"The moment I laid eyes on her, I thought she was the most beautiful person I ever met. It started off with small talk at the parties that Alice always made us go to. Eventually, I tried to impress her by beating her in the training room. I wanted to tell her that I loved her. I guess she knew what I was doing and got tired of waiting for me to say it, because she said it before I did." I explain.

Not exactly a place you expect to confess your love to a girl, but at least it worked. If you're wondering how we have a training room, we had taken one of the enemy's hideouts in Croydon.

We watch the play for a little bit longer. Then we hear someone picking the lock to the door behind us. It seems the enemy knows we're here and what we have.

"Hide!" I whisper yell to Lucas.

He hides in a nook by the door, while I hide behind the door. When the door opens, no one enters. Then a man slowly enters the booth, cautious of his surroundings. When he gets far enough in, Lucas emerges from his hiding spot. He puts a hand over the man's mouth, then stabs him in the back with a knife. The man falls to the floor dead.

"What now?" Asks Lucas.
"We can't stay here. They know where we are." I respond.
"What do we do with the body?" He asks.
"Leave it." I answer, coming up with a plan.

We walk out of the booth and down the hallway. We descend down the stairwell, but stop near the bottom.

"Any moment now..." I say, growing impatient.

A scream comes from the booth we were in. We wait for a few more minutes. Suddenly the main lobby erupts into chaos. Men getting pinned to the wall, women clamoring for the doors, Actors hiding in various places. This was my plan. When people found the body, they would all clamor for the doors in the main lobby. The ensuing chaos would create a large crowd that we would use to slip away.

"Now!" I exclaim, making for the door.

Lucas follows me closely. We slip through the crowd and walk out of the building. We continue walking until we arrive at the carriage that drove me here. I toss a coin bag to the driver and open the door. Lucas gets in, then me. I close the door, and we head toward the hideout.

Timeskip

I sit at the table where we all sit when we have large meetings. Sitting next to me is Lucas.

Across from me is a black haired girl whom you now know as Rose. Next to her is her friend Alice Lanier, a blond haired girl who's good at connecting us to people in high government positions.

Next to Alice is Jacque Siviliar. A French man who knows how to get on my bad side easily. He's the financial manager of the group. I guess coming from French nobility makes you good with money.

At the end of the table is our leader, Alfred Talsmein. A gray haired Austrian with a mustache so big, it covers his top lip. He examines the artifact closely.

"Truly amazing. Those that came before had brilliant minds. Such a small thing is the key to one of the greatest discoveries the Order will ever make." He mumbles.

He puts the key down on the table and looks at Lucas and I.

"You boys have done well. However, there is the matter of this man that tried to kill you. It is troubling to hear that such a vital artifact was almost stolen by the enemy." He says.

Then Jacque chuckles.

"Perhaps the famed Arthur Aquila isn't as sharp as the stories say." He says with a smirk.

Talsmein fixes him with a warning glance.

"If he wasn't the best member here, do you think I would have sent him, Jacque?" He asks.

Jacque's smirk disappears and he grumbles under his breath. Now it's my turn to smirk. I always seem to smile when Jacque's cockiness comes back to bite him.

Talsmein turns back to Lucas and I.

"We will discuss this later. But for now..." he says.

He looks at Alice.

"Lanier, there's a member of the Spanish Royal Court coming to attend a ball at the King's palace who may know something about the enemy. Attend the event and see what you can learn." He explains.

Alice nods. Then he looks at the Touke brothers, who have connections to the criminal underground and mercenary groups.

"George and Oliver, I need you to assemble your mercenaries and assist our allies in Russia." He explains.

They both nod once. Then he looks at Lucas and I.

"Lucas and Arthur, you two and Ravenwood will go to the West Indies where the enemy is setting up another bureau and eliminate them before they gather any forces." He tells us.

Yes! I get to work with Rose! I'll stay on task when we arrive, but while we're traveling there, I finally get to spend some more time with her. We're dating, yes, but we haven't interacted much lately.

We tell Talsmein that we understand our assignment. He stands up, and so do we.

"It may not be today, but someday, we will be rid of our enemies and the danger they pose to the world. Today, we do our part. And let this glorious Order live on... the Templar Order. May the Father of Understanding guide us." He rants.

This what makes Talsmein the grandmaster of the British rite. The Templars need someone who will rally people to the cause and stop the Assassins.

"May the Father of Understanding guide us." We all repeat.