And So It Begins Again

Albus Part 1

"Tonight," he whispered into my ear.

Tonight. Tonight I'm finally escaping this place. I've been stuck in this place ever since I woke up two years ago with no memory of who I was and how I got here.

I open my eyes. The first thing I see is a ceiling. I sit up, and look around at the circular room that is as blinding-white as the ceiling. I am sitting on a bed in the middle of the room, and the door is in the direction of my feet. I notice there is no handle, nothing I can use to open the door. Other than me and the bed, there is nothing else in the room.

I wiggle my fingers. Then my toes. I try to swing my legs off the bed to stand up. The moment my bare feet touch the floor, though, pain spears through my head, blinding me and pushing me to the floor. I lay in a miserable puddle on the ground, clutching my head. Distantly, I hear the door open, and someone comes in. I black out just as a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders.

I wake up again sometime later and open my eyes. Or at least I think I do. It's hard to tell; it is pitch black no matter how much force my eyelids exert. I reach my right hand up towards my face. My fingers find fabric, and I slowly pull the blindfold off my head. Light spears my eyeballs, and I blink a few times to let my pupils adjust to the influx of light. I am still in the white room, alone.

"How are you feeling, Albus?" a voice soothing, feminine voice asks. I turn my head, searching for the source. There must be speakers hidden somewhere. Seeing none, I give up and decide to settle my gaze on the door.

Albus? I search my memory for my name, but I come up blank. Albus it is, then. "Who are you?" I ask, addressing the door.

"I'm Dr. Sensus," the voice answers. "I'm watching you through cameras and mikes in your room. You have no need to worry. You are perfectly safe."

Different questions flit through my head. I finally settle on one. "How did I get here?" I ask, confused.

"I understand you have questions. I'll do my best to explain," Dr. Sensus says. "You were in a terrible accident. The war, do you remember the war?" she asks, pausing, waiting for my answer.

I shake my head. "There is this war," she continues. "Between the Renaissance and the United States of America. It has been going on for six years now. Six years ago, a group of rebels, self-proclaimed the "Renaissance", revolted against the government of the United States. At first, the government dismissed them as harmless, but then they started committing acts of terrorism. There was a failed assassination on the president. Poisoning water supply, explosions in civilian communities-the list of crimes go on. They became a threat to the United States and a dangerous one. The government responded accordingly, and the war officially began. You, Albus, were a United States soldier. Unfortunately, while on a mission, you got captured by the Renaissance. We assume that you were interrogated and tortured by them. They must have wiped your memory because when we finally rescued you, you had no recollection of what happened. At that point, we were more worried about your physical injuries. Your body was in a critical condition. Luckily we got to you before permanent harm could be done to your physical body, but we couldn't fix your memories. I'm sorry. We are still searching for cures, but nothing has worked thus far, as I'm sure you're aware after the headache you experienced earlier. We believe that your brain is trying to find the memories and fix itself when you have those headaches, but we are unsure. We have never seen anything like this before. The Renaissance most likely has damaged your brain permanently."

The words slowly soaked into my mind. My memories. My identity. Gone. All because of some renegade group called the Renaissance. Hate simmers in my stomach. "I'm gonna kill them all," I vow.

"I understand why you feel this way. You are not the only one. Many have been affected by this war. You will help avenge them. Training starts tomorrow. We're going to train you to be an assassin," Dr. Sensus says. I hear the click of her mike turning off, and I am left to my own thoughts.

I pushed my body to its limits. For physical training, I swam miles, scaled buildings, and ran across rooftops. I did target practice. All different kinds of weapons from knives to guns to slingshots. I trained my eyes to spot subtle differences in color. I can hear the scurrying of a mouse from 100 yards away.

In addition to training my body, I also trained my mind. To forget fear, forget pain. To be able to think as clearly twenty hours into a mission with no sleep as well as one hour in. I learned how to read a person's body language and how to predict what they're going to do next. Tactics and calculations were in my dreams at night. Most importantly, I learned about the Renaissance and its ringmaster, Francis Bacon. I learned of their purpose. The Renaissance want time travel technology to be available to everyone. They want to destroy everything by putting highly dangerous weapons in everyone's hands. It cannot happen. Once upon a time it did, and it did not turn out well. The government, in its infinite wisdom, stepped in before we completely destroyed each other.

A decade after time travel was first discovered, people started taking things from the past. They took gold, jewels, money, and other trinkets. And of course they would never get caught because it's not like the person from the past that they stole from can go to the police and say that a time traveler stole their grandma's ruby pendant that she gave to them right before she died.

But then human trafficking began. People would pay for kids they wanted from the past to adopt. People would get rid of other people by leaving them in the past to fend for themselves. The homeless and unnoticed from the past would be taken to the future as slaves. People would go back in time to kill people they didn't like. Crime rates were through the roof, but they were all getting away with it.

Finally, the United States decided time travel was getting out of hand and banned it. All time travel devices were confiscated, all information pertaining to time travel erased. But some people were upset-i.e. the Renaissance. They opposed the ban of time travel. They revolted, and here we are still battling against them in this war.

My mission, the reason for all this extensive training, is simple: assassinate Francis Bacon.