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Assassin's Creed: Heritage is comic book miniseries published by Titan Comics. The first issue was released in June 2017.
The comic focuses on the protagonist Horatio Pierce who is inducted into the Assassin-Templar War. As he relives the memories of his Japanese Assassin ancestor Kurosawa no Rōnin, he discovers a Piece of Eden that has the potential to change the Assassin-Templar conflict forever.
Issue 1[]
The first issue starts off with Horatio Pierce waking up in an Abstergo Facility, he is greeted by the Templar Alexandre Bacque.
Horatio, in a panicked state, demands to know what's going on. Alexandre proceeds to inform the young man of the Assassins and Templars and how they aren't just two groups made for their video game franchises but that they are most certainly real and that Horatio's ancestry and father were members of the Assassins. Horatio is shocked at the fact that the two groups were actually real and that he is descended from them. Alexandre went on to explain that Horatio's father has discovered an Isu artifact that has the potential to turn the tide of the Assassin-Templar War, Horatio cut Alexandre off immediately, stating that Horatio hasn't seen his father since he was born.
Nonetheless, Alexandre believed that Horatio's father discovered said-artifact through the genetic memories of his ancestors, he stated that due to Horatio's ancestors' high concentrations of Isu DNA, no ordinary person could view those memories and that the only reason Horatio was still alive is that only he could view his ancestor's memories.
Horatio asked how they even know which ancestors to look for but Alexandre already had an idea of which ancestor to view first. Abstergo believes that Horatio's father had left clues for his Assassin brethren, although Abstergo intercepted these clues and decoded them which revealed random years in history.
The first clue was the year, 1090 and that was one of the years his Japanese Assassin ancestor, Rōnin Kurosawa was active in. Horatio could do nothing but comply with Alexandre and Abstergo, Alexandre supplied Horatio with an Animus Omega and left the room, although the guards stayed behind. Horatio placed the Animus Omega headset on his head and dived into his ancestor's memory.
Horatio, in the body of his ancestor, saw he was in the year of 1092 but the world around him was glitching and lagging out, panicking, Horatio turned to see he was in battle with a heavily armored samurai, he was then stabbed in the chest which caused him to desynchronize. Horatio took off his Animus Omega and threw up on the floor, Alexandre entered the room and demanded to know what happened, Horatio explained what happened to which Alexandre realised that Horatio lacked the confidence to step into Rōnin's body. Alexandre suggested the Horatio go back to an earlier year and work his way up from there.
Horatio enters the Animus Omega once more and finds himself in the year 1071, in the body of his ancestor as a child. Rōnin is crying over his father's dead body and swears vengeance on the man who killed him, Kojiro no Umon.
Issue 2[]
In the year 1080, Rōnin is at a ceremony surrounded by other Assassins. He is gifted with a Hidden Blade by the Assassin Mentor, Shidō-sha, Rōnin activates his Hidden Blade and severs his ring finger.
Later on Shidō-sha congratulated Rōnin on becoming a full-fledged Assassin and that he was one step closer to avenging his father, Rōnin thanked Shidō-sha and told him that he was also like a second father to him by simply raising him, feeding him and providing him with a home. After their heartfelt moment, Shidō-sha went on to give Rōnin his first Assassination target; Fujiwara no Kenshi, the Empress consort of Japan and a secret Templar.
In 1084, Rōnin travelled to the palace of Emperor Shirakawa at nightfall, where he killed the guards without gathering the attention of the Emperor and the Empress. He used his free-running skills to scale the palace and enter the quarters of the Emperor and Empress, Rōnin ripped the duvet off the bed and realized there was a decoy in the bed. Becoming alert immediately, Rōnin swiftly but barely dodges what would have been a fatal attack from Kenshi, Rōnin attempts to swipe at her with his Hidden Blade but she ducks in time and kicks him onto the bed before fleeing through the window.
Rōnin jumps out of the window and follows her closely. Kenshi stops on a rooftop before attacking Rōnin once more, he blocks several attacks with his katana before disarming her. Rōnin attempts to deliver a fatal blow to her but she swiftly avoids the attack and rushes behind him and kicks him in the back causing him to fall and drop his sword, Kenshi goes to kick him but he gets up before she can and punches her in the gut, staggering her, before proceeding to stab her in the neck.
Kenshi curses Rōnin for what he's done, stating that she had children. Feeling deep sympathy for the children, he apologizes to her for orphaning her children but does not regret assassinating her, she was a Templar. Kenshi curses him once more as she joined the Templars to make a better life for herself and her children before succumbing to her wounds.
Issue 3[]
Upon returning home, Rōnin reported of Fujiwara no Kenshi's death to Shidō-sha to which he congratulated him on his success. Moments later, an Assassin reported to Shidō-sha that the Templars were attacking the Assassin's village, the three urgently ran outside to see various Assassins engaged with the Templars, Shidō-sha then killed the Assassin who warned them of the attack. Shocked and confused, Rōnin demanded to know why he just did that, Shidō-sha explained that he knows the face of all Assassins that serve him and he's never seen the one that he's just killed. Rōnin comes to the conclusion that the Assassin was a Templar in disguise, Rōnin and Shidō-sha then proceed to join the battle.
After killing various Templars, Rōnin is alerted to the presence of Umon Kojiro's presence. Rōnin loses all senses and enters a blind rage and immediately begins hunting him down on the battlefield, killing all Templars in his way. He finally makes his way to Kojiro, who is in combat with Shidō-sha and is about to defeat him, Rōnin attacks Kojiro but is easily bested by him. With Rōnin on the ground and a blade to his throat, Kojiro recognizes Rōnin and congratulates him for assassinating Kenshi, confused, he asks Kojiro if he's here to avenge Kenshi. Kojiro laughs and tells him that he has better things to do than to be avenging members of the Templar Order, he's looking for an artifact.
Rōnin claims he knows nothing of any artifact which leads Kojiro to state that Rōnin has no use. Before plunging his sword through Rōnin's throat, an Assassin attacks him with a throwing knife causing him to call a retreat, ending the First Sequence.
Horatio exited the Animus Omega feeling slightly disoriented, he was greeted by Alexandre and another woman by the name of Angelica Concord. She revealed herself as the head of Abstergo Industries, she asked Horatio to take a walk with her and Alexandre to which he complied.
The three walked through an Abstergo facility in Ontario while Alexandre explained the reasoning for his hostile kidnapping and why he has to relive the memories of his ancestor. Horatio responds with that he already knows why but she rebuffs and states Alexandre did not tell him the full story. She reveals to Horatio that she is the head of the project code named Project Omega and explains that their goals are to create a Piece of Eden and that she believes his ancestors encountered various pieces throughout their lifetime. Confused, Horatio asks what a Piece of Eden is, Alexandre then explains the history of the Pieces of Eden and the Isu.
After their walk, Angelica and Alexandre allow Horatio to take a break from the Animus and eat lunch with the other captured individuals. While eating lunch, he met an individual named Hayley Yasutake who claimed she was an Assassin and told him not to worry. She explained she was a spy for the Assassins and allowed herself to be captured, Hayley then told Horatio to finish Rōnin's memories and that "help will be here soon".
Issue 4[]
Horatio ponders on Hayley's words and he feels a sense of relief that he may not die after all. He did as Hayley said and continued digging through Rōnin's memories to find the Piece of Eden.
In 1087, three years after the attack on the village. Rōnin trained day in, day out to better his skills for when he faces Kojiro in combat again, in the meantime, he assassinated several Templar targets and their allies for information on the artifact Kojiro is searching for.
Rōnin was notified by Shidō-sha that the Templar, Kiyohara no Iehira of the Kiyohara clan; Kojiro's second-in-command and confidant was apart of the attack on the village and that he may know something about Kojiro's search. Anxious to know as many details as possible, Rōnin asked where he was located. He was informed that Iehira was located in Kanezawa. Rōnin headed for Kanezawa on horseback immediately.
Upon arriving to Kanezawa in August 1087, Rōnin was aware of the Gosennen War currently going on which he could use to his advantage in killing Iehira. Rōnin spent the whole day tailing and spying on individuals connected with Iehira, with this information he learned from tailing and spying. Rōnin went to Minamoto no Yoshiie, a relative and enemy of Iehira, Rōnin was attacked by Yoshiie's guards but he disposed of them easily. Impressed with his skills, Yoshiie granted an audience with Rōnin, he then proceeded to tell Yoshiie's whereabouts and that he will be accompanying them in the attack.
With the help of Yoshiie and his brother Yoshimitsu and Fujiwara Kiyohara, Rōnin accompanied them when they laid siege to Iehira's camp from August to November. In the final battle, Rōnin located Iehira and assassinated him among the chaos. Iehira laughed at Rōnin, calling him a fool, assassinating without a cause, Rōnin quickly rebuffed this statement by telling him he fights for his father and peace. Iehira tells him peace can only be achieved through control, Rōnin asks if that has anything to do with the artifact Kojiro is searching for. Iehira confirms this and tells Rōnin that he looks for the source, confused by the vague statement, Rōnin asks what the "source" is but Iehire dies before he could explain further.
Issue 5[]
In 1090, another three years later, Rōnin has been searching around Japan for the "source" obtaining various leads from Templars, Assassins and others. In October, he gathered intel from a fellow Assassin that the "source" was located in Sakai and that Kojiro was headed there also in that moment of time, Rōnin thanked his fellow brethren and headed for Sakai on horseback.
In late October, Rōnin had made his way to Sakai and through the local residents, he learned that their was an ancient temple that housed dark magic. Rōnin knew that the "source" was located there, he made his way to the temple and discovered the entrance with his Eagle Vision. Upon entering the temple he noticed the interior had strange markings and glowed an odd color, he remarked it as if it were from another world.
Suddenly, he was attacked with a blast of glowing energy, while he was not killed or seriously injured, it hit him hard enough to daze him. There, he saw Kojiro with the "source" and suddenly felt he was unable to move any muscle in his body except from his mouth, Rōnin demanded to know what was happening to him. Kojiro proceeded to explain to him what the glowing rock in his hand was and who the Ones Who Came Before were as well as the Pieces of Eden.
Rōnin, using his intellect to his advantage, stated that if Kojiro is an honorable man he would release him and allow him to fight for his chance to live and for the Source of Eden. Kojiro, realizing his honor was in question, agreed to this and released him from the Source's grasp. Kojiro unsheathed his katana, leading Rōnin to do the same. The two engaged in combat, Rōnin proved his worth by simultaneously holding his own against Kojiro, who was one of the best Samurai of his generation and avoiding the attacks from the Source of Eden. Rōnin managed to disarm Kojiro, headbutting him and then stabbing him with his Hidden Blade.
Kojiro congratulated him for his victory and stated he was somewhat proud of being the catalyst into the forging of a great warrior. Rōnin was sickened by this fact and demanded that Kojiro not take pleasure in his compliments and reminded him of the fact that Kojiro killed Takeshi, Kojiro laughed and proceeded to explain that all of this, including Takeshi's death was because of the Source of Eden, he then asked what Rōnin would do with it. Rōnin rebuffed Kojiro and stated that he would hide the Source or destroy it. Kojiro later died and Rōnin gave him his final rites.
Rōnin left Kojiro's body in the temple, retrieved the Source and destroyed it.
After discovering this information Horatio was immediately pulled out of the Animus by Angelica and Alexandre, they congratulated him on finding the Source but were irritated that it was destroyed.
They then explained that the next year in Horatio's father's clue was the year 1769 and that his ancestors theRavensdale family were active around this time period. But before they could force him to explore their memories, gunshots were heard throughout the facility. Suddenly, Hayley enters Horatio's quarters and attacks Angelica and Alexandre, grabs Horatio and flees.
Issue 6[]
While escaping through the facility, Horatio asks Hayley what's going on and she explains that they have little time and that the other Assassins can't hold Abstergo off for long.
All Horatio could do is comply with Hayley as he follows her but first the two make a detour into Alexandre's office, Hayley steals back the clues Horatio's father left behind explaining that the Assassins will need them to find the other Source of Eden. After this, via the Bleeding Effect, Horatio learned a few of Rōnin's combat skills, using these skills he and Hayley escape the Ontario facility with the other Assassins.
After the battle, Alexandre comes across a loss of blood that came from Horatio originally. He smiles sinister upon realizing he and Abstergo now has access to Horatio's genetic memories and that they can search for the Sources without him.
Hours later, Horatio and Hayley arrive to Minnesota in a van and rendezvoused with her Assassin Cell. There, Horatio meets the Assassins Jason Hart and Erica Boyd, the hacker and historian respectively. Hayley informs Jason and Erica of the Source of Eden and shows them the clues that Horatio's father left behind.
After collecting his bearings, Horatio asks what happens now. Hayley explains that the life as he knows it is over, he's a target of Abstergo now and that if he leaves he's as good as dead, she then goes on to tell him that he comes from a bloodline of Assassins and it's his duty to protect humanity's freewill from the Templars and that he and his father are the only thing that can stop Abstergo from obtaining the Source. Realizing she was right and he's now apart of something bigger than himself, Horatio decides to join the Assassin Brotherhood.
Hayley gifts Horatio with a Hidden Blade and welcomes him to the Assassins.
Characters[]
Heian Period[]
- Kurosawa no Rōnin
- Kojiro no Umon
- Shidō-sha
- Fujiwara no Kenshi
- Minamoto no Yoshiie
- Kiyohara no Yoshimitsu
- Kiyohara no Fujiwara
- Kiyohara no Iehira