A game, or real life? (Ezio x reader)

the Beginning of a long Journey

"Altair!! No!!" I cried out as I clutched his shoulders, trying to shake him back to reality. But it was no use. His eyes were glued to the man standing behind me, a golden light enveloping the man's entire body. Suddenly, I let out a choked gasp as I felt a surge of pain wash through me. Shock and pain had overrun my senses to the point that I barely felt warm droplets of blood splattering onto my neck. I fell onto the ground, my legs no longer able of carrying my weight. But none of that seemed to matter anymore. All that mattered was the man holding me in his arms and cupping my cheek. I clang to his white tunic as life seemed to further slip away from my grasp.

"S...S-Strength....Altaïr...." I managed to say with a slight smile before closing my eyes, no longer able to hear his broken calls as a thick curtain of darkness enveloped my senses. Was this....death?

I jolted awake with a choked gasp, immediately proceeding to sit up on my bed. I panted heavily, cupping my face with my hands. Fuck, that dream again. For several days now, I've been having this dream of dying in the arms of a man. This....Altaïr, whose face seemed to be obscured by his hood. Unlike other dreams, this one felt...real. It felt like it truly happened. The pain felt real. The suffering, the anxiety. His hands felt large, warm, real. And this only unsettled me further.

I finally gave up and grabbed my phone, knowing from experience that I wouldn't be able to get much sleep after that dream. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get him out of my head. The way he was holding me, like I was the most precious thing in his life. It didn't make any sense to me. It could've been the fact that I was 17 and still didn't have a boyfriend, but there had to be more to this dream than simple girlish fantasies. Though I was a hopeless romantic who constantly turned into a sobbing mess during sad movies, I never imagined myself being in one of those situations. It simply made no sense. I finally decided to do some research and opened a new tab on Google. I took a deep breath. I didn't even know what I was supposed to write! His outfit didn't seem ordinary. Like an outfit from a different century. Yet, the amount of weapons he seemed to be carrying around with him showed that he was probably a warrior. Or at least, would've been if he was real. I finally ended up typing the word "Altaïr".

The first result I got was of a star named "Altaïr", being the brightest star of the Aquila, the constellation representing the eagle. However, seen as I was a gamer and Google's programming made it so everyone got results based on their habits online, the next result I got was from a game. And when I opened that search result, my heart stopped. That white tunic....the hood....it was...the man in my dreams! He was....a video-game character? Altaïr Ibn-la'Ahad? Yet, as crazy as it all sounded, everything added up like a perfect puzzle. The landscapes, the castle in my dreams that towered over us. It was Masyaf castle, home to the Assassins in the video-game Assassin's Creed. As I observed his model sheet, I couldn't get over how much alike he was to my dream. However, this Altaïr seemed....younger. Much younger.

I decided to open my steam account and typed in the game's name on the search bar. A few games popped up, all belonging to the Assassin's Creed franchise. However, two of them immediately caught my eye. Among all those games, two featured Altaïr on the cover. The first Assassin's Creed, released in 2007, and Assassin's Creed: Revelations, released in 2011. As I wanted to be respectful to the franchise, and after reading some critiques and fan reviews on the games, I decided to buy 4 games. The very first one, Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations. After leaving the PC on so they'd download overnight, I headed in back to bed and tried to go back to sleep. Key-word being: tried. My head was filled to the brim with questions. Questions I couldn't yet answer. But mainly, I wondered how it was possible that I dreamed about a video-game character without even knowing that he existed.