Readingum Abbey, Hamtunscire, England, 9th Century AD
Within the monastery, two resident brothers known as Ecbert and Edward discuss a series of papyrus letters they have received, written in a language neither understand. An alarm is raised outside, as a cart rushes to the main gates, the occupants shouting that Danes are coming.

Within the walls of the town, a disguised Eivor and a fellow Viking sneak their way inside the main church. Eventually Eivor comes across the copyists area, drawing a sword upon Edward. Without interest in any specific loot, she declares the boy as the best known copyist monk in the lands, stating that he is the true treasure she is looking for. She marches him at sword point to a river entrance, whilst the town is distracted by fires created by the attacking Danes at the main gate. They leap to a longboat together, before leaving for Ravensthorpe.


Ravensthorpe, Ledecestrescire, England, 9th Century AD
A month passes, and Edward finds himself tasked with assisting Hytham, a member of the Hidden Ones. Forced to convert documents daily, he tries to escape multiple times, each time being caught by one of the Viking guards. On his final attempt he is returned to the village for the third time by the hunter Niels. As they re-enter the village, they are confronted by Eivor, Hytham, Sigurd and a farmer called Gunnar – father to Niels. The latter berates Niels for going hunting at the wrong time, leaving the hunter expressing his wish to leave and travel the world to get away from his father, before the two briefly clash, leaving Gunnar knocked down upon the ground.

Hytham speaks privately with Edward, surprised that he wants to return to the monastery, but no longer wishing to enslave him on site. Before he leaves, Edward reveals he was very interested in the documents mentioning “the Precursors”, shocking Hytham who thought they were well hidden in his house. The latter walks to Gunnar's house, where he is found continuing to argue with Niels. Hytham drops a bag of gold, to exchange for Niels' freedom. The two men head to Hytham's home, where they discuss Niels potentially joining the Hidden Ones. Hytham hands him a list, showing how many slaves are held by a nearby tyrant lord. Niels states that he does not like killing, except only where necessary. Hytham encourages him to work alongside him.


Readingum Abbey, Hamtunscire, England, 9th Century AD
Edward journeys back to the monastery, and is warmly greeted by the other monks and their leader, Brother Bran. He learns that his brother is not there, as he had journeyed out in search for help to rescue Edward, yet had not returned. Bran shares Ecbert's belongings with Edward, which were left behind. Among them Brother Bran shows him some documents, which also contain the symbols of the Precursors, as Edward had seen on Hytham's scrolls. Bran begs him not to get involved with translating the messages, as he believes them to actually be sorcery.

Edward rushes towards Ravensthorpe and encounters Niels, Eivor and Hytham on the road. Niels has been tasked to head to the Hidden Ones bureau in Lunden, which promises more secretive documents. Fascinated by the precursors, Edward requests to travel with Niels and the two head towards Lunden with Eivor's blessing.


Hidden Ones bureau, Lunden, England, 9th Century AD
Edward and Niels arrive in the city, and quickly find their way to the supposed Hidden Ones bureau. They both leap down to the tunnels below the city, where the local female Mentor named Adelaïde sneaks upon them, placing her hidden blade at Niels' throat. They introduce themselves, before the Mentor explains that they understand several communications on a secret language are being passed by messengers on behalf of Aelfred, King of Wessex. The two initiates are tasked with searching the city for informants, and to listen out for clues in taverns. Over several days, the Mentor trains both of them in combat and stealth skills.


Wincestre Abbey, England, 9th Century AD
Moving their investigations to Wincestre, Niels and Edward search the archives of the Abbey itself. There they find a group of hooded men conducting a meeting. Pretending to be attendees, they find their way inside. The group has met because each of the summoned people had received a parchment written in an ancient language, and together they agree that these writings are the work of a miracle, for they all separately understand the mysterious language without ever having learnt it. Their leader has gathered them as he believes the Church in England needs to be managed differently, far from Rome’s control. They believe they need to create more proselytes to their cause, through the use of the ancient writings, the same way the monks present had previously received the ancient writings before their own conversion.

One man lowers his hood, revealing himself to be Brother Bran. He refuses to accept the ruling, and requests to leave. As the meeting ends, a group follows after Bran, intending to kill him to keep their secret. Niels and Edward intervene, along with assistance from their Mentor Adelaïde. They look over the slain group members, realising they all have pict tattoos. Their orders must have come from the very far north.


Hadrian's Wall, Kingdom of Alba, 9th Century AD
The three Hidden Ones travel to the northern territory of the Scots. There they find a large group of Picts and Danish at a nearby village. Lead by a group of monks, they are making individuals read from documents containing the same ancient markings to see if they can understand the miracle symbols. As the tensions between the monks and the civilians start to rise, the Hidden Ones are forced to step in, triggering a large scale battle which with their training they quickly win. A surviving villager girl offers to take them to the next village, where she explains that the monks had been taking blood from individuals who could not read the symbols, only to return a day later with scrolls that could then be read by them. The symbols on the scrolls then strangely impart knowledge and understanding in an extremely short amount of time. The creator of their order, self-proclaimed Saint Columba the Reborn (his name taken from the original saint) first discovered this language after supposedly fighting with a “demon” at Loch Ness. Intrigued by this, the Hidden Ones elect to travel there and investigate.

Loch Ness, Kingdom of Alba, 9th Century AD
As the three approach the lake, they witness a large structure emerge from the lake, with a group of people entering inside. The Hidden Ones are shaken by what they witness, but conclude that it must be Precursor technology. Edward believes that all the answers are inside, and against the wishes of the Mentor decides to head inside the structure. She suggests he at least waits until sundown, and sure enough after the dark of night arrives, Edward dresses as a monk and attaches behind a larger group heading towards the structure. Inside the entrance is a large stairwell, heading down to below the lake.

The stairs open up to a large multi-tiered structure, where groups of monks are busy writing texts in the same ancient language. Upon a platform, a sole monk dips blood to pen – the same blood that had been collected from the villagers - and writes in cursive Isu Language upon a Piece of Eden, a metal Codex that appears to glow and in turn manifests the symbols upon a screen in Isu Language capital letters. The text reads “If you keep repeating what you see on the screen I cannot help you. Please try using one of the commands I have in my memory so I can help you”. Edward finds himself bumping into Ecbert, the latter taking the two brothers to a quiet area to reunite. They discuss how Edward found his way here, with Ecbert confirming how this precursor technology is allowing Columba and his acolytes to encrypt the knowledge from specific books and sacred texts into this ancient language, and to make it available only to those who have donated their blood and have converted to Columba’s group, in turn providing knowledge tailored specifically to them. He insists it is the future, though Edward argues that it completely erodes the freedom of those individuals, having the revelations and knowledge thrust upon them, sometimes with deadly consequences, while Ecbert believes that this technology should be removed from Columba’s hands and handed it to “the good hands” of King Aelfred the Great, who would be able to use it to control the kingdom and the Church. At this moment a group of guards come along, demanding to see Edward's “mark”, its absence resulting in the two brothers being marched from the room.

They are presented to the monk leader, the false Columba, but at this moment Adelaïde appears, opening a mechanism which causes the water above to come flooding inside. As everyone rushes to a higher platform, Ecbert grabs the precursor Codex from the platform. The Hidden Ones are forced into battle with “Columba” and his monks, but the latter prove no obstacle to the trained assassins. Adelaïde requests to take the Codex to her order, but Ecbert tries to throw a dagger at her. She responds by catching it and throwing it back, killing him instantly. As she attempts to take the Codex, Edward strikes at her in vengeance of his brother, toppling Adelaïde and the tablet over the platform edge. The tablet smashes against a solid surface, with Adelaïde also suffering a fatal fall. Niels implores Edward that they must leave before they drown, the latter instead electing to leap into the waters to find what remains of the tablet codex. Niels dives in after him to save him.

Ravensthorpe, Ledecestrescire, England, 9th Century AD
A few weeks pass, and Niels make his way back to Ravensthorpe. He meets with Eivor and Hytham, and details what had occurred. He mentions he tried to save Edward, but was unable to. He returns Adelaïde's blade to Hytham, and explains that he realises now that the world of a Hidden One is not what he desires from this life. Hytham tries to convince him that the Hidden Ones are the ones pushing for a true and good future. Niels counters that if that were the case, they should have won their war long ago. He then leaves the village, leaving the others to drink for the rest of the day.

Wincestre, England, 9th Century AD
Edward presents himself to King Aelfred. He shows the broken codex to the King, and apologises. He mentions that his brother's death is the work of the Hidden Ones, and that he is willing to serve Aelfred in a cause of vengeance against them. The King had originally sent Ecbert to infiltrate the monks, as such he embraces Edward, welcoming him to his Templar inner family.
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