Heart Shaped Box

There was fire, big towers piercing the sky and Altair thought they would never end, going up and up and burning. People screamed, men and women running for their lives and their was something in the sky, too big to be a bird but it was flying, crashing into the second tower. Explosions shook the ground, ash raining down the earth and then the buildings collapsed, burying thousands underneath them.

He watched in terror as the world was falling apart and instantly knew that it was the future he saw, cruel and terrible. Horror collapsed over his body like a cold wave, leaving him gasping for air as he fought against panic – not his own. No, not his own. Million of people were screaming at once when the towers fell, crying and he felt their pain. His heart was twisting into a tight knot of hot, burning agony and Altair drowned and drowned, his lungs filled with sorrow and his eyes spilling the tears of the innocent.

With a silent gasp he returned, breaking through the surface and hitting reality again. He looked around, his eyes meeting Malik's.

"The end is the beginning", Malik told him and looked at Al-Mualim's body, lying dead in front of him.

"The beginning is the end", whispered Altair and he turned his gaze onto the Apple he hold tight within his hand.