Editing Ezio Auditore da Firenze (section)

===Bonfire of the Vanities===

In 1497, Ezio returned to his hometown to find its atmosphere forlorn and its people sombre. Whispers of book burnings and wanton arrests ordered by the "mad monk" pervaded everywhere as he walked the streets towards the Ponte alle Grazie to meet with Machiavelli. Machiavelli apprised him of the situation, confirming that Savonarola had taken control of Florence, which they felt certain had been achieved via the Apple of Eden. The younger Assassin, however, elaborated that the monk had only bewitched the leading men of the city; the common Florentines were seething with anger yet lacked the will and courage to oppose them. As they strode through the streets, they observed the bodies of Borgia soldiers littered about and realized that the Templars also knew that the Apple was in Savonarola's possession and had been launching attacks for it.

Machiavelli brought Ezio before the Palazzo Pitti, which Savonarola was using as his abode, but Ezio understood the risks of a direct assault and proposed an alternate strategy: kill all of Savonarola's lieutenants and inspire the resentful populace to rise up against him. An uprising would in turn be the perfect diversion for an assassination. Although Machiavelli had felt that it had fallen on them to take matters into their own hands, he was convinced of Ezio's plan given the widespread fear and hatred the people harboured for the monk. The two split up, with Ezio setting off to assassinate the leading adherents of Savonarola and Machiavelli to notify La Volpe and Paola, entrusting them to be the ones to rally the people.

====Eliminating the Piagnoni====
The presence of flames billowing in the middle of the night from the garden of the Palazzo Pitti was the first to draw Ezio's attention, and though he had advised against attacking the palace, this was where he began his hunt. There, a former artist was presiding over the destruction of artworks, books, and the utensils to make them, throwing them into pyres and urging the nobles around him to do the same. He cried that they were "abominations" and "doors" by which the Devil corrupted them, but in the midst of his fervour, Ezio approached from among the crowd and silently stabbed him with his Hidden Blade. In his dying moments, the lost artist expressed horror at his own deeds and though Ezio tried to reassure him that his mind had been warped by the Apple, the man confessed that it was his own self-doubt that had allowed it to take control.

The Assassin next investigated the Basilica di San Lorenzo where an uneasy silence hung around the premises and not a soul was in sight. As he entered its courtyard, he was suddenly surrounded on all sides by soldiers dressed in black, signifying that they were the enforcers of Savonarola. The captain of the guards greeted from above on a scaffold, revealing that he had become an agent of the monk and that he regularly lured dissidents into the courtyard to be ambushed and killed. Calling his victims "challengers", the captain commenced his trap, but the skilled Assassin was able to slay all twelve of the agiles who attacked him on the ground before climbing up to the roof to confront the captain and the rest of his men. None of them were a match for Ezio, all falling at his blade. Like the artist, the guard captain expressed remorse in his last moments.

Entering the Mercato Vecchio, Ezio found another lieutenant, a nobleman, waiting for him on top of the market arcade. The nobleman taunted Ezio for defying Savonarola, but he broke into flight when he saw the Assassin unfazed and ever intent to kill him. After a brief pursuit along the rooftops, Ezio caught up with the noble and ended his life. Unlike with the artist and the guard captain, he had little sympathy to give to the noble, for the man only protested that he was a victim without fault.

From the Old Market, Ezio moved onto the Florence Cathedral, assassinating a priest of Savonarola who had been chanting at the top of the dome. On a trading ship anchored off a dock in the Santa Maria Novella District, he air assassinated a merchant who had planned to withhold shipments of food to those resisting Savonarola's rule. Both of these lieutenants felt appalled at their actions when they woke from the Apple's spell while passing away, but this was less so with the next three that the Assassin targeted.

First there was the doctor operating the Ospedale degli Innocenti who offered free healthcare to any devotee of Savonarola but viciously refused treatment to any who did not submit. Like a ghost, Ezio passed through his audience and neutralized him. Then there was the farmer who had his guards hoard hay and grains from the people in the hopes that through starvation he would not only force them to surrender but teach them to respect his low station. Ezio killed him from one of his own haystacks and as his parting words, told him that he could not respect him—though he was an Assassin fighting for the downtrodden, the peasant's methods were unacceptable.

With all of Florence north of the Arno freed from Savonarola's control, Ezio struck at the Ponte Vecchio which a condottiero commanding Savonarola's forces had occupied and locked down, demanding that the entire city submit to the monk. The Assassin assassinated the mercenary, causing his troops to melt away and allowing the people to retake control of the bridge; the mercenary could only cite power-lust and greed as his motives as he passed away. Finally, Ezio returned to the Oltrarno District, located the last of Savonarola's lieutenants preaching in front of Santa Trinita, and finished him. As he bled out, the preacher was unique in asserting that he had never fallen under the machinations of Savonarola, proclaiming himself to have been a true adherent to his beliefs.

====Love's labour lost====
In the midst of these assassinations, chaos reigned in Florence, with Savonarola's men rampaging through the streets, pillaging homes of luxuries to feed to the pyres, and indiscriminately attacking nobles. At some point, Ezio ran into Manfredo Soderini, finding him barely alive after he had suffered one of these assaults. Fearing for Cristina's life, he screamed for her location, and Manfredo weakly pointed to the direction where the soldiers had chased her. Though he was quick to intercept the pursuers and slay them all, it was all in vain: Cristina had already been mortally wounded. As he brought her to a nearby enclosure, pleading for her to stay with him, she admitted to him that her heart had always been with him and that she wished they could have had a second chance. With these words, Cristina perished in his arms.

==== Justice and mercy====
La Volpe and Paola had been active in picking up after the people upon each liberation of a district, and by the time the preacher had been slain, the whole city was in revolt. A furious mob cornered Girolamo Savonarola in front of the Palazzo Pitti. The monk, simultaneously enraged and fearful, resorted to the Apple of Eden to reestablish control, but Ezio threw a throwing knife at his hand to disarm him. Without his only means of power, Savonarola was swarmed by the masses and violently carried away. Meanwhile, the Apple had dropped to the ground. Before Ezio could reach it, a Borgia agile swiftly retrieved it and sprinted away. He could not outrun the Assassin, who chased him down and killed him to recover the Apple in turn.

On 23 May 1498, <sup>[''citation needed'']</sup> Savonarola was brought to the Piazza della Signoria to be burned at the stake—ironically the very means by which he had sought to destroy the city's culture. As the fire roared up beneath him, the monk's fury broke into pitiful panic and pleas to his God. In spite of all the suffering that the man had wrought, including the murder of his beloved Cristina, Ezio took pity at the baleful spectacle. With his vengeful heart having tempered with years of ordeals, he decided that no one deserved to die in such agony. The Assassin leapt onto the execution platform and stabbed Savonarola in the neck with his Hidden Blade, putting him out of his misery. The monk spent his last breath still crying for mercy, to which Ezio reassured him that he already had given it.

Ezio then turned around to face the stunned mob and delivered a heartfelt speech to the people of his home. He recounted how twenty-two years prior, he had stood at that very same spot, watching his family betrayed and murdered. He recounted how, had it not been for the wisdom of others, he would have been consumed by vengeance, and yet those same teachers never force-fed him their beliefs but guided him to grow through his own journey. Thus, Ezio Auditore urged them to follow their own path and rely on their own thoughts, not what they were told by the ones with power, whether Savonarola, the Medici, or even himself. He expressed his conviction that it was that freedom that made them human, and with that, Ezio left with Mario, Machiavelli, Paola, and La Volpe, ready to uncover the answers hidden within the Apple.