This is a flash-forward of events to come in the story.
Enjoy : )
Face the Truth
James lay bleeding on the ground; his blood caked black hair had fallen over his eyes. His arms were pinned to the ground by numerous spikes piercing him like nails through plywood. The Fiery background of a crimson sky covered the endless plain that was the Inverse -counterpart to the portal of truth.
"You fucking sadistic piece of shit Alex!" James spat at his Assailant, the only other occupant of the infinitely spanning plains. James' attacker had similar physical attributes, and was also in his mid-twenties; the most noticeable difference between the two being Alex's long blond hair, which came down just past his shoulders.
"Do you understand what you've done, what you're doing?" James screamed at him. James tried to free himself frivolously. The immobilized alchemist knew he had to do something, but between his broken legs, his skewered arms, and his fractured ribs, it was an effort to stay awake and breathing.
Alex turned around; a cruel, sickening smile spread over his face. He walked slowly toward James; blood trickled down Alex's cheek from the single cut on his otherwise unblemished body. As reached the place where James lay, he bent down and breathed into James' ear, "I know exactly what I am doing, and exactly what I have done. The true question is: do you?"
James spat blood at Alex's face; he gracefully dodged it. "You opened the other side of portal of truth. Just as alchemy and equivalent exchange have two parts –deconstruction and reconstruction- the portal of truth has two parts. Both are required to have a complete cycle -there is no yin without yang."
"Smart boy," Alex crooned sickly, "but do you understand why I do it?"
"Because you want it to unleash the purist form of discord and insanity on the world and the power of this side of truth tells of chaos; just like how the other side tells the nature of how everything fits together and makes sense, this side reveals the nature of chaos and explains how nothing truly fits together. I saw it when I passed through –but yet it contradicts the other side of truth."
Alex grinned even wider. "Allow me to explain that. The truth of the portal of truth as a whole is: there is no real truth," he enlightened. James' expression became more confused, to which Alex laughed cheerfully. "Everything is Perspective!" He elaborated, "From one view everything makes sense, but look at it from a different angle and suddenly everything changes. For example: no value can be considered equivalent to a human life; therefore even the life of an unloved suicidal man moments from inevitable death has infinite value -and if you traded it in the form of a philosopher stone you could create enormous amounts of matter from nothing, or lengthen the life of another person to a ridiculous degree! On the other hand, the dying man could not offer up any of these things in his living state, and therefore has no value to anyone, even to the man himself."
"A human life will always have infinite worth!" James yelled outraged.
"Wrong!" bellowed Alex angrily, "Things only have the value you give to them, so any absolute concept such as value of human life makes sense, or doesn't based on how you perceive it! Perception is what controls truth! If all facts are based on facts, then where is the real foundation? You have to decide that part! –And where you think it should be is pure opinion; everything you know is based on that initial randomly picked piece of information. All things absolute are simply perceived! This is true for everything; it is only a fact that the sky is blue only because you decide that the wavelengths of 440-490 nanometers are called blue and the light emanating from the place you call the "sky" fits that description. You set the points of reference based on opinion! If we used a number system of base sixteen instead of base ten, all of our civilization's math equations would have to be changed or they wouldn't work!"
Horror crept over James' face as he accepted the prospect that Alex could be right. It made him feel lost and without purpose; the concept destroyed literally everything he had prided himself in being. As an Alchemist and a philosopher he had built his life around solving life's questions and understanding how the universe works, but if no definite reasons or answers existed everything he had done and all he had planned to do would be rendered moot. Noticing the expression given off by James' realization Alex grinned. He got up, turned around and began walking away. This can't be right James thought, and if it is I choose denial.
"The other side of truth gives you the ability to perform transmutation without a circle, and I know you plan to use whatever ability this side gives you to bridge hell with our world! – I won't let you do it!" Alex roared, his whole soul pouring into his defiance.
Without turning around, Alex stopped, clapped his hands once, and touched the ground. The spikes in James' arms disappeared, as well as his wounds on both his arms and chest, but his legs remained broken. "Try and stop me," Alex dared him, walking through the exit of the Inverse.
One month earlier…
"This is it-" he muttered yawning. James stretched his arms and got out of his bed lazily. "-today I finally present my research to the committee for graduation. After I graduate out of the university and into the AARM I'll finally have the job of my dreams." He smiled groggily, and sauntered into his kitchen to make breakfast.
Well that was my first chapter… to be honest I feel I could have done better –even after my editing and re-posting- but hopefully you still enjoyed it ; ]
