Prologue - Transmutation

"All right, everything's set." Lenna whispered to herself, drawing the final rune of the transmutation circle. She tossed the small piece of white chalk to the side of the room and kneeled at the edge of the circle, placing the palms of her hands on either side of the rune she had just drawn and let her eyes close.

The room was soon bathed in a bright blue light. Lenna kept her mind focussed on her goal of this transmutation; to bring her sister back.

Her sister, Laira, had died only three days ago in a horrible accident. They had been playing near the river and Lenna had pushed Laira into the water by accident, and her younger twin never had learned how to swim. The river swept her away and the girl drowned, her body was found by a man near the shore further down the river then given to Lenna and her parents.

She blamed herself for her sister's death, and missed her dearly, more then anything. She had remembered reading about human transmutation in one of her alchemy books she would study with Laira. Though it was forbidden, she didn't care.

Lenna was pulled from the horrible memory of her sister's corpse and funeral as a gate appeared in front of her.

The large, metal-like doors slowly open, eyes blinking open and little black hands reaching out for her. They wrapped around her right arm and she watched as it seemed to dissolve from her shoulder and she screamed. Her arm was pulled away and the doors closed as images ran through her mind, and she yelled her sister's name over and over.

Her eyes snapped open and she screamed, feeling for her right arm but she felt nothing. She looked to her left hand and it was covered in crimson blood. As Lenna shifted she fell onto her side, her own blood pooling around her as she looked around the room as if looking for somebody to help her.

Her eyes fell upon a figure in the middle of the transmutation circle.

"Laira...?" she muttered, feeling tears well up behind her eyes.

The figure only groaned and reach a hand out in Lenna's direction. It had slender, long, black hands and red purple glowing eyes. Such black leather looking skin and brown hair that fell to the floor.

The hand fell to the ground and the creature was suddenly dead, or Lenna could guess it was.

"MOTHER!" Lenna screamed, both in agony and horror. Her scream faded before she passed out.