Father always said that the law of equivilant exchange not only applied to alchemy, but to the whole world. He said that no matter what happened, that that law would guide the world through its problems. My father was a foolish man…
My father, Richard Victors, become a state alchemist at the age of 25. He passed the exam with flying colors and wonderful recommendations. Despite all that, he still moved back out to Resembool and married his childhood lover, my mother. I don't remember much about him. Now that I think about it, I don't remember much about the either of them. All I know is that they left me all alone with nobody else.
A few years after I was born, father was called away to go fight in the civil war. The furher had issued a decree that every Ishvalan in Amestris should be killed. To make this possible, he needed every state alchemist he could find. My father had only a few hours to spend with me and mom before he had to leave for Ishval. He was so nice to me and mom…but that was before.
Before my father left for Ishval, he told me that I might not see him again. I was too young and dumb to understand anything of what he was saying, so I just smiled and nodded my head. My father may never be able to teach me ever again, and it was for that reason that my father decided to tell me everything he knew about alchemy and the world we live in. He spent hours talking about the law of equivalent exchange and the alchemy that he practiced.
He told me what it took for him to become a state alchemist as well. He said when they called him for the exam, he was supposed to show them something that they had never seen before. And apparently he did. My father invented a transmutation circle that perfectly embodied the law of equivalent exchange. It was a massive transmutation circle that was based on old medical alchemy. When he activated it, he had full control over the physical health of anyone inside of it. Using the law of equivalent exchange, anyone that was sick or injured inside of the circle would be healed as long as there was another person in the circle that would lose health.
The higher ups in the military apparently found this idea too valuable to pass up and they made him a state alchemist on the spot and called him the "Still Wound" Alchemist. They gave him access and clearance to all sorts of books on medical alchemy so he could get better. He said after he studied in central for a few years, he came to Resembool to study his alchemy there in peace without the bustle of the city. And that's where he met mom.
He showed me so much about alchemy and equivalent exchange in those few hours…but the one thing I remember most was what he told me as he was walking out the door. I had asked him if it was possible for him to bring people back….that were gone. At that moment my father banned me from reading any of his books or practicing alchemy while he was away. I didn't understand…I couldn't of understood. There was this look of fear in his eye that I had never seen before. A look that would become very familiar.
The only connection me and my mother had to the outside world was threw the newspaper that they would deliver to my house. Living in Resembool, there really isn't anything to do. Every time they would deliver it, I would run downstairs and look for Richard Victors. Mom and I would read every paper because my father was in every one of em. "The Still Wound Alchemist saves another 20 lives!" My father was the most famous medical alchemist in Amestris. He would make his giant transmutation circle in the ground around a bunch of injured soldiers and just wait for the enemy. When those Ishvalans thought they had they drop on him, it was actually the other way around. Once they stepped inside his circle, he would activate it. He would use all the healthy parts from the Ishvalans and transfer them over to the wounded soldiers. He would heal his men and kill 20 or 30 enemies at a time. It was brilliant.
No one knows exactly knows why, maybe cause of his great performance or the higher ups just treating him like a teachers pet, but my father was awarded furlough days away from the war. When he came back to Resembool for his days off, me and mom were so excited. He was the one with charisma in our family, and everything seemed better with him around. A few days after my father went back to the war, mom found out she was pregnant. He only stayed for 3 days and of course that was what he would do…
While he was around, I tried talking to my father about alchemy but he wouldn't hear about it. He just ignored me. As the war came to an end, my fathers name came up less and less in the newspaper until eventually it just wasn't there.
I was starting to lose hope until they announced that the war was over and that everyone was coming back home. My father came back home and everything was as it was before the war. Just me, him and mom. Mom really enjoyed his company, especially since she was so close to giving birth.
And then one day, my father did something I never thought would happen…he talked about alchemy again. I was so excited I didn't know what to do with myself. He let me read his books and he talked with me, but the one thing he never did was actually use alchemy. Every time I asked him, his face shrunk and his eyes became wide and he said he would never use alchemy again. He said every time he would even think about alchemy, all he could hear were the screams of the Ishvalan people.
I practiced with my dad every day and night until he said I was ready to learn something that I should never do. He told me that to understand the taboo of alchemy, I must learn it. He brought me down to the basement of our house and he went to a safe. He put the combination in and pulled out a book. I remember it like it is right in front of me now. It was titled "HUMAN TRANSMUTATION ". He made me read through the whole thing cover to cover and recite it by heart. He told me to understand the heresy against God I would commit if I were to use this alchemy.
And then the next morning… he was gone… All me and mom found was a note that said "Leaving for Central". He just abandoned us! My mother was depending on him to deliver the baby! He was the only one who knew how! Mother and I grabbed some provisions and started to head towards the nearest town, but it was too late. My mother gave birth on the gritty dirty road…and she died there. She had lost so much blood and I could hear the baby drowning in it, his tiny mouth gurgling it down his throat. I couldn't do anything! I just watched as the only family I had died right in front of me.
Why would he do that! Why would he leave us! I wouldn't have it! I wouldn't let him do this to us! I dragged my mother and baby brothers corpse back into my house. I took out "That" book and I created the transmutation circle. I don't know what I wanted more, to get my family back or to spite my father by using the alchemy he so hated. As I put their bodies in the circle, I took a deep breath, cried and activated it…but it was nothing like the book said. Tiny black hands grabbed my body and I saw eyes everywhere…and then nothing
I opened my eyes and saw behind me a giant gate and in front of me a tiny man. He said "To get past the gate, u must pay a toll! A mother and a child? U must pay." and then darkness. I awoke in my house but I was in too much pain to know what was going on. All I know as that half of my left leg was missing and all of my right leg was gone. I was gunna bleed out if this kept up! And then across from me…there were these things! A baby! And a woman! They were deformed and twisted and seeping ooze. Was this what I had created! Demons?
Its sketchy, but I remember using medical alchemy to stretch my skin across my legs to stop the bleeding. I used alchemy to bring down the living room on top of my own mother and brother! My father may have left them, but I had killed them! I lay there motionless for 2 days just wishing to die. It was only because of a officer sent by my father to check up on me that I am alive today. He saw me lying there, bathing in my own blood.
He sent me to Rush Valley, the Automail Capitol of Amestris, so I could get replacement legs. But far more than my legs were scarred. My mind had become devoid of all thought. I was just a body. All I could focus on were their faces! MY MOTHER AND BROTHER FACES THAT I HAD CREATED AND KILLED!
I got to Rush Valley and a man named Dominic fitted me with automail. People around there said he was the best mechanic in the world, but I didn't matter to me. I could rot for all I care.
I sank into this pit of sadness until I almost couldn't get out…until I saw her. She was the only thing that brought my mind away from that day. She was the picture of perfection to me. Her body was perfect in every way and her caring personality was what kept me going. Her name was Jihl and she was my best friend. Her skin was brown and her eyes were red but that wasn't why she was in Rush Valley. Her face was perfect, even though her whole jaw was automail. She had a an accident when she was little and she had to get a replacement. She grew up here and the people loved her, so when Fuher King Bradley commissioned the Ishvalan Extermination, everyone here turned a blind eye. They wouldn't kill her if she was Ishvalan or any other race. She showed me that I need to stop complaining about my life and find a way to fix it! There was this other girl named Paninya that taught me how to fight and I found another alchemist just a few weeks ago to practice with named Van. Ive spent the last 2 years practicing alchemy and marshal arts with my automail so I can teach my father a lesson when I meet him.
And I think the time couldn't be better, cause the Fuher King himself
Came to Rush Valley to ask me to become
A State Alchemist!