Chapter 1: A Series of Unintended Coincidences
As I metally braced myself for the eventual crawl out of the unending comfort of my bed, I thought to pick up my phone and check the time. I was not just putting it off. Not at all.
'6:24, huh? Man, I've got to sort my sleep schedule out already'
Setting the device down on a pile of clothes by the bed, I pulled off the covers in one smooth motion and swiftly regret my decision as the crisp morning air from my open window assaulted me. I must have neglected to shut it after letting the cat back in.
'Eugh, at least I'm woken up now. What episode was I on again?'
Coming to sit on the bedframe I once again reached down for my phone. Opening the browser, I glanced at the title of the episode I had been watching last night before passing out.
'A Fierce Counterattack? That's episode 62 if I recall right, ah damn it. I usually like to watch the last four episodes together.'
Searching about the room for a not so worn set of clothes I scrounged together an outfit consisting a set of tracksuit bottoms and top with a comfortable green t-shirt and some black socks. Feeling my long hair brushing uncomfortably against my back I grumbled to myself as I set about also finding a couple of hair ties.
With a good near litre of coffee in me, on top of a hearty enough breakfast of toast, fried eggs and a nice, chilled apple, I set to go out on a walk. I figured a small trip up the giant's steps would be a good way to go. It would bring me about halfway up the hill? Mountain? I never was sure what to call it. We call them the Wicklow Mountains but none of them are all that tall. Regardless It was a pleasant enough walk up and down, even when it was unreasonably warm.
Stuffing my phone, wallet and keys along with a fistfull of spare change into my pockets, I head out the door.
Just as I was beginning my ascent I felt a rumble coming from my phone. Fishing it out past my wallet I looked and saw it was a text from Mum. Apparently she'd be away all of today and the next night too.
'Not much change then, Mum works herself ragged over me. Hopefully I get that summer job and I can pitch in a little.'
The walk was pleasant. It was about 7 in the morning now. The sun was just up and it was starting to get warmer now, as I took each step up. We call them the giant's steps not for any folky reason, just because they're unreasonably large, concrete stairs going up the hill. There was a myth it used to be a path that druids would take to harvest ingredients from the woods but I didn't buy it. You could probably say that about any forest path in Ireland and people would think it was true.
Once I had a comfortable pace going, my thoughts turned to Fullmetal Alchemist, Brotherhood specifically. I'd never really gotten into the 2003 version. I was on my 5th annual rewatch of the show, it was something I did with a couple of others I loved but Brotherhood was amongst the first. It was a story I really treasured since it was the first 'real' anime I ever watched. (Avatar almost qualifies but that's not counted just on a technicality.) The world just seemed so real, the characters and their motives were interesting and compelling and the grand plot of the series was endlessly entertaining. It was actually what helped push me to study science and engineering with as much enthusiasm as I did. The lore of the show and its depiction of alchemy even piqued my interest in legends, history and art. I think it would be safe to say that I wouldn't be the same person I am now if it wasn't for that series' influence on me.
As I was mulling the show over in my head I came to stop by a gnarled, old and high reaching oak tree. Stopping to take a small rest by its roots, I knocked my foot against something. It seemed like a root but the way I'd stretched out, my foot had brushed a small pile of dirt and rocks out of the way. Drawing my leg up to brush the dirt off of my tracksuit bottoms my booted foot struck the now exposed wood with a hollow thud.
'That's strange. It almost sounds like there's some space behind the root.'
As I finished getting the dusty dirt off my legs, I scrambled just next to the root in question. It was a bit uncomfortable, a knot in the wood was sticking into my pelvis, but it let me get a closer look. Knocking on the wood with my knuckles revealed that it was indeed hollow.
'Now that's interesting, maybe there's a colony of termites or something in here? If there even are termites in this country, or if they build nests inside the trees.'
With my curiosity getting the better of me I decided to try and get into the wood. Looking around, I saw a suitably sharp looking rock. I grabbed the rock before bashing the wood with it for a little while to get a big enough hole that I could grab in with my hand. I leveraged the opening with my fingers to pull the wood away. As I did so I noticed that the air inside the root was quite cool. Once a section of root was off I took a look inside. It was quite dark, as it was in the shade, but I could make out a handful of small shapes. None were moving but I figured there wouldn't be any bugs inside anyway, not once I felt how cool it was inside the root. Bugs usually made a fair amoung of heat in a colony.
'Now this is interesting. The root must have grown around this, but why?'
Reaching in, I picked up the small ensemble of items and brought them into the sunlight.
There were three things inside the hollow. The first was a small shell, like a dish, with a powerdy dark red substance covering the bottom of its bowl. The second was a long-ish pointy rock, it looked almost like it was made into a dagger but there wasn't any evidence of knapping on the rock. The last item gave me pause as I lifted the shell from over it to get a better look. It was a blood red crystal, about as long as my pinky finger and it shone from the reflected sunlight.
'What's this? It almost looks like a Garnet or some other gem. Then again, knowing my luck it could just be a piece of quartz with a strange amount of iron in it. Even so, it's quite pretty. Heh, it almost looks like the Philosopher's Stone from FMA. Maybe I'll keep it then, as a curio, if nothing else.'
I picked up the shell again, it was large enough that it was hard to hold anything else in one hand. That red dust was still all over the inside of it. But a small amount had shifted loose with me picking it up and it revealed a small marking on the shell.
'What? Somebody carved into this thing? Then it must have been put here by someone. No, no. Let's brush the rest away just to be sure. I'd kick myself I was inadvertently damaging some artifact.'
I tossed the small stone into my pocket before walkibg over to break off a branch from a small brush. I used it as a makeshift duster to remove the red stuff from the shell. It seems to have had dried on.
'Is this... blood? Never mind. Let's not jump to conclusions.'
As the last of the dust was lifted away I got a better look at the shell. It was definitely carved into. Some kind of circlur design lined with numerous glyphs. Many seemed to come from the Latin or Greek alphabets but I caught a smattering of old Gaelic script towards the centre.
'What on earth is this? I mean, it bears a passing resemblance to a transmutation circle. But that can't be right.'
I knew it couldn't be, but I felt like having a little fun with this thing anyway. Pulling the stone from my pocket I clasped it in my hand and touched the circle while reciting one of Fathers lines from the finale of Fullmetal.
"Heh. And the very centre of this world, is right here!"
Something didn't feel right.
A creeping sensation came over me, the palm of my hand had become much warmer, something was… glowing?
All of a sudden there was a bright flash of red and all I could see was stark white.
A/N
Hello to anyone who thought to give this fic a look. I'm ThatGuyReturns and this is my first fic. Ever. I mean I tried to start a fic a few times in the past but never finished a chapter but here this is. I hope you like what you've read so far! So I'm still planning how this will go and I'm open to suggestions. If you'd like, please leave any in the reviews or feel free to pm me on the site.
Now, as for the fic itself this will be an SI/OC wherin our MC will be hurled into the world of FMA:B. If you've ever read A River of Opals by TimelordOfPie it'll be something along those lines. Huge props to them as well, that fic is still one of my personal favourites.
That said, I won't be able to conform to any kind of schedule but I'm going to do my best to write when I have to motivation to do so. I mean, I only wrote this to have something to do today. So I'm honestly surprised I got it to a point that I want to put it out there.
And that's a wrap for now, this A/N is going on a bit long so I'll end it here. Once again, please leave your thoughts in the reviews, even if you just want to point out a mistake it will help tremendously.
ThatGuyReturns 23/06/2018