The harsh winds and harsher sands whipped across the desert that separated Xing from Amestris. The camels of a small caravan making their way through the desert dug in their hooves and paid no mind to the weather. Their human riders, however, couldn't afford such a luxury. No cloak could fully protect them, as blowing sand continued to lash at any fragment of skin left exposed. Even the most experienced desert travelers in their group couldn't evade the environment's harshness.
Towards the back of the group, a young man clutched the hood of his beige cloak with his hands, trying to thwart the sand's entry as best he could. The backs of those hands, and the transmutation circles tattooed on them, took the brunt of the lashing winds; though, his face wouldn't come out unscathed either. No matter which direction he looked, only more sand met his eyes. It seemed it would be a bit longer before he reached his first destination.
The young man watched the other members of the caravan to see how they were holding up. As he expected, they were holding up a lot better than he was. This particular caravan made regular journeys through the desert to trade with Amestris, specifically with Youswell on the Eastern border. When Ling Yao ascended the throne as emperor of Xing, relations with Amestris became far more friendly and stable. Trading between the two countries exploded, turning Youswell from a humble mining town to the main hub of Amestrian-Xingese business.
His family had often traveled with this caravan on their way to visit family in Amestris. The leader was of the same clan as his mother, so getting along with them was easy. They were practically his family as well. Fortunately, along with most other caravans and general travelers, they stopped to rest at the Xerxes Ruins on their way to Youswell, a place the young man had been wanting visit properly without being hurried along by his parents.
A sudden surge in the wind kicked up a wall of sand that plowed into the travelers. The young man held onto his cloak even tighter. Even the camels stopped dead in their tracks while they waited for the brief storm to pass. It lasted all of a couple seconds, but that was more than enough time to make people uneasy. The leader, Gang, took a minute to make sure everyone was alright, paying extra attention to the less-experienced ones.
"Hey, Rob! You alright?" Gang asked him from his position ahead of the troupe. If you could still sit atop your camel, Gang figured he didn't need to go over to you personally.
"Yeah, I'm good." Rob did his best to shake the excess sand out of his short, black hair but to little avail. "Just a little sandy."
Gang laughed. "You should be used to that by now, boy." He cast his gaze over the entire group. "Alright guys, let's keep moving. The ruins aren't too far off."
He was right. In half an hour, the crumbling pillars and lonely walls of the Xerxes Ruins came into view. Rob stared transfixed. He was almost there. With this first step, he could finally say that his journey across the world had begun. Rob was filled with both excitement and anxiety at the thought of traversing the same places as his father and uncle.
The caravan set up camp after they arrived at the entrance to the ruins. It was midday, and the group gathered around to eat whatever part of their provisions they rationed off. Rob, on the other hand, couldn't wait to look around. He didn't even hear the invitation from Gang to sit and eat with them first.
The place certainly lived up to their reputation as ruins. Almost nothing was left of the once great civilization. Only tiny fragments of the city's architecture could be gleaned from the deteriorating remnants. As he continued his search, he came across the reason that most alchemists wanted to come here. Standing several feet tall was a huge alchemical mural set in stone. As one of the first ever records of alchemy, it had huge historical significance.
He stepped in front of the monument and gazed up at it, admiring every single detail that went into the elaborate design. Despite the upper portion having been lost, it was still quite a sight to behold. Rob rested the palm of his hand on the mural's face, thinking, "Finally, I get to stand by myself in front of the same place that my father and uncle visited before." He turned his attention to the transmutation circle on his own hand. "I wonder if I'll ever be able to live up to their name."
Not wanting to worry the rest of the caravan, he headed back to the campsite with a little more pride under his belt. Everyone was still eating and chatting, so Rob pulled out a container of chicken and noodles that his mother had given him and dug in. The group was getting drunk off their laughter, telling lively stories one after another. Rob found a story about his father and tenacious sand lizard especially amusing.
Their frivolity was disturbed by the men's camels' bellows. They looked over to see what was going on and saw another group approaching the ruins. Rob counted ten total, and they were going at a brisk pace. Gang's face grew serious, as did a few of the others. He signaled to a few of the men, and they brought the camels behind them. They started unloading some of the goods and hid them in the ruins.
"Hey, Gang, what's going on?" Rob asked. Though he had traveled with this group multiple times, he had never seen him make such a stern face.
"Sorry to say it, but it seems we were tailed by a group of bandits," he answered. Rob's expression changed from curiosity to shock in seconds. Gang sighed and added, "This really pisses me off! We would have had such a good season too."
"What are you gonna do?" By now, Rob went from shocked to concerned. In most circumstances, Gang was a lively spirit. To see him down like this really set Rob back a bit.
"All we can do his hide some of the loot, offer the bandits the rest, and hope that they believe it. To be honest, no one here has any fighting knowledge. There's no way we'd be able to fight back, and I'm not going to risk my companions' lives for the sake of a few extra cens."
"But there has to be something! You can't just let them walk over you after you've worked so hard!"
"Let it go, Robert!" Gang was getting flustered. Rob could tell he wanted to fight back just as much as him. "Just leave it alone. We can't take on bandits, end of story. We're merchants, not soldiers!"
The bandits were at the ruin's entrance just after Gang's men returned from their job. Their brisk pace turned into a slow walk. All ten got off of their camels and approached him and the rest of the caravan. Their leader, who was noticeably larger than the his comrades, came a bit closer with an arrogant strut. Gang remained seated, as did Rob and everyone else.
"You know," the bandit leader began, "it's nice to see such diligent merchants on their way to trade their goods. It makes me think, 'Hey, time for me to get in on some of that action!' Don't you think?
Gang's response was quick and to the point. "Just take what you want and go." He had the look of a man utterly defeated and helpless. Rob hated that look, and he hated the bandits for giving it to him.
The bandit leader was about to head over to the camels for his loot, but Rob got up and stood in his way. Everyone on both sides was surprised by this. Gang in particular got wide-eyed. The bandit looked at him for a moment, puzzled. Then he let out a short burst of laughter. When he snapped out of it, he looked down on Rob with a sly smile.
He turned to Gang and asked, "Is this guy new or something?" Without even waiting for an answer, he turned his attention back to Rob. "Look, kid, you're young, so I'll cut you a break. A teenage merchant like you couldn't take on ten, professional thieves. So just sit back down and nothing will happen to you." He tried to step past Rob, but he matched him without so much as a flinch.
Gang chirped in this time, "Rob, what the hell do you think you're doing? You tryin' to get killed!" Rob could see the man's fists clench in frustration.
"You should listen to your boss, boy." The bandit was less friendly this time. It was obvious that he didn't like being stood up to. "Sit. Back. Down."
Rob looked into the eyes of his assailant and very clearly stated, "No."
Something must have caught the bandit off-guard, because he suddenly entered into another fit of laughter. "Wha-what's with those eyes?" His laughter continued. "They're gold! That's the funniest thing I've ever seen! Hey, hey, how much do you think I could get for those?" The man calmed down and added, "Alright, you made me laugh, so you get to live. All the same, you need to move."
He reached for Rob's shoulder; but in a flash, Rob grabbed his forearm, twisted it back, released, and applied a strong fist to the chest that sent the bandit staggering backwards. Stunned, he checked the place of impact for sign of injury. As if in response to his confusion, Rob simply said, "I'm not a merchant." Even Gang had to double take at what just happened.
The bandit regained composure quickly. "Heh, no, I guess you're not." After raising a hand to silence his gossiping thieves, he added "So what? Were you hired by these guys? Well, looks like your outta luck, cuz now you're definitely dead." The man took out a long knife from his belt and brandished it in the air. "No one lays a finger on me and gets away with it. Can't have any embarrassing rumors spreading now, can we?"
"Give up and you can go." Rob said these words with such a calm bluntness that the onlookers weren't sure if he actually said them. No one there thought that anyone was capable of acting so steadfast against a bandit leader.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" The man acted like he was staring at a crazy person. Everything about him suggested that he was in a complete state of disbelief. "You've got it all wrong, buddy. It's over. It's done. What you just said is something that I'd say to you, but it's too late for that. Yeah, you got a lucky shot, but that's it. You're finished. The jokes over!"
In a loud shout, he lunged at Rob, the knife aimed straight for his chest. In a motion just as natural and fluid as the last; Rob grabbed the man's wrist, let the knife thrust to his side, and forced the man's arm behind his back using his shoulder as leverage. During all this, he activated the circle on his left hand, causing the oil and sweat on his scan to transmute into ink. Rob drew a simple transmutation circle on the bandit's back in less than a second, a skill taught to him by his mother, and activated it with a firm press. That spot on his back burst into flames, and the man was left rolling around on the sand, trying desperately to extinguish it.
Gang and his caravan, along with the remainder of the bandits, just watched in shocked silence as the man lay down, back to the sun, whimpering in pain. Before the bandits had any time to collect themselves, Rob drew a second, larger circle in the sand with his foot equally as fast as the first. Once activated, bars of sand rose up around the bandits and transmuted into iron bars, sealing them inside. The same happened to the leader, though he was in a separate cage.
As the man continued quivering like an infant, Rob took five small daggers from a pouch strapped to his side, all five with a little talisman attached to each. He placed them at five points around the band leader's makeshift prison, all equidistant from both each other and the prison's center. Stepping back, he drew a third circle and placed five more daggers at similar points along it. Activating this circle caused the reaction to be shifted to the initial daggers' location. A soft light emitted from the area, and the man slowly got up as though the pain was gone.
"There, I've numbed the pain and some basic first aid," Rob began. "You should be fine, the burn really wasn't that bad. These bars should dissipate in about twenty-four hours. Please leave when they do."
While collecting his daggers, the bandit asked him, "Why did you help me?" His tone indicated that, despite all that happened, he still had some pride left in him.
Rob glanced over at him and answered, "I don't know. I guess I just didn't want to leave you like that." Rob went to help the Gang and the others load the camels up again before making their way through the ruins.
Not long after they began their ride, Gang finally returned to his usual upbeat personality. "Wow, Rob!" he said. "That was something else! I mean, I knew you were learning a lot of things from your folks, but I had no idea you were so far along!"
Rob's face became bright red. "Oh no, I'm not all that far along. My mom and dad are a lot stronger than I am."
"Well, I've seen your father in action before, so I don't doubt that. Still, you were pretty impressive out there." Gang gave him a couple sharp pats on the back that almost knocked him off of his camel. "If you ask me, you're well on your way to doing your family name proud."
He smiled and answered, "Thanks, Gang. That means a lot."
Rob stopped for a second as they came across the monument. He let the other go on ahead as he took just a little bit longer to look at the beautiful mural. He truly wished, with all of his might, that he would be able to contribute something to the family legacy. After all that he'd been told about what they had done, it seemed almost impossible to live up to it. Regardless, he would do as much as he could to make wish come true.
"Rob! Come on or you're gonna get left behind!" Rob couldn't here him over his thoughts, so Gang called out to him again. "Hey, Robert Elric! Hurry up!" He heard him this time, and after a short, affirmative wave, he caught up with the troupe. All the while, thoughts of exploring the entirety of Amestris swam in his head.