Destroyed by Darkness, Restored by Light

Prologue

Dark storm clouds covered the sky. The huge, black mass loomed over Destiny Islands. Rain poured out of the clouds. In a secluded spot under some trees, someone was scribbling on the ground, muttering to himself.

"Water: 30 liters, carbon: 20 kg, ammonia: 4 liters, lime: 1.5 kg, phosphorus: 800 g, salt: 250 g, saltpeter: 100g, sulfur: 80g, fluorine: 7.5 g, iron: 5 g, silicon: 3 g, and 15 other elements in small quantities…"

He stopped drawing and said, "Perfect. There's no way that this could fail. Just you wait, Riku, you will come back!" Lightning flashed overhead, illuminating the drawing. It was a human transmutation circle.

"Ok. Here goes nothing," the teenager said, putting his hands on the circle. A bright light glowed around the circle and electricity crackled.

"Yes! It's working!" the teen exclaimed excitedly. Then, the bright golden light turned black, emitting a dark, evil shadow. The kid looked around confusedly.

What the hell is this? This wasn't supposed to happen…Suddenly, out of no where, many black tentacles engulfed the teen. He tried to yell, but fear of the dark closed his throat. The shadows dragged the teenager to a mysterious gate.

He looked around and asked to himself, "Where am I?"

"So glad you asked!" a voice said. A solid white humanoid appeared in front of the teenager. The thing continued, "See that gate? What you're seeking lies beyond there."

"Riku? Riku's behind there?" the teen began to bang on the gate. It opened slowly, and the shadows grabbed the kid, pulling him through the gate. Images of anything and everything flashed through the teen's head.

What's going on? Every bit of information is rushing through my brain! My head's gonna explode! He struggled against the shadows keeping him on the other side of the gate.

"Stop! Let me go! This isn't what I wanted!" the teen cried. All of a sudden, he was back on the other side of the gate. The trip left him panting heavily.

The white thing was still there. It laughed, "How was it? Did you find what you're looking for?"

"No…but if I can get back, then I can find a way to bring back Riku!" the teen said manically. "Let me go back! I can handle it!"

The humanoid laughed again, this time maliciously. "Oh, no no! You only get to ride this ride once!" The teen's right arm was attacked by darkness. His arm vanished into thin air. The thing continued evilly, "and now, you've paid the price! Bye now!" back in the forest, an agonized scream split the silence.

"Dammit! DAMMIT! This wasn't supposed to happen!" Sora growled. A bloody stump replaced his arm. Blood flowed freely out of his gruesome wound. Sora heard a weird noise, much like someone scraping their nails on a chalkboard. He turned and saw a grotesque thing in the middle of the transmutation circle.

"R-Riku?" Sora asked weakly; he lost too much blood to speak strongly. The creature let out a death rattle and a pool of blood formed around it.

Sora whimpered, "No..no, no, no..this isn't happening…this is a dream…" He then found the strength to shout, "THIS IS A BAD DREAM AND I CANT WAKE UP!" Things only got worse. The earth cracked and darkness flowed out of the fissures. Destiny Islands was being eaten by shadows from the inside out. A dark vortex opened in the sky, sucking everything that wasn't bolted down (and still bolted down) into it. Sora hung on to a rock in vain; was pulled into the vortex. While inside the vortex, shadows tried to rip Sora's body apart.

"No! No, I'm not gonna die like this!" Sora shouted angrily. Light emanated from his heart, destroying the darkness. He continued to fly through the dark vortex, until he eventually saw a light at the end of the tunnel, and he came out over a green field. He wasn't terribly high up, but gravity caused him to hit the ground very hard. Before he passed out, he heard three voices around him.

"Where'd that vortex come from? And is he alright?" a female voice asked worriedly.

"No. Can't you tell, Winry? He's bleeding to death!" and agitated voice said.

"Brother! He doesn't have an arm! D'you think he was-" a metallic, yet boyish voice started, but he was cut off by the second voice.

"Yeah. He committed alchemy's ultimate crime; human transmutation!" that was the last thing Sora heard as he blacked out.