"Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep and carry you down into sleep." ~ Heather Dale (Mordred's Lullaby)

Chapter one:

The Gold Light

"A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body."

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange."

A sixteen year old boy squirmed in his binding. He was strapped to an operation table that was faced in such away that he was staring at a wall instead of the roof. The room was pitch black, the only source of light were the several lit candles that surrounded him, barely breaking the darkness that shrouded the area. The boy had long golden hair that was tied into a braid, his bangs were parted to frame his face but there was a small bit of it that stuck up awkwardly between the parted bangs.

His eyes were as golden as his hair but showed fear, horror and pain beyond belief, they were eyes that shouldn't belong to a child or a teenager. The boy wore an outfit of black, from his black button-up shirt, to his black pants and elevators boots, the only parts of his outfit that had any color to it were his bright red cloak and ghost white gloves.

No matter how much the boy squirmed, the bindings kept his limbs in place. To his surprise a pale hand reached out from the darkness and caressed his cheek like the way a mother would. A pale woman walked out of the darkness for the hand belonged to her. The woman had long black hair that was tied up in a bun except two long strands that frame her face.

She wore a long black dress that had a narrow black band encircling her neck that features a small spider emblem at it's front along with a spider web netting branches being the gap between the dress and the band. She also wore separated sleeves that had extra fabric that hanged and had claw like protrusions at the end of them. Her eyes were a deep gray, almost black, there were black "spider webs" in her eyes leading to her pupils.

"Shhhhhh, don't worry mommy is here..." said the woman comfortingly.

The boy glared at her, "You're not my mother!" he growled.

The woman smiled, "Well not yet. I'm the mother of all weapons, and soon you'll be one too...because of that, I'm still your mother."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" the boy asked scowling.

The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I almost forgot, you're not from this world..." the boy looked at her questioningly, "In this world there are people who are able to transform into weapons, literal weapons, from guns to knives. You're going to be a scythe."

The boy looked at her in pure shock, "Where is the equivalency? There is no equal value! A human cannot turn into an inanimate object!"

"I made it happen, I am a witch after all." she smiled.

"Ha ha, very funny lady." he said sarcastically, "Listen, the closest thing to magic is Alchemy, and unfortunately magic doesn't exist but Alchemy does! I am an Alchemist, that means I'm a scientist. I know that magic doesn't exist."

"In your world magic is nonexistent, but here it is." the woman said as she pulled a lever causing the table to lay him down so he was staring at the ceiling.

She then walked out into the darkness for what seemed like a few seconds and returned with a jar and a large triple-bladed scythe. The handle was black, with silver and crimson dragons printed on it. At the end of the handle was a spear tip, that was just like the three blades that were gold with a black and crimson rimming on them, looking as if it was on fire.

As for the jar, it had a purple orb that had several stripes on it and what looked to be a cat tail wrapped around it, it was hard to tell due to the fact that it was the same shade of purple. The orb floated in its jar, it looked to be made out of gel, and it was glowing its respective color.

"Just to let you know, I had this scythe made from scratch, from my own design. Its one of a kind. It has the ability to break apart at any point of the handle, it also has a chain inside that allows it to extend for long distant attacks, it can also reconnect when the user is finished. You'll be able to make the chain as long as you want, for you are going to be this weapon." the woman smiled.

The boy didn't listen to a word of it. He didn't believe what she was saying was logical. He watched as she placed the weapon on his chest and opened the jar and took out the orb. She placed it above the weapon but instead of falling onto it, it hovered above it. She held out her hand above them and orb began spin rapidly and the weapon shook until it broke apart revealing the chain. Soon the orb's glow was extremely bright, the boy had to close his eyes to shield them from the light. The weapon was absorbed into the orb.

The light dimmed, but before the boy could open his eyes, the woman shoved the orb into his chest, but instead of the orb breaking or splattering, it fazed through his chest and soon he was engulfed in a gold light, that soon disappeared in matter of seconds.

He felt sore where the orb was shoved into him, but besides that he felt fine. He had no wounds, he was just fine.

"I bet you're starving, don't worry, mommy will whip up something special for her little man~." she said as she pulled the lever so that way the table was back to the way it was before. She then ran her fingers threw is hair, then left the room.

"She's crazy!" the boy thought, "She is fucking crazy! As if I'm going to eat whatever it is that she is going to make! Magic doesn't exist! What she did is an illusion! Smoke and mirrors! Alphonse and the bastard Colonel will find me and she'll go to prison, it will end there!...like the way it did with Father and Dante..."

After what felt like an hour, the woman returned with a few people wearing round masks, they all had several karts filled with jars with blue orbs inside. The boy looked at her as if she was insane.

"Where do you want us to put the souls, Lady Arachne?" asked one of the men.

"Right there." the woman used a black folding fan to point at a part of the ground that was near the boy.

"Souls?" the boy thought.

The men did as they were told and when they were done the woman, Arachne, thanked them and told them to leave.

"Th-those are-"

"Human souls?" Arachne smiled, "Yes, and you're going to eat them, most of them at the least, or until I think you've had enough."

The boy looked at her in utter horror. He had seen human souls be used as the main ingredient to make a powerful stone that ignores the law of Equivalent Exchange, but he had never heard of someone eating a soul. That was just insane.

"Oh, and one more thing that purple soul you saw earlier, that was the soul a witch. That witch had the ability to possess another person's soul. Now...that ability belongs to you."

With that being said, she began force-feeding him the souls one by one. It was hard for him to process what was going on. The boy couldn't stand it but he tried to not to think about them being souls. He couldn't help but notice the way the souls didn't have a distinct flavor but there was actually a texture. But the thought of the fact that they were souls brought him out of it. It was agonizing, knowing that he was eating human lives.

But soon, what felt like the twentieth soul he had been force-fed, he began willingly eating them. He just could no longer see the harm in it, they were now nothing more than candy to him. Candy that wouldn't give him cavities in his new razor sharp teeth. He didn't know how many souls he ate but he began to feel tired. And in the blink of an eye, Arachne was gone. He didn't know where she went. He began trying to process everything he ever knew... but for some reason they felt almost out of reach, but still at his access. But where?

He thought about it for what felt like hours, but then he began having a slight craving for the souls, he wanted more. But wasn't killing wrong? The witch that had him strapped to the table came from the darkness and smiled at him. She began telling him that it was okay to kill for the sheer enjoyment of it, and that it was okay to eat human souls for the fact that he liked it. She said that it was a part of what made him who he was. It was okay. Suddenly the boy's vision blurred and he passed out, Arachne's words echoing in his mind. When he woke up, he saw that he was in a large city, there was a man standing over him, the man was scowling at him.

"'Bout time kid! Listen, why don't you run along to your mother and get the he-" before the man could say another word, the boy stood up, placed a hand on the man's chest, thought of claws then his blades replaced his finger tips looking as though he had claws.

He killed the man instantly. When he removed his hand and made his blades disappear. The man's body fell and his soul appeared after that. The boy didn't even question it, he grabbed the soul, and ate it as if it was second nature. He was a bit disappointed in the fact that his glove was now covered in blood, but he just sighed and began walking away from the body. As he walked down the street of the unknown city, he saw a reflection of the night sky in the window of one of the buildings.

The boy looked up and was shocked. The moon was alive. It looked to be the side of a yellow face, it had long nose, a white eye, and it had a sinister grin. From between its teeth came blood.

For some reason, this provoked the boy to read something. But he didn't have a book with him. He put his hands in his cloak's pockets, then he felt something. He took out from his left pocket a small, brown booklet. He began reading what was in it.

All of his memories came rushing back to him like a train. His brother, the war, them both getting captured by a woman named Dante who wanted them to create a Philosopher's Stone. The Colonel, Winry, Armstrong, Granny Pinako. All of it was rushed back to him. He was in a different world, one without Equivalent Exchange, he needed to get back to his world. He just hopped that he could find a way to do so.

Suddenly he heard something. He slowly put the booklet in his pocket, and looked at his surroundings. Then he heard it again... someone was saying something. He listened carefully.

"Chi chi chiii..." that was what he had heard.

Before he could pin point it, he was hit by something on the back of his head and darkness enveloped him.