Beast Alchemist
1: Death, and Rebirth
In order to obtain, something of equal value must be lost, that is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange. Eventually, however, this principle would be studied more, examined from every angle, and someday become what we now call thermodynamics. But my tale begins long before this term was even pondered. My name is Alexander Crux, and I am an alchemist who must, naturally, obey the laws of equivalent exchange. However, even more than just a mere alchemist, I am a state alchemist, one who has been deemed worthy of military application simply due to his scientific prowess. We are often called "dogs of the military", but I do not feel that this expression properly describes my position. You see, a dog at least has a choice. It has the ability to deny its masters orders, even if it will be punished for doing so. I do not have this privilege. I say this because of what I have done for the military, and what I had done before joining it. Because of my transgressions against humanity I do not have the privilege of choice. Hell, sometimes I even wonder if I'm still human… But then again, once I think about it I realize that I'm really not. Perhaps it would be best if I were to rewind a bit though…
It was a sunny morning, and I had just finished making a light breakfast for my brother and I. When I entered his room I saw that he was already up, so I went ahead and set the plate on his lap whilst trying not to spill the jam-covered toast onto him. He winced slightly as I sat the plate down. "Is it getting worse?" I asked. For he had an exceedingly rare and abnormal flesh-eating disease. I had contacted every doctor in the nation, though none of them could help. So all I could do was move us to East City, where Doctor Flint Marco, the nation's greatest doctor, resided. I also began studying alchemy under his tutelage so as to take better care of my brother William.
After giving William his morning medications with his breakfast, I helped him into his wheelchair and got him to the bathroom to clean him in preparation for the day. I felt worried as I was assisting him with bathing his legs, which were the most delicate area of his body seeing as they were where his illness first affected him.
"Well," I said, looking at my watch "It's about time for Dr. Marco to get here. Are you ready William?"
"As ready as I am every other day." He replied, shortly before the doorbell rang.
"Come on in Doc!" I shouted across the humble home. Dr. Marco opened the door and greeted us with his usual warmhearted smile, which has always reminded me of a grandfather smiling at his grandchildren when he hadn't seen them in a while. It always made me feel somewhat sad however, seeing his face that looked sort of like a cake that had fallen.
After going through the usual routine checkup and medical assessments Dr. Marco and I headed into the study for my lesson. Today he had me study from a few historical books because "In order to understand a scientific discovery, you must understand how it was discovered." Each book had something different in them, some city that had hosted many chimera makers, or a town where a doctor had made some incredible discovery. But all the books had one thing showing up in each of them. Something that could not be explained or even proved: They all mentioned the philosopher's stone. Any alchemist worth his salt knows about the philosopher's stone. It's a bright red stone that works as an incredibly powerful amplifier to alchemy, and it also is said to grant eternal life, and those who wield it don't have to obey the laws of equivalent exchange. The stone's very existence is, of course, total nonsense. After all: What could possibly give someone that much power, keep them from dying, AND create matter from nothing? No. Equivalent exchange is absolute, and nothing can change that.
After my study time, Dr. Marco usually had me practice some kind of practical application of alchemy. During this practice time I asked him how William seemed to be doing.
"As you know," He said, his tone growing somewhat tired and disheartened "His condition cannot be reversed, and there's no way to stop it from progressing."
I felt my heart starting to drop. I knew that most people with William's disease didn't last more than about three years after diagnosis. This year would be his fifth. "So, what are you saying?"
"What I'm saying is that his time is coming, and there's nothing we can do to stop it." I could tell by his face that it was tearing him up inside to have to tell me this. "He's maybe got a year left, probably less." He looked away from me, and I can't blame him. I must have looked like an animal caught in a trap, ready and willing to attack anything or anyone that came near it.
"So in other words, I should start to… to prepare for his passing, right?" I asked, struggling to contain my emotions.
Dr. Marco nodded, and I felt a tear rolling down my cheek. I turned away so as to keep the Doctor from seeing me weep. "Thanks doc, see you tomorrow." I said, sending him on his way.
After the doctor left I locked myself in the study and began to read. I was looking for information on the forbidden art of human transmutation. If there was nothing I could do to stop his disease, then there must be something I could do to bring him back once death had claimed him and the disease affecting him was no more. I came across a book that Marco had been reading whilst I was engrossed in my studies. He must have accidentally left it behind. The cover of the book read: "The Gateway of Alchemical Truth, by Edward Elric".
After reading a few chapters into the book, I realized that the man who wrote it was either an absolute genius, or a total nutcase. He wrote about incredible things though. According to Elric's theories, each individual human being possessed his own "Gate of Truth" which served as a sort of power outlet for their alchemy. Beyond this gate lied the ultimate truth, everything there ever was, as well as everything there ever will be on the study of alchemy. In order to see across this gate however, one would have to perform human transmutation and, in doing so, lose a part of their body. Also, one could only see through the gate a small amount, and in order to gain all the gate had to offer they would have to send their entire body, mind, and soul to the other side.
"Alex?" I heard William's voice coming from the other side of the door. It sounded somewhat… Worried? Frightened? I couldn't quite tell what was bothering him.
"Yes William?" I said, getting up to go unlock the door and see what was wrong.
The sight that greeted me on the other side of the door was something that I will never be able to forget. Even now it greets me every time I close my eyes.
William was lying on the ground next to his wheelchair, which had fallen over. His face was contorted with fear and pain and desperation. His flesh was blackening and falling off in large chunks.
"William!?" I screamed, even if it were to progress at its fastest, his disease couldn't do this level of damage in less than a month. I rushed back into my study and grabbed what few supplies I had on hand and some chalk.
"Hold on William, I'm going to fix this!" I said, not believing the words myself, and retching tears mixed with a necessity to vomit due to the smell of rotting flesh diluting the validity of my statement further. I began to rapidly draw on the floor around him, trying to keep my tears from washing away any of the chalk. Placing the ingredients within the transmutation circle around William I placed my hands on the outer rim and saw the glowing of the transmutation circle, and I felt the usual flow of energy through my body.
Once the transmutation finished, I could see that I hadn't done much to slow his death. "William…" I said, no longer able to restrain my tears "William, don't die on me… DON'T DIE WILLIAM!"
"Don't cry Alexander…" William said, smiling despite his excruciating demise "Now I get to go home, and you can live your own life. A life where you don't have to always-" He paused, coughing up blood and chunks of what I assumed to be his lungs. "One where you don't have to always take care of me…" I saw his chest rise and fall one last time, and watched the light fade from his eyes.
"William?" I said, half expecting him to wake up and tell me it was all a joke "William, you… you idiot! What the hell kind of life would I be able to live without you?! You are my life! I've been living for you up until now!" I was screaming now, not that it made much difference.
"Screaming at a dead body is pointless, you know?" I heard the voice of a man from down the hall.
"Who's there?!" I said "Are you the one who did this to William?!"
"Obviously it was his disease that killed him, but I won't say I didn't help it to progress a bit faster than ordinary." The man said. He stepped forward, and I saw that he was tall, with dark hair. He appeared to be somewhere in his mid-thirties.
"Who are you?" I said, fury rising in my voice "And how did you get in?"
"You can call me Charon." He replied calmly "And I got in via the door, you should really learn to use a lock, you know?"
I leapt at the man calling himself Charon, though he easily avoided my assault.
"Now now, is that any way to treat someone who's come to give you help?"
"What do you mean?" My patience had long since run out
"I mean that I can help you bring your dearest little brother back. All you have to do is listen to my instructions, you know?"
There was obviously going to be a catch, and there was no reason for me to trust Charon. After all, he was the one who killed William. "And why should I trust you?"
"Because if you bring your brother back, then his disease will no longer affect him. And you'll gain new powers from seeing through your gate, you know?" Ok, so he obviously knows something useful.
"And what makes you think that I believe in all that "Gate of Truth" Shit?" I was trying to milk him for any information I could get, and he knew it.
"You don't have to beat around the bush to get information, you know? I'll go ahead and tell you whatever you want. I'll even teach you everything I know, and that's a lot." He was obviously hiding something, but I was desperate.
"Fine, I'll perform your damned experiment, but ONLY if you promise it'll bring William back to life."
"That depends entirely upon you, Alexander. Now let's get started."
After getting all of the supplies that Charon had listed for me, I returned home.
"Good, good." Charon said, as I placed all of the ingredients within the circle "It wouldn't work if we didn't have all of the ingredients, you know?"
"Yeah, Yeah" I said, "What now?" I was growing impatient.
"Now we need the transmutation circle. That's kind of necessary, you know?" He said, reaching for his cane which I hadn't noticed until he reached for it. For some reason I didn't think it was necessarily used to help support him. The large red gem atop it also suggested that it wasn't for what one would ordinarily use a cane. On each flat surface of the stone there was engraved a different transmutation circle. I recognized some of them from my books. Earth alchemy, Ice alchemy, even medical alchemy; there were even more transmutation circles that I couldn't recognize.
He tapped his cane on the floor twice, placing his thumb on one side of the stone in particular. At his activation of the circle, the floor began to glow and parts of it sunk in, forming a new transmutation circle with Williams's bloody corpse in the center.
"There, we're all set. We've got the ingredients, the circle, now all we need is for you to start it all up, you know?" Charon said, stepping back so as to give me the stage.
Stepping forward, I kneeled down next to the circle. "William…" I whispered "I hope to God this works." I then placed my hands on the edge of the circle. I felt the surge of energy from the circle run through my body, saw the circle begin to glow, and watched the ingredients begin to converge. Then, severe pain, followed by total darkness.