The day was a cloudy grey one. Edmund's mood was the same. He had planned a date and maybe one of those new movie thingies with his newly-wed wife, and yet here he was, fighting for his life.
He swore as he fired a shot into the room. The room responded with a white-hot ball of energy shooting right through the wall where he was taking cover, burning his shoulder.
Edmund swore again. "BLOODY MAGES!"
He had thought that this was going to be another regular 'murderer on the loose' case. Being an Inspector of the military police, it was his job to respond to such situations, only this situation was not so ordinary.
When they had arrived, the building was eerily silent. Edmund had known back then that something was out of the ordinary, but had dismissed that thought then and there.
Now, two of his officers were dead, one burnt beyond recognition, and the other was breathing his last, while his body slowly melted into a thick puddle of red gunk. His screams of agony were unnerving. Most of the victims of mage attacks died horrifying and painful deaths, there was a reason why the building was eerily silent before. Good thing he had sent the remaining two to call for the 'dogs'.
Edmund was considering retreating, when a trembling, hollow voice echoed through the corridor.
"Ohh so red...ohh so sweet...give me your life...come to me...COME TO ME!"
BANG! A green lightning burnt through the wall and struck the dying officer in the head, splattering his blood and brains on the wall, and, on the inspector.
Edmund couldn't hold it in anymore, he picked up the automatic lying next to the officer's body, and switched the magazines, locked and loaded. He was going to charge that bustard. So much for that romantic outing that he had planned. Now he was going to avenge his comrades.
"Is that all? Is this the might of the capitol? Pathetic! Come out, little pawn! Come out! I promise I will be nice... a finger here... a leg there! It won't hurt a bit! Ask your friends, they would tell you!"
That psychopath was taunting him!
The inspector could wait no more. "BY GOD MAN! SO HELP ME, I WILL HAVE YOUR HEA-"
"You called for us?"
Edmund nearly jumped out of his skin! He turned around to locate the source of that voice, only to see two men standing right behind him.
One of the men wore an army uniform. He had a child-like face with thick wavy hair, and yet he was built like a wrestler. The 2 golden stars on his shoulder showed that he as an officer- a major, in fact- and the massive 12 barreled blunderbuss on his shoulder looked so menacing that the inspector was sure that this man would have no trouble demolishing this building if he felt like it.
"Major Abel Mcdyer, central command, at your service!"
Edmund nodded at Abel. It was the other man though, that worried him.
He was tall and thin, with jet black hair falling down to his shoulders and tinted rectangular glasses rested on the bridge of his nose. He was wearing a knee length, black overcoat, with a sigil of a snake curled over a cross with a winged crown. - The mark of an alchemist.
That man spoke with a deep calm voice.
"Kleon Priam, state alchemist, at your service."
Edmund had sent the men to get the 'dogs of the military', he never expected that they would send the wolves!
"So, what's the situation here?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEWHHHHHOOOOOOOOO! ALCHEMIST!HERESY! HERESY!ALCHEMIST! I SMELL YOUUUU! YOU ARE DEAD! YOU HEAR ME?DEAD!" That hollow voice turned into a snarl real quick.
"Mage" Kleon spoke softly, a smile unfurling across his face "and a feisty one at that, he's fed on the whole building"
"All right inspector, your job is done here. Leave this building"
"I will kill-"
"THAT'S AN ORDER!" thundered the major
"With all due respect, sir! You can shove that order up your arse! I will kill that mage!"
"Why, you insolent little pric-"
Kleon stepped in.
"Now now major, this is no time to fight. Inspector, take up position in at the end of the corridor. We will lure him out."
CRACKLE! SNAP!
A bolt of green lightning erupted from the door setting the corridor carpet on fire.
"COME AT ME, ALCHEMIST!"
"Positions, NOW!" the major bellowed.
Edmund ran and took his place at the end of the corridor, taking cover behind an overturned table for good measure, although he doubted that it could protect him from that mage's light show.
He peeked from the corner of the table, weapon ready. The major was kneeling near the doorway, his blunderbuss ready to give that mage 12 new holes to breathe through. The alchemist however, was standing upright, eyes closed in concentration. He brought his palms together. As soon as they touched, a high pitched sound rang throughout the corridor, resonating off the walls, the furniture, even the flooring.
The alchemist dropped down on his knees and pressed his palms into the floor.
Massive Spikes erupted from the point of contact and shot straight into the room, where the mage was hiding. At the same time, the major pointed his blunderbuss at the wall and pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The corridor shook as the 12 explosive shots burst through the wall right into the room.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH, IT BURNS! IT BURNS!"
"All right inspector, you are up!" Kleon called.
Edmund quickly got to his feet and ran towards the door. This was it, he was going to kill that thing for what it did to his officers.
What awaited him was a bloody sight. The room was filled with bodies, melted and burnt beyond recognition, hearts, intestines, brains scattered everywhere. The whole room reeked of the rusty stench of blood and smoke.
The Culprit himself, was a sickly sight. His skinny arms and legs were covered in blood and peppered with bullets from the Blunderbuss barrage. The alchemist's spikes had impaled his malnourished and broken body right into the opposing wall, where he hung from them, like a puppet nailed to a wall. His face was pale and thin, eyes sunken and rolling madly in agony. That mage looked like a horribly mangled child. A child, killed all these people? Those officers?
Abel put his hand on Edmund's shoulder.
"Shoot him, inspector. Avenge your men."
For the first time in his life, Inspector Edmund was paralyzed, too paralyzed to do his duty. He was horrified.
"I-I can't"
Kleon sighed.
"Don't let his looks fool you. That there is a full grown mage. He has used his own life force as a source of energy to cast spells, that's the reason why his body hasn't grown. And, by the looks of it, these poor folks were used for the same purpose. Do it, inspector, or the major will be more than happy to do it for you."
The inspector was shaking now, appalled by what he had just heard. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Then, he pointed his automatic at that mangled mess of a mage, took aim, and pulled the trigger.
The burst of bullets peppered the mage's face, putting it out of its misery.
"Bravo! Well done!" applauded Abel.
Edmund turned around to look at Kleon, who was staring at the remains of the mage.
"Is this what it means to be an alchemist? Do you see this in every case?" He whispered.
"Yes. Almost every case." Kleon replied calmly.
Silence followed.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor behind them. One of the junior officer had come in to check on the situation.
"Is it over sir?" he asked the inspector as he peeked inside the room.
"Yeah, it's over, get back to your -"
"BLEEEEAAAAARGH" The junior officer threw up in the corridor
"By god man! Get your officer out of here. He will contaminate the crime scene!" The major said, disapproval deep in his voice.
The officer muttered an apology, then something about getting a mop to clean up his mess, and ran all the way out of the building.
Kleon was now staring at the newly created puddle of puke. He turned to the inspector.
"Is that guy new?"
"Yeah" sighed Edmund.
"Fucking noob."
Abel laughed "aaaaah , I remember my first days at the job. Really didn't have the stomach for-"
"Not now Abel!" Kleon really wasn't in the mood to here Abel's tall tales at the moment.
"Fine!" Abel's childlike face scrunched into a grumpy one.
Edmund sighed. He had gotten himself tangled up with some really strange folks.
Rain had begun to pour down as they exited the building. The crime investigation team and the Alchemy corps medical team would be arriving at the site in half-an-hour.
Edmund was happy to escape that nightmare. Now, he could go home and takehis wife out for a romantic date on a rainy evening. He just couldn't wait to try out these new entertainment features called 'movie'. It was going to be a great evening
Major Abel was happy that he had successfully completed and added another mission to his career profile, and couldn't wait to go home, get changed, and then go out and have alook at these 'movies' that everyone was talking about.
Kleon was in a bad mood. He was summoned straight from his office without any free lunch, he didn't have an umbrella, and he was hungry.
Inspector Edmund went up to the duo.
"Thank you for your assistance, both of you. I can go home to my wife now!"
Abel's chest swelled up with pride.
"Central command, at your service! Heil Fuhrer Mustang!" Abel snapped into a salute.
"Heil Fuhrer Mustang!" Inspector Edmund Witvicky saluted.
Kleon Priam grumbled something about hot dogs being the cornerstone of a nutritious meal and jumped into the shotgun seat of Abel's car.
Major Abel Mcdyer jumped in to the driver's seat, and spoke to Kleon
"Well, that went well!"
"Hey Abe, we have been getting more and more cases like this in the last six months. Don't you think something's up?"
Abel's brow furrowed for a moment.
"You don't think...are they trying to recreate Xerxes?"
"We don't know, let's wait until the lab tests come out. If we find traces of the Philosopher's stone, then we will know for sure. Abe, start the car, I know where we need to go!"
The engine hummed to life.
"Well, where do we go?" Abel asked.
"I know this diner at the end of the street. They have got some killer hot dogs!"
"And then, can we go watch some of those movies?"
"I don't know what this movie thingy is, but hell yeah!"
Abel turned into gear and jammed the accelerator. Kleon turned the radio on.
'Single men have no worries' played on the radio as the duo went downtown for hotdogs and that new fad called 'movies'.
Their adventure has just begun.