Chapter one
"Oi! Matilda! Max! Get up! NOW!" "We're coming mother! Come on Max you have to get up or you'll be in trouble again." "Yes, yes alright just 2 more minutes!" "No Max you'll have to get up now if you ever want to learn magic from the Mr wizard in the woods!" "If you don't let me sleep I'll use my magic on you!" "No you won't, you're toooooo wimpy to fight a girl!" "Oh shut up!"
These 2 twin children have lived together all their lives although it has often been wondered why the girl had shining black hair and red eyes and the boy with bright golden blonde locks and bright blue eyes even though neither parent had either characteristic.
"Come on Max let's go! Oh I'm so excited!" Matilda shouted gleefully. "But you're not even learning magic!" replied Max. "It's still fun to watch!"
Now you might ask: what were 2 twins doing in the woods alone? And why was only the boy learning magic? Why not the girl too? And where did the boy get his magic from? Well let me tell you something. These kids have grown up perfectly normal. They were happy little kids who spent their days ignorant of the world around them. All was well until…BOOM! The kids had their 13th birthday and of a sudden they changed; drastically. Max suddenly developed an immense interest in science and the world around him, and Matilda suddenly became distant and didn't talk to anyone other than Max unless they spoke to her first. Now everyone was fine with these changes to the twins they didn't cause any major problems just that sometimes Max got picked on for being different and Matilda was often left out and lost some of her childhood friends. No, the real problems started when Max first lost his temper. It was a frosty morning and Max was studying the plant's reaction to the cold, some other boys came along and started making fun of him. That's when he lost it.
"Hey! Maxy boy, watcha doing in the dirt?" "Oh are you interested? I'm studying the plant's reaction to the cold." "Yeah sure I'm interested rolling around in the dirt seems great!" "Wonderful! Come on and I'll show you what to do." "HAHA! You're so gullible! As if I'd ever be interested in that!" "Shut up! It's interesting even if you don't think it!"
Unfortunately Max could not contain his anger and it burst out in a flash of purple. A needle spewing with a dark evil energy flew from his hand and wounded the boy. The others ran away terrified. Of course once the news reached Max's mother he was immediately sent to study under the Mr wizard of the woods to see if he could control this new power of his. With the villagers scared out of their wits with the arrival of Max's uncontrollable power Matilda was also sent to the Mr wizard in case she might have any magic flying out of her as well. Anyway back to the main story line…
"Oh I'm so excited! My first time seeing magic! And performed by my own brother to! Oh I just can't wait!" Matilda jumped up and down, not containing her excitement. "Calm down! It's me who should be excited cause I have magic running through my veins; isn't it AWESOME!?" Max ended his sentence with a shout. "Yes I know I just cannot wait to see this!" "Hello children are you ready to perform magic?" said a voice from behind them. the two whirled round to see the wise old wizard standing behind them. "Oh hello Mr Wizard, we didn't see you there!" the children said in sync. "No, of course you didn't for I am a master of stealth. Now Max are you ready to begin?" asked the wizard. "You bet I am!" said Max confidently "Matilda why don't you go into the woods and gather some herbs to help stimulate your brothers senses, help to make him alert and ready for training," requested the wizard. "Yes. Mr Wizard."
And so that's how it went for the next couple months. Max was really along in his magic training while Matilda gathered herbs to help keep her brothers health in tiptop shape. Until one day while Matilda was all alone…
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! SOMEONE HELP ME!" the scream echoed through the woods chilling every living thing to the bone.
"Matilda? MATILDA!"
Max rushed to his sister's aid and defended her successfully from a ferocious werewolf that was prowling around the woods.
"What on earth is a werewolf doing out here!? I thought that they lived out at the passage way to Lukedonia, they never stray out here for fear of the Nobles and what would happen to them is they messed with humans." Matilda was crying pitifully on the ground. "I'm sorry Max, I'm sorry for being such a burden to you," she sobbed. "What do you mean? You're not a burden to me and you never will be," Max's voice was comforting. "I'm sorry Max but I just can't sit around here any longer. I'm going to find a way to become stronger so that you won't have to protect me any longer." Matilda stood and faced her brother, a look of determination in her eye. "But what will you do? You don't have any magic in you." "That's not a problem for I will learn the ways of transmutation, I will become an alchemist!"
So there you have it, the mage boy and his alchemist twin sister. They both studied and trained hard throughout the years the come. After 10 years of hard work, Matilda returned to her brother's side a fully-fledged alchemist; she was however in for a bit of a shock. When she returned home she found that her brother was in love with the baker's daughter: Rose and the two of them were very happy together. Matilda was very pleased for them and even more so when the wonderful news of their unborn child spread through the village. They were pledged to be married and already on their way to creating a family. Many months passed and Rose was about to give birth when suddenly she got sick. Very sick. She did not survive, she died during child birth and so did the child. Desperate Max turned to his sister for help. He knew how great power alchemy could be. He knew that his sister could help!
"Matilda, you have to help me! Please you must bring them back!" Max pleaded through tears. "How do you mean? Max I know you are grieving but there is a limit to how much science and alchemy can do," reasoned Matilda. "No, you don't understand you have to bring them back! Use your alchemy; I know you can do it! I saw you studying it!" Max was becoming desperate and Matilda could see that. "Max you can't mean…human transmutation! But that is forbidden the risks are too high, no-one has EVER succeeded!" Matilda shouted at her hysterical twin brother. "Yes, but I know you can do it you're the best alchemist I know!" "You mean I'm the only alchemist you know!" Matilda replied sarcastically. "Please, Matilda, please!" her brother begged. "Right, fine, ok, but if anything goes wrong it's on you!" sighed Matilda. "Yes, oh, yes! Thank you! Thank you so much!" "No problem bro."
Unfortunately everything did not go according to plan the human transmutation failed. Neither Rose nor the child came back. Instead all they got was a homunculus, a failed result of a failed human transmutation. Matilda also lost her ability to speak as a rebound on the failed human transmutation. Then to make matters worse the higher authorities of the alchemic society had no choice but to arrest Matilda for committing taboo and all of a sudden Max was left all alone in the world.
After many years Matilda had had enough she used her immense alchemic power to break out of prison and go find her dear brother Max. However when she arrived back at her village she was told that in his grievance of losing lover, child and sister he had left to go and travel the world to see if he could find anything else to live for. And so that's how the next couple of hundred years went; the alchemic authorities chasing Matilda, Matilda chasing Max and Max running around blindly trying to find a scrap for hope for which to cling.
