Somewhere in the forests of Avalice, a young stray dog girl was running on all four with a book in her mouth. She had ivory-white fur, bushy orange hair, bright green eyes, and large ears with a set of four bright green discs on them. She wore a sleeveless, beige unitard-like outfit with a bright green tag and showed off a green outfit with white stripes underneath. Her name was Milla Basset.
Milla was clearly ecstatic from how fast she was running. She eventually came to a halt when she approached a stump with a face, hyper to share something that could be revolutionary. "Mr. Stumpy, you will not believe what I just discovered!" It seemed he was stumped for an answer, as he did not respond.
Milla exclaimed with much joy "Well, I found this book about a special kind of magic. It sounds pretty powerful, and maybe I could learn it and become a Super Dog!" She sat down next to the stump and opened the book. "Let's see what it can do."
Milla began skimming through the pages to learn how to use this magic, referred to as 'Alchemy'. She learned about how it was used to reconstruct any object into a completely different object. It could grow walls from the ground, freeze water into ice, and even turn mundane objects into weapons of war. From the looks of it, the only limit was her imagination.
After reading a fair amount, she decided to give it a try. She saw a nearby boulder that was about the size of her head and decided what her first test would be. First, she flipped to a page that had a picture of a transmutation circle on it, so she had an idea of what to draw, and started looking around for a good stick.
Once she found one the size of a pencil, she started drawing a small circle in the dirt, making sure it was as accurate to the picture as possible. When it was complete, she carefully picked up the boulder and gently placed it in the center of the circle.
Milla sat on her knees outside the circle and pictured an image in her mind. Trying her best to keep thinking of that image, she clapped her hands and then quickly placed them on the edge of the circle. In a matter of seconds, the circle began to glow and it even seemed like lightning was emitting from it. Then the rock started to deconstruct itself and slowly morph into a new shape.
After a while, the rock's transformation was complete, and Milla slowly opened her eyes to see if her vision had become real. And she was loving what she saw. The rock had transformed into a statue of a cactus with a cowboy hat and one giant eye.
Milla began joyfully jumping up and down at her experiment. "It worked! It worked! It really worked!" She proclaimed. After her little celebration, she glanced at the book and sat down in a thinking position next to her stump partner. She started pondering the limitless possibilities of Alchemy and came to a hypothesis.
"Maybe I can create a portal, and it will take me to where my parents are! What do you think?" A moment of silence between Milla & Mr. Stumpy. It was then broken by "Yeah, I think so too! Let's get started!"
As the sun began to set, Milla had just finished using a stick, this one being barely taller than her, to draw a much bigger circle in the dirt. Wiping the sweat off her brow, she turned to Mr. Stumpy for his opinion on the accuracy. "How does it look?" She asked between her pants. His silence spoke a thousand words, and she felt she was almost ready. She just needed one more item. She reached in her pocket, pulled out a necklace, an old gift from her mother, and placed it in the center of the circle.
She got down on her knees and took a deep breath. "Alright, here it goes". She clapped her hands and placed them on the edge of the circle. Just then, the circle began to glow. What appeared to be a giant eye grew from within the circle, which then seemed to become a portal. "I-I think it's working! Let's try going through!" Milla proceeded to cannonball through the portal, not noticing her stump friend staying in place. When she jumped through, the portal closed and the glow faded, leaving the stump behind.
Milla slowly opened her eyes and saw she was in an endless white void. From a distance, she saw a figure sitting on the ground. The figure was completely blank, only a completely white body with only a few features. a mouth in the shape of a wide grin, a medium-sized fluffy tail, and big floppy ears. The last two resemble Milla's own. She was a little scared but wanted answers, so she gulped nervously and asked "W-Who are you?"
The figure responded with an echoing voice. "Who am I? One name you might have for me is The World, or you might call me The Universe, or perhaps God, or perhaps the Truth. I am all and I am one, so of course, this also means that I am you." Milla gave a confused look, so she continued to ask. "Where are my parents? This was supposed to take me to them." Truth let out an almost sinister chuckle at that statement. "Oh, poor naive child. How could you achieve something not physically possible?"
"Wh-What do you mean?"
"Your parents aren't on your earth. Therefore, you were never going to get them back. It goes against the rules of alchemy."
Milla was speechless at the revelation and seemed to be on the brink of tears. "I-It's not possible? I didn't know there were limits to Alchemy, Mr. Truth."
Truth's smile quickly faded for a bit, as it placed a hand on its chin "Hm. You committed a taboo on Alchemy, but you've not the proper knowledge of it in the first place. That would explain the lack of a Gate for you." But then its smile quickly grew back as it proclaimed "Let's fix that."
Suddenly, a giant pair of doors began to fade into existence behind Milla. She turned around to look at them and saw they were almost completely blank, save for a few paragraphs written in a language that seemed familiar to her. Truth spoke again. "Seeing as you're so inexperienced with Alchemy, I'll be merciful this one time. You'll be part of a world that is more familiar with Alchemy. There, you can continue learning about it and maybe even become a skilled Alchemist yourself. Only time will tell."
The Gate began to open, and a multitude of long black arms grew out, all grabbing Milla. "What's happening?!" She screamed.
"For being sent to this new world, you'll be removed from your old one. It's the law of Equivalent Exchange." Truth explained as Milla was slowly pulled in.
As the darkness was slowly consuming Milla, she tried to protest. "No, wait! I don't wanna go! Please!" But it was too late. She was pulled in completely and the door closed on her.
"I can't wait to see how much you'll grow".
Milla was falling down an endless abyss while it seemed her life was flashing by before her very eyes. She was terrified for her life when she noticed her hand started to disintegrate. And before she knew it, her entire body seemed to disappear as well. Soon, she became nothing.
Milla slowly began to wake up. She could hear the sound of rain. She slowly pushed herself up and opened her eyes, glancing up at the trees towering over her. This place seemed a lot darker than where she was before. She was in a dark forest, she was in the pouring rain. But worst of all, she was alone. Milla began slowly wandering the forest, calling out for someone to hear her.
"Truth! Mr. Stumpy! Hello?"
But no matter who she called for, nobody came. She stopped walking and sat down under a tree branch to shield herself from the rain, as she hugged her knees. Because of her quick jump into Alchemy, she had lost more than she wanted to gain. She was on the brink of tears, fearing that she would never get the happily ever after she wanted.
Until she noticed she wasn't the only thing that arrived with her in this new forest. As what was lying in the dirt out in the rain was the book of Alchemy. Milla made a quick dash to grab the book and back to her branch shelter. Truth wanted her to learn more about Alchemy in this world, and right now, this was her best thing. So Milla opened the book and decided to thoroughly pay attention this time. And it's a good thing she did because she missed out on some key rules of Alchemy.
Such as the sequence of Comprehension, Deconstruction & Reconstruction. Or the rule of Equivalent Exchange that she remembered Truth talking about. Anything created with alchemy must have a source of equal value, and cannot be made fundamentally different. For example, a rock could become a statue, but it cannot be turned into water.
As Milla continued reading, her tears stopped shedding and she had a more determined look on her face. She was determined to learn all there is to Alchemy, and maybe even this new world she's in. Only time will tell.