The Eighth Homunculus

By: Valavan Kugathasan

Chapter 2

The house was very dark; it was also broken, unused and dirty. But it was pretty good for a homunculus who didn't have a job. The furniture was wrecked and the mirror was shattered. There were only two rooms and one bathroom for seven bodies. It was still pretty good.

I felt nervous, as this was my first task. Lust had informed me that it was very important and that I must not fail at all costs. "Our future is in your hands Remeiko; the consequence for failure is severe." I was given a few hundred throwing knives and smoke bombs to cause distractions. Finally they explained in detail about what lies inside the base and what I should be prepared for. I found this very confusing and was alarmed at the number of people I had to kill to gain access to higher floors. In the end I decided to go along with the plan anyway.

Sloth and Pride decided that Envy would accompany me to the South West Frelian camp and help me infiltrate it. Our mission was to destroy the army members residing at the camp and also to take their supplies. In addition to that, we must obtain army clothing and identifications of some of the members. This will allow us to gain access to the Northern Frelian camp easily.

Envy and I went separate ways and planned to meet near the bridge, two kilometers South-West of the area. The path that I decided to take was the easier of the two but it still wasn't a walk in the park.

I was walking the Forest of Shadow, which lives up to its name. Not a fraction of sunlight gets through the thick leaves and branches in this forest. The lack of lighting makes it nearly impossible to see, but that mattered little to me, I could see through even the thickest fog.

What bothered me the most was the rumors that I heard about this forest. They say that long ago the Ishbar people were discriminated for their brown skin; therefore Fermyn people used them as slaves. When the slaves ran out of morale or were rebellious, they would take them to this forest and use alchemy to kill them. Some people still think that a few of the Ishbar people survived the Shadow Massacre and thrive in this forest, and say that the remaining Ishbar have developed a new kind of hatred for the Fermyn people and will kill them on sight.

The thought of being secretly watched by the Ishbar people frightened me. I prayed the rumors were not true and picked up my pace in walking. Even though I had been walking for about six hours, it felt like a few minutes. Suddenly I heard something move in the trees. Fearing that it was an Ishbar warrior I quickly used alchemy to turn the tree into many blocks of wood. The man who was hiding there was now revealed. He was about seven feet tall and wore what I believed to be traditional Ishbar clothing. Holding a spear in his left hand and a red shard in the other, he looked formidable.

"Your kind is not allowed beyond this point! Turn back now or I shall kill you."

"I don't want to hurt you, just let me through, okay?"

"Fool! What do you take me for? I wasn't born yesterday. I can tell that you have been sent from the army to kill off the rest of us!"

"That's hardly true. I'm searching for the army."

"Honestly, is that the best lie you could come up with?"

"It's not a lie, just let me pass and no one will get hurt."

"Ha-ha! That's grand, let you pass and watch you wreak havoc on my village?"

"Okay, you're asking for it! My time is limited and you've just used up all my patience."

"You're very amusing, feel the wrath of my spear, fool!"

He threw the spear at me but it missed. I decided that if I wanted to take him down I would need to use alchemy. I went up to a tree and quickly turned it into a giant spear. The Ishbarian was amazed! He had never seen alchemy before, therefore he was stunned. I used this time to lift the giant spear and plunged it straight through his chest. After a moment he fell down and died.

Without looking back I ran straight into the village. There were three warriors gathered around a fire who immediately noticed my arrival. Not only had that but their hatred for the Fermyn risen as I walked in. They instantly took out their weapons and came at me with great force.

With quick thinking I jumped over one of them and using a swift kick to the groin, knocked him out. I placed him on the ground and went for the remaining men. Two of them came at me with large axes, the first man succeeded in cutting part of my arm. I was still too quick for either of them to do any more damage. I jumped once again, this time I aimed for the man's face. He landed on the ground with a soft thud. The third man stuck his axe into the fire and threw it at me. I caught the axe in mid-air and used alchemy to transmute it into a spear. I threw the spear at him and it went through his ankle.

Screaming with pain he fell on the ground and fainted. I picked up all three bodies and placed them on top of each other. Knowing that they we're temporarily unconscious I decided to end their lives. By using alchemy I made a sharp pillar of rock emerge from the ground and made it impale the bodies that were stacked on top of each other. There was a short cry from one of the men and then a fountain of blood started to spray from their bodies.

I decided not to waste anymore time and ran as fast as I could. When I got there I saw that he had disguised himself as a falcon to throw away suspicion. All homunculus have their own unique abilities, Envy's specialty was to change into any living creature at will.

"I'll take out the guards while you destroy the inside."

"Alright…wait!"

"What? Are you scared? I knew it! You aren't ready are you? You piece of shit!"

"No it's not that!"

"I told Lust not to let you in on this! But she never listens! I'm going there anyway, come if you manage to get your shit together."

"……."

And with that Envy was gone in a flash. By the time I reached the entrance, there were about seventy Frelian soldiers on the ground. Their bodies were massacred, dismembered and were soaked with blood. The innards of their bodies were flowing out slowly; their brains were splattered on the walls. The arms hung limp as the blood slowly dripped. Their facial expressions we're still locked in fear and shock. It truly was a gruesome sight. It made me sick inside.

I paused for a second and reconsidered the idea of killing and almost turned back. I cried, but I knew that this was war and knowing that this was my destiny I forced the thought of humans being heartless and evil inside my head and pressed on forward.