Ed, Mei, and Mustang approached the pillars of light that the old man had spoken of. There were three, and the one they'd come from was the one in the middle.
"So, how does this work?" Mustang asked.
"I dunno," Ed said. He walked over to the pillar on the left. "What if I just..." He put one foot into the pillar, and leaned his head in. He was suddenly struck with a feeling of the area on the other side of the gate. It wasn't exactly a vision, more of a vague impression. He stepped back out of the pillar.
"What happened?" Mei asked.
"I think I could feel what was on the other side," Ed said. "It felt like it was a long time ago. Like, a really long time. Let me try the other one."
He did the same thing for the pillar on the right.
"Well, I'm fairly certain that's 1000 A.D.," he said. "We can get back to the middle ages from the fair, though, so it seems like our best bet. I'm gonna try going through."
He stepped all the way into the pillar of light, felt something pull him up, then floated back up into the void, far enough that he couldn't see the platforms anymore. From there, it felt like traveling through a gate normally, and he soon saw the exit before him.
He tumbled out of the gate into what seemed to be a quaint one-room home. There were two of the strange bald imps he'd seen in the middle ages, one blue and one green, sitting around a table. Mustang and Mei soon came out after him, and he saw that the gate was located in a large wardrobe.
The imps looked shocked. "You came out of my wardrobe, didn't you?" the blue one said. "What are you doing in here?"
"Um, sorry," Ed said. "We didn't know where we'd end up."
The green imp frowned. "Coming and going from someone else's wardrobe at all hours of night and day. Humans, I'll tell you!"
"Yeah, I guess we'll get going then," Ed said. "Do you mind telling us where we are first?"
"This is Medina, a village of fiends," the green imp said. "Most of the townsfolk still hold a grudge against humans from the war 400 years ago, so be careful."
"What about you?"
The blue imp shrugged. "Ancient history. There's no use living in the past. There's an odd old human who lives near a cave in the mountains to the west. He may be able to help you out."
"Really? Thanks," Ed said.
When they went outside, they heard a strange chanting that seemed to be coming from the fountain in the village's center. There was a group of almost ten fiends dancing around a statue of a man holding a scythe, singing the praises of Magus the Fiendlord. They also heard something about Lavos, but they made their way out of the village before they could garner any attention.
They walked west for the better part of an hour, until a house came into view on the horizon. When Ed knocked on the door, he was greeted by an old man with a gray mustache. He was wearing blue and orange robes and a hat, and he had small, round glasses on. He was holding a wooden cane in his right hand.
"Oh, who might you be?" the old man asked.
"My name's Edward Elric, and this is Roy Mustang and Mei Chang," Ed said. "I guess you could say we're a bit lost."
"I see," said the old man. "My name is Melchior. I'm a weaponsmith by trade. Would you like to come inside?"
"No, that's fine," Ed said. "If you know the way to the Millenial Fair in Guardia, though, that'd be great."
Melchior nodded, then pointed with his cane. "There's a cave nearby in that direction. Within is a magical tunnel to the western continent. There may be fiends guarding it, though, so be careful."
"Will do, thanks," Ed said.
They followed Melchior's directions until they reached the side of a mountain. Sure enough, after a short search, they found a cave entrance. When they went inside, two blue-helmed, yellow-skinned fiends were standing guard. They immediately leapt forward with their fists out.
"Death to the enemies of fiendkind!" one of them shouted. He rushed at Ed and tried to punch him, but he dodged, and kicked the fiend in the stomach with his metal leg.
"Probably no reasoning with these guys," Ed said, ducking another punch and returning with one of his own, which sent his opponent sprawling on the cave floor.
The other fiend had rushed Mustang, who created a wall of fire between them. "Magic? In a human? But how?" he said.
As the flames died out, Mei and Ed attacked the fiend together, knocking it unconscious.
"We might be able to make use of their misconception about our abilities," Mustang said.
They continued through the cave, fighting a few more scattered fiends. When they reached the end of the cave, a blue, scaly, clawed monster came walking towards them. "Death to the enemies of fiendkind!" he growled.
"Yeah, yeah. Shut it, will you?" Ed said. He turned his right arm into a short blade and rushed forward, but his attack harmlessly bounced off.
"No human can harm me!" the creature said. He swiped at Ed, who jumped back. Mustang snapped, and a jet of fire struck the creature head-on. It was unscathed, however, and laughed at them. "Ha! You can't fool me. That's not real magic!" He extended his arms forward, and a massive wave of water crashed forward, knocking the three combatants off their feet, before disappearing into the ground. "Only magic can harm me, which means you humans never will!"
"Dammit, how do we compete with that?" Ed said, stumbling to his feet. He suddenly had a realization, clapping his hands together and pressing them to the ground. The stone floor of the cave shot upwards, encasing the monster.
"What?! How did you—" the creature said, muffled by the walls around him. There were several thuds as he banged on the inside of them.
"We don't really need to defeat you to get past you, do we?" Ed said.
"Nice job, Fullmetal," Mustang said.
The monster growled. "You filthy humans! If only Lord Magus had destroyed you four hundred years ago when he first brought forth Lavos, the world would belong to us fiends now!"
"Wait, what did you say?" Mustang gasped.
"Magus created Lavos?" Mei said.
"You know who that is?" Mustang asked.
Mei nodded. "The fiendlord who led the fiends in war in the middle ages. Ling told me about him."
"So I guess Lavos was created then, and he destroyed the world sometime in the future," Ed said.
"So then, I guess if we stop Magus, we'll be able to stop Lavos too," Mustang said.
"What are you talking about?! You puny humans couldn't defeat the fiendlord even if he was still alive!" the monster said from inside the walls.
"Come on, let's get going," Ed said, ignoring him. "We don't know how much time we have."
At the back of the cave, there was a hole in the floor filled with water, which seemed to swirl around on its own.
"This must be the tunnel that Melchior was talking about," Ed said. "Well, here goes." He jumped in and instantly disappeared below the water.
After a disorienting trip underwater, Ed found himself soaking wet on the shore of a small island. Mei and Mustang soon washed up after him.
"I hope we never have to do that again!" Mei said, wringing out her clothes. Xiao Mei, the panda, squeaked in agreement.
"I recognize this island," Mustang said, scanning the horizon. He pointed at a relatively large house at its center. "That's where I first woke up. Follow me, I can lead us back to the fair."
Within an hour, they were back at the square where the gate was. Ed opened it, and they stepped through, first to the end of time, then to the middle ages.
"We need to find Ling," Mei said.
Ed nodded. "Yeah, we said we'd be right back, and we've been gone for days now. Hopefully he's at the castle."
When they made it to the castle, the two guards at the door stepped forward. "Halt! Who goes there?" one of them said, then his face relaxed. "Oh, it's only you again."
"Do you know where Ling Yao is?" Mei asked.
"Ha!" the soldier laughed. "Everyone knows about him. He's become the queen's personal guard after the fight with Yakra. I'm sure you can find him in the king's bedchamber. His majesty took an injury in battle, you see. Go on ahead."
"Thank you!" Mei said, bowing. She rushed up the stairs, leaving Ed and Mustang to scramble after her.
The king's chambers were at the top of one of the towers, with the doors flanked by two more guards, this time fully-armored knights in black plate. "Ah, Ling told us to expect you," one of them said. "Go on in, but be careful about his majesty's health."
They opened the door. The room was rather simply furnished, with a single bed, table, and chair. The king was lying in the bed, with the queen—who looked very worried—at his side and a maid at the foot of the bed. Ling was standing behind the queen, this time in shiny silver plate armor. All four of them looked up at the newcomers.
"There you are," Ling said. "I was starting to wonder if you'd ever come back."
"Are these the people you were talking about, Ling?" the queen asked.
"Sure are," Ling said. "You guys got here just in time. I was about to leave."
"What for?" Ed asked.
The king suddenly tried to sit up, then started coughing. The queen looked down at him. "The Hero's badge has been found at last," he said. "I had almost given up any hope of our salvation, but then one of my subjects brought it here. With it, we can finally retrieve the legendary blade that can defeat Magus." He coughed again, then laid back down.
"With both Frog and Sir Cyrus gone, Ling is our greatest hope of retrieving the blade," the queen said. "If you three are his allies, I beg you, please accompany him. Without that sword, Guardia is doomed."
"We were actually planning on confronting Magus as well, your majesty," Mei said.
"Sounds like a plan, then," Ling said. "Come on, the sooner we leave the better. The troops are still trying to hold Zenan Bridge against the fiends."
I know it's been a long time, I promise I'm not abandoning this story. Waits may be longer now that I started school back up.