Somewhere in Musutafu, Japan. February 20. 1900 local time.
In an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by old boxes and dusty machines, a hooded figure cloaked in black was finishing their preparations for an experiment. To either side of them, several candles of various colors were lit, each candle inlaid with different symbols and runes. In front of them, on the ground, was a large chalk symbol of a circle, inlaid with multiple triangles, smaller circles, and odd runes. Numerous bizzare objects and ingredients were within the smaller circles, including a large basin of various powders in the center, a quartz crystal to its left, a large salt rock in front of it, a human skull behind it, and a few more random odds and ends surrounding it. The figure was just finishing up the chalk lining, dropping the piece of chalk outside the circle, next to several opened books.
"Almost there," they rasped out desperately.. "Just one more thing to add."
They took a folding knife from one of their pockets and opened it, making a small cut on their fingertip and allowing the blood to drip several times into the basin and on the objects in the other circles.
"Blood added. And now for the energy."
Placing their fingertips together, palms separated, a small ball of electricity appeared in the space between, tiny bolts sparking off here and there. They began to chant softly, words of ritual and power. The electricity split from the ball and coated their palms in white. Immediately after, they slammed their hands down onto the edge of the circle, allowing the energy to flow from their hands, along the chalk lines, and around the items within. The spots of blood began to shine bright red, seeming to emphasize the light radiating from the objects themselves.
Tiny blips of electricity began to arc from the outer circle, some connecting with old machinery and creating smaller sparks, while others hit boxes, charring most and even lighting some on fire; however, none of them struck the caster. Suddenly, a gust of wind picked up, emanating from and flowing around the circle. It was just strong enough to push back the hood covering the figure, revealing a young girl with black, straight hair flowing down to the upper back and mismatched eyes, one a dark brown, the other a vibrant green. Despite the dark rings of exhaustion around her eyes, a desparate hope burned within as her chant came to its finish.
"Please," she begged, "Please work."
The wind carried some of the sparks, swirling around the circle in an almost hypnotic pattern which gave off a dim blue light. The vortex got stronger, knocking over the lighter boxes and even one of the smaller machines close by, before continuing to increase in power, picking up more bolts of electricity within it. Despite this, the items within the circle remained undisturbed. It remained this way for some time, a miniature cyclone of wind and lightning around the circle and items, and a young girl desperate for success.
Then it all abruptly ended. No more wind. No more lightning. Not a single thing changed.
"No," she croaked out. "No, no, NO!"
She slammed her fists down on the ground repeatedly, anger taking hold, elicitingsmall sparks of electricity that flew off with every strike.
"Why?! I did everything it asked of me! I gathered the ingredients! I found a place of power! I made the right symbols and offered my blood! What more do I need?! What more...what…"
After a few seconds, the young girl broke down, sobbing with her head hung low as the last vestiges of hope shattered. Her endeavors, her hard work. All for naught.
Or so it seemed.
A spark of electricity popped from the circle's edge, connecting to the basin's ingredients, setting off a chain of sparks one after the other. More sparks appeared, each one connecting to the center of the ritual. The crackling of sparks soon caught her attention, prompting her to look up in confusion before the shimmer of hope returned to her heterochromic eyes. It grew even further when the circle once more glowed with a vibrant blue light; Perhaps her hard work would pay off?
Slowly the powders within the basin began to shift, a bulge emerging within the granules, eliciting a bright smile acrossed her lips.
"It's working," she said. "It's working! She's gonna -"
A sudden shift of the light from soft blue to blood red made her sentence falter, and she watched as the lightning shifted from bright blue to sparkling red. The blood drops on most of the ritual items grew and covered them all, save for the basin that, to her horror began to pool with blood, mixing with the contents and taking on multiple amorphous forms. She couldn't help but stay rooted where she was, her horror increasing at the sight before her.
"Wh-what's happening?" she asked. "None of this was in the grimoires. What, what have I -"
The blood rose sluggishly into the air, hovering as a giant red ball the size of her whole torso above the circle. At this she reflexively jumped back, crawling backwards a few steps as she watched the bloody orb. An orb that suddenly split down the middle and opened up, revealing a vertical gray eye that stared directly at her.
"What the hell? Wh-what are you?"
The eye did not respond, choosing instead to stare at her with an alien intelligence. The electrical discharges began to slowly rise into the air, no longer evanescent or connecting to the basin, and as though controlled by an unseen force, they began to change, their ends growing tiny finger-like protrusions, resembling stretchy arms. Then,the tendrils all turned towards her.
"No," she whispered, taking another step back. "No, stay back!"
The hands did not heed the command, slithering towards her and spurring another quick move backwards before they quickly lunged at her. In desperation, she charged her hands with electricity once more, ready to defend herself.
"STAY BACK!"
1930, local time
"What do you think?" asked a police officer.
"I'm not sure," said the forensics scientist. "It's obvious that there are signs of electrical discharge, and a lot of it to boot. But it was mostly centered around here, near where the hole in the wall is."
"So, what? We looking for an electricity user?"
"Maybe? Someone decently powerful, at least hero academy student level if I had to guess. But what's weird is what we found under the debris. It's pretty faded now, but there are signs of a chalk circle pattern of some kind on the ground. The kind used in old rituals."
"Rituals? You mean magic? You serious?"
"Very. We even found traces of blood, sulfur, carbon, salt, quartz, and a few other substances scattered near the circle. I'm not very familiar with that kind of stuff, so we'll have to look into it. We're having the blood analyzed for DNA, to see if we can trace who was here. At any rate, there aren't many signs of a struggle, nor of any confrontation."
"Then what do you think happened?"
"It's too early to say for sure. But my guess, based on the evidence? Someone was trying to perform some kind of ritual, and it backfired. Heavily."
"Hey!" called out another forensics scientist. "We found something new here!"
"We better go check it out," said the forensics scientist, leaving the officer. "C'mon."
"I'll catch up, I wanna take one last look here," he muttered, watching the scientist leave. "Whatever happened here, it can't have been good. Something big's going down, and I have a bad feeling about this."
Resembool, Armestris. 1800 local time.
Resembool. A quaint, quiet town known for its sheep herding, green fields, nice people, and fresh air. Down one particular road, a young man in his early twenties with blonde hair in a ponytail was taking a stroll, a large box of freshly picked apples in his arms. He wore brown pants, a green short-sleeved shirt, and some brown shoes that set the simple outfit off just right.
As he turned down another road, he caught sight of someone else coming down the same path. The woman also appeared to be in her twenties, with long hair drawn up in a ponytail, albeit much longer than the man's. She wore a beige jumpsuit unzipped partway, revealing a black and white crop top, and around her waist was a tool belt, filled with various tools such as wrenches and hammers. She also wore brown sandals and had a few piercings on both ears: two hoops per earlobe, two studs on the right helix, and two cuffs on the left. In her hand was a long suitcase, long as her arm and then some.
"Ed!" she called out, running towards him.
"Hey, Winry!" he called back, his golden eyes meeting her blue ones. "I got those apples for your pies."
"Aw, thanks! Now let's see...yeah, this should cover all of them. C'mon, you can help me divide them up at home."
"Right, right," he said, walking again. "So, anything else we need to take care of before the wedding?"
"Hmm, I don't think so. We already sent the invitations, got the cake ready to go, and the dress is ready…"
She then faced Ed with a glare, causing him to flinch.
"Which reminds me: you DID get your suit fitted, right?"
"Of course I did!" he snarked, glaring back. "The tailor said it should be ready by the day before. Do I look like an idiot?"
Winry's glare didn't let up, though the corner of her mouth did twitch a little, thus prompting Ed's eye to tick as well.
"OH, COME ON!"
At this outcry, Winry couldn't help but laugh, running ahead of him. Ed tried to keep up, but he had a difficult time doing so with the large box in his arms, which then prompted him to yell obscenities at his fiance, who only goaded him on with teasing and more laughter.
A few minutes later, they had calmed down and reached home: a large, yellow, two-story house with four chimneys on top and several windows all around. It also had a balcony where a hand-painted sign reading "Automail Rockbell" swung lazily. At the door stood an old, short lady with grey hair in a long bun, wearing large glasses, a dark grey dress with a white apron in front, taking a drag from a long pipe in her hand.
"Winry, Edward!" she hollered out once she saw them.
"Hey, Grandma!" called out Winry.
"What's up?" asked Ed as he put the box down next to the stairs. "Something wrong, Granny?"
"Nothing's wrong," she said, smirking. "Though there's someone inside who wants to see you, at the table."
"Someone inside?" Ed inquired. "Who?"
"See for yourself."
Ed looked at Winry, but she just shrugged in confusion as well before following him in. The two made their way to the dining room and found who Miss Pinako had mentioned. The figure sat reclining in a chair, his blonde hair much, like Edward and Winry, but with short, neatly trimmed locks. He wore a white dress shirt, black pants, worn dress shoes, and had an unbuttoned brown vest. Further inspection would find his worn, grey trench coat placed on the back of the chair. When his eyes meet Ed's, identical gold stare back.
"Al?" asked Ed.
"Hey, Ed," he said with a smile. "Long time no see."
Ed just smiled before walking up to Al, who stood up and gave him a hug. Winry couldn't help but tear up, rushing over and joining in the hug.
"Welcome back, Alphonse," she said before pulling away. "You're home early."
"Well, I couldn't miss the big wedding, could I? Not between Big Brother and one of my oldest friends."
"Thanks for showing up," Ed sighed out, pulling away. "So, two years since we last saw each other. I take it you learned plenty of Alkahestry from Xing?"
"Yeah, more than I expected, actually! And not just Alkahestry, either! There's a lot I didn't even know existed! But what about you, Brother?"
"Oh, I learned plenty," Ed responded, smirking. "I may not be able to perform Alchemy anymore, but I know plenty to make your head spin."
"I'd like to hear some of that, too!" called out a voice from down the hall.
The three looked up to find a younger woman, possibly in her late teens, approaching. She was of Eastern descent, eyes slightly slanted, hair a dark brown, braided and in twin buns. She wore a pink Cheongsam one-piece dress that ended at her knees, and black flats, and atop her head sat a tiny panda that waved at Ed and Winry.
"Mei?" Ed asked. "What brings you here?"
"I heard you and Winry are getting married, so I tagged along!" Mei chirped with a smile.
"She's my plus-one for the wedding," said Al. "Hope you two don't mind?"
"No, not at all!" Winry assured with a smile. "I'm glad we get to see you again, Mei."
"And I see the little guy's doing well, too,"Ed remarked, waving at the tiny panda. "How's Ling doing, by the way?"
"Emperor Ling's been kept busy," Mei sighed, the smile vanishing. "Handling trade with Armestris, keeping the clans in line, the usual Emperor stuff. Plus, I think it might be getting to his head a bit."
"Well, he is running a whole country," Ed acquiesced. "Plus, I bet Greed's influence is still strong on him."
"Yeah. He's definitely ambitious, but at least he kept his word and took in the Chang clan under his protection. We're now in better standings than before, thanks to that!"
"That's great!" Winry exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm glad he kept his word," Ed stated.
"Well, you four look happy," Pinako said as she walked in, taking another drag of the cigarette. "Since you're all here, why don't you two stay for dinner? I'm making beef stew and salad."
Everyone cheered at that, Winry and Mei getting up to help Pinako. A low rumble from beneath them was the only alert as the ground suddenly shook, throwing everyone off balance. Plates and cups crashed to the floor in the kitchen, vases and other decor not long after, and everyone struggled to stay standing.
"Hey, what's going on?" Ed questioned.
"An earthquake?" inquired Mei.
"That's impossible," said Pinako. "We don't get -"
She was cut short by a sudden bright flash outside the window, blinding everyone for a few seconds before fading away.
"Did anyone see what just happened?" asked Winry.
"No, it was too bright," Al remarked.
"Well, at least we're not blinded anymore," Ed observed, blinking his eyes. "I'm gonna go outside, see if anything was damaged."
"Me too," Al commented before following him.
The two brothers hurried outside, looking around for any signs of what could have caused the shaking and light, splitting up to cover more ground. They didn't have to look for long.
"Uh, Brother?!" Al called out nervously.
The nervous tone in Al's voice spurred Ed into rushing to his brother immediately, and upon seeing what Al found, he knew exactly why. In front of them stood a set of dark grey stone doors, easily dwarfing them by at least several meters. The doors had no knobs or handles to open by, but instead were carved with a strange symbol. A circle at the top, with a crown and several wavy lines similar to a sun. At the bottom of the circle was a thick line, extending to another circle at the bottom where ten large feathers stemmed from the end, each feather holding a different word or name. Along the line, eight other circles were connected to the line via in each circle were different names and phrases.
"Is that...a Gate of Truth?" Ed inquired, approaching it slowly. "What's it doing here?"
"I don't know," Al uttered. "I didn't think a Gate could even exist in the real world."
"Neither did I. It must have been alchemically summoned, somehow. Do you see signs of transmutation anywhere?"
"No, just -"
Whatever Alphonse was going to say was cut short, once the Gate opened with a loud rumble, revealing nothing but darkness within at first. Ed and Al jumped back, Ed taking a fighting stance and Al getting his hands close together, both ready for whatever would come out. At first, nothing did, confusing the boys. But then the sounds of footsteps echoed from within the gate, and slowly but surely a figure appeared. A humanoid figure made up of almost nothing but pure white. No clothes, no eyes, no hair. Just a head, torso, arms, and legs. It's left leg, in contrast to the rest of its body, was that of a pale human's, ending just above the knee. And it was upon seeing this figure, that both Ed and Al's eyes widened with shock. Seeing this reaction only brought a wide smile upon the figure, showing big teeth.
"You," said Ed. "Truth?"
"Well, well," said Truth, with a voice that sounded like two that overlapped one another. "This is quite the reunion, isn't it?"
Hello everyone. My name is Guardian. And I haven't posted a fanfiction in a LOOOOONG time. This particular one is something that I had been working on for a while now, privately. And after some time I figured, what the hell? Let's see how everyone takes it. And, here we are. I hope you guys enjoy it!
Edited: a friend of mine offered to proofread and edit this chapter, and i accepted. Once done, I replaced the original chapter with the current one.
