Their misfortune began one day at Risembool river. The three Elric children lived with parents in a Rural, two-story house in the heart of the boondocks, and occasionally their parents gave them permission to take a rickety train---the word "rickety," you would probably know, here means "unsteady" or "Likely to collapse"--- to the river, where the day as a sort of vacation as long as they were home for dinner.
This particular morning, it was gray and cloudy, which didn't bother the Elric youngsters one bit. When it was hot and sunny, Risembool River was crowded with tourists and it was impossible to find a place to lay one's blanket. On gray and cloudy days, the Elrics had the beach to themselves, to do what they liked.
Winry Elric ( I know she's not, but for practical purposes…), the eldest, liked to skip rocks. Like most fourteen-year-olds, she was right-handed, so the rocks skipped farther across the glistening water when Winry used her right hand, than when she used her left.
As she was looking out at the horizon and thinking about an invention she wanted to build. Anyone who knew Winry well could tell she was thinking hard, because her long hair would be tied up into a ribbon to keep it from disturbing her eyes. Winry had a real knack for inventing and building strange devices, so her brain was often filled with images of pulleys, levers, and gears, as such, she would have despised being bothered by something so inane as a lock of her blonde hair. This particular morning, she was pondering as to how to construct a device that rocks that had been previously thrown.
Edward Elric, the middle child, and eldest boy, liked to examine the frogs in the miniature marshes that formed at the banks of the river. Edward was just above the age of twelve, and wore his hair in s braid, which made him look highly educated. He was intelligent. The Elric's parents had a vast library within their humble home, a room filled with seemingly infinite knowledge on every subject. Being the age that he was, Edward obviously had not yet read all of the books in the depths of the Elric library. Nonetheless, he had indeed read a numerous amounts of them, and had allowed himself to relish in the information obtained. He knew how to differentiate between a crocodile chimera and an alligator chimera, he knew who had slain the previous Fuhrer, and he knew many details pertaining to the slippery, water-spitting amphibians located at Risembool river, which he was currently examining.
Alphonse Elric, the youngest, liked to transmute things. He was an infant, and very small for his age, hardly the size of the very computer you may be reading this off of. What he presently lacked in size, however, was accounted for in his swiftness in drawing and activating transmutation circles accurately. Alphonse was of the age at where one is interested in other languages. Other times, however, he switch from his commonly used Japanese, to using proper English, such as "Mama," or "Eddy", and although most passerby would be immediately confused with such talk, His Brother and sister understood accordingly.
As of this moment, however he presently spoke this sentence, "Miru ni sore fushigi na katachi dete kuru kara ano kiri!", which could be translated as "Look at that Mysterious figure emerge from the fog!"
True to his words, on the ledge looming over the river bank, mist enshrouding the intruder in a sense of foreboding gloom as it strode foreword, towards the Elric children. Alphonse had already started ranting and raving in Japanese at the apparition for some time before Edward looked up from the toad he was examining, and spotted it as well. He slowly turned and tapped Winry on the shoulder, awaking her from her mechanical trance.
"Look at that," Edward stated bluntly, pointing dully towards the figure. It was drawing nearer, and the trio could begin to make out its shape slightly. It was the slim, heightened form of an adult, but wearing what appeared to be a triangular shaped hat.