Chapter Text
…Pant…Pant…Pant…Pant
Alarms were blaring as a young man with long jet black hair led along a young woman with striking resemblance to Ryza bearing longer hair by the hand. He was dressed in red armor befitting a knight. She wore brown thigh boots, azure denim hotpants, a white button-shirt, a slightly oversized emerald coat, a dark brown satchel bag over her shoulder, and a crimson scarf. They fled through a black metal corridor and into an altar chamber where an immense glowing purple crystal was enshrined. He led her right up to the crystal and then turned to face the entryway they just came from.
“Rena. Do it.” he ordered.
“Jecht, we don’t know what will happen.” she whimpered.
“There’s no time, do it!”
She then turned to it and presented a broach in the shape of a dragon cast in the same black metal as the building towards the large crystal. Inlaid into the front of the broach was a diamond. The diamond began to glow and resonate, making the crystal begin to glow brighter in response. A glowing iridescent portal then tore open between her and the crystal. Other soldiers in red then came barging into the room.
“Jecht…” she whimpered, seeing how many there were.
“Go, I’ll hold them off, Rena. I’ll be right behind you, just before the portal closes.”
“There are too many of them, and your sword is-”
“We’re out of both options and time, now go!”
“We don’t know where it will lead out!”
“Damn it, you think too much!” he snarled.
In frustration, he pushed her through the portal.
“Don’t let them escape!” a soldier cried.
“You go no further!” Jecht roared, rushing to meet the charging soldiers head on.
He took down soldier after soldier, taking one of their swords to aid in cutting them down. No matter how badly he was being wounded, he still refused to let any of them get near the portal. When the last one fell, he limped over to the portal. He then pulled a similar broach to the one Rena had from his pocket and held it up to the portal, making it close. Smiling weakly, he then smashed it on the floor.
“Sorry Rena. I lied again. The portal has to be manually closed. On the bright side… You’ll still be alive… That’s all that matters to me.”
More soldiers then began to enter the room.
“Out of time… It’s taking over me… At least, it won’t be able to touch her…” Jecht spoke, seeing his left arm beginning to tremble and leak a purple liquid.
“There’s the traitor!”
“Where’s the alchemist?!”
“Where you’ll never set a finger on her. The Philuscia will take us all. Me included…!” he grinned, taking a weakened one-arm combat stance.
>30,000 Years Later…
Ryza, Lent, and Tao were looking around the same crystal chamber in wonder. The crystal had long since gone dormant.
“So this is a ruin of the Alabast Kingdom…?” Lent whistled.
“According to the text, this used to be part of the old capital. All kinds of ceremonies were held here. Weddings, funerals, baptisms, you name it. They worshiped this crystal and some sort of divine power it had.” Tao replied.
“It’s so pretty…” Ryza commented, approaching the crystal.
She touched it and the crystal gave her a static shock, making her leap back in surprise.
“I-It shocked me!” she exclaimed, eyes wide.
“Maybe there’s still some residual energy?” Tao theorized.
The crystal then roared to life, startling the three. The portal Rena had entered then tore open before their eyes. Rena then came flying out, landing on top of Ryza. The portal then closed and the crystals again went dormant. Rena quickly rebounded to her feet.
“Jecht!”
She tried to hold up the broach again only to find that the gem had severely cracked and was falling apart.
“No… No…! Jecht!” she cried.
Ignoring that fact that Ryza was still stunned by the impromptu landing, she sank to her knees and began to cry.
“E-Excuse me…? Miss…?” Tao stated as Lent helped Ryza to her feet.
“Ow…”
“You okay?”
Tao looked to his friends and then gently touched Rena’s shoulder. That made her jump, stand, and back up against the crystal.
“W-W-Who are you people!?” Rena cried.
“Whoa, calm down. We aren’t going to hurt you.” Tao gasped.
“Ryza?!” Lent exclaimed, looking between Rena and Ryza.
“Eh?” Ryza uttered.
“Who?” Rena questioned.
“Hold on… Two Ryza’s…?” Tao questioned.
“I don’t know who this ‘Ryza’ you speak of is, but I’m not her. I am Dehyarena Stout, State Alchemist of the Klint Kingdom. Or at least, I was a State Alchemist… The Philuschia put an end to that.” Rena introduced herself.
“Philuscia?!” Ryza gasped.
“A threat from the Underworld. We tried to warn His Majesty, but our words fell on deaf ears. It was all that stupid Boris’s fault too… Had him wrapped around his crooked fingers.” Rena sighed.
“Back up. You two have the same last name, Ryza.” Lent pointed out.
“Wait, yeah, you said your last name is Stout!” Ryza exclaimed.
“Huh? Weird coincidence. At least that’s what I’d say had I not been plagued by precognitive dreams from an early age.” Rena sighed.
“My name is Reisalin Stout. I’m an alchemist too, and descended from the survivors of the Klint Kingdom.” Ryza introduced herself.
“Huh? Survivors? So… That portal didn’t take me to another world, but another time period? That means…! Jecht…!” Rena gasped, again turning to the crystal.
“Calm down. Who’s Jecht?” Tao asked her.
“Jecht is my… My closest friend. He said he’d be right behind me… That jerk… He was always lying to me, but his lies were always for my benefit. Not a single time did he lie with malicious intent. Always said I think too much…” she replied, sniffling.
“This isn’t the place to talk. We should get somewhere without monsters crawling around.” Lent suggested.
“Dehyarena, right? Come with us. It isn’t safe here. We can work out the details later.” Ryza told her.
“Yeah… Jecht risked everything to keep me safe. I shouldn’t waste those efforts by getting myself killed now.” she nodded.
The trio then safely led Rena out of a great ruin that was once a city of equal measure. Not far from there was the town of Broma. Once safely at the inn, they decided to make proper introductions. The subject of how strikingly the two alchemists look like one another came up again rather fast…
“So to share the same family name… Hmm…” Tao pondered, crossing his arms.
“Rena, do you have any kids?” Lent bluntly asked her.
“Lent!” Ryza exclaimed.
“Y-You can’t just ask that kind of thing!” Tao cried, shocked by his boldness.
“One. My son.”
The room got quiet fast.
“I haven’t exactly told Jecht yet. Well. More I never got the chance to tell him.”
“Sounds less like you were friends and closer to lovers.” Ryza told her.
“We told each other it was the atmosphere of the festival getting to our heads. It didn’t mean anything. We didn’t actually have those kinds of feelings for each other. Jecht got called on to go fight on the front lines against the initial Philuscia invasion force. Meanwhile…” Rena sighed.
“You had his kid.” Lent nodded.
“Lent!” Ryza scowled.
“What?”
“At least try to be tactful?” Tao grimaced, shaking his head.
“I don’t mind. It’s the truth. About seven months after my son was born, I heard from a family friend that Jecht was going to try and activate the master shutdown on the Gate Crystal. Cut off the Philuscia’s invasion of Alabast at the source. So I had my sister take my son with her to evacuate. If I could bring Jecht back with me, we could raise our child together. The plan was to cut off the invasion, open a gate portal to another part of our world, and make a daring escape.” Rena told them.
“So what went wrong?” Ryza asked.
“The king’s advisor, Valthesar, that’s what. He refused to give up the ghost, that we weren’t winning this fight. He ordered to have me killed as an agent of the Klint Kingdom and Jecht executed as a traitor. We shut down the Gate Crystal by force and made a break for it. I opened a gate, but in my panic I didn’t think of a destination. When Jecht pushed me through…”
“You wound up coming out into this time period.” Tao nodded.
“So maybe Ryza is your descendant? The Klint Kingdom evacuated to a man-made island. All the survivors lived there. If your sister evacuated with your baby, then the likelihood they survived is high. They grew up and continued the bloodline, all the way until Ryza was born in today’s age.” Lent conjectured.
“That actually sounds pretty plausible. A rarity for you, Lent.” Tao nodded.
“Heh. Wait a minute…” he smiled, narrowing his eyes moments after.
“That’d also mean… Alchemy’s in my very blood. My natural talent is hereditary.” Ryza smiled.
“I can’t deny that the pieces all align nicely enough. That island was by my old atelier after all. It’s probably a ruin by now depending on how far in the future I am now. It’s right on the shore across from that island. The king had it built there so I could easily deal with any problems.” Rena nodded.
“Eh?” Ryza spoke, eyes widening.
“You don’t think…?” Tao questioned.
“Ryza’s atelier was at one point Rena’s…?” Lent spoke.
“If that’s not fate I dunno what is.” Ryza stated.
“So those ruins were the Alabast capital… Or what remains of it anyway. I’d like to go back there. I need to see if it’s still there.” Rena told them.
“See if what’s still there?” Lent asked her.
“Something that I made. If it’s still operational, then in the wrong hands it could bring disaster. Jecht and I tried to destroy it in the past, but we didn’t have time to make sure it was actually disabled.”
“What is ‘it’?” Ryza asked.
“I can’t say its name, but the short of it is it’s a defense golem. Saying its name before I confirm that it’s destroyed could cause it to activate. Voice activated, you see. Being the one that made them, they’ll respond to my voice no matter how far away they are. I intended it as a failsafe should someone use them against me, but in hindsight it was a double edged sword. It never occurred to me that the king would try and use them as weapons in a war on the Underworld. He had his royal alchemists write new commands to their cores. Without telling me, at that.”
“Do you have a means to defend yourself?” Lent asked her.
“My staff broke in the explosion of our attempt.” she replied, shaking her head.
“In that case I’ll go as your bodyguard.” Lent nodded.
“Eh?”
“You’ll need someone to lead the way. I’m going too.” Tao smiled.
“Eh?!”
“It could be a prime opportunity to find rare alchemy ingredients. So I’ll go too.” Ryza grinned.
“Thank you. The three of you. I truly appreciate it. I wound up here unexpectedly and you three have been so kind already.” Rena smiled softly.
“We’re no stranger to fighting odd things from the past or even the Underworld.” Lent beamed, giving her a thumbs up.
“You’ve been there?!” she gasped.
“On a few occasions. We’ve stopped a few Philuscia invasions.” Tao nodded.
“Did… Did you ever encounter the Philuscia’s leader?” Rena asked.
“Leader? Well. We’ve fought a Philuscia Queen, and a Monarch.” Ryza replied, crossing her arms to think.
“So it could still be… No. One thing at a time. My concern for now are those golems.” Rena sighed, shaking her head.
“We can head up there first thing in the morning. I think we’re all bushed right now.” Lent smiled.
“Yeah…” Tao chuckled.
“I’ll admit it’ll be a little awkward sharing a room with my ancestor, but I also gotta admit that it could be fun.” Ryza giggled.
“Share a…? Oh. So the men and the women sleep separately in this time period?” she questioned.
“Share a room with the guys?! No way!” Ryza cried.
“The guys and girls sleep together in the past?” Lent questioned.
“Well, Ryza is an alchemist right? A state alchemist rooms with their companions to cut down on board costs, since hired help usually can’t afford inns without promising some kind of labor to the owner. I used to room with Jecht and our other friends all the time.” she explained.
“I think there’s a bit of confusion here. I’m an alchemist, yes, but not a state alchemist. I don’t even know what that is really. Besides, inns are way more affordable now.” Ryza told her.
“State alchemists don’t exist in this time? How peculiar… You’d be guilty of performing alchemy without a license in my time.” Rena nodded, crossing her arms.
“License?” Ryza questioned, her eyes wide.
“Yes, an alchemy license. It certifies that you know what you are doing and will adhere to the kingdom’s laws on alchemy. I have one for both the Klint Kingdom and Alabast Kingdom, since a license is only good for whichever kingdom you’re in.”
She then reached into her pocket and presented two pristine cards. One was blue and the picture of her looked very awkward if not a bit sleep deprived. The other was red and in the picture she looked more confident.
“I was super nervous even after finding out that I passed the Klint Kingdom alchemy trial with flying colors. If I’d failed again it’d have been seven consecutive failures. I passed the Alabast Kingdom’s trial on the first try though. Way easier than Klint’s, in my opinion, but then again I had about two years of alchemy under my belt by that point. I already knew all the tricks and workarounds.”
“So that means you know tricks and secrets for both Klint and Alabast Style Alchemy, right…? You gotta teach me all you know!” Ryza beamed, taking her hands.
“Eh?! Um… S-Sure. I’ve never taught someone before but I’ll give it a whirl when we’ve got the chance.” she nodded.
“That can wait, Ryza. Let’s all get some shuteye before anything.” Lent chuckled.
“You can’t blame her for being excited. She doesn’t exactly know a lot of alchemists.” Tao smiled.
Ryza kept Rena chatting well into the night. Mostly sharing anecdotes of how the past and present differ. Innovations of food, clothing, and even medicine. Certain morals from the past no longer applied either. It was all quite a shock for Rena just hearing about it. By the time they finally went to sleep it was the witching hour.
Morning came to the inn and Ryza awoke via being shaken by Tao.
“H-Huh? Tao?” she groaned, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
“Come on, sleepyhead, we’ve been waiting two hours now.” Tao chuckled.
“Oh yeah… The ruin… I wasn’t asleep that long was I…?” she grumbled, stretching.
“Miss Rena has been getting restless. She was up even before Lent, and that’s saying something.” Tao told her.
Once dressed, Ryza joined the others downstairs. They had to wait for her to eat breakfast before they could get underway. Exploring ruins on an empty stomach was a death sentence. The road to the ruin alone was quite perilous, littered with Spark Weasels and Yellow Punis. Standing at its gates, Rena stopped to take in the sight.
“To think, this gate used to be a royal pain in my backside to get through with all their security measures, even after becoming a state alchemist. Now it’s little more than rubble that’s been worn down by time. I even sort of miss Bobo and his ‘totally random’ searches.” Rena sighed.
“Searches?” Lent questioned.
“To make sure I’m not smuggling in contraband items. Things like cursed items or divine artifacts. Those need to either be formally processed through customs or be reported directly to the crown before they’re retrieved. Don’t even get me started on alchemical relics, those need to be reported to the Council of Alchemy. There’s no guarantee you’ll even be allowed to keep it after discovering it either, so some people try to get sneaky.” she nodded.
“Did you ever get caught?” Tao asked her.
“Nope, because I had the foresight not to make my atelier in the Alabast Kingdom inside the capital walls. Can’t embargo me if I live in the countryside.” she grinned mischievously.
They entered the ruin and began to explore. Rena had a good idea of where to go, even with all the rubble blocking many of the original streets. She recognized many of the buildings. The sad look on her face was heart wrenching for the others. One of them made Rena stop in her tracks.
“This was Warm Heart Bakery back in the day. It was run by the sweetest girl you’d ever meet in Alabast. She was a young mother, married off to a soldier to ease her family’s financial burden, but even so had the brightest smile. Her husband looked scary, but he was actually really nice and cared deeply for her. Seeing it like this…? It really drives home that I’m really in the future… I don’t even know if they made it out in the evacuation…” she told them.
“A bakery huh?” Lent whistled, crossing his arms as he looked at the wrecked building.
“What I’d give to taste their Dragon Dumpling one more time…” Rena sighed, reaching out to the dilapidated door.
The moment her hand touched it, the door fell apart letting light inside of the bakery. Something was shining in the darkness now that light was coming in.
“Huh…?”
Rena cautiously approached and moved enough rubble to uncover a badly worn safe. The lock had busted, the only thing keeping the safe closed being the metal neck of it. Removing it and opening the safe, a book was inside. Due to being in the safe, it was preserved incredibly.
“I don’t believe it… It’s their recipes…” Rena gasped.
“It must have gotten left behind in the evacuation.” Ryza stated.
“I don’t know what happened to them after the evacuation… So… I’m going to bring this with me. Maybe try to recreate her recipe for myself later.” Rena sniffled, tucking it into her bag.
“An irreplaceable treasure to find in a ruin.” Tao smiled.
“Come on. Let’s find what we’re looking for.” Rena told them, wiping a tear away.
Their search took them up the stairs of the palace, compared to the blown out lower entrance to the castle’s lower levels. What appeared to have been signs of a great battle were all over the circular arena at the top. Bones from man and monster alike were strewn all over. At the far end was a great golem.
Unlike those Ryza and friends had seen before, this one was entirely mechanical. Its main body was a great black sphere with many dormant purple lines in it that support a white frame with a slender physique. Its head had a shape like a dragon’s skull, only bearing no mouth and had a single golden ocular lens in the center of the forehead. Its arms weren’t even attached to its body. They were white stems matching the body that had smaller spheres like the one supporting the body on the shoulder end and large black metal masses on the hand portions.
The torso had a large burnt slash injury in it. Sticking out from that injury was a broadsword. The blade was black as night, the crossguard and fan-shaped pommel cast from gold, and the handle was wrapped in red cloth. Something seemed to possess Rena as she ran full tilt at the machine. She clambered up the structure using the natural grooves in its body and began trying to pull the weapon out. After a few moments it finally gave in, causing her to fly off of it which prompted Lent to catch her.
“You went totally wild over that sword.” Ryza told her as Lent gently set her down.
“Yeah. It’s amazingly preserved compared to everything here too. It’s like time hasn’t touched it at all. Is there something special about it?” Tao asked.
“This was the sword that I made for Jecht. It possesses an edge so refined it can cleave through metal in a single strike. I used a combination of actual blacksmithing and alchemy to make it. I had to beg a guy that makes my stomach churn just thinking about him to take me on as a blacksmithing apprentice for a little while in order to get it right. I gave it a super long name when I presented it to Jecht for the first time. His first response was to immediately nickname it because it’d be easier to remember.” Rena told them.
The smile that crossed her face was both sad and happy. The way she stroked the flat side of it spoke of the thoughts and emotions contained in the blade’s birth. How much it meant to her that it survived was clear for all to see.
“I see. I guess you two had to book it right after he drove it into that thing’s core.” Lent chuckled.
“To say that Valthazar was not happy we took the Vajra Gigas down would be an understatement.” she sighed.
VOICE COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGED
The ocular lens of the golem then flickered alive.
“Ack! I forgot to make sure it was totally down for the count before saying its name!” she squeaked.
It began to move slowly in a stuttering manner. Its arms slowly began to levitate upward as the sphere lines started to flicker. The arms then suddenly stopped flickering and fell uselessly forwards, landing with mechanical clangs.
“Oh. Looks like its old battle damage is still severe, so it can’t actually attack us.” Rena stated, looking a bit relieved.
HULL INTEGRITY AT 42%
CORE INTEGRITY AT 10%
POWER LEVEL CRITICAL
INITIATING EMERGENCY DISTRESS SIGNAL
“They gave it a distress signal?! Those lousy…! Ugh, come on, we gotta bust it up before it awakens any drones that might still be around!” Rena commanded.
The four of them then charged the golem and began to attack it relentlessly. Just like Rena had claimed, her sword cut straight through its hard armor like it were paper. She made the mighty blows Lent was dealing look weak by comparison. Eventually they managed to sever the golem’s head, making it power down entirely.
“What was that thing…?” Ryza questioned.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Tao stated.
“It’s a model of golem that I designed called a Gigas. This one is a Sergeant Model, the V37 Vajra Gigas to be precise. Taking it out cuts off all formation orders to the lesser Drone Gigi that are assigned to its unit. It impacts their tactics heavily as well.” Rena explained.
“What’s the V37 for?” Lent asked.
“It took me 37 times to perfect it. All the other versions malfunctioned or weren’t efficient enough for the king’s specifications. If this were in working order we’d have been in trouble. It’s quicker than it looks.” she replied quaintly.
“Say, isn’t your main weapon a staff like me? You used that sword rather skillfully.” Ryza stated.
“Skillfully? I was just flailing around compared to what I used to see Jecht do. Alabast swordsmanship was something else… I bet if Jecht saw me try to attack the golem just then he’d be red in the face from embarrassment.” Rena chuckled.
“I could tell you’ve never used a sword before. Your footwork was all over the place, I’m surprised you didn’t trip or lose your grip on your blade.” Lent stated, averting his eyes.
“Well excuse me. I’m not a trained soldier like some people. I’m an alchemist so my priorities are elsewhere.” Rena huffed, puffing her cheeks up.
“Since we’re here, what can you tell us about that big crystal you warped at?” Tao asked her.
“The Shadow Crystal is the heart of Castle Alabast. The kingdom was founded by alchemists worshiping a God of Creation originally, and that crystal is proof of it. It was made by their deity to power the city, though the right formulae can make it perform other tasks.”
“Like ripping open a portal through time?” Lent raised an eyebrow.
“Well, the formula did say ‘warp to a distant land’... So I guess by distant it meant a distant time .” Rena chuckled.
“Did you ever meet that God of Creation?” Ryza asked her.
“More like it saved my bacon. I messed up a formula intended to increase the crystal’s energy output and wound up getting flung to the Divine Realm, as the king called it, where I was almost attacked by a strange creature. That’s when the deity appeared and sent me back all without a single word. I don’t even remember clearly what I saw it looked like. I just recall the alchemical formula I saw it wield. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, even in ruins of the Druelde Kingdom.”
“Druelde Kingdom?” Tao questioned.
“Another time. For now, we can head back and rest.” Rena giggled.
All in agreement, they returned to town. Just as they were about to enter the inn, however, the ground began to rumble violently.
“An earthquake?!” Lent exclaimed, trying to keep his footing.
“T-This has to be the strongest one I’ve ever felt then!” Ryza cried, embracing Tao to help each other balance out.
“This quaking…! It can’t be…?!” Rena cried.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR
A sound like thunder rang out across the land. In the distance, the ruined capital burst apart. From it, a pure white dragon that appeared to be made from metal arose. Its wings had jet boosters that were spewing dark red energy to stabilize it. Finally, the quaking subsided as the dragon let out another ferocious roar.
“A dragon?!” Ryza cried.
“The Eternal Guardian! It must have reactivated when the golem sent out a distress signal…” Rena scowled.
“The what?” Tao questioned.
“It’s a construct made by the God of Creation. It’s been the kingdom’s last line of defense since its founding. I thought that we destroyed it…?” Rena explained as the creature took off into the distance.
“You destroyed a kingdom’s last defense?” Lent asked.
“It’s not like we wanted to, it went berserk. Self defense. The fact it’s reawakened spells big big trouble.” Rena groaned.
“How does a machine go berserk?” Tao asked.
“A Philuscia Corruptor got to it. We tried to stop it from happening, but a bonehead named Darwin just had to go and get in our way. That moron was too fixated on the mingling nationalities of my friend group to focus on the real threat… He especially didn’t like Jecht for whatever reason, always butting heads with him over literally nothing.” she replied.
“ She has no clue why two boys might bicker around her for no reason. Sounds like a certain someone we know… ” Lent spoke under his breath, looking to Tao.
“ It must run in the family… ” Tao nodded, noticing Ryza equally confused.
“That is weird. Why do boys have to be like that? I wish they’d be more rational.” she nodded.
“ Two peas in a pod… ” both sighed, shaking their heads.
“We need to figure out where it went. Luckily, I already know how to make a tracker for it.” Rena grinned.
“You can do that?” Ryza gasped.
“I am a master alchemist after all. All I need is chalk, some iron, a crystal, and a hunk of copper.” she replied, looking smug.
“Why chalk?” Lent questioned.
“You’ll see.” she smirked.
The group then returned over the course of ten days to Ryza’s Atelier. All the way, Rena couldn’t help but notice how different everything looked compared to back in the day. For example, the Fairy Stone Forest was much larger than she remembered. The shape of the atelier itself was also not what she remembered. Which led to Ryza explaining how she used the old one’s ruins as the foundation for her current atelier.
“Even inside looks way different!” Rena gasped, twirling to take it all in.
“Sorry I couldn’t retain the old one’s look.” Ryza chuckled apologetically.
“No, it’s okay. After all, I’m supposed to be long dead. This is the distant future after all.” she shook her head, smiling.
“We got the things you asked for. Ryza happened to have some lying around in the storage room.” Lent spoke, arms full of materials as he entered with Tao.
“Excellent.” she beamed, taking the chalk from him.
She then moved the table in the living area out of the way and gently rolled up the rug beneath.
“What do you need this space for?” Ryza questioned.
“For alchemy, silly.” she giggled, beginning to draw a circle on the floor.
Along the circle she made three smaller circles. Once finished, she drew symbols they didn’t recognize in each small circle. One looked like a dragon head, another like a horse, and the third like a star. Humming to herself, she wrote in a script they definitely didn’t know on the floor directly below the main circle. She put the iron on the dragon head, the copper on the horse, and the crystal on the star.
“What’s she doing…?” Lent questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“Is this… Is this an ancient form of alchemy?!” Ryza gasped, eyes sparkling.
“This is Origin Alchemy, as I call it. It dates back all the way to the discovery of Alchemy, making it especially archaic. That said, you’re guaranteed a successful result no matter what and anyone can do it.” Rena explained.
“What? So even Lent and Tao could do alchemy with that?” Ryza gasped.
“Yep. Only one problem with it though…” Rena nodded.
She then clapped her hands together and then slammed them down onto the writing. The moment her flesh made contact, the circle turned green and began shining with very bright light. Each component began to spark violently with red electricity. Slowly they started to rise off the floor and spin around the circle. The electricity then began to arc between the items as their spinning increased in velocity. Finally, the items rocketed to the center of the circle and collided, causing a blast of light to blind the other three.
When the light subsided, a small electronic device was left lying on the floor. The alchemy circle was completely gone, leaving the floor spotless. Lifting it up, Rena pushed the center button on the interface making the screen come to life with a geographic map. A circular blip on it was showing coordinates.
“Tada! An Eternal Guardian Tracker!” Rena beamed.
“So… What’s the problem with that alchemy…?” Tao asked.
“The circle will always be used up when you perform alchemy, meaning you gotta redraw it each time. To get the item you want you also need a precise idea of what it is you want in your head. That means no distractions or you’ll get an oopsie.” she explained.
“An oopsie?” Lent questioned, tilting his head.
“It could make something you totally didn’t mean to make. This is technically a divine art you’re doing. No failures means that no matter what something is gonna come out of that circle. Last thing you want is a death machine that you can’t control being created and going on a rampage, forcing you to have to stop it before somebody finds out it was you who made it.” she elaborated, crossing her arms.
“...Personal experience?” Tao asked.
She merely looked at him and a shiver fired down his spine.
“S-Sorry.”
“I’ve never made an oopsie in my career.” she beamed.
It was quite clear by her demeanor that this was a blatant lie. Even so, Ryza took her hands.
“You’ve gotta teach me how to do that alchemy!” Ryza blurted.
“Isn’t pot alchemy way easier and more convenient though…?” Tao questioned.
“Origin Alchemy is cool though!” Ryza barked.
“Pot alchemy is common in today’s age, huh? It is more convenient, true, but certain things can’t be done with pot alchemy.” Rena nodded.
“Like?” Ryza asked, eyes sparkling.
“You can’t make Homunculi with pot alchemy. Or make an Origin Stone for that matter. It’s just not possible. I’ve tried. It cost me my first alchemy pot too. Rest in peace, grammy’s alchemy pot…” she explained, shedding a tear as she remembered her grandmother’s pot.
“Homunculi? Origin Stone?” Ryza blinked, smiling out of ignorance.
“You don’t have those in this day and age? Oh right, you wouldn’t since alchemy is a dying art in this time…”
“What are they?” Lent asked.
“A Homunculus is a made to order artificial being designed to carry out orders. The perfect obedient servant. Nobles had them commissioned by the dozen back in the day. You can give them all kinds of different features like a dog tail and ears if you like. Some kingdoms outlawed them because they’re super unethical though.” Rena explained.
“Unethical? How?” Tao questioned.
“It’s essentially playing God. Homunculi are taking the components of a human body and making, well, a new person from it. They thoughtlessly obey any and all orders they are given because they don’t have a soul or really any capacity for thought. They don’t need to eat, don’t need to sleep, and they don’t grow at all either. One psycho built an entire army out of Homunculi, willing to slaughter people without ever compromising or questioning it. When a Homunculus dies, they don’t leave a corpse behind. They turn to ash, because they’re an artificial construct.”
“Yikes…” Lent uttered, swallowing nervously.
“What’s more, if an alchemist is skilled enough they can make it look like somebody who’s alive. It’ll still be a living doll like normal, but who in the heck wants to potentially see a dead person walking around? Imagine going to somebody’s house and seeing your face on an obedient body. Do you know how immediately horrifying that’d be? Granted it’s totally illegal to do that, but that doesn’t stop the really depraved people.” Rena continued.
“How do you feel about Homunculi?” Ryza asked her.
“I’d be a dirty liar if I said I didn’t find them useful… I had one named Clive back in the day. Took him off of a real sicko, who made him in the image of his deceased son. I couldn’t bring myself to destroy him in the end, so I instead had him help around the atelier as a caretaker. Keep it dusted, organize my ingredients, stuff like that. Since the atelier was in ruins when you found it, I can only imagine that he’s already turned to ash. The last thing he heard me say was to keep the atelier ready for my return…”
“Oh…” Ryza spoke, trying to avert her gaze after making it awkward.
“Bottom line, I can’t deny how handy they are. Homunculi take care of menial labor like it’s nothing, and without complaint, but overreliance on them was a big problem back in the day. Farmers with deep pockets essentially had them do all the work while they profit. Prosperous shops had at least a few to run errands and make supply runs. Some of the superstitious people used to say that big disasters came about because of their existence. That God was angry with us.”
“Do you believe that?” Tao asked her.
“Nope! All those big disasters were caused by ancient monsters waking up because of human mining or natural erosion woke them up. So while at least a few were caused by humans, it wasn’t because of the Homunculi. I should know, since me and my buddies personally took care of at least a few of those nasties.” she shook her head.
“Really?”
“Well… There is one that went unaccounted for… We never were able to find it…” Rena grumbled.
Unbeknownst to them, far far to the north in a ruin… A stone archway began to stir, sparking with purple energy. It continued to spit out more until finally a portal tore open. Out from it came a monster… A gorilla-esque Philuscia sporting purple fleshy bits alongside white chitin plating covered in thorny spikes on its arms and backside came through. The beast let out a roar that shook the ruin.
From the dark a figure hidden by a cloak approached.
“You have two options. Obey or die.” a voice that sounded like two men speaking at once rang out.
The beast roared and charged him, only for an unseen force to sever one of its arms causing it to fall and roll a bit.
“I will only say it once more. Obey or die.” the voice repeated.
The beast grunted as if to reply as it fought to get up.
“Good choice. Your first assignment begins immediately.” the voice chuckled.