Categories > Anime/Manga > Full Metal Alchemist > The Form of a Man, the Form of a Stone
Chapter 5
“What the hell happened?” I was still wandering through the dark lake of blood which was turning out to be more of an ocean. I walked and walked and found nothing. There were occasional patches of flame that lit the way and random things like stone and wood but other than that, there was nothing. “Al! Idiot prince!” I called out, hoping for an answer.
“One who calls another an idiot, is an idiot.” A smooth voice said.
“Eh?” I turned my head to the side. “Ling!” I was never so happy to see that bastard than I was when he came striding towards me with a torch and a disgruntled frown.
“You should watch your tongue when you speak about the prince of a whole nation!” Meh, I didn’t really care. He was a mooch anyways.
“Are you okay?”
“For now.”
“Do you know where we are?”
“No, I came from that direction over there.” Ling pointed to his right. “There wasn’t anything but endless darkness.”
“Were we really swallowed by Gluttony?” I demanded to know.
“I am certain we were, but how could his stomach be so huge?”
“Look at this.” Ling gestured to some wood on his right. “That’s the worn down house we were in before, right? And this fire is from the Colonel’s alchemy.”
“So we really are inside his stomach…?” I still posed it as a question, I really hate not knowing stuff. I caught sight of something and I trudged over to it.
“This is…”
“What’s up?”
I picked up the object and showed it to him. “Ling look!”
“Al’s arm?”
“But only his arm! That means he didn’t come here. That’s a relief.” I gave a small smile. “I’m not as worried now, but Al probably is.” There is only one choice. I held up his arm and concentrated hard. “I will conveniently awaken my telepathic abilities! Receive it little bro! Elric telepathy!”
“You’re on your own.” Ling muttered.
We walked together through the sludge. “This isn’t anything like night, I can’t see any stars. This place is so weird, it’s not like we’re outside or anything.”
“Is there an exit in this place to begin with?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll get out! No matter how wide a space, if you walk in a straight line, you’ll eventually find an end! Onward!” Ling stared at me like I was crazy.
SWITCH
“Xiao-mei! Xiao-mei!” The little girl looked everywhere for her cat, but couldn’t find her. “Yoki-san, did she come back?”
“The black and white cat? I dunno.”
“Were did you go Xiao-mei!”
“Maybe she was eaten by a stray cat?” Yoki pondered which prompted the little girl to burst into tears. “Waa! I lied!” Yoki hastily tried to correct his mistake.
“Xiao-mei is a panda who hasn’t been able to grow since her birth because of illness. She was abandoned by her size so I took her in. We’ve grown up like sisters ever since.” She knelt in the alley and stared down at her clasped hands. “My clan is one of the lowest and poorest of the 50 clans within the Xing nation. Maybe that’s why we were drawn together because of our situations. She grew up as part of my family and we went through tough times together. It was because of her that I was able to cross the desert into Amestria.”
“Why did you risk your lives to come into this country?” Yoki asked curiously.
“To obtain the power of immortality!”
“Im…” Yoki wondered if he had heard right.
“If we don’t bring back the power of immortality to sway the king, at this rate my entire clan will disappear! That’s why we crossed the desert…Xiao-mei!” Tears filled her eyes as she thought of her beloved panda again.
“Ahhh! Don’t cry anymore! Please!” Yoki tried to soothe her.
Scar stood up abruptly and slipped his hood over his head. “There’s still a little time before the sun rises.”
“Master?” Yoki questioned.
“Now’s the best time to look for Xiao-mei, or whatever, since there are less soldiers.”
“You are going to lend us a hand?”
“I owe you for fixing my leg.”
Yoki and Mei stared after Scar’s large form already walking down the alley. “His face is scary, but he really is a nice person!”
“No…” Yoki trailed off in contemplation. “That guys clan…the people of Ishbal were killed off in the last civil war. He was probably thinking about what would happen to your weak clan.”
Scar chose that moment to look back at them. “What’s up? Don’t you want to search?”
“Yes Yoki-san’s servant!”
“Stop with the servant.”
“Eh? Then what’s your name?”
“I am a person without a name. Call me whatever you like.”
“Umm…how about Mr. X?”
“…That’s no good either…”
SWITCH
“Wait up Ed.” Ling’s hand fell on my shoulder. “Something is coming!” I could see nothing in the black, but the sound of sloshing water, or rather blood, was coming closer.
“I thought I saw a light over here. So it is you guys.”
“So it is Envy.”
“Please tell us where the exit is!” I begged humbly.
Envy sat on a jutting piece of stone with a thump. “There is no exit.”
“What!?”
“I only wanted squinty-eyes to be swallowed, but I guess we got caught up in it as well.”
“So we were swallowed!” I glanced around once more. “It feels like this place is…”
“You didn’t forget, did you? Because you’ve experienced it before.”
So that is why! “The doors of truth.” I saw them when Al and I tried to do human transformations.
“This is the fake door of truth that ‘father’ created as Gluttony.” Envy explained. An evil smirk spread across his face that promised pain and death.
“Who is your father? Is it fuhrer Bradley?”
“Bradley? Hah! There is no way a brat like that could be our father.”
“So the fuhrer...is also a created human?”
“Yep.”
“Not good...” I was mumbling to myself now. “The fifth laboratory... the life fuel Philosopher's Stone... Homunculus...So if you say the Fuhrer was part of this, was the Ishbal war a part of it as well?”
Envy grinned wickedly and laughed. “Ishbal! There will never be a civil war as great as that one! Do you remember what caused the outbreak of that civil war?”
“If I recall an officer accidentally shot and killed a child.”
“Yep! It was me! I was the one who killed that child!The officer that I disguised myself as was a humble soldier who had opposed military intervention in Ishbal. Afterwards he was court martialed by the military council!I got rid of that annoying guy and started the Civil war!”
“Bastard...” I hissed angrily and clenched my fists. “You took away the Ishbalan's homes...gave birth to a vengeful Scar...and then took away Winry's parents!” I slammed my automail fist into his face, but he didn't even flinch.
“You know, we're all doomed anyway.” He stood up slowly, “You brats want to fight? I'll show you a gift from hell.” His body twisted and extended grotesquely as he transformed.
“Did you see his footsteps back at the forest?” Ling asked me as we backed away from Envy.
“No.”
“They sank down a great deal.”
“So then...”
“His real form is extremely dense, much heavier than he seems. Be careful, his real form is probably...hu...ge...” Our eyes traveled up.
“...”
“...”
Holy shit. He was enormous!!! He resembled a mutated lizard more than a human with his eight legs and long tail that whipped back and forth. Spikes ran along either side of his spine and a large square head full of sharp teeth. The freakiest thing other than his enormous size was what appeared to be mutated people embedded in his side crying out and screaming in agony. The thing licked it's lips lewdly and snarled at both of us. The tail thrashed around and lashed at us, catching me in the chest and throwing me backwards. Shit, we are in some serious trouble now.
LINE
I had a real hard time describing Envy, so if anybody can't picture it you can go to chapter 51 page 36/37. You can view it at one manga dot com.
“What the hell happened?” I was still wandering through the dark lake of blood which was turning out to be more of an ocean. I walked and walked and found nothing. There were occasional patches of flame that lit the way and random things like stone and wood but other than that, there was nothing. “Al! Idiot prince!” I called out, hoping for an answer.
“One who calls another an idiot, is an idiot.” A smooth voice said.
“Eh?” I turned my head to the side. “Ling!” I was never so happy to see that bastard than I was when he came striding towards me with a torch and a disgruntled frown.
“You should watch your tongue when you speak about the prince of a whole nation!” Meh, I didn’t really care. He was a mooch anyways.
“Are you okay?”
“For now.”
“Do you know where we are?”
“No, I came from that direction over there.” Ling pointed to his right. “There wasn’t anything but endless darkness.”
“Were we really swallowed by Gluttony?” I demanded to know.
“I am certain we were, but how could his stomach be so huge?”
“Look at this.” Ling gestured to some wood on his right. “That’s the worn down house we were in before, right? And this fire is from the Colonel’s alchemy.”
“So we really are inside his stomach…?” I still posed it as a question, I really hate not knowing stuff. I caught sight of something and I trudged over to it.
“This is…”
“What’s up?”
I picked up the object and showed it to him. “Ling look!”
“Al’s arm?”
“But only his arm! That means he didn’t come here. That’s a relief.” I gave a small smile. “I’m not as worried now, but Al probably is.” There is only one choice. I held up his arm and concentrated hard. “I will conveniently awaken my telepathic abilities! Receive it little bro! Elric telepathy!”
“You’re on your own.” Ling muttered.
We walked together through the sludge. “This isn’t anything like night, I can’t see any stars. This place is so weird, it’s not like we’re outside or anything.”
“Is there an exit in this place to begin with?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll get out! No matter how wide a space, if you walk in a straight line, you’ll eventually find an end! Onward!” Ling stared at me like I was crazy.
SWITCH
“Xiao-mei! Xiao-mei!” The little girl looked everywhere for her cat, but couldn’t find her. “Yoki-san, did she come back?”
“The black and white cat? I dunno.”
“Were did you go Xiao-mei!”
“Maybe she was eaten by a stray cat?” Yoki pondered which prompted the little girl to burst into tears. “Waa! I lied!” Yoki hastily tried to correct his mistake.
“Xiao-mei is a panda who hasn’t been able to grow since her birth because of illness. She was abandoned by her size so I took her in. We’ve grown up like sisters ever since.” She knelt in the alley and stared down at her clasped hands. “My clan is one of the lowest and poorest of the 50 clans within the Xing nation. Maybe that’s why we were drawn together because of our situations. She grew up as part of my family and we went through tough times together. It was because of her that I was able to cross the desert into Amestria.”
“Why did you risk your lives to come into this country?” Yoki asked curiously.
“To obtain the power of immortality!”
“Im…” Yoki wondered if he had heard right.
“If we don’t bring back the power of immortality to sway the king, at this rate my entire clan will disappear! That’s why we crossed the desert…Xiao-mei!” Tears filled her eyes as she thought of her beloved panda again.
“Ahhh! Don’t cry anymore! Please!” Yoki tried to soothe her.
Scar stood up abruptly and slipped his hood over his head. “There’s still a little time before the sun rises.”
“Master?” Yoki questioned.
“Now’s the best time to look for Xiao-mei, or whatever, since there are less soldiers.”
“You are going to lend us a hand?”
“I owe you for fixing my leg.”
Yoki and Mei stared after Scar’s large form already walking down the alley. “His face is scary, but he really is a nice person!”
“No…” Yoki trailed off in contemplation. “That guys clan…the people of Ishbal were killed off in the last civil war. He was probably thinking about what would happen to your weak clan.”
Scar chose that moment to look back at them. “What’s up? Don’t you want to search?”
“Yes Yoki-san’s servant!”
“Stop with the servant.”
“Eh? Then what’s your name?”
“I am a person without a name. Call me whatever you like.”
“Umm…how about Mr. X?”
“…That’s no good either…”
SWITCH
“Wait up Ed.” Ling’s hand fell on my shoulder. “Something is coming!” I could see nothing in the black, but the sound of sloshing water, or rather blood, was coming closer.
“I thought I saw a light over here. So it is you guys.”
“So it is Envy.”
“Please tell us where the exit is!” I begged humbly.
Envy sat on a jutting piece of stone with a thump. “There is no exit.”
“What!?”
“I only wanted squinty-eyes to be swallowed, but I guess we got caught up in it as well.”
“So we were swallowed!” I glanced around once more. “It feels like this place is…”
“You didn’t forget, did you? Because you’ve experienced it before.”
So that is why! “The doors of truth.” I saw them when Al and I tried to do human transformations.
“This is the fake door of truth that ‘father’ created as Gluttony.” Envy explained. An evil smirk spread across his face that promised pain and death.
“Who is your father? Is it fuhrer Bradley?”
“Bradley? Hah! There is no way a brat like that could be our father.”
“So the fuhrer...is also a created human?”
“Yep.”
“Not good...” I was mumbling to myself now. “The fifth laboratory... the life fuel Philosopher's Stone... Homunculus...So if you say the Fuhrer was part of this, was the Ishbal war a part of it as well?”
Envy grinned wickedly and laughed. “Ishbal! There will never be a civil war as great as that one! Do you remember what caused the outbreak of that civil war?”
“If I recall an officer accidentally shot and killed a child.”
“Yep! It was me! I was the one who killed that child!The officer that I disguised myself as was a humble soldier who had opposed military intervention in Ishbal. Afterwards he was court martialed by the military council!I got rid of that annoying guy and started the Civil war!”
“Bastard...” I hissed angrily and clenched my fists. “You took away the Ishbalan's homes...gave birth to a vengeful Scar...and then took away Winry's parents!” I slammed my automail fist into his face, but he didn't even flinch.
“You know, we're all doomed anyway.” He stood up slowly, “You brats want to fight? I'll show you a gift from hell.” His body twisted and extended grotesquely as he transformed.
“Did you see his footsteps back at the forest?” Ling asked me as we backed away from Envy.
“No.”
“They sank down a great deal.”
“So then...”
“His real form is extremely dense, much heavier than he seems. Be careful, his real form is probably...hu...ge...” Our eyes traveled up.
“...”
“...”
Holy shit. He was enormous!!! He resembled a mutated lizard more than a human with his eight legs and long tail that whipped back and forth. Spikes ran along either side of his spine and a large square head full of sharp teeth. The freakiest thing other than his enormous size was what appeared to be mutated people embedded in his side crying out and screaming in agony. The thing licked it's lips lewdly and snarled at both of us. The tail thrashed around and lashed at us, catching me in the chest and throwing me backwards. Shit, we are in some serious trouble now.
LINE
I had a real hard time describing Envy, so if anybody can't picture it you can go to chapter 51 page 36/37. You can view it at one manga dot com.
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