Alchemy

Alchemy
Chapter 1
When I Woke

         As I stagger my way from the bottom of the fiery crater of metal and heat, I see buildings collapsing and sparks of fire coming and going in all directions. Buildings topple as explosions riddle the walls. All of this was happening, but I couldn’t help but feel a loss of emotion.
An explosion of movement came from behind the effect of gunfire as everyone crept around the corners trying to stay hidden from sight. The people were blurred but I could see they were docile- just trying so hard to move as quickly as possible.

Then someone rushes down the sandy terrain towards me; stopping halfway to avoid the gang of bullets that paint the soft floor, sending soil straight up as they impact; sliding back towards cover he waved at me to follow. The gunfire limited me from making out the words, but the barrage of explosions led me to follow. I tried to adjust my view but all I could see was the glare of the sun, mixed with an awe of explosions. I didn’t know what was happening and the panic of my anxiety made me run faster. Slowly my eyes faintly adjusted and my hearing crept back, I realized that the person I was following was in a military grade uniform; from head to toe, the refractive camouflage matched the soldiers surrounding the interior of a nearly collapsed building. His helmet yet rugged was still particularly well suitable for these conditions.

I followed until this person stopped running, even though I didn’t know who this was they had gotten me out of the battlefield. He turned around and reached into his holster quickly removing the weapon from his hip. His face was hidden behind his scratched helmet’s visor but his voice made it clear that he was panicking.
“Here” he bellowed over the deafening explosives. “Take this gun and help us stop those Warcarriers.”
He turned around caught his breath and ran away firing in a frenzy.
         I looked at the ‘handgun’ he had given me and I followed him towards the greatest testament to war anybody had ever put together. It was so large and rugged, yet still rather new. The gigantic arms carried weapons far larger than what the soldiers possessed- its entire frame stood taller than twelve feet easily passing the height of a tank by a head; its feet made the floor quake with a loud shatter as it rotated its body to face the troops behind it.
This wasn’t just another enemy, it was something else, but it was so human I could only assume it was man-made. This is a Warcarrier.

We quickly ran through the debris and past the line of fire that seemed to be coming from all angles, at first I actually thought we were heading in the wrong direction, until I realized where I was following this person to, a safe point along with the rest of the soldiers.

We frantically ran past the warcarrier, narrowly avoiding the gigantic shield strapped around its arm as it swung around for protection, the giant chain-gun mounted on its shoulder unleashed a hail of bullets as we passed broken vehicles dodging bullet after bullet of crossfire and into the destination- safely. Now that we were out of the view of that thing I felt safe. Thinking about it, we were a few seconds away from feeling the blade of that thing.

As I looked on at the battle; I was tapped on the shoulder, rather so pushed; so I turned around to see that the man I was following wanted to ask me something.

“Do you know what’s happening?” he asked.
"No;" I shrugged.

Then he asked; “Do you know who you are?”

I thought as hard as I could but I couldn’t remember anything past the crater I woke in. Then he continued;
“You’re not who you think you are, you’re alchemized.”
What did that mean I wondered?

All this time the warcarrier was wrecking havoc on the battalion standing in its path; one by one it got closer as it went through the pack with ease slicing at the opposition of even a tank; not even bothering to use its chain-gun, then it finally turned toward us. That’s when I realized, we needed to run!

We started running and burst out the half-standing building and back into the battlefield. From behind the building, the warcarrier raised its blade and aimed it at us in a rocket launcher fashion, and fired what I really wasn’t expecting. A laser, so hot and so fast I could feel the heat from where we were now at, twenty feet away.

It passed us and entered one of the Lotus Tanks and blew it to pieces, exploding it in an instant and transforming it into a part of the rubble, melting the metal from the extreme heat. The explosion was so strong that it knocked me off my feet and onto the floor.

I quickly hurried to stand up and looked to see that the soldier I was following was now waving at me from behind a beaten up Lotus Tank. He pointed in desperation at something behind me.
“The warcarrier!” he yelled.

I turned around to see it was already too late. I looked on as it took aim; I was now looking down its barrel; it aimed its weapon at me and I felt the heat become more and more unbearable then I closed my eyes and I looked away.
Suddenly, a blast from out of nowhere hit the warcarrier dead center. The disruptive impact knocked me away; I was surprised to see the same half-standing Lotus Tank had just saved my life.

The Warcarrier lowered its weapon down struggling to stay standing. I watched as it came lower and lower to the ground until it finally came to a halt. The exposed sheets of metal peeled away erasing the gray colored outer level where the deadly shot initially penetrated, leaving behind bubbling metal and fragments.
I started to feel different, almost like I had just won a battle. But I didn’t even know what was happening. I needed answers.
Then the man I was with came toward me, He spoke startled with movement to match.

“We did it!” he said. ”We got the warcarrier, good job alchemist.”
He raised his hand at me and we shook in salutation.

“I know we didn’t have much of an introduction but; I’m Lincoln Tassa, you can just call me Tassa, everybody does. What’s your name buddy?”

I quickly replied.
“I have no idea, I don’t know what’s going on, and I can’t remember anything!” as I rambled on Tassa interrupted me and continued.

“Alchemized bodies are top notch but just so unpredictable. Who would’ve thought that they’d bring around so much trouble?”
There was that word again; “alchemized.” What did he mean by that I wondered? So I asked.

“I just don’t understand; I don’t understand why I’m here in the first place. Is there a reason I’m out here?”
He stopped me again and said; “just look at your hands that should explain enough.”

As he strolled toward a seat I did as he said. I raised my hands up and took off my torn gloves. Then I saw what he was talking about. My hands, they seemed made out of metal, handcrafted to mere perfection. I had no idea, I couldn’t remember anything, but I knew I was supposed to be human. I ran towards the broken mirror off one of the hummers. I just had to know. Behind my helmet, I could see that even my face was plated with metal. But I looked human, I felt human. I looked back to Tassa with my heart beating faster than when I woke up.

“Not to be pushing you along but; we need to get going, maybe we could find out who you are with a scanner.”
He made everything sound so foreign without even trying.

“What’s a scanner?” I asked.

“It’s this thing we use to identify a human who’s been alchemized. That way we could find out who you really are, if you’re a refugee, a soldier, a coronel, a sergeant, we’ll know. But best of all, you’ll know.”

With that he got to his feet from where he was at, picked up his rifle and I followed.
As we walked away, the soldiers we were with started in the opposite direction, they looked on as we limped across the scarred battlefield. I didn’t ask any questions, I just kept following. Then a man looks over at Tassa and gestures.

“I need to find a scanner for him, you know they won’t accept any alchemists unless you can prove who they are; so were going east.”
Replied Tassa, as he pointed out to his left.

Without any further questioning the men wish us luck and we continue.
It was almost like Tassa had a higher authority over all the others, he spoke strongly; it’s hard to argue with a voice like his.

While on our way I tried to remember who I was, but all that came to mind was the warzone I woke to. There were so many questions I wanted answered and so many more I needed to ask. I wondered what kind of person I was, what if I was a soldier, would this be the job that I came to do? Was I here to fight the warcarriers and win a battle I signed up for?
What if I’m a fugitive, what is Tassa going to do then. Will he leave me behind or will he kill me on the spot?
Anybody would feel the same way, but I guess I was about to find out.

Chapter 2
An Alchemy Warrior

As I looked back, I could barely make out the city we were at a few hours ago.  The silence out here was so unnerving; I actually preferred the sound of the troops. At least I knew I was safe with them around. Now; we were standing at the bottom of an enormous hill, the signs around here were not written in a language I understood. My best guess was that it was written in Russian. But I have no idea, not one clue.

We both stared up at the sight and sighed; then Tassa pointed up towards the top and said;
“There, over the hill, that’s where we need to go. The scanner is just up ahead, I’m not sure where but the city was under our control, so there has to be a Scanner somewhere up there. Let’s just hope the trip over here was worth it.”
Confused by what he said, I felt I had to ask why. So I did.
Tassa replied, almost expecting me to ask.

“I mean that hopefully the scanner hasn’t been destroyed. The cities in this area have been brutally impacted by the warcarriers. There isn’t much knowledge on how far into this area they’ve conquered, but their aim was to take the strongest cities and this was one of them.”

Great, I thought; my one chance to find out who I am and it was just beyond my reach.
Then Tassa grasped his rifle, held it to his chest and continued. The steep slope challenged us all the way to the top, making us have to find ways around the dangerous paths. But slowly we reached the top.

         We arrived in a gasp; I could feel the heat getting only stronger as the sun rose higher into the sky. I ignored the burning in my side and looked up to see the city. There it was; it seemed like it was abandoned. Not much different from the last place we were at, the city was riddled with debris but it was modern, thriving city. Well, at least it seems like it was at one time.

The sun was so strong and it limited my vision, but I could still see something at the bottom of the hill. Somebody was down there; they seemed to be looking for something. But I couldn’t make out anything past their figures and just as I was about to call out to them, I was pulled down. I looked to see that Tassa was in a crouched position and he looked startled.
Then he spoke in a very hushed tone.

“Stay down, it looks like the Warcarriers have taken over this city. This is bad, we need to go. I can’t believe they took down Chekniev.”

I looked back to see that he was right; the men I had just seen were in fact Warcarriers, not soldiers and not even people.  It was like they came out of nowhere and now the city was full of warcarriers. We were in their territory and now we knew.
I felt horrible, I wanted to know who I was but at the risk of losing our lives. It just didn’t seem worth it. We started to turn around and head back the way we came, but as we did something on the floor shined in my eye and before I could say anything, Tassa stepped on it.
That’s when I realized what it was…
An alarm!

We looked at each other hoping it wasn’t working. But before we could react, the sirens started and the warcarriers turned towards us almost instantly.

As we started running, the sirens just kept getting louder and louder. Even with the sirens you could hear the warcarriers firing their weapons. I couldn’t think of anything except run, I ran as hard as I could; Tassa threw his rifle down to keep up with me.
We were so close to escaping the city.

Then from overhead came the sound of what I thought was a plane but to my amazement, a Warcarrier landed in our path.
Almost instantly, Tassa pulled me to follow and we were now running in the opposite direction as we left the Warcarrier reaching for air.

We were running down the hill toward the city, with Warcarriers firing from behind and a few others firing from the bottom of the hill. Explosions embraced the ground all around us. The sirens were so loud now that it was all I could hear. The Warcarrier behind us was now running chasing us down the hill; the feeling of being caught only made me run even faster.
The sensation of being caught made me desperate for a way out. I wanted to drop down, but the fact is if either one of us was to stop, if we hesitated on either step just for a moment if we were to slow down, we would probably never stand up again. The run down seemed so long, I felt like with every step I was tiring out. I’m sure Tassa felt the same way if not worse.

         Halfway down the hill, I felt like my energy was running out, it seemed harder to take a step now. It was almost like it took twice the energy to run half as far; but I didn’t want to die, neither of us did.

Finally the Warcarrier behind us takes a leap towards us, but it misses our heads and slams against a buildings’ wall leaving a crater on the side shaking it to its foundation.

As it tries to stand up I reach the wall of the same building and I desperately try to break the side door in, I shove as hard as I could but I was having no success- then Tassa comes running from behind and with a kick knocks the door open and we both stumble in. we kept on running deeper into the building, until we were out of the sight of the warcarriers. We were safe for a few minutes, but those things were waiting outside.

         As the sirens stopped screeching, I saw that Tassa was frantically looking around. He was running in and out of rooms looking for something, and then he came out of a room carrying a large yellow box. He dropped it down in front of me and pulled out what I couldn’t make out. A weapon, but I didn’t know what it was. It was larger than a rifle but just about as heavy as a rocket launcher. He toyed with it for a second then handed it to me. Then he pulled out an identical one and did the same thing. Then he turned back toward me and finally spoke.

“These cutters are our ticket out of here; the thing is that they’re not fully charged so we need to keep running. Otherwise they’ll be useless when we’re dead. Just stay with me and we’ll be fine.”
He paused for a second to catch his breath; then continued. “We need to wait for them to get close enough. We need to know that we’re going in the right direction, away from them.”

We waited from behind a wall, I could feel them getting closer breaking through the walls of the building, tearing down the cubicles of the other rooms, destroying everything with ease. It reminded me of the power they had, their weapons were a danger. They needed to be stopped. That’s when I felt them close enough.

I stood up to run and Tassa followed. Instantly, the door behind us exploded and out came a warcarrier running straight towards us. He took aim to fire but we made a turn up the stairs and out of its sight. We ran up the stairs to the next floor leaving behind the explosion of a weapon that was intended for us and sprinted as hard as we could.
Seconds later the warcarrier burst in from the first floor and fired, we turned towards the next corridor and the wall behind us burst open from the shot.

We were running back down the staircase; we needed to get back outside. I looked back to see that there were now two warcarriers following us. I glanced down to Tassa’s Cutter, it read 91 percent. We just needed a few more seconds.
We headed out the building again, only to find that there was already a warcarrier waiting for us, we were so close. I glanced again to Tassa’s Cutter, 96 percent.

The warcarriers stopped us, and now we were just another victim of the penalty of war. I didn’t even know who I was, I was about to die an alchemized warrior. A warrior, I didn’t know who I was but I wanted these things stopped. Maybe someone else could do what two people couldn’t. Then I remembered something, my Cutter’s been charging longer!
Without hesitation I picked up my weapon and fired.

The warcarrier was thrown back from the shot and we stood back up. Tassa immediately takes aim at the one following from inside the building and fires at it. I aim and fire again and hit another warcarrier.

Tassa yells at me to get down!

I crouch out of the way and Tassa fires at a second target, the blast goes though the warcarrier and slams the warcarrier against the building destroying everything surrounding the impact. The power of these Cutters was so incredible; Tassa was right; these cutters had just saved our lives. I could hear something like a raging stampede, the building had taken too much damage and it was buckling, it shook and rattled like thunder until the foundation finally gave in and the building fell; the damage was done and we were victorious.

The Warcarriers were backing down; we had just taken back the city of Chekniev. A soldier and an amnesia conflicted alchemist, maybe it was luck but we did the impossible.

         I watched until the last one of the warcarriers left the city. One thing was certain, this was a war, and this wasn’t the end. I was going to see more warcarriers. One of these days I’ll die but not today. Today we won a battle we tried to avoid. This war was making me a soldier, I don’t remember a war. Let alone warcarriers but I felt proud of what we had just done.

         I looked at the Cutter and saw myself holding it. Imagined myself as a whole, was I a soldier? What was this newfound hate for the warcarriers? Was it a subconscious thought?
Somewhere in this city was the key to my questions. But I wondered something else. If this was a war and we were defending our land, then why did I not understand the signs I saw, I guess I was wondering, who invaded who?

Then I grabbed my Cutter and put it on the ground… and I went back to Tassa.

Tassa was sitting next to a radio, he was listening really closely too. He didn’t even hear me when I asked about the scanner. It wasn’t until I listened to the voice that I realized who it was. It was the man that spoke to us before we left.
“Tassa I recommend not coming back over here, the warcarriers have been spotted coming in our direction. In a few minutes we are going to fight against an excess of fifty warcarriers. We are not going to live very long, but you stick to your course, find anybody you can and don’t come back over here. There isn’t much support left there’s not much more I can offer to you but I can tell you to not come back. Repeat, do not come back.”

We listened as this man no longer spoke directly, you could hear as one voice of fear turned to many.  You could hear as the men fired off round after round, as they died one after the other.
Finally the radio went static; at that point we knew that everyone was gone.

Chapter 3
The Next Direction

         I wondered where the scanner was; but now wasn’t the time for that. The fact was that we were two stranded soldiers, or should I say a soldier and an alchemized civilian. What we needed now was a plan, unless Tassa hadn’t thought of one already.
“So what now, do you know if there’s another base nearby?” I asked.
Tassa was hearing me but he was lost in thought, it wasn’t until I spoke up that he finally replied.
“I need a minute to think. For now let’s try to find a map of the area.” He said as he pressed his thumb and index finger into the top of his nose.
I didn’t argue, I just did as he said, I felt rather strange just leaving him to wonder on his own. But he’s the soldier and I’m not. Adding onto our situation we now have to dig our way out of the darkness.
         Looking around the city, I found thousands of different papers and plans many were unimportant. Not one looked like a map; just a bunch of irrelevance.

The fact that we were here made me look around for what I thought was a scanner. At this point I didn’t care about much of anything except for the fact that I was just as close to finding the scanner as Tassa was to finding a map.

I didn’t know what to expect, just knowing that there were warcarriers out there made me uncomfortable. They’ll be back soon so we needed to get out of here quick, I don’t want to be around for the retaliation.

Going down the road I noticed a very large truck was crushed by the building Tassa had shot earlier. There was something at the other end of the building too; it wasn’t familiar to me in any way. It was still spouting sparks from the exposed wires and it seemed to try to reboot but couldn’t; the screen was shattered and the hardware was pummeled to pieces. It was sleek in design but this machine was larger than others.

Out to my side Tassa comes forward and points at the object I was looking at and exclaimed disappointedly.
“Will you look at that, who would’ve thought that the scanner would be destroyed? That’s just my luck, to have the building we shot down break the scanner we were looking for! It’s good to know that the reason we came out here was for nothing.”
Tassa went to look at the scanner, He tried pushing at the buttons and messed with the wiring but it was useless to try and fix it.
He jumped up and away from the scanner when he found out the machine still had electricity coursing through it. I didn’t blame him for trying; I know he didn’t want our trip over here to be a total waste.

After looking at the wasted technology, I noticed that my arm was exposed through my torn sleeve and I could see more metal plating, it was still hard to get used to the fact that there was metal running into and out of my body. I could see my skin as it intertwined with the metal, like the double helix of our DNA.  That was strange to say but it seems that somebody found a way to make this possible.

Tassa kicked the scanner without effort, and turned back towards me. I knew he was tired, more so than I was; but I hadn’t noticed that he had a folded piece of paper in his hand.

“Did you find a map?” I asked.

“Yeah I did but it’s not digital or military grade. The maps I’ve seen have been either destroyed or they’ve been flashed. A flashed map can only be fixed with a scanner. So that’s just another negative of the building falling.”

“So what does that map say?” I replied. It helped to keep Tassa from going back into disappointment.
Tassa quickly unfolded the map and placed it on the ground trying to remove the wrinkles. You could see the arrows on the map were really worn but they were distinguishable. There were tons of indicators written on the map. I couldn’t make out the writing mostly because it was unimportant and written quite poorly. You could see hundreds of roads and cities but I didn’t know what I was looking for so I just waited for confirmation from Tassa.

After examining it, Tassa pointed at the map and said.

“This is where we are, the last I heard was that there was a recon site being put in place for anyone who was to get lost. They placed it at least a few hundred miles east of here in a city called Kolad. So I would say our best bet would be there.”
I looked back to the desert and said.

“We’re not going to walk there are we; if anything we need to get there fast.”

“Well we gotta start looking then; try to find something large enough to load with equipment. If anything we might run into more troops, anybody that we can bring along with us can help.”

I hadn’t noticed before but most of the vehicles seemed very unpromising, some were destroyed by the warcarriers, others were just downright not working; but something else caught my eye, I hadn’t noticed that there were cylinders laying all over the floor.

As I picked one up, I could see that it was large enough to slip into my hand like a bracelet. It seemed high tech and it was very heavy for its size. I would be lying if I was to say I knew what it was.

I wondered what they were, I thought maybe Tassa might know so I turned to ask but he wasn’t around. He had probably gone off to look for a car somewhere else; I put one away in my pocket and returned to my task at hand.

As I continued to look around I couldn’t find a car that worked so far, I thought maybe it was because the people that lived here most likely evacuated the city and they took all the cars with them. Still I looked to see if anything seemed operable.

In between all the broken roads, damaged buildings and dead streets I thought I had seen enough. Going though buildings I ran into so many different technologies it was strange how so many of these things I didn’t recognize, but as I passed a dark room I saw a glowing light coming off of the wall, the unique iridescent glow instantly caught my attention. Getting closer I saw that it wasn’t the wall that glowed but what I was seeing was a reflection of something; I was glowing. The crevices that divided my face from the metal plates emanated strangely. I started thinking to myself and I couldn’t help but wonder.

Why did they do this to me I thought, didn’t anybody ever try to talk me out of hurting myself this way, if there was a choice, what if there wasn’t?

Thinking as I looked on I noticed that the city was no longer quiet; I could hear a whirring sound coming from the part of the city ahead of this building, it sounded like somebody was trying to start a vehicle. Then the noise stopped and I heard Tassa’s voice.
Looking out in the direction of the noise I saw Tassa reaching into the hood of a car and pulling out the battery. I didn’t approach him, but only because he was ranting on to the wind cursing and as far as I knew he sounded upset; but he went on tampering with the car at the same time.

Tassa was a bit strange in my opinion although he was large he wasn’t very stable when it came to near death experiences, he didn’t have that killer instinct that I felt in myself. Just hearing him rant on didn’t change my opinion about him. Then he went silent again. He was trying to start an old truck; again over and over like a persistent gnat, until finally it worked. Almost simultaneously you could hear Tassa exclaim with excitement. That’s when I decided to approach him.

He looked around to call me but I was already there, as I ran towards him I tripped over a piece of metal on the ground and I fell to the floor sending the cylinder flying out of my pocket. Tassa noticed the cylinder; it was almost as if everything that had just happened was ruined by the sight of the cylinder. His relieved expression was gone and he seemed serious. I picked myself up and grabbed the cylinder; I looked up to him but he didn’t say anything. He just motioned with his hands and I got into the car. The car wasn’t in good condition but it was working and that’s all we needed.

As we went on our way I looked on at the city that was now more silent than ever before, the streets seemed more dead as the sun went down. I looked back to the inside of the room with the mirror, I wasn’t sure of so many things.

Nonetheless, we were on our way to our destination. As we headed into the horizon I looked past the sun and on. At the spot where the horizon met the earth, it reminded me of when I first woke up to this war. We were going somewhere else; there has to be somebody out there that can help. Maybe a group of soldiers; by what the solider said on the radio, it sounds as if though our forces are running low. Were these things really that strong- to kill off an entire army!

Chapter 4
The fortress

         We drove along to the sound of the road, listening to the many different sounds the terrain and the car made without saying much of anything to each other. At this point the sun had gone down and we were driving on a long band of road. I decided to ask Tassa about the cylinder, just to pass the time.

“Tassa, what is this thing, I saw some back there but I can’t figure out what they are.”
He just looked at it and sighed before continuing.

“I guess you wouldn’t recognize it with your memory being gone and all. But it really is a good thing while it lasted; these are what you would call a battery. They are what power the warcarriers; they use them for more than one main purpose, one other purpose is to fire their weapons. they're cartridges, but last I heard there was a problem with the unloading of the cartridges; they can’t unload the entire thing. The one you’re holding is probably not entirely empty. You can say that the devils aren’t entirely perfected; makes you wonder how much more of their program isn’t working properly.”

“So all of those cylinders…” I replied.

“Now I know why they were thrown on the ground around Chekniev.”

Thinking about it it’s true, there were so many batteries thrown on the ground. I could only imagine how much power a warcarrier can take out of a battery; All that destruction. My grasp on the device slowly turns lighter and I treat it more delicately, knowing how much danger these things are I put it back in my pocket.

Then, just within the sight of the light came a shine of sharp light that came closer to the car; Tassa panicked and swerved to a side. Startled I looked back to see a car lying in our path, at first I thought maybe somebody else had found their way to the city like we did. But the car was stationary; and there were hundreds more lying ahead.

Ahead of all the debris, dividing the road was a blockade where the mountains parted. We continued towards the enormous wall that stretched from one end of the mountain to the other and I started noticing that it wasn’t just a wall but a sort of barricade.

This was the city of Kolad; when Tassa said it was a military recon point he left out the fact that it was such a piece of work.
We drove the car between the broken vehicles until it could go no further then headed off on foot; Tassa made sure to switch the car off and disconnected the battery as quickly as possible.

Walking towards the city, there were more and more metal cylinders from the Warcarriers. A bad sign for our side; but we kept on going. The door seemed forced open, maybe the Warcarriers had made it in, but we couldn’t be sure.
We peeked into the city walls; it was dark, too dark to go in unarmed. I turned to see that Tassa already had a weapon in hand. I looked around and picked one up as well, an assault rifle, equipped with a dual sight- then I came back to the wall, Tassa motioned me to follow him in.

Tassa stopped and forced me to stop then whispered to me.
“We have to be really careful, the lights are motion activated. If the lights go off we’re in trouble, if we could stay hidden we should be fine. We don’t want to alert any Warcarriers that might be here.”
Tassa darted into the lifeless dark city and I followed in tow.

We remained hidden from the lights, looking out for any signs of Warcarriers or anybody else for that matter. But all I could see was the small beams coming from the light posts’ sensors.

Not all of the lights were functioning but there were still so many it only made things harder for us.

I wasn’t even sure why we were risking our lives looking inside this abandoned city. Maybe Tassa was trying to find something and he didn’t want to tell me. I followed in content, but I just wanted to leave.

Then coming from an alleyway we heard a noise; a whisper, something had seen us. Tassa started towards the noise, but I grabbed him, and made him stop. From the dark of the shadows rose a Warcarrier and darted towards the whisper but its' movement activated the lights and the streets lit up revealing the rest of the battered city.

Tassa followed behind the Warcarrier; I stayed where I was, we were still hidden in this spot but Tassa didn’t seem to care anymore. Then I heard a yell coming from the alleyway. Survivors!

I lifted my rifle and ran down the street as quickly as possible. I could hear gunfire coming up ahead, but there was more than just one person firing.

I finally got to the corridor where Tassa had gone to; I aimed my weapon and pointed it inside.
The view inside was destruction, the Warcarrier was being destroyed by round after round of artillery. So much that it tumbled down and out of the room trying to recover. This is something I had never seen before; whoever it was, they destroyed a Warcarrier in a way that not even a platoon of soldiers could imitate.

Then it looked over at me and I started to panic I readied my weapon in its direction, it aimed its weapon and held it there trying to fire what seemed to be its last shot ever.

But it never fired; it stopped moving. I could see what happened to it as it tried to survive, the different levels of function that forcefully stopped working before it went still. The engines that tried to keep going but with every attempt failed and gave in, before it finally died.

From inside came out a man I hadn’t seen before, slender and gritty wearing red camouflage from head to toe with boots scraping like steel as they crossed the floor.

He walked out and threw a shine of light on the warcarrier. Then he looked at its weapon turned toward me following in the direction of the barrel. Through his helmet he observed me as I paced back from his glare and slowly lowered my weapon.
“You’re lucky.” He said as he walked towards me.
“Comrade, these times are changing; and so have you from us, but maybe technology isn’t good for everyone. The bad always prevail but what are you. Your mystery is not for you to answer I’ll find out, I always do…”

From inside the door Tassa ran out with three other men following, he turned towards me and reached out coughing before his words; then from behind he was struck in the head by one of the men and he fell unconscious.
Now I knew something was wrong, I aimed my rifle in the men’s direction and squeezed the trigger, but my rifle immediately shot toward the sky.

The man in red pulled the gun up and out of the other’s direction.
Almost instantly he pulled it away from me and turned it against me; but he didn’t fire.

Before I could react, his boot scraped across the floor lightning fast and struck me across the head fiercely, I immediately fell to the floor.
But it didn’t knock me out; with one eye forcefully swollen shut, I listened as the men spoke.

“Another Alchemist, huh?” said one of the men to the one in red.

“Yeah;” he replied.
“But who does it work for; it’s not Russian built, their way bigger.”

“So what do we do with them, do you want to hold them both?” replied the second one as he carried Tassa over his shoulder.

“I don’t want to.” He said as he pulled a pad from his back pocket.
“But if this alchemist was a spy or Russian what would it be doing with a US troop.”
He paused for a moment, reached into his pocket and pulled out a device then focused his glare back at me. I could feel his cold stare, a face I wouldn’t soon forget. I could see his anger as my eye started closing.

“We will hold them.” He said.

He then pressed a button on the pad and the warcarrier burst into flames; that was the last thing I saw before my eyes closed shut.

I’d remember that man anywhere now, the look on his face was one of intention; a man on a mission to fight forever. He was different from the soldier I knew, stronger. But he said I was different from him… was he talking about me being alchemized?
He also said he’d find out who I was; did he know my memory was gone?

Maybe I was in danger but I wasn’t sure…

Chapter 5
The Pain

         Like a strike of lightning my eyes adjusted to a cluttered room of debris, I was tied down to a chair with the scorching sun poking through the cracks of the decaying building. My heart was racing so fast I could feel it pounding against my gear; as I looked around the dusty room everything was barred, down to the heavy pad locked door. It was quiet and there was nobody in sight all I could hear was the wind whistling through the cracks of the building, then out of nowhere I started hearing somebody approaching from a distance. I could hear the voices creeping closer as they came in my direction, then suddenly the door jarred open.

The man was back, he was no longer wearing the red camouflage. But I know it was him; he was clean but he was still gritty no matter what he wore.

He grabbed a chair from the side of the room and placed in front of me.
“Of all the men I’ve ever encountered in my life.” He said as he took a seat on the chair.

“You are the first one that’s ever been alchemized; it’s strange how they are able to give life in such a way.”
He stopped for a moment and tilted his head to see my face under my helmet. I avoided his view as best I could but it was no use being tied up like I was.

“Who are you Alchemist?” he said as he made a reach for his rifle.

“I don’t know.” I replied.

He stands back up and wipes away the sweat from his forehead, lets out a sigh and instead of reaching for the rifle on his lap he reaches towards his back and pulls out a device from his pocket holding it firmly in hand.

“Get in here!” he yells out the door.
“If you don’t know who you are then I will find out for you…”

I look back down at the device he held and I take a guess at what he was hinting toward.
“Is that a Scanner?” I ask.

“Yes it is alchemist- but you’ll find out that this one is more… demanding.” He says with a grin.

I start getting that feeling again, the same one I had last night, where something bad was about to happen.

The men he was calling come into the room, four men wearing red camouflage like he was wearing before. With a few motions from his hands the men nod their heads and circle behind me to where I couldn’t see. I could feel them messing with the ropes I was tied to; they were taking them off.

They grabbed me and forced me to my seat by all limbs. I didn’t fight back; it was useless to fight men that were bigger than me.

“Who are you?” I asked the roomful of men.

They all chuckled and kept on bracing my body.

“Maybe we should wait for introductions… alchemist.” Says the man with the scanner in hand.

As he approaches me, he tampers with the device and pulls my head downward.

“This procedure;” he says. “It all takes place starting with the core of your body and from there it will aim its attention narrowly at the part of your brain that holds memory. That’s where we will find the computer database locked in your subconscious… you might die.”

         I start to struggle; the words he said were enough for anybody to fear, everything he said went void in my mind. I start to thrash wildly as the men struggle more and more to keep me seated. I punch at one of the men as he loses control for a split second but that only angers him and he punches me in the chest before retaining control. Then the man forces the machine into the back of my neck where my brain stem is located; that’s when the excruciating pain starts.

I start yelling louder and louder as the machine starts drilling; further and further down my spine I feel the pain as it grows throughout my body. My fingers start to cringe and shake; the machine wasn’t done with my body, it kept digging and digging until finally it stops again. The machine starts up again and shoots its way back up my spine making its way up to my brain.

The pain was everywhere now, I could feel every pain receptor shoot out with response to the burn making its way up the back of my ears and kept creeping further. The tears on my face started running more strongly as my teeth started screeching against each other. The pain was so much that my body started to shut down. It reminded me of the way the warcarrier tried to keep living. Were these the pains it went through or were they worse? These Warcarriers seemed robotic but what if they were as living as I was. Was I about to die!

Then finally I feel the metal needles pull out from behind my neck.

         The man finally removes the device and examines the contents for a few seconds before showing it to the other men.

The men suddenly gasp altogether and the ones holding my legs let me go. They look at my face and look on trying to match what they were looking at with what I was. Then my eyes start closing.

Suddenly the pain returns in a sore and fatiguing way.

“Merowe; how is this possible.” Asks the man to the one holding the scanner;
“I don’t know.” He replies.

“But I guess were not the only ones out here on a classified mission.”

Merowe that was their leader’s name, a man who could bring fear with his eyes alone; now I knew who he was but I still didn’t know why he was here.

He continues flicking at the screen and reads though the screen with eyes peered; going as quickly as possible trying to take in as much information as possible, then he finally stops touching the screen and turns his hand into a fist.

“KIA; in 2013’s Vietnam war… eighteen years ago!” he says as his breath grows harder.

He was talking about me; but how could I be dead if I feel alive, is that what this was all about. Is that the reason I was alchemized.

“What is his name?” says one of the other men.

He looks through the screen and mumbles under his breath.

“Thomas Muller.”

At this point my eyes start closing…

“Is he dying.” asks one of the men.

“No;” replies Merowe.

“He is rebooting, now that he’s been scanned his brain has reopened its memorization function and it can now read the information that it wasn’t able to before.”


I could still hear their voices but only slightly, they were still; almost like they were avoiding my existence or maybe they were hesitating to touch me, I wasn’t sure.

Then my eyes went black…

         I wake up grasping a weapon at hand, the cooling of wind rushes over my skin; not feeling but temperature exploded the thought into reality.

The room changed- or, I mean- I was in another room. As I looked around I saw a man sitting in front of me, his head bobbed forward and back as he tried to stay awake. With a grunt he finally looks at me and straightens up and stands at attention.

“Hello, sir!” he exclaims as his arm rises up to his head.

I stand up and return the salute; then quickly return my arm to aside.

“At ease soldier;” I reply.

He lowers his arm and exclaims.
“I apologize for punching you before; I didn’t mean to hit you.”

“That’s okay, soldier.” I say with a smile, grasping his shoulder.
“Consider it a free shot at your superiors.”