Smoke blanketed the night sky over Creta, obscuring what little light was provided by the waning moon. Far from civilization, an ancient stone temple loomed in shadow—a monument of times long gone. Beneath its aging rafters hid a dying tribe, and the treasures they so desperately fought to conceal.

Screaming voices echoed between thunderous gunfire, as numerous military trucks surrounded the temple. Armed men leapt from the vehicles in droves, their faces hidden by bandanas and gas masks. They stormed the perimeter with relentless, brutish force as the out-numbered and out-gunned people within the temple clamored to barricade the large wooden doors.

An olive-skinned girl with honey colored hair ran to the door behind her people, ready to use her alchemy to help reinforce the gate. A blue light penetrated the cracks of the wood before she could reach it. She recognized the light as alchemy, and gasped at the startling realization that one of her enemies possessed the art, as well. She recoiled in horror as the door splintered under the force of a small bomb.

"Miss Lyda, save the stones!" a tribe's woman cried out, just before being silenced to the ground under a rain of enemy ammunition.

Such atrociousness made tears threaten to spill over. Still, the girl heeded the order despite herself. She retreated to the back of the temple, away from the deadly fray.

Booming guns rang off the pillars and walls. She tried to ignore them, as she pushed aside two doors leading into the large inner sanctuary. On an altar, surrounded by flickering candles and incense was a worn box on a stone pedestal. She bolted to it, swiping the box from its place, before running for the door behind the altar. She swung it aside and crashed into the temple's robed priest.

"Not this way Miss, they've come through the back!" the priest warned. Grabbing the girl by the shoulders, he led her down a second hall towards a secret egress. "There's a horse waiting in the stables. We'll distract them long enough for you to escape."

"Where's my brother?" the girl demanded, running alongside of him.

"We've already led Mr. Darbus out. He's waiting at the check point for you and the stones." He hastened to explain.

"Get out the moment you're clear," The girl said. The priest smiled, sadly.

"Halt!" yelled a solider behind them.

The girl and the priest spun to face the approaching enemies. She locked eyes with two light-skinned men—their blonde hair shaven to nearly nothing.

The priest pushed her into a side archway, diverting away from the necessary path, moments before their adversaries unleashed a hail of bullets. She watched him crumple to the ground as she shoved the gate closed behind her.

The new path would not lead to the stables. She would need to flee on foot. Smashing a window and leaping down into the grass, she dashed away from the flaming building. Her feet bound faster than her mind could react, but it was not enough. One of her assailants fired blindly after her into the dark, missing every shot until the gun clicked empty. Growling in frustration, the bulky man leapt down a flight in pursuit.

"Give me the stones!" Hissed the assailant.

Breathless and frantic, the girl ran for her life, clutching the simple box to her chest.

The assailant honed in, revealing tattooed circles on his palms. Activating alchemic power from their reddened centers, he manipulated the dirt path under her feet. It softened to powder before abruptly plummeting into a deep fissure. The girl managed to jump, dodging death by a narrow instant. Still, she felt fret. She knew the act had bought the man enough gain to seize her.

"You… Won't have them!" she yelled in defiance. Turning on her heels, she slapped one hand to the ground.

A brilliant blue light glowed through a subtle crack in the box. Soon, the Earth that surrounded her did the same. A sudden alchemic reaction, which put the assailant's original display to shame, violating the dirt below in shifts.

The girl's pursuer was tossed into the air, surprising a gasp before crashing to the ground. The assailant gripped the pain upon his chest, as he struggled to his feet. Three ribs had broken from the fall, at least. Standing was difficult. He would need them bound immediately. However, the white heat of his wounds paled compared to the anguish of his mind, when he noticed that the girl had vanished. Wild eyes searched the open plane, and he let out a yell of frustration.

"I'll find you! I'll kill you, and every last filthy member of your worthless tribe!"

His promise went unheard. The girl had slipped out of the physical world using the contents of her box. The silence dragged on, and the assailant sneered.

The other solider ran to the man's side, and breathlessly spoke, "where…Did she...?"

"She's gotten away, for now. I assume she has retreated through the Portal... She'll be back. She has nowhere else to go but back here. Order the trucks around. We'll have the rest of the stones soon."

The girl twisted around the endless glow of white space. She was relieved to see she was still clinging to the box, which she had used to open the Truth—the Portal between worlds. The secret to all alchemy. She traced the edges with a quavering touch.

Her grandfather had told her of this place. Supposedly, it was the gateway to the afterlife, and the source of all alchemical knowledge. It had gone by many ignorant names, though none truly captured the confusion of wonder that surrounded her then, nor did they hint towards the potential for terror that lurked beyond site.

She felt pain, and gripped her side. The power she used in defense, and then to open the Portal, had been too much for her body to handle. If the crisis had not been absolute, she would have never dreamed of unleashing the Stones' raw power… That is, without something to regulate the phenomenal energy flowing through them.

She was lucky the Stones did not kill her, just as they had done to their creators—her very ancestors.

The girl stood on what seemed to be nothing, with one exception. A gigantic pair of stone doors, floating, looms overhead. They were carved with alchemic words and symbols. She had seen the symbols before, mostly in her grandfather's work, but had never seen them arranged in such a strange pattern. Apparently, they were meant to reflect her knowledge of the world and of alchemy… However, that was just a myth.

The Truth—the bedeviling place she found herself as of present time—was supposed to be a myth, as well. Yet, there she stood.

"So, you've made it here at last."

The girl startled when confronted by the unexpected voice. She turned again, coming face-to-face with the crouching figure. Like everything in this place, it was white—only distinguished from its surroundings by a rimming, black aura. The only facial feature it possessed was a large, almost mocking grin, which accompanied its condescending tone.

"I have," the girl frowned at the creature. "Tell me. Can I hide the Philosopher Stones here?"

She was wary to release her grasp on her box. Her family had already lost one of the four stones to their enemies. She could not lose the other three. The only comfort she took was in the knowledge that her pursuers were ignorant to the workings of the stone they possessed. However, who knew how long until they were to figure it out? Her grandfather's Philosopher's Stones were the last hope of saving their tribe. Unease be damned, she loosened her hold in the presence of the doors.

The grinning thing spun and snickered. "Hmmm, you could, but I cannot guarantee the stones lasting safety."

"What do you mean?" the girl demanded. "What's safer then within the Truth?"

The thing continued to laugh. "Tell me this. What is stopping your pursuers from simply opening the Portal and pulling the Stones out? When you leave here, you will be captured. They are bound to figure it out one day."

The girl broke into a cold sweat. Her eyes shifted across the surface of the doors, as she desperately reviewed her choices. Suddenly, a solution sparked. For the first time that night, she smiled.

The creature knew her mind. It regarded the girl's thought, before even she had time to speak it.

The thing spoke, "what you have in mind would normally cost you your life. However, you are lucky now. Your possession of these Stones gives you free reign... Well, almost free reign. They still cannot save you."

She understood the creature's meaning. In order to use the power of the Portal, something great had to be given in exchange.

"But, it can save the Stones," she specified. "That's all that matters."

The figure gave a shrug of indifference. "Take your preference. The world is at your disposal."

She had made her choice. She would use the Portal and send the Stones away, far from her homeland and out of the reach of her enemies. The Stones would be safe…at least for now.

The doors opened slowly. The girl stood on the edge, staring down into the black that lurked behind them. Using the Stone's power as a toll, she pulled from the doors what she needed—three vessels to house her perfect Philosopher's Stones.

The vessels were like living dolls, made from alchemy to resemble humans. That is, humans who were far improved. They were called many things. In her homeland they were known as flask dolls. In the neighboring country, Amestris, she was thought they were known as homunculi.

Her grandfather had concealed the flask doll vessels that could contain the Stones' power within the Portal decades before, and she intended to pull them back out. She paused, as she saw they were not the same ones that her grandfather had made. Perhaps they had changed, or maybe they were different from the ones she knew from her childhood.

In the darkness, they were the only vessels she saw. She had no choice but to use the alchemic creations. They might not have been the same as her grandfather's creations, but they would have to do.

"Yes. Take what you want. Pull those who are not involved into the trouble you have made, and make them suffer the consequences of your actions."

The girl flinched at its words. Clenching her fists, she nodded once. "It…has to be this way," she said, trying to justify it all. "I'm sorry," she whispered, before using the power of the Stones for the last time to open three separate Portals bridging the Truth and her world. She tossed each Stone's vessel into them. When the doors vanished, so did her power to remain in the white place surrounding the Truth. The great doors in front of her opened yet again, but this time a multitude of thin black arms reached out from the darkness. They spun around the girl, who did not fight them. They pulled her back to the real world, back into the arms of her pursuer, who would most likely end her life.

"It's okay," she told herself, as the doors began to close behind her. "Brother, it's up to you now to find them again, but for now the Stones are safe."

"For now. We will see how long that lasts."

The doors slammed, leaving the Truth behind, snickering.