"Out of the One comes Two, out of Two comes Three, and from the Third comes the One as the Fourth."

-Maria Prophitessa, First known Alchemist of the Western World

Prologue

Fifteen years before the tower fell

"You`re never going to see the sun again. I`ll make sure of it, you little demon."

The Kingdom of Pridemoor was usually the kind of place that one would be lucky to live in. Verdant farmlands, little poverty, and a bit more freedom than would usually be seen due to years of prosperity brought on by a well-managed kingdom, lack of corruption, and a steady supply of heroic knight errants thwarting evil. The King was young, but kind and fastidious, if not a bit aloof. Still, there was a wide consensus among the townspeople that he was the most promising heir, and so far, that had worked out.

"Is that the one? But he's so small.." A girl no more than thirteen whispered to the much older woman sitting next to her, looking quite bored otherwise.

"Yeah, that's him, the lunatic. This'll probably be the fastest one yet. No wonder the place filled to the brim." The well-dressed woman said haughtily, without turning her attention away from the small figure approaching the courtroom floor.

In truth, there wasn`t much else to look at. The courthouse was maintained at the barest level and had been cleaned and set up in a rush for the current case.

Trials were a bit of a rarity in Pridemoor, as most crimes were punished quickly by the royal guard and simple cases, or full scale attacks that were handled by knight errants, with procedure simplified to the collection of a bounty.

As such,the legal system was used mostly for show, when the Council of Nobles or the Guild Coalition needed to make an example, as was the case tonight.

"I'm surprised it took them this long to catch a child. Still, what he did though..." The well-dressed woman looked for her associates as the girl next to her took an apple out of her knapsack and began eating slowly. She tried her best to put the image past her, as it seemed like the girl hadn`t eaten in quite a while.

The guard, Forel, looking every bit the proud officer of the king, took his handcuffed captive to the defendant's bench."Get your slimy hood up there and stay put!"

With a jab to the boy's back with his armored elbow, he stumbled toward the defendant's podium. He tripped, hitting his head hard on the wooden surface. The shock caused him to double over in pain as some blood left the edge of the platform.

Some in the audience laughed, while others lowered their heads and bit their lips trying to avoid being seen laughing at a child's injury. The well-dressed woman merely stared forward, hearing only the quiet sniggering and the annoying crunch of the girl next to her eating her apple.

"The defendant will remove his hood before the court for all to see."

The judge, sitting atop his podium said as he stared at the small, hooded figure in front of him. From what he could see, the boy, who couldn`t be more than ten or possibly eleven, and even then quite small for his age, was hesitant to do so even when injured on the podium, his ragged clothes matching the dark brown hood he wore, yet somehow visibly still covered with what he would hope to believe was sweat from the chase he gave the town guards. Normally, if he were not in court assigned to this case, he would have asked for a Magicist to heal the child, but the instructions he was given for this trial were made especially clear.

Slowly, the boy removed his hood, revealing a rather unremarkable and common face, save for the larger than average nose, and the burn marks leaving several splotches around his cheeks and forehead.

"Is the defendant ready to hear the charges against him?"

"Oh I've been waiting for quite a while, actually, hehe.."

The child spoke in a surprisingly mature voice for his age, as the audience couldn`t help but snigger along with him. Indeed, it seemed he was perhaps even older than the judge thought, which just made his stature even more pitiful.

"The defendant will refrain from making unnecessary remarks. Now, please state your full name and age for the court."

The boy sighed. "I have a profession as well. Don`t you usually ask that at these things? Oh yeah, 'unnecessary remarks'. How old I am, I`m not quite sure actually. You could ask your wife."

The judge furrowed his brow and banged his gavel as the audience broke out in surpressed laughter. Even Forel had to hold himself back a bit.

" Boy, let me make this clear. If I lose my patience, you will be found in contempt of court as well as guilty of all charges, and I`m afraid today I have a very short fuse. Do I make myself clear?"

At that moment, the girl eating her apple began to choke a bit, gagging slightly and eventually spitting out the troublesome piece. The woman next to her rolled her eyes. If she had perhaps been wearing something slightly less filthy, she would have given her a pat on the back so the thing wouldn`t die, but the problem had resolved itself.

"Fine," The boy continued. "My name? I'd like to think I've been given one by this especially loving community. Oh yes, hee, I believe I am "The Plague of Pridemoor". I rather like it, know what? Call me Plague for short is fine, hee hee hee."

The somewhat jovial mood in the room evaporated. The Plague of Pridemoor was not a name to be invoked in jest. Only the judge, Forel, and a few select individuals had known about this claim beforehand, as well as one other aspect of this child.

"Let me make this clear Pl...boy.", said the judge with an uneasiness in his voice."Right now you are charged with Theft, attempted arson, assault, the conspiracy to commit grand theft, and disrespect of Pridemoor authorities. There are multiple witnesses to these acts and the evidence is irrefutable. However, If I were to believe for even a second that the Plague of Pridemoor, the evil scourge who poisoned thousands, nearly ground agricultural productivity to a halt,was responsible for the destruction and theft of untold amounts of public, personal and guild property, as well as the direct assault of several Magic guild personell, including High Magicist Arga and the central guild branch itself was a boy who could barely reach my waist in height, I`m afraid that the king should not only force me to resign, but have me committed!"

The boy listened attentively at each of the charges listed, looking up at the ceiling and mouthing words to himself as he made motions with his fingers as if counting, only giving a slight grimace at one of them.

"Hee! I suppose that's about right."

The audience erupted in a commotion of shouts and frustration, which the boy answered quickly.

"Of course, I`d probably be off to the dungeon or the gallows by now without all of this theatre if you didn`t believe me even slightly."

The judge swallowed, looking to the officials seated at the prosecutorial bench on the right side of the courtroom. Their expressions remained unmoving and still as the golems they had beside them for security, the meaning of which the judge hoped he had guessed incorrectly.

"Yes. We know that you are connected with the true Plague. Perhaps some sick version of what he would call an apprentice. Which is why we are willing, by the grace of the council of nobles, to overlook your transgressions in exchange for information on his face and identity, as well as his base of operations and complete refutation of his name and ideals!"

The room stood silent, save for the sound of the crunching of fruit.

"Name is Plague. Here's my face. I live at the intersection of Pride and Moor. Usually, hee. Now can I go home? Since you said I'd be clear of charges and all."

The judge stood suddenly, "Now. See. Here. I am this close to having you sent to hard labor for the rest of your miserable, sniggering, insignificant little life if you do not tell me how you came across those documents!" The sound of the gavel rang out loudly as the officials at the prosecutorial bench gave piercing glares which made the judge sit back down quickly, regaining his composure.

"Ask me to introduce myself the way a defendant should, and I`ll tell you." For once, the boy was completely straight-faced, looking the judge in the eye.

"Will the defendant please once again state his name, age, and occupation for all to hear."

The boy stood and smiled, turning to look at the prosecutor's bench and the audience. " I am the Plague of Pridemoor, I do now know how old I am. I'd best guess around twelve.

And I am an Alchemist."

Yells of "Boo!" and "Fraud!" filled the air as the dour looking officials at the proscutor's bench smiled. Their golems began to lurch ever so slightly.

"I simply took the ashes that High Magicist Arga foolishly left behind after burning them, and restored them with a bit of Reverse Entropic Transmutation, Organic and inorganic ratio 96-4 using a temporal stabilizing element distilled from..oh, I see. Hee hee hee!"

At that moment, Plague saw the audience now staring daggers at him, with the well-dressed woman looking on in horror as the golems now began to visibly move.

The judge banged his gavel for the last time. "You must truly hate living on the streets to have resorted to such a depraved practice, but I guarantee you that the life I`m about to send you to will be far, far worse. I've heard all that I need to. Guards!"

The well dressed woman stood up to shout, or rather tried to, but found that her dress had somehow been fused to the bench, and her shoes to the floor. "He's not restrained! Get him naooooh!" she said as she tipped over, falling into the crowd in front of her.

"Well, I`m glad that's over! Now, who wants to be the famous guard to really capture the Plague of Pridemoor!"

The handcuffs seemed to slip off of his wrists like they weren't even secured to begin with. They fell to the ground with a clank as he saw himself surrounded by guards and golems with their swords drawn and fists raised.

"You don`t have any weapons, we destroyed your little bag of tricks and everything you had hidden back when we caught you before, so don`t even think of "summoning" them or anything.", Forel shouted, confidently.

"Oops, you`re absolutely right. Sort of. Actually not at all. Hee!"

The boy took some of the slime from his coat and blood from the defendant's bench, in a flash, drawing a basic circular design in the blink of an eye. "Now.. all I need is a.."

At that moment, an apple core came flying towards the boy, which seemed to curve impossibly in the air between the guards as it came to rest in his hand.

"Catalyst!"

The symbol and apple core glowed with an ethereal light and a blinding flash filled the room. In its place, a satchel that was all too familiar to High Magicist Arga appeared as she struggled to burn away the soles of her shoes and hem of her dress fused to the bench. "How.. When did he do this!? What kind of monsters are these Alchemists?"

With inhuman agility the boy jumped on top of the defendant's bench and then again away from the approaching guards. While still in the air, he threw three nearly spherical containers at the ground near the golems, causing the floor around them to burst into bright green flames, melting the magical runes controlling them and shutting them down. The guards backed away at the sight as the boy looked down on them. Somehow, he had jumped and then jumped again while in the air. Defying all logic, he now stood atop the judge's platform directly next to the terrified man himself.

"I really don`t care about you, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew just exactly who they're dealing with here, ehee."

"Guards, GUARDS!"

Plague jumped once again, at his apex reaching into his bag and pulling out more liquid containers. Just as he was about to fall into a guard's sword, he yet again jumped off of nothing but the air below him, straight towards the audience. As the guards gazed in awe at this feat, they failed to notice the bombs he had dropped at their feet, which soon exploded into a flurry of sparks, debris, and smoke that began to turn their armor to rust.

"I've got you now, you little brat!", There, as he landed, stood high magicist Arga, completely barefoot and wearing scraps of what was once a very expensive uniform.

Her beautiful face was wild with rage, her makeup ruined. But that didn`t matter to her now. All that mattered was that she caught the Plague of Pridemoor and squeezed out every little bit of what he knew. A ball of fire ignited and grew brightly in her hand.

"You can`t escape from this! It's over!" Indeed, the officials from the Magic guild had taken up positions all around the room, fireballs in hand as well.

"Yes, I suppose it is."

Plague put away his bag and stared intently at Arga and her officials, all sorcerers with more experience in magic than years he had been alive. Any false moves now and he knew he would have more than just some new burns to count on his body. More guards began to pour in from the entrance, some helping the ones now encased in rusted armor. The audience had mostly cleared away except for a few brave onlookers.

"I know you, you`re not going to give up that easily. I won`t be fooled twice!" She motioned for her subordinates to come closer, and they readied their spells in hand.

"Come on, I now you want to do it! Hee hee hee!"

She hated that laugh.

"Fire."

At that moment, a small cloaked figure whirled out of the line of guards directly into the mages' line of fire. With an unearthly grace, the fireballs slowed down and floated around the figure as it seemed to dance towards the boy. Unbelievably, the blasts hit the wall behind Arga in a perfect circular pattern as the figure came to rest beside the boy, a head taller, the air around her looking slightly peculiar. Her (she could see that the figure was a young girl from this close) hand raised in a position she could only describe as being between a dance and an obscene gesture egging her on. She had had enough of brats today though.

"What, another one? Roast them both!"

This time, Arga raised her own fireball, bright blue and reflecting the twisted grin in her expression. She and the other mages threw their own blasts all at once as well. The room glowed intensely with the concentrated heat, and her victory was assured. They might have to use ore healing magic than they thought before interrogating the two, but it would make everything all the easier in the end.

However, the room then became an embodiment of chaos with a flick of the girl's second the fireballs came near her, they began to spin around the room erratically, bouncing off walls and setting everything they could alight. The few remaining audience members began to flee in terror as the guards now hurried to catch and put out the flames, with the guild members, embarrassed and mortified, quickly tried to do so before them.

"I really hate field work."

Arga recognized that voice as she struggled to come to terms with the scene around her.

"You…you`re that girl!? You`re a Magic User?"

"No.", She said with a wide grin, the air around her now clearly visible.

"I`m an Alchemist too!"

Behind her and the boy beside her was a swirling mass of ever-changing transmutation symbols, directing the air every which way around them. Arga had never seen anything like it in all her years of magic research, and it terrified her more than she could ever let them know.

"We'll probably never be able to prove it was you who poisoned those people." Said the boy as he readied his satchel again.

The two of them then leapt through the air, tiny explosions now visible as they made their impossible midair leaps once again, now standing on top of the empty judges podium.

"But we just wanted to let you know."

The boy then began to shine with a pulsating glow, slowly at first, then more rapidly.

"We're not happy about it."

One leap.

"And we won`t stop our Alchemy!"

Two leaps.

"Not now."

A third leap, now from the girl, holding him.

"Not ever!"

Finally, the air below the boy seemed to explode with energy, and they burst through the roof of the burning building out into the starry, moonlit sky.

Although the blinding flash obscured nearly everything, Arga could make out one unmistakeable detail.

The two children were smiling from ear to ear.

The two figures bounced and exploded from rooftop to rooftop crisscrossing paths in the lime-colored light of the courthouse explosion.

This was it. This was the feeling she knew he lived for. The feeling she lived to create. The culmination of everything they had prepared for.

And it had worked beautifully.

The girl concentrated and closed her eyes as she started to see herself in her mind's image, dividing the image with a bolt of energy in the shape of the symbol for Mercury, cutting through those for salt and sulfur with the precision of an artisan. The image shattered, coalescing into a field around her.

"Out of the One, comes two."

She let out another burst of energy below her, and felt her worries and reservations releasing into the energy that propelled her upwards and forwards. This was her Alchemy, her life.

"Oooooooh Yeaaaahhhhhhh!"

"Did you see the look on her face? Hee!"

"I know! I thought she was going to lose it right there!"

The two eventually settled onto a roof at the far side of the village. Plague had dropped a few bombs at odd intervals to serve as decoys, as well as timed ones in out of the way alleys beforehand. The town guard was sure to spend the night searching everywhere except where they were going to be.

Catching his breath , Plague looked at Mona as he sat down and pulled out a straw to drink from his Aqua Vitae 1%. If one were to compare her to the bored, aloof girl he saw in the audience at the courthouse, one would never guess they were the same person.

Her medium-length, Jet black hair shone against the starlight as she stood triumphantly with her hands on her hips, her green skin nearly glowing as well.

"But Seriously! The way that our Aqua Fortis went straight from Libra stage to Saggitarius and melted those runes clean off! It was just like in our notes! Plaugey, that was a thing of beauty!"

"Hee! Are you kidding me? You`re being far too modest! It was your casing that made it all possible. It would have melted clean through and destroyed everything else otherwise! Although that Vitriol of Mars Transmutation Cluster of mine I admit will be a cornerstone of many future concoctions. Being able to stop those annoying guards in their tracks would be absolutely Vital to any future supply runs."

Plague then got a sheepish grin on his face as he got up from sitting and tried to cover his mouth.

"Eh, What is it?"

"You might even say… It'd be.. A Vital Vitriol.. Hee Hee Haaaaa!" Plague's face turned red as Mona rolled her eyes and sighed with a small smirk.

"That's you all right. Can`t make a joke to save your life. Heh, at least you`re a lot better of an alchemist than a comedian. Ha!"

Mona rubbed her knuckles on Plague's already messy hair.

"Ow! Good enough to get you to laugh at least!"

"I suppose so, eh?" Mona finally sat down with a sigh of relief. "That spectacle set us back on future research for at least two months, though."

The air around Mona seemed to coalesce and die down. Plague saw how surprisingly still and peaceful the town looked despite the green flicker of the night's work glowing in the distance. The Magic Guild stood proudly as a simulacrum of Pridemoor keep on the other edge of the village, while the blacksmith guild nearby was barely discernible from any of the other buildings, save for being larger and more sturdily built. Far in the distance, the Tower of Fate loomed. It would block the moonlight soon, but it was such an unchanging fixture in the sky that no one from Pridemoor would ever notice.

"Well, I suppose. Wouldn`t it be great to just be able to experiment any time we wanted, though?"

"Do that and we won`t be able to do anything for quite a while."

"Except, you know.. your brand of Alchemy."

Mona's expression was back to how it was during the courthouse. "Hey, I taught you some too."

"I know! And it`s Amazing! Hee hee!" Plague got up and leapt forward. Before hitting the ground again, a small burst of air flew from his feet as he was now back in his starting position. "All the things you can do with it! And that's just the surface! If I had known before…"

"Aw, come on Plague. You know that it's pretty limited and focused. Way too much like magic. Unless we can find some more writings on it, it may as well be a brick wall."

"More books! That would be quite a find! Ehee!"

"With potions and symbols, there's always something new to do, something new to see." Mona's eyes seemed to glow with a brightness that belied the rest of her expression.

"I wonder what kind of contest you`ll devise to see who reads the next one first. Hehe."

Mona stood up again, looking in the direction of the place where she slept. "Oh It'll be a good one. You might almost win this time."

"Hehee! We'll see about that!" Plague was glad to see her expression get back to how it was before, even slightly.

"I`ll see you tomorrow at the..Potionariuumm…ooooo."

Plague was surprised as he saw Mona get ready to leap away. "You`re actually going to go with it?"

"Why not? It's a good name!"

"Oh, thanks..hehee."

"No problem!"

Plague leapt down to street level, leaping again to soften the landing after he watched Mona's shadow fade into the night.

"Let's make it so we never have to worry about stopping." Plague said to himself as he walked over into a depression in the wall. Using the liquid coating his cloak, he drew out the symbol for Salt and the wall moved ever so slightly, allowing him to open it further to reveal his hideout.

A small bed, a stand, and an alchemic lantern stood in the corner of a stone-walled room.

Jumping into the bed, he thumbed through the pages before trying to sleep.

He tried desperately turn burn the expression Mona had in the moonlight into his memory, but her usual lethargic one always seemed to overtake it. Perhaps it was an aftereffect of her esoteric Alchemy. Souls interacted on a different level than people, he remembered from some of the texts he could remember from Mona's book.

In any case, his goal was clear. He never wanted Mona to have to make that dour face ever again.