"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange…." Envy cracked up in laughter as he repeated the line every alchemist knew by heart, "Those pathetic little worms have those words set in stone as the basis of their entire science and yet they keep trying to prove it wrong! That Elric pipsqueak is supposed to be a genius and yet even he has wasted the last three years trying to find a way to do just that!" He cackled.

"That's what happens when you let emotions cloud your judgement," Lust said smirking as they walked down the hall.

"It's insulting that we need those pathetic little beings so much," Envy grumbled, "They can't even do the simplest task without messing up! I can't believe they screwed up number 48's blood seal. We ended up wasting two prisoners on one suit of armor!"

Lust shrugged. "It's better than wasting the suit of armor. Those damn things are expensive. We have plenty more prisoners to put on the chopping block however," she said, "If all we have to do is observe them to make sure nothing goes wrong in the future, then I see no reason to get too upset."

"Still a waste of our valuable time…" Envy grumbled, entering the observation deck, "plus this place smells like rotten eggs." Several koaltars floated in the air around them, and more were on the laboratory floor. "Ugh, what are these things?" Envy hissed, swatting some away, "They keep appearing whenever we do another human transmutation. Why can't we get rid of them?" Envy squashed one under his foot when it landed, but after a few seconds it popped back up and started hovering around again.

Lust frowned at them. "I don't know," she said, "They appear harmless, however. Although it is disturbing that the humans seem unable to see them."

"Most of the humans," Envy said grinning, "that Tucker guy can see them too. It's been fun to watch him as he and everyone else around him thinks he's going insane." Lust raised an eyebrow before glancing down at the man on the lab floor below. He uncomfortably scooted out of the way of the floating black creatures while the other scientists were oblivious to them. They had recruited the man to help assist them in the creation of chimeras and the development of other forms of human transmutation. He had been more than willing as the other option was to be put to death.

Now that everything was in place, they wheeled out the specimen and the suit of armor. Prisoner number 66, Barry the Chopper, was wheeled out as he was restrained to a long wooden board. He had been officially executed three years ago, but they had decided to keep him around for possible use in experiments. "What is this? No firing squad? No electric chair?" he called out into the room with a smile, "And here I was thinking I was going to go out with a bang!"

"Oh, we have special plans for you, 66," one of the scientist said. With that they began the process. Barry was wheeled into a transmutation circle on the ground. A man placed his hand on the circle and it began to glow and exude blue light. Barry screamed inhumanly and his body jerked about as his soul was ripped out of him. Someone was already drawing the blood seal before the first transmutation ended and Barry's body became limp, yet still remained alive. The human husk drooled slightly in its new vegetative state.

"Quickly! Before we lose the soul!" one of them cried. Tucker approached the newly drawn blood seal on the suit of armor, pressing a hand to it and holding a philosopher's stone with the other. The stone glowed as red lightning sparked from the circle inside. Once he was finished, he removed his hand and put the helmet back on the suit. Two soulfire eye started glowing in the eye sockets of the helmet. The restrained suit of armor shook a little. "Ugh, well that certainly was fun," the suit announced in Barry's voice, "But I don't think you understand the concept of an execution…" He then looked to his left and saw his own body, restrained to a board. "Wait a minute, is that my body?!" he cried in surprise, "That is! How did you manage to do that? Was I drugged? Or is this some weird new form of execution where I get to watch you kill me? I hope it's the last one. That I'd like to see! You better make it good though. Someone get me some popcorn!" The suit continued to babble and the scientist congratulated each other.

"Take them away," one of the scientist said. Two guards came and wheeled the body and metal-bound soul away in opposite directions. Envy stretched and got up, ready to leave with Lust. They had just gotten to the door when Envy paused and sniffed the air.

"Do you smell that?" he said scrunching up his nose, "Ugh! Is it just me or does it reak in here of mold?!" Before Lust could respond, there was a low rumble and the room shook slightly. The two homunculi froze as the lights flickered. One by one they went out until only the emergency lights were left. The room became cold all of a sudden. Very cold. Had they been human, the homunculi would be shivering. Lust's brow furrowed as she tried the to process what was going on.

"What the-?!" she heard Envy's voice crack. She turned to see him backing away from the control deck of the observation room. The controls were covered in a thick layer of fungus. Mushrooms, mildew, and cordyceps crawled across the panels, along the floor, and covered the door, blocking their exit. Lust tried to slash them with her ultimate spear, but they just grew back. Some of the growth even tried to cling to her as her fingers raked through it.

"What the hell is this…" she hissed as they backed over to the window. They both glanced out to see what was going on on the lab floor below. The koaltars were now in a swarm, high above everyone. The scientists were in a panic. A few of them coughed and hacked, choking on the foul stench before passing out. Most were not so lucky. One suddenly cried out in pain and confusion as his body twisted in agony. He started puking as his body became covered in black, plague ridden boils. The man cried out for help before collapsing to the ground, convulsing in pain before blacking out as the diseas began to slowly kill him. One by one, more began to face a similar fate, suddenly contracting the fatal bubonic bacteria at an impossible rate, until no one on the lab floor was left conscious.

The homunculi were confused, enraged, and slightly scared at the events currently transpiring. They stood back to back, glancing around desperately trying to figure out what was going on and how to stop it. Then, a low, rumbling laughter filled the air.

"Who's there?!" Envy demanded, voice seething with rage and frustration, "How did you get in here?!"

"How did I get in?" the deep voice repeated in amusement calling from the lab floor, "Why, you invited me here!" Both homunculi turned to see one of the bodies slowly get up. "I'm so glad you let me in. I've been dying to get here for some time," it spoke from the man's mouth, but the voice was completely different, "Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you."

Envy growled at him and was ready to respond with a biting remark, but Lust stopped him, giving him a look of warning. "Who are you?" she demanded, "what is it that you want?"

"I suppose introductions are in order," the voice responded, "My name is Astaroth, king of rot, and I have a deal to make with you!" The two homunculi looked at eachother for a moment as if considering their options silently. Finally, they nodded and decided to listen. It wasn't as if they had much of a choice anyways...

A short prologue of sorts to kick off the second part of the story. Hope you guys enjoyed it!