((Finally! It's been what 3 years since I initially wrote this? I looked at it and went 'ugh' it sucks.

SO!

I've finally decided to begin revising all the chapters here starting with chapter 1. I'll get to them al eventually, but for now enjoy! Please R&R on story or changes needed or that were made! ))

Emerald Alchemist

By Anna Wagner

1919

I have entered the streets of San Francisco hoping that this would be a valid place to start my search. I wasn't sure what I was searching for now whom but with me? A search is always something that must go on until I have found out what it is that I intend to look for. My inner thoughts complicated, my feelings affected by this. My normally neutral self felt nothing; and nothing was priceless. Yet my search pursues on. I think about home, taking a cycle was not the best idea, obviously. The city streets were dangerous at this day and age and something as slow as a cycle going up a steep hill could lead to danger when least expected. Here in the city it is not a place of poverty, but rather a place where the desperate find work and desire items. Items or 'Stuff' put me in danger with something as valuable as a motorized cycle on my hands.

I focus on where I am to go. I had decided to go site seeing this afternoon, than hit the road to home. I really wish I had not left my dessert home so long ago. The warmth was so soothing, not this wretched Coastal air that made a great amount of humidity when the sun hit it. The cold and humidity was unpredictable which put me at edge for being comfortable at any given moment. Fire being the element of my taught alchemy gave me sway to want to catch a building a flame to at least warm the city. Physics and main logic of course said this was a 'no-no' and I would run into trouble for it anyway; something I wasn't willing to encounter with my stay here. With alchemy here I wish that these chosen jewels didn't cause so much trouble. It was different then that of over seas. I looked down at my wrist and saw a bracelet that held an emerald reflecting the color of my eyes. Something inside me hated that jewel, resenting it and wanting to throw it off the highest building in this god forsaken city, but I knew better. Without that jewel or a jewel, alchemy wasn't a possibility. Sometimes I wish I had never chosen that jewel, the jewel that I had seen much hope in. I sigh. It is not something to ponder about though, I thought as I drove on noticing two men that lurked behind me.

I stop at an intersection. Where to now? I ask myself. Is there not a place where I can rest?.. I look around. A piercing pain came from behind my head suddenly as something blunt made contact with my neck. I fell to the streets feeling a warm and sticky liquid roll down the side of my forehead; It was my own blood. Angry and well aware of my surroundings I got up ready for a fight. Just in time, I was able to draw a transmutation circle with a piece of chalk that whipped out of my jacket sleeve from its safe keeping. The circle consisted of two triangles overlapping each other in a double circle with a symbol of some sort looking like a flame, in the middle of it. As I put my hands to the circle, a massive amount of green light emerged. The light traveled and hit one of the men; I stood in shock. I had never been able to submit that much energy before I was at a loss of thought. Alchemy had been a flaw to me that I didn't quite understand until recently; of course even then I was never able to muster much more than a spark.

I panicked; the sudden power confused me in the stressful situation. I didn't know what to do. All was answered for me as the piercing pain in the back of my head renewed, and I fell to the ground in a disorientated heap. Everything fading as darkness swept over me.

I woke hurting wondering what had happened. My head throbbing it was hard to see as I cracked my eyes open. Then had I noticed the darkness and that explained why my vision didn't clear up like I had hoped. Struggling to adjust my site, an irritating smell hit my nose. It was the smell of salt. I figured they hadn't taken me far as I felt the coastal breeze just from the distance I had been from the ocean in that massive city. I figured I must have been closer to the water and then noticed a small tilting back and forth that sent my stomach into a belly flop turn of nausea.

A good while after regaining consciousness my eyes finally adjusted. I was sitting on wood; I could tell just by feeling but could now see the brown surface. It was damp and left me chilled to the core but I tried ignoring it. The realization of being trapped in the large wooden box, evidently a crate dawned on me. Two small holes assumingly for air allowed me to lookout, but I saw nothing except the other crate beside mine. 'What is going to happen to me?' I thought, but was quickly side tracked from my own mind as I heard voices approach; one of the voices I recognized from the men who had attacked me. As they neared the voices finally became coherent to under stand. I listened as they spoke in silence.

"So...You got another one, eh?" someone said, "How much are you selling this one for?"

"I don't know, probably a whole mil if I can take it. This one's a pretty powerful one." The man sounded proudly.

"You know the Alchemist shortage is just going to increase if you to buggers don't learn how to treat them! I mean sure you can knock them out, but don't make them bleed to death!" the man who had spoken first said as his voice grew gruff and displeasing.

"I'm sorry boss," the other man replied sounding like a whimpering coward for the moment.

.I touched the back of my neck that just recently started stinging. It was covered in small scabs of dried blood and a burning wound which had dried shut. I shook as my fingers had pulled away some of the dried blood from my neck.

Suddenly the crate I was inside slid and hit a wall; it hurt. The men outside were screaming. I wondered what was going on, if the boat was sinking or if a sea monster from stories the bulling boys spoke to scare me about the ocean was here. The sound died quickly and I sat up confident that I wasn't going to be flung inside the box again anytime soon.

My crate suddenly opened as a person with kind eyes looked through the lid. He threw the lid off, and beckoned me to come with him. At first I didn't move. My trust had been shattered through my recent up comings and I wasn't eager to be beat with another blunt, or worse sharp object again. I looked out past the kind eyes man seeing the two men and another business like man held by some unforeseen force. My legs though, would not move. They hadn't been used for some time, she did not know, and in a strange confusion I felt unexpectedly weak.

The kind-eyed man had suddenly picked me up and ran. He looked no more than a year older than me I was which surprised me. His strength was unexpected though I was unaware I had become so light while in that box. After a while of him running with me in his grasp I felt akward and confused. I finally felt that I could move again, and struggled from his arms and ran from him. I doubted he had expected that when he put me down but I was in no mood to be captured or locked up again even if this man had evidently saved me from whatever fate I was going to receive.

ahead Finally, I ran outside of the area I had been brought to. I peered around and saw a series of docks; not the ones from San Francisco, but more or less the ones of the Atlantic Ocean. I stood stunned starring at the horizon as it faded away from light. The man ran up from behind me which I had not expected. I jumped and attempted to pull a blade from my sleeve when I noticed it was gone. He looked at me and smiled.

" Don't worry, I'm not an enemy." I didn't believe him but something inside me relaxed anyway. He pushed me gently to keep moving forward and I assumed he was either following me or leading me somewhere. I did so but just in time to see the man draw, a transmutation circle and press the ground with both hands. A wall appeared from in front of the way I had ran, observantly noticing it was a large cargo ship. He trapped the men on board with what emerged from the yellow light. The kind man's use of alchemy still glowed. I hadn't expected that nor the power. It frightened me more than my own. Scared I ran off away from the man. I was thankful he helped me, but in no mood to ask questions or be asked questions. I could think of nothing else but to do but run. So I ran...