Unleashed (Part 1 - Sandstorm)

[Present day-The Great Desert]

Ling and the team were on their way to Amestris for the first ever Amestris-Xing official meeting. They were traveling on their horses through the big desert, which covered a vast amount of area between Amestris and Xing. The Emperor of Xing had selected Ling for representing the Xingese royalty at the meeting. He didn't send a big force with him, instead, he sent two of the twelve greatest warriors of Xing as bodyguards. Along with them, the Emperor sent Hu Zemin, a diplomat working at the prime minister's office. Ling also successfully persuaded the Emperor to allow Lan Fan to come along as his personal bodyguard, and Mei as a companion.

While traveling, they had a formation. Yang was at the front, Yin was at the back, Lan Fan was at the left side, Mei and Xiao (Mei's panda) were at the right side, and Ling was at the center with Hu Zemin. "I can't believe I am going back to Amestris just after few months, and that also as royalty. Now, I will be fed all the delicious cuisines," Ling started imagining with his mouth open and saliva coming out of his mouth.

"I can also meet my prince, the handsome and kind alchemist, Alphonse Elric," Mei blushed while imagining Alphonse.

"Are you talking about the Elric brothers?" Hu asked.

"Yes," Mei replied.

"Isn't Edward Elric the youngest state alchemist?"

Mei nodded her head by saying, "mhmm."

"I also heard that you are very good at alkahestry as well," Hu said.

Mei blushed and said with a big grin on her face, "You can say that. I helped some Amestrians in a battle."

"There was a battle!" Yin interrupted and continued, "I heard it was some terrorist group that entered the Central command, and killed the Fuehrer while he was traveling by train."

"Yeah, it was kind of a battle. We helped to defeat the terrorist group involved and catch the traitor Generals," Ling answered instead.

Meanwhile, Yang asked something difficult for Ling, "My lord, would you mind telling me about how you got the philosopher stone? I am sure, the government didn't just hand it to you."

Ling, Mei and Lan Fan had promised their friends in Amestris to hide the truth about the real incident at Central Command and the secret of philosopher's stone. So, Ling told them the story which he told everyone after bringing the philosopher stone to Xing. Ling explained, "After the terrorist group entered inside central command, they were able to get their hands on one of the philosopher stones. But, before they could get out, they faced the Amestrian military and the famous flame alchemist, Roy Mustang. They knew that they were outmatched, so they somehow held Mustang's lady friend as a hostage. Mei and I decided to sneak attack them as they were holding the philosopher stone, but our timing was a little off. We managed to separate the philosopher stone from the terrorists, but they were able to hurt the lady. Mei went to help the lady, to seal her wounds and I went after the philosopher stone. That's how we took the philosopher stone in such chaos and no one ever knew, where it disappeared."

"So, it's true, they can create philosopher's stone," Yang said.

"Yes, but from what I know, it can be used only for a limited number of times," Ling replied.

"Is it true that it grants immortality?" Hu asked curiously.

"I don't know. But, it grants an alchemist the power to perform human transmutation without any danger," Ling answered.

Suddenly, sandy wind started blowing. Yin looked back and saw a sandstorm was approaching toward them. "We have to take shelter somewhere," She advised.

Ling looked back and when he said, "Why?" he saw the big sand storm approaching. His eyes were widened and he shouted out of surprise, "WHAT!"

Everyone looked back and saw what Ling was watching. "Hurry, let's find a shelter," Ling said.

Fortunately, Yang saw a cave at some distance. "I think there is a cave there," He informed by pointing in the caves direction.

A sandstorm was behind and Yang found a cave in an instant in that vast desert? It sounded as if Yang was under the same phenomenon when people get lost in deserts, which was watching mirage. But, when everyone looked at the direction where Yang was pointing, they could see the cave as well. "Let's go inside that cave," Ling shouted and sped his horse toward the cave. And everyone followed behind.

While they were getting closer to the cave, the entrance was appearing bigger and bigger, and finally, when they were right in front of the cave, they saw the entrance was much bigger than their expectations. All of them went inside the cave with their horses and tied their horses near the entrance such that the horses could be safe from the sandstorm. Because it was dark inside, Yin pulled out a torch from the carriage and lit it up.

After there was some light inside the cave, they could see how big the cave was actually. "Has any of you saw this cave before?" Ling questioned while looking around the cave.

"No," Everyone answered in sync.

Meanwhile, Ling thought he saw some smaller entrance in the dark. So, to clear his doubt he asked, "Can you shed some light in that area?" He pointed in the direction where he wanted to see.

Yin followed the order and walked toward the desired location, and as the light was clearing the darkness, they saw the small entrance which Ling speculated. The entrance was big enough for two people to walk side by side, and the floor was covered with sand like the rest of the cave. "Let's go inside," Ling proposed excitedly.

When he was about to step into the smaller cave, Lan Fan stopped him by saying, "Young lord, stop." Ling turned around to look at the concerned face of Lan Fan. Meanwhile, Lan Fan continued, "There could be dangers like quicksand, snakes and potholes inside the cave. Let me take the lead."

She rushed and quickly grabbed the torch from Yin's hand, while Yin surprisingly looked at her. Then she walked right in front of Ling and slowly proceeded inside the cave with caution. Ling and the others followed behind in a queue with Yang walking at the tail. While they were walking through the tunnel like cave with a sandy floor, Yin said, "Young Lord, your bodyguard is quite protective about you, even though we are also here…From the way she acts around you, I think she is in love."

Yin's comment was enough to increase the heartbeat of Lan Fan and make her blush. Fortunately, she was walking at the front, so no one could see her pink face. And before Ling or anyone could say anything, Lan Fan quickly responded with composure while walking forward, "Our family has been protecting the Yao clan for generations. So, it is my duty to look after him and give my life for him if required. If you think that is love, then I have no objections."

The way Lan Fan framed her answer sent Yin speechless for a moment. When she was about to tease Lan Fan once again, Lan Fan stopped walking and the whole queue stopped. "What happened?" Hu asked.

"The path has ended," Lan Fan replied.

They saw the walls but there was nothing significant there. "Looks like this cave does not hold any mysteries after all," Ling sighed out of disappointment.

And then suddenly Yang said from behind while looking at the floor, "The path."

Everyone confusingly looked at him. "What about the path?" Ling asked.

"Did any of you feel any distortion while walking on the path? Like any hole or rock protruding out?" Yang questioned.

Everyone looked toward each other and answered, "No."

"This path is too perfect to be natural," Yang said and continued after pulling out his sword from the scabbard, which had a transmutation circle on its handle, "Everybody, close your eyes. I am going to remove some of the sand on the floor."

When everyone closed their eyes, Yang pierced his sword through the sand to the actual rocky floor and threw a dagger at some distance. Soon after that, the sword's handle started sparkling with blue light, and all the sand below started getting accumulated at the location of the dagger. Yang successfully cleared some sand from below which was enough to unveil what was below the sand. After he was finished, Mei and her panda, Xiao-Mei started rolling on the floor, rubbing their eyes. Watching that, Yang sighed out of pity. "I told you to close your eyes," He said.

Lan Fan quickly went to Mei to help her wash her eyes. And in the meantime, everyone else looked at the cleared floor. Everyone's eyes were widened upon watching what they were witnessing. There were many transmutation circles, carved on the floor. "Looks like the whole floor is covered with transmutation circles," Yang said.

"Why there are so many transmutation circles doing in this cave?" Hu asked curiously.

Yang pointed at the accumulated sand from the cleared area and replied, "Have a look over there."

Everyone looked at the accumulated sand and saw some bones mixed up in the sand.

"Those are of animals, right?" Mei asked with a scared face.

"Xerxes is the closest city to this place which was considered to be the birthplace of alchemy and alkahestry. There are some stories that the alchemists performed human transmutation, and this place might be one of their labs. The bones lying in the sand can also be of humans," Yang informed.

Mei and Xiao-Mei gulped when they heard the scary explanation. Meanwhile, Yang continued, "Everyone knows the story about Xerxes on how it turned to ruins one day, and nobody knows the reason. How such an advanced nation got destroyed all of a sudden is still a mystery."

And suddenly a gust of wind came and extinguished the torch. Due to sudden darkness, Mei screamed. "Stop screaming Mei, the torch will be lighted up in a moment," Ling said.

But right at that moment, Yang anxiously said something frightening "Are you guys sensing something? It's very faint, but it suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

"Yes, it's a strange chi," Yin said.

"I am sensing it too," Ling informed.

"LIGHT UP THE TORCH," Mei shouted because she was also able to sense the strange chi.

Lan Fan quickly lighted up the torch. And as soon as she lighted up the torch, she saw a black dust particle near the flame.

"I think we are sensing this particle," Lan Fan said while looking at the particle.

Suddenly everyone except, Hu and Xiao stood in defensive stance with their weapons outside as if something was going to attack them.

"What happened?" Hu asked while cowering.

"There are somethings lurking here," Mei replied.

"The chis are similar but I am sensing it from different positions," Ling said.

Soon they saw some other black particles emerging from below the floor. "Let's get out of here, this place doesn't seem right," Yin proposed while standing in the defensive stance with others.

"Agreed. The storm must have gone by now," Ling said.

Everyone quickly went out of that place, rode their horses and continued their journey to Amestris.