The Elemental Truth

The lakes were frozen solid, the land was covered in white and the trees were turned into sculptures as a boy walked through the valley of the Amestrian mountain range. 

The boy frowned as the biting cold made it difficult for him to traverse the mountain range. 

'Should have definitely brought some warm clothes.' He thought as he looked around the place but smiled as he saw a yak walking towards the only patch of grass in the entire area.

He lifted his arm and aimed it towards the yak. In a matter of seconds, an ice spear formed before his hand. 

'Can't afford to damage the fur.' He thought and aimed at the yak's head. With an explosive sound, the spear launched towards the yak and even before it could realise what was happening— it was dead. 

The boy was none other than Burne. 

Putting his hands back inside the pockets to prevent frostbite, he walked towards the carcass. 

"Sorry about it. But it had to be done." He said before putting his hand over the body. 

A transmutation circle appeared below the yak and within seconds, the fur was separated from the body. 

"Now onto the crafting." Burne mumbled. 

Following the same procedure, he kept his hand over the fur creating a circle below it. And just like before, the state of the material changed. This time forming clothing— a jacket, a pair of gloves and boots. 

He smiled and quickly dressed himself in fur clothing to help with the cold. 

He looked at the horizon. 'The altar shouldn't be too far away.'

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'Olivier Mira Armstrong'

Mira read the nameplate on the desk with a smile. 

'Major General'

She had worked so hard just for this day and now it was a reality. 

The nations were in a fickle relationship but everything seemed to be going perfectly for now and Mira knew that everything would stabilise in a few years. 

"Major General Armstrong. There is a letter for you." 

Mira woke up from her dazed state and found a tall man standing near the doorway. 

The man stood near the door with a serious face, that topped with his unique Mohawk-and-braid hairstyle and strong facial features— made him look domineering. 

"Buccaneer." Said Mira, acknowledging the man's presence. "You may enter."

The man nodded and walked in with an envelope in his left hand. The man lost his right arm in a battle and he had to use a mechanical arm in its place. The mechanical limbs were called 'Automails' and they have been in high demand since a certain engineer designed the first prototype. At first, it was only available to the military officials but with the increase in production and demand, it had been made available for the general public. 

And Buccaneer was an automail enthusiast so he had his automail replaced with a new one every month. The one he was currently wearing was an N-1664-G which was an arm made from titanium and Damascus steel— which gave the arm a distinct look. 

And it went without saying that it was very expensive.

"It's from the headquarters." He said before passing on the envelope. 

"Thank you." Mira said and tore open the envelope. 

Taking the letter out of the envelope, she started reading it. 

Buccaneer analysed her expression as she was reading the letter. He noticed that she raised an eyebrow while reading it. 

"Buccaneer, call Thomas and gather a few soldiers." She said with a smile. "Looks like you guys have a little exploration to do."

"Yes, Ma'am." Buccaneer said before looking at her. "May I know what the higher-ups want?"

It was rude for Buccaneer to ask Mira but she didn't mind as Buccaneer was an abrasive person and he didn't care much about the state. The only thing he cared about was the safety of his soldiers and the people of Amestris. And Mira respected the man for that.

"The altar near the border is now under the Amestrian control. We have been ordered to investigate if it can be rebuilt and turned into a second base. If we can turn it into another base, it will help strengthen our hold over the border." She looked at Buccaneer sternly. "You are tasked with making sure that no one misses anything. There might be some secrets hidden inside that altar that we can use it for our benefit."

Buccaneer saluted. "Yes ma'am!"

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Burne had walked miles just to get to this altar. 

The altar was one of the seven monuments that his grandfather had told him about. The castle of Xerxes was one of the seven and the second most important of the seven. According to his grandfather, the altar was the least important one but it was still enough to change the tide of war. 

His grandfather had found four of them, he passed away before he could find the other three— the castle of Xerxes was one of those three. 

His grandfather was a down to earth person who cared about advancing his alchemy and preserving the alchemic history. But Burne was not like him.

He was greedier than his grandfather and he was also warier. He knew that the nations were walking towards war and while many believed that the relationship between the nations was going to improve— Burne didn't. He was certain that there won't be peace before a war breaks out. He felt that a war was more possible than peace. 

'But that's not something that concerns me… for now.' He thought. 'I came to Briggs because this place is the most prone to getting destroyed if a war breaks out, and I don't want the secrets to be lost before I find them.'

He walked inside the broken building while examining every structure for clues. This place was in far worse condition than the castle of Xerxes. 

He didn't waste much time thinking about other things and continued going towards the altar while also examining the walls and pillars of the structure. 

He knew the location of the thing he was looking for but he still made sure to check every nook and cranny on his way as he didn't want to miss something that his grandfather might've missed. 

But he found nothing, which he didn't mind. He was certain that the thing he was looking for was inside the altar. He walked deeper inside the structure and after going through three rooms, he found the altar. 

But it was not what he was looking for. He searched around and found two tiles that were placed on the floor in an inverted pattern. Smiling at his discovery, he walked towards them and tapped on them consecutively with his feet. 

As he did that, a small button appeared to the left of the altar— which he pressed immediately. 

Once he pressed the button, a trap door opened and revealed a staircase that was situated at the left corner of the room.

He walked down the stairs and found a quartz wall placed at the centre of a dark room. He slowly went towards it while making sure that there were no hidden traps in the room. 

He walked in front of the wall and stood right before it. He smiled as he noticed a small rotatable tile on it. 

'There you here.'

He turned the tile to the right which caused the room to shake. The wall in front of him split in half and moved apart, revealing a massive stone tablet with text written on it. 

With a smile, Burne rubbed his fingers over it.

"Gramps knew the content of the tablet but he didn't tell me about it as he believed that every alchemist must discover the secrets on their own." He sighed. "But at least I have found it…" He smirked. "The Elemental Truth."

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[A/N: This chapter was half done but I somehow managed to complete it before I went shopping (so it's like 200 words less than average). That being said, it's not proofread. Anyways— hope you enjoy it.

Like always, leave paragraph comments next to errors and mistakes for me to fix them later.]

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