The Wandering Alchemist

No wind seemed to blew upon the flowery field. As if the field was also mourning for the dead.

There was Mokuro, laying on the ground as Shirohara sat beside him. His chest was bleeding, his veins had turned black. He held Shirohara's face.

"Hey, Shirohara… I remember now. Mokuro… was my surname… my family… I don't know about them… I was chosen as warrior for a war… and eventually… I lost myself… My shapeshifting ability… and me turning into a falan… I became an owl… like my personality… Hey, Shirohara? Are you listening?" he asked. He couldn't see her anymore. His eyes had turned black.

"Yes Mokuro… I'm listening! Don't leave me please." Shirohara cried as she tightly grips Mokuro's hands.

"Never make any promises that you cannot fulfill, like how I promised to come back to my family… but I never did. Shirohara… you'll meet a lot of people in your journey… and I hope someday, I'm going to meet you too, once again." He smiled as he closed his eyes. "Shirohara… I… I… bless you." Those were his last words as he lost his life.

"Mokuro! No! Please don't leave me! Somebody! Please help us! Sonya! Mac! Sir Marcus! Please… help…" she cried until her lungs felt like they ran out of air.

Later on, she heard footsteps. She was laying her head on Mokuro's chest.

"Who's there!?" She asked as she looked around.

"Were you the one yelling for help earlier?" A man's voice said yet nowhere to be seen.

"Yes! Please my friend needs help. Where are you?" She asked as she looks where the voice came from.

The bulky man that he met earlier appeared. "Sadly, no help will come." He grinned at her as he kicked her stomach.

Shirohara was sent rolling over the field.

"I hate you… You should be the one who died!" she yelled at him.

"Well, what will you do anyway? You're surrounded." Just as he said that, many men have gathered.

Shirohara was helpless she closed her eyes and screamed "Wish that all of you would die!"

The men laughed at her yet suddenly, strong gusts of winds surrounded Shirohara and the men were dragged with the wind. It was very strong and they couldn't hear their yelling and asking for help. Shirohara slowly opened her eyes and found herself in the middle of a vortex where the hunters were.

She watched them as their body slowly turned into dusts. It lasted for a few minutes yet she sat in there emotionless next to Mokuro's body.

As the hunters had gone with the wind, Shirohara still sat in there motionless.

"You… are not going to move in there until his body would decompose, eh?" A man said.

Shirohara's senses seemed to return.

"Huh?" She asked as she turned around.

There she saw a man who seemed to be in his twenties standing a few meters away from her. He wore a black robe down to his legs, he looked like a grim reaper for her. His eyes were very dark and so was his wavy hair.

"Are you… the grim reaper that will take Mokuro's soul… could you… kill me too?" She asked sadly.

The man tried to hold his laugh but he couldn't.

"No, I'm not a grim reaper. You didn't seem to see it but his soul had already descended. I can't believe the gods have chosen such a crybaby this time." He sighed as he was still chuckling.

"Then what are you?" she asked. Her eyes were dry and her face was covered with dust.

"I'm an alchemist." He smiled at her.

The two of them looked eye to eye in an awkward silence. That happened for like five minutes.

"Are you the one who… turned those bad humans into dust?" she asked at him seriously.

"Yes, though I'm sorry I was late. I couldn't save everyone else." He said and still not moving towards Shirohara as if she was a wild animal.

Another awkward silence yet the man seems to be patient.

"Will you… teach me how did you do it?" she asked.

"Of course, if you'll do it for justice. I was given a duty to guide the chosen one." his smile was sinister yet seems to be calming.

"I'll go with you… but Mokuro…" her face become sad again as she looked into the ground.

"Didn't he gave you your soul gem earlier?" he asked as he slowly walks towards her.

"Soul gem… wait..." she looked furiously at the man. "You were watching yet you didn't even helped us! I was crying for help yet you didn't even come to help!?" she stood up and glared at him.

"Yes, I was. But a dragon's poisonous blood had no cure. I can't save him." He told her. "But the first thing you must learn before I taught you how I turned those bad guys into dust is how to control your emotions." He added.

"What do you mean?" she looks down.

He slowly approached Mokuro and touched his head. Slowly, his body was surrounded by faint light like fireflies in the broad daylight and his corpse disappeared. Not even a piece of his feathers were left.

"What did you do to him!?" Shirohara looked worried at the spot where Mokuro was.

"I sent him to the goddess of death and rebirth, don't worry. But I'd be honest to you right now, you are still weak, you will not be able to protect those things you love if you are weak. Your emotions make you weak. You won't be able to make any good decisions if you let your emotions flood over you. Now, chosen Lunarian. I, Namia will teach you alchemy. However, before that there are a lot of things you had to know in this world. I would teach you alchemy if you'll find me." He said as he turned his back and walked away.

Shirohara was still there, holding her tears and her soul gem. She watched him disappear into the bushes of white flower leaves.

She was still stunned after being called weak. Yet she had nowhere to go to. She closed her eyes and decided to follow Namia.

However, she couldn't find him. She cursed as she thought that she should've followed immediately, now this man popped out of nowhere and suddenly disappeared. Shirohara felt mad. She feels angry, she was feeling guilty, she was also mourning. Her emotions floods inside her that she didn't know what to do.

She kept running and running all over the field yet she couldn't find him. She decided to go to the burrow but it's all blown up, the entrance was covered by soil.

She sat in the ground thinking what she should do but because of the events that happened just this day, she couldn't focus. She kept on thinking about everyone. All those falans were her friends, her family. She felt tired as she lay flat on the ground staring at the cloudy sky.

She closed her eyes and ended up taking a nap.

Meanwhile, Namia watched over her on top of a tree a few meters away. He smiled at her.

"Mokuro, I don't really know… if she's ready. But I trust you anyway, I'll be patient until that day comes." He said to himself.

~*~

Shirohara woke up in the evening. The sapphire moon rises above the sky.

She remembered last night. She never thought that would be the last night she'll experience happiness. While she was asleep, she had a dream about what Mokuro taught her.

"Okay, so when you're in a high place, you would be able to see through everything after all. That's the best place to go whenever you're looking for something." Mokuro pointed a tall tree in the dark forest through his beak.

"That tree is tall, hold on tight, we're going in there!" Mokuro happily said as Shirohara hold onto his talons tightly.

They can see the whole flower field in there.

"Hey, Shirohara. To be honest, I won't be by your side all the time but… those years I've spent with you were… I can say they were the best… ever since I became a falan, I couldn't remember anything about if ever I had a family… or a wife… you see. And in my dreams… I can see a woman, though very faint… She and our kids were waiting for me. Well, I can't leave this place but you can. And if ever someday when you grow up and you found my family… tell them I'm sorry… I couldn't come back… but I got the feeling I miss them a lot and they miss me too. Like a whole personality of me… I mean why whole existence as a falan, there's always missing. I know I'm not the only one who felt this, even Mac. He said he was a farmer before and Sonya was a nurse. We're just a bunch of lost people here. That's what I think. But you, you had a great journey ahead of you. And when you're feeling lost or losing something, climb up your tree, it'll lift your spirit." The owl smiled at her.

That was six years ago. She was still young and naïve that time, but somehow now she understood what he said. It was kind of vague but she hopes that would work out somehow.

And somehow, it came to her senses. She might find that man in black if she'll go up there, even though in the middle of the night.

"It was only a few meters away" she thought. She ran towards there panting and when she reached, she looked up and realized how tall it was. But thanks to the crimson flower vines that covers the tree, she was able to climb up.

She didn't mind the pain of slipping. She had no idea what she was doing in there anyway. But she had this thought that maybe, just maybe, she would be able to find someone in there.

A little more, she thought. She was feeling hungry yet didn't dare falter. She doesn't have anything left. But with just a few conversations with that man, it made her curious. At some point, she had the feeling that she already seen him somewhere.

As she was about to reach the top, she saw a figure of a man.

"Namia!" she called.

Namia looked behind him and saw Shirohara smiling at him.

She had bruises and pollens from the crimson flowers that she probably holds into.

Namia didn't know what to say.

"Well, I guess you're right after all, Mokuro." He smiled at Shirohara.

Though Shirohara was panting from climbing, she also felt somewhat dizzy.

"Mr. Namia? Are you with someone else?" she asks. She can see that there are two Namia's in front of her.

"Huh? I don't have anyone else with me." He replied and remembered that crimson flower pollens emit toxins that makes anyone came in contact to it develop hallucinations.

"Okay kid, you've done great but don't move. You're hallucinating." They were both standing on a different branch but Namia tries to walk towards where Shirohara was.

"Oh, there are like four of you now… It's so… dark." She said as she lost her balance and slipped.

Namia managed to catch her and he forgot he was an alchemist. He sighed and carried Shirohara as he turned himself into a gust of wind.

He landed on the ground. However, he managed to hear some whispers and footsteps.

"Humans." He thought as he stood beside a crimson tree.

"So, the whole party that were looking for falans have disappeared here. The survivor couldn't talk and he was scared, then he killed himself. I think the lead sent by the villagers were wrong. Those that lived here were probably ferals or demons, they're more dangerous than falans." A soldier explained to a man riding a white stallion.

"I see, I understood. This is a casualty then. I want you to look for those villagers and eliminate them for false information. That's an order." The man commanded.

"As you commanded, General Mazio." The soldier obeyed and walked away.

Meanwhile, the general looked at the tree where Namia blended himself with. The man smiled and left as Namia remained calm.

"Chaos." He thought, and he walked on the opposite direction, away from the dark forest.