Coming Age

This is a story I will work on in my free time. I will set no time limits for when I update it, but will work on it when I feel the desire to do so. Whenever I do update it, I will post a notification of the update in this thread and I will put the new part of the story into a spoiler marked 'Latest Update'. The rest of the story, the old updates, will go in a spoiler marked 'Old Updates'. For now, however, since this is the first and only part of the story, I will not bother labeling it or putting it in a spoiler.

Theme Song (A decent fandub version of an FMAB opening song. Not mine.)

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Advent

Dark clouds swirled overhead a deep canyon. A light rain drizzled down, creating mudslides on the sides of the two mountains that formed the gorge. Thunder occasionally boomed in the far distance while a strong wind swept through the chasm, both bringing with them the promise of worsening weather conditions.

A lone figure walked through the canyon. The figure's features were hidden beneath an all-encompassing, black cloak. All that could be discerned from the figure's appearance was that he was male. A large sword, wrapped in white cloth, had been slung across the man's shoulders by a brown, leather belt that circled his upper body.

Despite the stormy weather, the man did not seem to be in any sort of hurry. He took careful, measured steps, his head rotating back and forth slowly, as if looking for something. He came to a sudden halt and tilted his head to the right. Then, reaching back, he drew his sword from the strap that held it and, without removing the sword's cloth, pointed the weapon down, towards the ground on his right.

"Open," the man said. His voice revealed that he was young, but he spoke as one who had authority and expected to be obeyed.

All at once, everything came to a halt. A bolt of lightning which had been about to strike the side of the canyon floated there, looking bright and deadly. A large boulder, which had been dislodged by a mudslide, also stopped in place. The rain paused, millions of droplets simply hovering all around the man.

Then cracks began to appear in front of the tip of the man's sword. The cracks raced through the rest of the canyon's path, both ahead and behind the man, they ran up both of the mountains' sheer cliffs, and even shot up into the sky to spread through the clouds. With a sound like breaking glass, the fractured landscape and sky, shattered into thousands of pieces, all of which fell past the man, only to vanish into the dark void which lay beneath it. Nothing remained except the man and the surrounding darkness.

The man did not move. His fingers tightened on the hilt of the sword and he waited in silence.

He did not have to wait long. The creature he was waiting for soon arrived with a bellowing roar that shook even the void and almost made the man lose his grip on his weapon. Two, huge menacing eyes peered out of the darkness, staring directly at the man.

"WELCOME, CHILD," the creature said, its voice so loud and powerful that even simply talking sounded like it was shouting. "DON'T THINK FOR AN INSTANT THAT YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME. I CAN STILL SMELL YOU. WHY DON'T YOU COME OUT SO THAT WE CAN TALK FREELY?"

The man reached up, took hold of the dark cloak, and literally ripped it off, throwing its remains away from him. This might have seemed impressive at first glance, but as the cloak floated away, it revealed its true nature by bursting into a flood of darkness which was swept away into the void.

Now free of the cloak, the man stood tall, his defiant gaze meeting the creature's red eyes. He had long, light brown hair that hung all the way down to the base of his neck and he had golden eyes that glowed with a strange, ethereal light. Underneath the cloak he had been wearing a light-colored, hooded trenchcoat. His lower body was covered by a pair of dark pants, over which he wore several belts, which were placed not only around his waist, but also each of his legs. The belts looked metallic and shone in what little light infiltrated the dark place where the man stood. On his feet, the man wore a pair of long, almost pointed, shoes that looked like they were made out of the same metallic material as the belts.

Most important of all his strange appearance, was the man's left arm. Unlike his right arm and hand, which were covered by the sleeve of his coat and a black glove respectively, the man had a gauntlet attached to his left arm. Other than the palm of his left hand and the underside of his fingers on that hand, both of which were hidden underneath a black glove like his right hand, the rest of the man's left arm was completely covered by the gauntlet. It was in the left hand that the man carried his sword, still wrapped in the white cloth.

"HAVE YOU COME TO KILL ME?" the large creature inquired. "HAVE YOU NOT FIGURED IT OUT YET? I CANNOT DIE IN THIS PLACE! NOT BY THE HAND OF ONE SUCH AS YOURSELF."

The man continued to remain silent, though his fingers tightened even more on the hilt of the sword he held. The creature took notice of this and grinned, showing for the first time its glistening, white fangs.

"I SEE THAT YOU ALREADY REALIZE THIS," the creature commented. "IN THAT CASE, ONE HAS TO WONDER: IF NOT TO KILL ME, WHY DID YOU COME HERE?" Still silence. The creature frowned. "MY PATIENCE IS GROWING THIN. SPEAK, HUMAN, OR I SHALL END YOUR LIFE THIS INSTANT."

This time, there was a response. To the creature's great surprise and anger, the man smiled slightly and chuckled.

"You are so narrow minded," the man replied. "You believe that simply because I cannot kill you here that you are invincible. But what if I told you that I could destroy everything you have built and bring it crashing down around you? Would you be so confident, then? When even the darkness itself can no longer shield you from me?"

"YOU LIE!" this time, the creature was not merely talking. The sheer volume of its voice almost shattered the man's ear drums and the surrounding darkness began to swirl dangerously, just like the dark clouds that had filled the sky above the canyon. "YOU WOULD NOT DARE TO PROVOKE ME SO! YOU KNOW WHAT I WILL DO IF YOU TRY IT!"

"I don't care anymore," the man replied, his voice soft, but by no means was he scared. "The time when your petty speeches would terrify me is long gone. You destroyed everyone and everything that I cared about. Now, I'm going to do the same to you."

With another titanic roar, the creature raised a dark fist, one that materialized out of the void, and it brought its fist crashing down on the man. However, before the fist could reach him, the man raised his sword in front of him, with its blade facing towards the sky. A barrier of light surrounded the man's body and the fist, when it hit the barrier, was incinerated.

The man let go of his sword and it remained there, suspended before him. The white cloth fell away, finally revealing the weapon beneath. The sword was beautiful. Its blade shone like the sun, banishing the nearby shadows. For a brief moment, it looked like the light would push the darkness back all the way to the creature itself, maybe even reveal the form of the beast. Unfortunately, it fell far short, coming to a halt several yards away, the darkness containing it.

The man took note of the light's limited reach and he accepted it with a half disappointed sigh.

"And here I was hoping I would get a lucky break," he commented. "Ah well."

The man clapped his hands together and held them in that position. He lowered his head, his eyes closing, as if in prayer. A ring of light formed around his body and his eyes opened once more, their golden glow intensifying.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, CHILD?" the creature growled. It was trying to sound self-assured, but it was obvious that the creature was somewhat unnerved. "YOU CALLED ME PETTY, BUT IF YOU THINK THAT THIS LIGHT SHOW WILL HELP YOU, THINK AGAIN."

Wisps of darkness streaked through the aura of light that surrounded the sword and the man. The darkness shot towards the man in an effort to reach him, but fizzled out several inches from his body.

"I CAN ALMOST TOUCH YOU," the creature said with a smile. "YOU ARE POWERFUL, BUT EVEN YOU CANNOT STOP ME LIKE THIS. IT WAS FOOLISH FOR YOU TO COME HERE. WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY HOPE TO GAIN BY COMING HERE?"

"An opportunity," the man replied. "I know that I cannot kill you. I know that, alone, I cannot even weaken the darkness long enough to harm you. But there is one thing I can do: And that is slow you down. There will be a day when someone, somewhere, can defeat you." The man smiled, looking almost wistful. "I only wish I could be there when it happens."

That got the creature's attention.

"DO YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT SACRIFICING YOURSELF WILL BUY ENOUGH TIME FOR THAT?" the creature asked in disbelief. "A FIGHT BETWEEN US WILL LAST ONLY MINUTES!"

The ring around the man's body was now joined by two more rings, which, together, spun around the man's body in the shape of an X. The man saw this and closed his eyes once more, this time in acceptance and peace.

"It is done," he said. "The time for words is over. I will show you what I have planned and you can decide for yourself, whether or not this is a sacrifice worth making for the future!"

The three rings expanded, growing until they were hundreds of feet in diameter. The man extended one of his hands, as if reaching for something in front of him and streams of light burst from the blade of his sword. The streams shot into the darkness and a moment later, disappeared, obscured by the shadows. Unseen by the man, the streams of light looped around the creature's arms and legs and drew them together in front of the creature.

Despite being unable to see the results of his spell, the man knew exactly what was going on and after counting to five to give the streams time to do their work, he launched two of the rings that surrounded him. They were the two rings that formed an X and they shot into the darkness, found the creature's arms and legs, and clamped down on them, effectively hogtying the creature.

"SO YOU TRAPPED ME," the creature commented, sounding puzzled. "IT MIGHT BE IMPRESSIVE IF THIS WERE A DUEL, FOUGHT SOMEWHERE ELSE…" The creature looked at the man and grinned when it saw the sweat pouring down his face and how the aura of light around him was losing ground to the surrounding darkness. "…BUT HERE, WITH YOU ALREADY AT SUCH A DISADVANTAGE, THAT ONE SMALL VICTORY COST YOU DEARLY. AND I WILL BE FREE OF THESE RESTRAINTS IN MERE MOMENTS."

"Those 'mere moments' are all I need," the man said. He clapped his hands together once more and as he pulled them apart, a strange, arcane symbol glowed on the palms of each of his hands. "As soon as I touch you, this seal will trap me inside of you."

For a moment, the creature was simply confused. Then its red eyes widened in understanding and horror at the implications of what would happen.

"N-NOOO! STOP!" the creature howled. It began thrashing around, trying to tear itself free, but the rings of light held fast. "YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DO THIS!"

"Not really," the man said, sounding thoughtful. "No, I think I will live on within you, in a manner of speaking." The man looked down at the symbols on his hands. "With my light trapped inside of you, I wonder what sort of effect that will have on your power? I doubt you will find my restraints so easy to break with my light weakening you from the inside out."

The creature began to scream and curse at the man, but the man was no longer listening. He looked at his sword, for the first time seeming truly sad. Leaning forward, he whispered something to the weapon and then, loud enough for even the creature to hear, he said: "Go." Immediately, the sword shot into the dark sky and vanished in the void.

Darkness swept in to try and claim the man now that he was no longer protected by his sword. However, the streams of light that had shot from the sword earlier, now swept back to surround the man, who flew forward towards the creature. For the first time, the man seemed to take notice of the creature's curses and loud shouts and he frowned.

"Oh, shut up," the man said.

The final ring of light flew from around the man's body and clamped down, around on the creature's jaw, silencing it. It could only look on in hate and fury as the man approached its waist.

For a moment, the man simply floated there. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he thought about all he had lost and what was about to happen to him.

"Goodbye…"

Then he pressed his hands to the creature's side and darkness filled his vision.