“you sure this is the right place?”
“Pretty sure …”
“It doesn’t look like the right place.”
“It doesn’t, does it …”
The two boys hunched over the map spread out between them.
“This has to be it!”
“Well, the old geezer at the station said we’d find it at the end of these rails.”
They looked down at the rails stretching out in a perfectly straight line from the toes of their boots. Straight. Not even a hint of a curve. There was no way they could have gotten lost.
“Across the carpet of green, to the mountains of hope, and the tall peak shining of gold,” recited Edward, scanning the land ahead of them. “This sure doesn’t look like Xenotime—like a town of gold.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Alphonse agreed.
Edward Elric was dressed in black, save for a pair of white gloves and a red coat. A long braid of golden-blond hair hung down his back. His eyes were the same color as his hair, and they shone with a steely confidence and resolve. Though he seemed a bit cocky for his age, Edward carried the burden of a troubled past—one that had left him with a right hand and left leg of automail.
His companion, Alphonse Elric, was his younger brother.
Alphonse was entirely encased in a suit of bronze-hued armor so large that it was hard to imagine the boy inside was a full year younger than Edward. And in truth, there was no boy inside. The suit of armor was empty. The only thing that made him a person instead of a heap of metal was a single letter written in blood on the inside of the armor that bound Alphonse’s soul inside it.
In comparison to the giant suit of armor, Edward, who was already short for his age, looked even smaller, and few who saw him believed he was the elder of the two.
“We’ve been walking so long, I can’t believe we haven’t seen any people!” Edward turned and gazed at the rails stretched out behind them. He could see the station they had departed from, far off in the distance. Ahead of them, the rails continued on until they were swallowed up by the town. The entire time they had been walking, they had seen no one, nor had anything come down the tracks.
Xenotime, the Town of Gold. The two brothers were well versed in the legends of this town whose mountain had held extraordinarily rich veins of gold. Never at a loss for raw material, the town’s goldsmiths were unparalleled, and Xenotime goldware sold for a premium price. Once a green agricultural town, Xenotime was said to be a paradise where gold glittered between every swaying blade of grass. The brothers knew the first gold rush was long gone and that they were arriving well past the town’s peak. Still, they hoped for at least a glimpse of the glory that was Xenotime, land of plenty.
They saw nothing but a land of sand.
The rails that had led them there were coated with rust, and the wooden ties beneath were rotted and splintered. When the wind blew, the dust rose and hid the far-off houses beneath a haze. Beyond the town loomed a bizarre hulk that must once have been a great mountain. Cut to bits and dug out, it was a husk of its former self. All that remained was countless piles of rock like stacks of firewood.
Abandoned mining carts, rocks, and sandy gravel—barely contained by rusted iron fences—lay by the tracks. It was a desolate scene.
A small iron crane was set into the brown earth nearby. A lone pulley on a chain hung from it, rattling in the wind.
“Looks like none of this has been used in a long time.” Edward pointed at the crane, red with rust. “This tower looks like it would fall over if you poked it with your finger.” Edward laughed and leaned on one of the rusty supports. The crane lurched to the side.
“Yikes!”
He hadn’t meant to knock the crane over, and now it was too late to stop it. It collapsed with a long, weary shriek of metal. Edward was speechless.
“Looks like you’re right, Ed.”
Edward stared at the crane sprawled on the ground. The thought occurred to him that the people of the town might have need of it.
“It’s so rusty, it’s got to be abandoned, right?” Edward asked hopefully, his face grim.
Alphonse shook his head. “Hear those sounds from the town? They must still be excavating.”
They stood absolutely still and they could hear sounds carried on the wind, sounds of machinery moving and of rocks being piled. Edward sighed. It seemed likely that the town still used that rusted crane, and it was a sure bet they wouldn’t look kindly on the ones who had wrecked it. In his travels, Edward had found that it wasn’t a good policy to make trouble upon arriving at your destination. Trouble was sure to come later, as it was.
“You really need to be more careful, Ed.”
Edward’s shoulders slumped. Bad enough that his little brother towered over him—now he was scolding him. “Guess we ought to fix it,” Edward muttered, passing his traveling trunk to his brother.
“Why can’t you ever learn to look but not touch?”
While his brother grumbled, Edward stood in front of the fallen crane and swiftly brought his hands together.
For a moment, it looked as if the air around the crane contracted. An instant later, the atmosphere around them snapped and vibrated, and light streamed everywhere.
“Good as new! Let’s go, Al.”
The light dissipated. Edward retrieved his trunk and began walking again. Alphonse hurried to catch up with him. Behind them, the crane stood exactly as it had when they arrived.
the brothers finally reached the town. Only a few dilapidated houses awaited them. The windowsills and foundations had turned the same dusty brown as the ground on which the buildings stood. At first Alphonse and Edward thought the place was abandoned, but when they reached the town center, they sensed activity. The sound of people’s voices and breaking rocks echoed between the buildings. “Open” signs hung in shop windows, and they caught glimpses of rich goldware hanging on the walls inside.
“I was hoping this was the place.” Edward’s eyes followed a slow-moving rail cart. “So much gold was found here, I thought maybe … But this place looks pretty run down.”
“Think we should move on?”
“No.” Edward’s eyes shone with determination. “We promised ourselves we’d check out every lead, every ‘what if’ and ‘maybe,’ and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Alphonse nodded. “Okay.”
“All right then.”
They glanced at each other, then headed toward a building that stood in the middle of the town square. Its sign read “tavern.” It had been a long journey, and they needed a rest.
The tavern held ten tables. A few grimy miners were drinking coffee inside. The brothers seated themselves, acknowledging the stares with a nod.
“Look, Al—goldware designs!” Edward pointed at inked schematics hanging on the walls. “Some rich guy somewhere must have the real things.”
“Wow!” Alphonse exclaimed, genuinely impressed.
The designs were elegant and highly detailed. Edward imagined the finished objects must be priceless works of art. Though these were only the blueprints, they were enough to impress the travelers with the skill of the town’s craftsmen.
“Whoa! Check out the price! That’s one … No, ten …” Edward leaned closer to one of the pictures and studied the record of sale at the bottom. Slowly, he counted off zeros on his fingers. “Five million cens! For real?!”
While his brother counted off prices, Alphonse examined the designs. There were large bowls with fine detailing and small tables with short legs. To think that each of those black lines represented solid gold! Alphonse had no desire for such luxury, but the designs were exquisite. He looked over the largest one. Even without seeing the finished product, he could tell it was a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
“I guess I’ve always written off goldware as just some gaudy luxury for the rich.”
“But it’s a real art, isn’t it?”
Alphonse turned to see who had said the words that had been forming on the tip of his tongue.
“What can I bring you, gentlemen?” continued the speaker, a rather tall man with a whiskered chin. He wore a cooking apron. Alphonse concluded he must be the tavern’s proprietor. “Welcome, travelers! Those goldware designs are certainly something to look at, but if it’s food you’re after, my herbed chicken is a work of art in its own right!”
The man laughed easily, and the other patrons joined the conversation. “Better order the chicken! Can’t rightly recommend anything else on the menu!” someone shouted, and the room filled with laughter.
“That stew the other day tasted like sawdust!”
“Ha! I tried it too—nearly lost a tooth!”