The Truth

Canto V - Human Transmutation Through the Use of a Philosopher's Stone

"This is the final layer, the final dimension within the Gate of Truth. This place is abhorrent in its sights, and is the most cruel of them all. This is where the alchemists who performed human transmutation through the use of a philosopher's stone lie," Hohenheim spoke cautiously.

Ed looked around them in vivid horror. People strung up by their innards, some rotting away, some just dried heaps. The ones on the ground had their limbs being ripped slowly from their body by the dark hands of Truth, and their intestines pulled out through their mouths. Vomit spewed from Ed's mouth as he took in the stench and sight. He didn't want to see this. He didn't want to feel this. Hohenheim came up behind him and spoke.

"I believe one of your friends is here."

Ed looked up at him with confusion. He didn't know anyone who used a philosopher's stone, not anyone he would consider a friend. He turned to the suffering populus in front of him; even among the faces that had yet not been ruined by rot were almost unrecognizable because of the blood. But a familiar voice erupted softly from the crowd.

"I didn't know, I didn't know..."

Ed followed the sound and found a stout, dark haired man lying in the middle of a transmutation circle. The man looked clean, surprisingly, but howled with pain. He flipped over and stared at Ed. It was Dr. Marcoh.

"Edward, no, why are you here? You succeeded in creating a philosopher's stone? But why would you? How could you? I thought, knowing you, you would destroy my notes after finding out they were made from human souls! I thought-"

Marcoh's sentence was cut off by a deep howl, and it was clear to see why. Dark hands had began to form from the edges of the transmutation circle. They reached for Marcoh and pulled at his appendages. "Fire! Get me out of the fire!" Marcoh cried.

Ed jumped back as one of the hands came up from behind Marcoh and slammed it's way

down his throat. Recalling what his father had said, Ed looked away before the hands began to pull at Marcoh's innards. Marcoh's screams were silenced by the wet choking sound soon after. Hearing as he could no longer talk to Marcoh, Ed walked back to Hohenheim, trying to keep the contents of his stomach settled so that they wouldn't spew out of his mouth.

Upon reaching him, Ed, forcing back vomit, asked, "What happens to them when everything is... ripped off and out?"

Hohenheim looked at him with a pale face, for he, too, was beginning to feel sick. "They're strung up, as we saw coming in, and left to rot. However, before they completely decompose, they are transmuted back into their original form, only to repeat the process. Because they tried to get away with cheating death, they must have to relive it forever." Hohenheim gagged a bit, obviously catching a whiff of a nearby corpse. "We should leave now, while we can. You don't want to be stuck here.

"But remember, Edward. There is no end to the Truth. It is boundless and cannot be known. Only a fool would think so. I certainly did." Hohenheim's eyes began to grow misty behind his glasses.

Ed nodded solemnly and hugged Hohenheim, something he had not done since he was a child.