LET"S GIVE FANFICTION WRITING A TRY
Lanfan trekked through the desert, hurridly looking for any signs of life. But for some reason, her surrounding seemed dangerously still. She could only feel the steady aura of multiple organisms half a li away. Lanfan was worried. Her metallic left arm had loosed up due to the rough conditions of travel and was barely holding together. She was on a desperate search to find food for her company of three, but her guts told her that she would need to seek shelter and fast. Caught between two choices, Lanfan stopped to ponder the benefits of wither choice. If she went back to her master, she may be able to keep him safe, but the whole group would go hungry for the third day in a row. But if she made her way to that location, she would be able to find food, and hopefully the water essential for life. And if she traveled fast enough, she would be able to get back to Mei Chang and her master pretty quickly. Deciding upon the latter, Lanfan picked up her pace, running towards the source of the life energy she felt. Strangely enough, through all the exertion of energy involved with running, she did not feel any sweat dripping down her body.
Nearing her destination, Lanfan suddenly felt very, very dizzy. Her surroundings were starting to shake and Lanfan wondered if it was an earthquake. Quickly tossing aside that notion as she couldn't hear any shaking nor rumbling, she hurried on, slowly nearing her destination. Lanfan could see trees by then. Lush, green vegetation that she had not seen for weeks. A sparkle of water drew in her eyes as the light reflected off a small body of water. She gave a burst of speed and finally reached the water. The young woman cupped some water to relieve her sore throat. Filling her canteens, Lanfan was excited to inform her companions of this great news. Standing up quickly, she felt a sudden burst of nausea. The muscles in her legs weakened and she collapsed into the ground, her already loose automail arm landed hard across the water, creating a large splash with pieces of metals mixed in. Then everything turned black as Lanfan promptly fainted, hitting her head hard on the ground.
The merciless sun beat down upon a seventeen year old girl as she trudged with her camel through the hot desert. Pushing her black bangs out of her face, the girl brought her canteen up to her cracked lips, hoping to ease her raw throat. After taking the long awaited gulp of water, the young woman sighed. That canteen was her last. If she didn't find an oasis soon, she would die of thirst in this wretched desert. Her supply of food was in the red as well. But it would be days before she would arrive at the border to Xing, and weeks more before she would reach her destination, the Capital. A nudge at her side brought her back down from her train of thoughts.
"What's wrong, Mu? Do you want some water?" She asked, addressing the camel, her only companion in the barren desert. Mu had been given to her by her father, along with a mysterious red stone that was given to their family as a gift by an Amestrian, before she had left the kind Xingnese village she had grown up in. The red stone had amazing healing powers as it could regenerate an entire leg if it was cut off. If she had ever gotten hurt, the red stone would heal her in no time with the help of simple alkhshestry.
Her father had sent her to Xing, her parent's birthplace with the hope that she could train to become a guard serving the new emperor. But right now, the girl was concentrating on how to actually get to the capital in time. She should be already at the next oasis already, if it was not for a sand storm the night before that set her off course. Her Uncle, her only other family left in this world who lived in the capital was going to be upset, as she was already two days behind in her journey.
The camel snorted and yanked its reins out of the adolescents hand and began to make its way over a small sand dune. Curious at the creature's strange behavior, the youth followed the camel.
What seemed like heaven greeted the young woman's eyes. Mu had lead her to a small oasis, a tiny patch of life amongst the lifeless desert. The teenager ran towards the patch of water, almost laughing with joy. She was about to jump into the water, when the camel blocked her path.
"Mu, did you want to get to the water first?" The girl teased as she grabbed a hold of the camels reins, attempting to pull the camel aside to open up a path to the water. But the camel yanked at the reins until the girl followed her to the other side of the pool. The young woman gasped. Distracted by the pristine water and the lush vegetation, she had not noticed a small, black clad figure collapsed with an arm in the water hiding under the shadows of some trees. The figure was surrounded with tiny pieces of complex metal parts.
"Dear ancestors, are you alright?" The woman prodded the stranger, trying to find a sign of life within. The girl flipped aside the heavy hood of the figure, to find a pale girl that looked to be around her own age. Her wet bangs covered her face and hair had fallen loose from what seemed to be a bun. The panicking teen reached for an arm, something that could help determine the pulse of the fainted character. Not long after, she pulled her arm back when her fingers brushed against something hot and metallic. She carefully removed the cloth that was covering the foreign piece of broken metal.
"Automail," she gasped. "It's in pieces and is useless in this state but it seemed to be well made." The young woman snapped out of her daze upon seeing the mechanisms and quickly moved to the other side of the unconscious girl, grabbing her right arm. A faint beat thudded against her fingertips. The teen sighed in relief, the stranger was still alive. She could not fathom why she was so relieved at the stranger was alive. But it felt like something was telling her that she had to save the fallen girl no matter what. And if the adolescent didn't act quickly, her instincts told her that the life of the stranger would be gone.
The young woman dragged the stranger away from the water and under some shade. It was lucky that the bizarre stranger had fainted near the water. If she had lost conscious somewhere else, the automail would have quite literally burned her shoulder off. The teen then proceeded to draw a simple alkahestry circle around the motionless stranger. She slammed her hands against the ground and then there was a flash of light. The camel grunted, looking away. The juvenile girl wiped her forehead and was momentarily relieved. Without her automail, the strange girl's chanced of survival was boosted by a tenfold.
The camel gave a loud cry and the girl looked back to the fainted individual.
"Ai ya! I messed up! If this girl dies, it would be all my fault! What would Father say if he found out that I overlooked something this simple?", the alkahestrist groaned. She had over looked the fact that a person would bleed to death if their automail was so hastily removed. Without a second thought, the teenage girl pulled off the red stone that was dangling upon her neck and pressed her hands to the ground again. The flash of blue light that was so commonly acknowledged as a sign of alkahestry was now tinged with red. A lump of flesh that was looking similar to an arm was slowly forming on the fainted girl. A bead of sweat dripped down the alkahestrists scrunched up face. The camel grunted with unease as the transmutation continued.
The aura of energy slowly faded away and the young alkahestrist collapsed next to the fainted stranger. The ruby red stone crumbled into dust and disappeared into the air, but that had gone unnoticed by the unconscious girls. The camel plopped down beside the girls chewing at the bush beside it as it watched over the teens.
There was a soft nudge at the side of the young alkahestrist and she rolled away with a moan.
"Five more minutes, Aya. Let me sleep for ten more minutes."
She was nudged again, this time with more force.
"Fine! Just 5 more minutes...", she grunted.
"OUCH!" She got nipped this time. "Fine Aya! I'll get up!" She exclaimed and she clumsily crawled up into a sitting position. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. The sun was setting and she could already feel the night wind blowing. A weak moan caught her ears. The girl beside her was stirring.
"Ancestors, forgive me! I can't believe that I forgot about you." She scrambled to her feet and grabbed a her flask of water. She cradles the girls head and brought the opening of the canteen to the girls lips and tipped it. A small stream of water dribbled down the side of the weak girls cheek.
"Please drink up, if we don't get any more liquid in you, all my hard work saving you would be for naught!"The water continued to fall.
"Please, if you fall asleep again, there is no guarantee that you will ever wake up! There must be some important reason that you would be crossing this desert, correct? Why else would you risk your life doing this dangerous thing?" The girl twitched weakly and the stream of water sliding down her cheek slowed down.
"Yes, keep drinking! Somebody in this world must still wants you to live. If you give up now, I am sure that they would be sad." The young girls eye fluttered open and she choked on the water.
The alkahestrist tossed the canteen to the side and patted the stranger's back as she coughed. Then there was a faint noise coming from the girls lips.
"What did you say?" The alkahestrist asked, concerned.
"F-f-food, p-please. I'm s-starving" The stranger finally rasped out. The young woman sighed in relief, the life of the girl that she had painstakingly saved was finally starting to flow again. She dug into her bag and handed the stranger a piece of jerky and a small loaf of bread. The raven haired girl grabbed the meat and hungrily bit in. The alkahestrist stood up and walked towards the camel that had been patiently sitting at the side. With a smile, she walked past the camel and began to gather firewood. They would all be better off with some warmth.
The fire crackled as the two girl awkwardly sat beside the fire. The moon had reached its peak and not a single word had left the foreign girl's mouth after she thanked the alkahestrist for the food. Every time the alkahestrist moved, the strange girl would flinch. The young woman didn't want to scare the awakened girl by making anymore movements, but the everlasting silence was becoming ridiculous. As comfortable as they may be physically thanks to the fire, food and water, the silence was really starting to get on the alkahestrist's nerves.
"My name is Hua Mei, but you can just call me Hua. So why is a young girl like you traveling across the desert alone? Also, what is your name?" Mei asked, cautiously testing the waters with this strange girl.
Only silence answered Hua. Hua was about to give up ever communicating with the stranger when finally the girl spoke.
"I don't know." The monotonous girl finally replied.
"Eh? What do you mean?" Mei replied, shocked.
"I'm sorry but I really don't know."
li- an ancient Chinese unit for measuring distance. It is around 500 metres long or 1640 feet. Since Xing seemed to be based on China, i used some concepts that would be common in ancient China.
ok super duper lame but i would love some feedback including a possible title?
also super lame insert of a convenient OC that has the powers and the resources to save Lanfan
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