We live in a reality that has a twin and the two are complete opposites of each other but somehow, they coexist.

Shinjuku District of Tokyo Japan

In a bar located not so far from the Highschool

Time: 7:15 pm

Takeshi was found laying on a bed, in a well-lit room which was in the backroom of the bar where only staff were allowed to enter. He began to wake up slowly, opening his eyes a bit. He took a deep breath and then slowly sat up. He then proceeded to stretch his arms and his body but then he felt a sudden sharp pain which made him wince.

“Shit… what the hell…”

He looked around and finally noticed that he wasn’t in his apartment which he expected to be in, he turned his eyes to his hands and upper body and noticed that he was covered in bandages.

“Shit what happened to me?”

He asked himself, he tried to remember the past events before he went unconscious but then came a headache which made him wince in pain a little. He proceeded to get up from the bed even though his body still needed more rest. As he forced himself to get up, a man came in and saw the state of Takeshi.

“Hey… don’t stress yourself…after the things that you went through a few hours ago, you definitely need to take it easy” said the man with a smile on his face, trying to persuade Takeshi to still relax, like he had all the time in the world.

 

Takeshi stared at the man, curious to know who he was, maybe he was the one that took him in and bandaged him up. He proceeded to sit down on the bed and obey the man because it was true that his body still needed rest. The man proceeded to take a bench and sit down a bit close to him.

“Well, I guess I should introduce myself… the name’s Ryuji Kato or you can just call me boss if you want…pleasure to meet you” the man who was known as Ryuji said, introducing himself. He had a cool appearance for a middle-aged man. He wore a nice wine-coloured shirt, a pair of black slim jeans and a pair of black shoes, he also wore some accessories but the ones that caught Takeshi’s attention was the ring that Ryuji had clipped to his tongue and another ring which he wore on his left ring finger.

 

Takeshi noticed that the ring on Ryuji’s finger had the word “M Alchemist” written on it. The middle-aged man noticed Takeshi stare at his ring and then smiled.

“Don’t worry… soon you’ll be able to acquire one of these (Referring to the ring) …let’s just start calmly with introductions before I drop the bombshell on you” Ryuji said.

Takeshi had a confused expression on his face when he heard the word “Bombshell”, he understood that something big must’ve really happened to him. He proceeded to introduce himself also.

“Name’s Takeshi Ishikawa, Nice to meet you too”

“Alright Takeshi now that we’ve introduced each other, I will now drop you the Bombshell… You my friend are an Alchemist…” Ryuji said with optimism leaving Takeshi with a confused expression on his face, not understanding what he just said.

“Let me explain… First off Alchemy is basically similar to sorcery, we are able to modify and create basically anything that is made from matter and mass and believe me, it’s pretty cool and there are so many other things you can do, the possibilities are endless but for now you are a beginner.”

 

Takeshi laughed, thinking that Ryuji was just joking, maybe trying to lighten up the mood. There’s no way that such things as sorcery and alchemy still exist. It was all just one big joke. Ryuji stared at Takeshi and sighed, it seemed that he still had trouble remembering what happened a few hours ago.

“So, you don’t believe me huh? Watch this…”

Ryuji stood up and proceeded to demonstrate the power of Alchemy, he opened his left hand where his ring was on, as if he was expecting something to fall onto it so he could grab it. Takeshi watched with interest, he still had disbeliefs, there was no way that things like magic still existed.

Suddenly the ring on his finger started making sparks and immediately the sparks grew and they started connecting to each other, forming into the shape of a Short sword and in a short moment the sparks stopped and the sword manifested.

Takeshi opened his mouth in shock, unable to comprehend what he saw, it had to be some kind of trick, there was no way, things like sorcery and magic existed, but he saw it with his own eyes, and he just had to believe it.

“B-but how?”

He asked having his curiosity filled up to the brim. Ryuji chuckled at his astonishment and then sat back down on the bench, pointing the sword to the ground as he leaned his two hands on the pommel and then stared at Takeshi with interest and then proceeded to explain the events that had occurred hours before.

“Alright listen carefully, about an hour ago or two, your body and consciousness was transferred to another world, another reality and a distorted one at that. You might have vague memories now but it’ll all start to come together in a bit…in this distorted reality, humans can be transferred over there and we don’t know how or why but it just happens, if they’re lucky and they survive, they’ll return to the other world and it’ll all feel just like a nightmare and if they aren’t…it’s either they die in their sleep in the real world or they go insane…it’s pretty fucked up I know but this is the reality that humans are not aware off, it lurks behind the one we live in and you my boy were transferred into that place but you survived and I brought you back here…well I and two of my apprentices which you will meet later, one of them is even in your school”

Ryuji said chuckling with the last phrase while Takeshi just stayed silent and dumbfounded, the memories were still vague, but he could remember the bright red moon and the creatures he was running away from and also him crying for help and wanting to fight back after getting hit. He wanted to know more because he somehow knew there was more, all the information felt like a fairy tale or a story of madness but all the things that Ryuji said was true and he understood that.

“So tell me how did I survive?” He asked and Ryuji replied

“Well like I said before, you’re an alchemist…Alchemists have been around for centuries and as time passed, we learnt on how to improve our techniques and Methods, we’re basically like sorcerers but a bit more scientific or whatever, you don’t need to worry about that for now. We Alchemists have the ability to go to that world when we want…also I should mention about the dangerous creatures that lurk there, surely you must have encountered them…because your wounds didn’t come from just falling down and hurting yourself… we call these creatures The Dread”

 

Takeshi sighed and the room had a short moment of silence before he finally accepted the fact that Ryuji spoke nothing but the truth. It felt overwhelming, it felt like his life was changing, if what Ryuji said about him being an Alchemist is True then his life was going to become one big journey. He took some time to think before he spoke.

“So I’m an Alchemist huh… It’s funny how things turn out different from what it really is, I don’t know how I have these powers or how I’m gonna make them work and If I may ask What are the goals of the Alchemists?”

 

Ryuji leaned forward with an enthusiastic smile, feeling excited to have Takeshi as his new student, because of the great potential he had and also the fact that he was a different breed, a special kind of Alchemist and he couldn’t wait for him to flourish like a beautiful sunflower.

“Don’t worry, I can teach you on everything you need to know, we’ll start from the basics and then we go to the complex stuff, trust me when I say you’ll like it, there are lots of things an Alchemist can do…and to answer your question, We Alchemists don’t really have a specific goal, we do what we want, some might want to try and save people and try to find out more about the distorted world, some use their powers for money…some get paid to kill some specific targets and let me mention that Alchemists are able to transfer people to the distorted world, through a method which you will get to know later…well that’s if you accept my offer to take you under my wing and bring you to a world of  the supernatural…so what do you say Takeshi, you in or out?”

 

Takeshi stayed silent, giving it a good and careful thought because this was a big decision to take. His life will never remain the same, but that already happened from the moment he lost his parents. He thought that maybe if he learnt Alchemy, he could do some good to honour them and then find the people that killed them and exact his revenge. He wanted to get strong, so he’ll never find himself in a helpless situation. He looked at Ryuji and then nodded.

“Okay, I accept…I got nothing else better to do…so yeah, I want you to teach me more on alchemy and how I can use my powers.”

 

Ryuji smiled greatly as he made his sword fade away and then proceeded to reach for a handshake and Takeshi smirked and proceeded to shake his hand.

“Splendid! I welcome you to the world of Alchemy…your training starts tomorrow, I want you to come after school and don’t worry about going to that place again, it chooses random people and there’s a low chance it’ll probably pick you again unless if you’re really unlucky, but I don’t think so” 

 

Takeshi nodded and then stood up from the bed and proceeded to put on his shirt and his shoes and then took his bag. Ryuji stood up from his seat and proceeded to escort him to the exit of the bar. He noticed that the bar had a good amount of customers and the place had this nice design, a cool and chill aesthetic. Maybe at a later time he could ask for a job here but the problem was that he didn’t know much about mixing drinks but he could still always learn.    

 

Once the two reached the exit and went outside, Takeshi checked his surroundings to see if he could find his way home. Ryuji gave him a pat on the shoulder, saying

“Don’t worry, this place is not so far from your school, just go forward then take a left, then take a right then you’ll see your school and from there I’m sure you can find your way home”

 

Takeshi listened to the directions and understood and proceeded to start going towards his home, he gave a friendly salute to Ryuji with a smirk on his face, feeling kind of enthusiastic that things were going to get very interesting from now. He wondered what the future could hold for him and he hoped it would be something good.

 

Ryuji smiled knowing the potential that Takeshi held and hoping that he would become a great Alchemist but he also knew that there were consequences taking his kind breed under his wings because of some past events. But if the other Alchemists don’t know then they can’t do anything. Ryuji didn’t care about the rules, he did what he thought was right.

“Another student to teach…Hopefully this will be fruitful”

He said and walked back inside his bar to attend to his customers.

 

About 30 minutes later…

Takeshi had finally reached his apartment, he really wished he took a bus instead of just walking, he was really tired, and he still needed rest so his wounds can heal better and he still had to go to school the next day. He entered his apartment and the locked the door as usual. He walked up to his bed and then immediately fell on it and went fast asleep.

 

Takeshi had a future that was not clear but surely it was going to be an adventurous one.

 

 

To be continued…

Also this is for everyone who is wondering about Takeshi Appearance, He has long black hair (it reaches his neck) and blue eyes and his face is a mix of Japanese and American so I’ll leave you guys to imagine it XD. He also has a well-built body but a bit slimmer and Ryuji has brown eyes and jaw-length hair with a straight cut and his face is that of a Japanese so y’all imagine it xD