Pride & Humility

XXII

Beta: TaintedLetter

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Elizabeth Luxanna walked closely beside her dearest friend in the entire world, Selim Bradley. Both children were considered the children of Führer King Bradley, and consequently when they moved through Central Command they were greeted politely with smiles and little question to why they were there.

When they left, those who knew about Selim shuddered, and those who met Elizabeth's gaze cringed and hurried away with a sour taste in their mouth.

For while these two seemed, at a glance, innocent children they were absolutely not.

Selim Bradley was the first homunculus created by a powerful alchemist. His true name was Pride the Arrogant, and he was a genuine threat to humanity. He would devour humans that irritated him without hesitation, and those that truly angered him would find themselves dragged into a dark tunnel where he would toy with them until they were driven insane.

He was cruel, but not overly so. He did not actively seek out to torment humans like his brother Envy, but he did not shy away from performing such heinous actions.

Despite his lack of humanity, he did not come across as such to most humans. Pride was excellent at keeping his foul intent hidden, as he had centuries to perfect such an act.

Elizabeth Luxanna, on the other hand, was born and raised human.

But those who met her were unanimously unnerved by her. While she, like Pride, did not actively seek out to hurt humans, she was equally capable of performing truly unspeakable acts upon them. Her dissociation to the human race made it difficult for her to feel anything close to sympathy—or empathy—to those she came across. Only a select few humans were granted this privilege, and that was by sheer luck of having been exposed to her at a young enough age before her dissociation truly set in.

This did not bother Elizabeth, though, because she was a scientist first. And having a lack of morale compass made experimenting and trying new things so much easier.

Selim held Elizabeth's hand as he guided her through the halls of Central Command and into a massive all white room with an odd stone door at the end.

Elizabeth found the room strange because despite moving around in Central Command for many years by that point she had not come across such a thing.

If Elizabeth Luxanna were more intune with her self preservation, or desire to live for herself then she might have been unnerved by the aura emanating from the door.

This did not happen, though, because Elizabeth Luxanna cared far more for satisfying her curiosity than staying alive.

And she was very curious to meet the genius alchemist who brought her Selim.

"Make sure you don't let go of my hand," Selim reminded her as his shadows pushed the stone door open. "The guards won't attack you as long as you're with me."

"Okay," Elizabeth agreed, giving his hand a reflexive squeeze.

Then through the door they went and into a dark, smelly tunnel system that lead them deep beneath Central.

The guards, Elizabeth would soon learn, were inhuman creations—likely chimaera—that prowled on the ceiling above them. They quietly snarled at Elizabeth, but did not make a move.

Elizabeth wished one of them had. If they did, and Elizabeth killed it, she might have been able to cut it open and see how it worked.

Selim lead her down into another strange room. This one was filled with big, bulky metal wires and a small lab station. The wires all lead to a stone throne where a man dressed in white sat.