Free Flawless//Broken by Sara Wolf

alchemy-proof.”
    I can’t look her in the eyes as I bring down an expander from the wall. Its crescent shape is engraved with sending runes, one for each expander set in the yard. The expander’s central bowl is empty and waiting. I pour the Pointblank into it, and take off my silver ring.
    “Sir!” Reeves starts. “That’s Amelie’s ring. You can’t possibly mean to -”
    “An explosion of this magnitude will require a great sacrifice. To protect a powerful Azoth that can help us defeat the Mutus,” I say slowly. “I will sacrifice anything.”
    I can feel it, deep in my bones as every alchemist can once they’ve taken the Vow - the alchemy sees me, it sees what I need and what I am trying to do, and it feeds to me the feeling of exactly what I need to sacrifice. I can feel its hugeness, demanding and deep, as a gravity in my very gut. Only one thing in this room will suffice. The ring.
    “Sir!” Reeves protests, but Avalanche growls at him. Mia’s expression is curious. Amelie’s face is long gone to me. She lived before photos were invented. The only thing I have to remember her by is this silver ring with her likeness engraved in it. It shows her proud nose, her soft brow. She was beautiful. She was kind. She was the first and only light in my life, a light that went out long ago.
    I hold the ring tight, and say a silent prayer to her.
    I’m sorry, Amelie. I couldn’t save you. But I can save many, now. And I will.
    I drop the ring into the Pointblank, and the expander begins to glow, indicating it’s a powerful enough sacrifice. I set the dial and turn the arm into the ‘on’ position. The expander hums, vibrates. The Pointblank solution disappears all at once, and then comes the explosion. It’s soundless, but the ground rumbles all the same. Tomorrow they’ll report it as a minor earthquake, an everyday occurrence in the Bay Area. But the Mutus will report it to their own as a massacre. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The heat under my skin that signals my nearby kin disappears in a flash, leaving me cold. I can hear their screams in my head as a faint, dying shriek - dozens of muffled, tortured animals crying out at once. It is not a flashy alchemy. But the ferocity and instantaneousness of it fills me with terror and pride - the power is incredible. It extends far beyond the four-mile radius - the expander’s runes glow in flashing pulses, indicating an overload.
    “Did it work?” Mia asks softly.
    “Any nearby alchemist house with expanders to ward off homunculi within sixteen miles just experienced a Pointblank surge,” I say.
    “Sixteen miles ?” Reeves marvels. “Surely that’s a miscalculation -”
    I shoot him a look, and he nods.
    “I apologize, sir. You never miscalculate. I’m simply awed. With this sort of Azoth, you could protect the entire city from homunculi.”
    “Just clean out their ashes upstairs,” I say. “And take Avalanche with you. Get her something to eat.”
    Reeves nods, and Avalanche follows him. When they’re gone, I walk over to Mia. The tension is so thick I can practically taste it. She looks up at me, and flinches.
    “You’re a homunculus,” She says.
    “Are you afraid of me?” I ask dully, expecting the same answer as always. It’s a ‘no’; women denying their fright in an effort to assuage me. They always pretend they’re stronger than they are to try and impress me.
    “Yes,” Mia says. “Whatever you did just killed a lot of people -”
    “For the last time, they aren’t people. They’re homunculi. Shadows of people. Puppets made to look like people.”
    “But you’re one of them,” She fires back. “You frown and get angry and when you put that ring in the solution you looked… devastated . You have emotions. You’re as real as anyone else. So they must be, too.”
    “I’m…different,” I say. “The others are no better than Azoth-obsessed monsters. Never doubt that, or you risk your own safety.”
    “Why