THE CATALYST
Book One: The Requiem
'God save us. Everyone.
Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns.
For the sins of our hand.
The sins of our tongue.
The sins of our father.
The sins of our young.'
Chapter One
I remember the first planet I purged. It was a rather large one, though I do forget the name of it. It was aesthetically pleasing, I suppose. The sky was pink and the clouds were blue, and the three suns blazed on the horizon in a permanent sunset. It was slightly cold there as well, but that's not what I remember most. I don't remember most of the people I kill, mostly because there's been too many. Nox's job is to sell planets on a black market to the highest bidder, and as such, uses his own team to purge the planets of all inhabitants. That was where people like me came in.
I can't say I was opposed to my job, but it got tiresome after a while. It was always the same thing. Land, kill everyone, leave, repeat. Maybe I was just bored, I couldn't really say. But I remembered some of my victims if something struck my eye. For example, my first victim. She was a four-year-old girl, and put her trust into things way too easily. Then again, maybe that came from her race. I don't know. But when I landed she actually walked right up to me and grabbed my hand, eager to show me off to her village. She was fool, because anyone in their right mind could look at me and tell that I was not peaceful.
Her people were wary of me, and some were even terrified of me, which is the way it was supposed to be. I humored the girl for a while, allowing her to show me off as her shiny new toy. It didn't last long though. I grew bored, and I took the little girl as my first victim. It would definitely be a good lesson learned, not that she would have a second chance. My race allows room for several things. For one thing, we are physically stronger than most other races. Even without trying, we could crush the hardest metal if we wanted to. We were extremely fast and agile, but it was our powers that gave us our reputation.
Nox destroyed that reputation of course, but that wasn't exactly my point. My father was a fool and got what he deserved for not taking Nox out when he first landed on our planet, like I would have done. But that's neither here nor there. Our powers were…unique. I was a Catalyst; meaning I could accelerate or decelerate a chemical reaction at the molecular level, cause activity between two forces without being affected, and even change a chemical reaction at the molecular level. And since my opponents cannot protect themselves at their molecular level, very few people could actually fight me. I could fuse their cells together, or completely tear them apart. For this planet, it being my first and all, I didn't want to use my powers. So I resorted to my physical strength.
It only took me five seconds to tear the girls head from her body, and the screaming to being. Looking back now, I don't think I would have done anything differently. I sighed a little and looked at Earth from the window on the pod I used to travel to and form planets. I always researched planets before I destroyed them, and this one was no different.
The planet Earth was the third from the sun and the fifth largest planet in this solar system. It has an average diameter of 12, 472 kilometers and the surface area was 197 square miles. Seventy percent of the Earth was covered in water, which I found to be absolutely ridiculous. But that also meant that the Earth's natural resources were untouched, and therefore would cost a pretty penny. The temperature of the Earth's core is at an average 5000 and 7000 degrees Celsius, which was a little too hot for my liking. It was also titled on an axis of 23 and ½ degrees, creating four seasons. The Earth possessed only one moon, and it took 365.25 days for a full rotation.
The odd thing about Earth, however, was its components; iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, titanium, nickel and sulfur. Which struck me as odd because quite frankly, several of those elements were unstable. I thought nothing more of it though since it wouldn't really matter.
Most of the population was primitive, but there were some areas where the civilization was growing in intelligence and technology. Shame, really. A few more billion years and they could have really gotten somewhere. In reality though, it was a backwater mud ball planet and it would wind up making Nox rather rich. I reached the atmosphere okay, but for some reason after I reached a certain point, my pod started to break on me. I frowned a little and attempted to check its engine, but I couldn't do anything. My wristwatch video started going off and I opened it up to see a picture of Liam.
"Next time, you should watch what you say about me." He said with a smirk. I growled a little and glared at him.
"By the way, Nox wanted me to tell you that if you piss him off again, he won't be so lenient with you. I wonder how he'll take you sabotaging his pod and possibly stranding me on a planet. I wouldn't bet on it being a good thing. Later, freak show." I muttered, turning the video off on his now petrified face. What a moron. There was nothing that could be done now. I growled and kicked my leg out, making the door on the pod fly off. I was closely coming up towards the ground and realized I would have to jump. I growled again, silently cursing Liam for being such an idiot, and jumped out.
I jumped pretty far, but I still landed roughly. Lucky for me I landed in the desert and in a massive sand pile. I grunted a little at the impact and covered my head as the pod landed. There was a loud bang as the pod hit the Earth and created a rather large crater and dust started flying everywhere. I coughed for a moment, clearing my lungs, and when the dust finally settled down I had a couple layers of sand over me. I blinked a few times and then growled again, standing up. My tail unwrapped itself from around my waist and started to flick around in agitation.
There was no doubt about it; I was going to kill Liam when I got back on the ship. There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He was dying, and I didn't even care if Nox killed me for it. Liam was dying the next time I saw him. I huffed out in anger for a while and started cursing, my tail flicking dangerously behind me as I walked away from the crash site. My battle armor was all messed up too. I cursed again before scowling and stomping off up onto the top of a hill and took a look around. There was nothing around me but sand. Just great. My wristwatch went off again and I answered it with a growl. I had a feeling I would be doing that a lot today.
"What have you done to your pod!" Nox yelled, glaring at me a little. I glared right back at him.
"I don't know, why don't you ask that parasite that lives in your ass." I said through clenched teeth. Nox was silent for a moment, remembering whom I was referring to.
"Liam? What does Liam have to do with any of this?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.
"You mean the fact that he sabotaged my pod to get back at me for being mouthy? Absolutely nothing." I said and Nox growled at me again.
"Do not mess with me, I am not in a good mood right now." Nox said in a dangerous tone.
"Well, that makes two of us." I pushed. "I'm stranded on this stupid planet because that idiotic parasite! Allow me to kill him and it will not happen again." I grounded out. Nox was silent for a minute, as if contemplating.
"I'll call you back later." He muttered, and shut the communication off.
"Ugh! A bunch of morons, I swear!" I screamed, kicking sand in no particular direction. Well, nothing was going to get done while I was standing around here. I shook my head and concentrated, a slight green film forming itself around me. It was quiet for a moment before the sound of electricity whirring in the air as I concentrated. It was almost as if I had put on special lenses that allowed me to see things at the molecular level, including the air. I concentrated for a moment, the molecules in the air suddenly starting to move faster and faster. I concentrated a bit more and I was suddenly lifted into the air.
I propelled myself forward with the air I had sped up and started speeding along the sand and it only took me about twenty minutes to reach the nearest market. It seems I was in a country called Egypt. I landed on the edge of the market and ignored the looks I was getting; I was only here to steal some clothes anyways.
Koenma's POV"BOTAN GET IN HERE NOW!" Koenma screamed into the microphone at his desk. Not two seconds later the ferry girl was rushing in, her face red and her hair all disheveled, and out of breath.
"Koenma! What's wrong? Are you alright? What's going on?" She huffed out.
"I need you to get the boys, NOW. We have a massive situation here. A fourth of Egypt's population was just wiped out!" He yelled out, as Botan's eyes got wide.
"Alright, I'm one. I'll be back in no time!" She said, producing her oar and sitting on it, flying through the portal Koenma created. Koenma tried to stop himself from hyperventilating as he waited. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. A portal opened up shortly after Botan left and she flew in, with a very angry Yusuke who was barely grabbing onto her. On his ankle was Kuwabara, and behind Kuwabara were Kurama and Hiei who managed to jump through the portal on their own. Kuwabara and Yusuke landed in a heap on the floor and Yusuke swore, pushing Kuwabara off of him and then standing up. He started his usual complaining but Koenma put his hand up to stop him with a serious look on his face.
"Egypt. Now! A fourth of the population just went out, and I don't know why. There's somebody there. Not from demon world, I don't know who it is. So please, be careful. Bring them here. Alive. Go, now!" He yelled opening another portal. Hiei narrowed his eyes but left quickly, followed by Kurama, Kuwabara, and now grumbling Yusuke. He leaned back in his seat and out a loud sigh. What in the hell was going on anyways?
Hiei's POVI could feel the death of all of those people almost immediately and I wondered why it took so long for binky breath to notice. I said nothing though, figuring it wasn't any of my business. I couldn't help but be angered now that I had to be bothered with such a mess. It was probably just a demon that escaped from demon world somehow with out Koenma's knowledge. There was no way a human was doing this, and I don't know what else it could have been if not some type of demon. How they broke through weren't my concern, but I was feeling a little anxious today. I could at least take out my frustration on whatever this was, though unfortunately, I couldn't kill it.
I slightly listened to the Oaf and the Detective bickering behind me, but it was what they usually did. Even though Yusuke wasn't a human anymore, he sure as hell acted like a baka ningen sometimes. Kurama was quiet, as usual, probably feeling things out with his fox senses.
"It's not a demon, Hiei." He muttered loud enough for me to hear. I stopped walking and turned to face him, shoving my hands in my pockets.
"What do you mean it's not a demon?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"I smell a lot of dead humans. But there's no demon traces anywhere. There's something out there though." He said quietly, keeping his eyes alert. It wasn't long until we reached the town and all of the dead people, but what we saw was something not even I have ever seen before. The people weren't even recognizable anymore. It was almost as if they had fused into one massive piece of flesh. It was disgusting. I sniffed a little and the fox was right; this was no demon. I tensed and looked around.
"Whatever this was…it's still around here." I said, loud enough for all of them to hear me. Yusuke got serious then as he looked up with a glare.
"She's up there…" He said quietly. We all looked up to see a girl looking down at us with crossed arms. She had a frown on her face before she let herself fall to the ground. She landed and wiped sand off of her shorts.
"Damn. Is there nothing but sand on this god forsaken planet?" She mumbled. Planet? Where in the hell was this girl from? She wasn't a demon, though she certainly looked like one. I kept my hand on the hilt of my katana and attempted to probe the girl's mind. It was silent for a moment before she stopped moving, and then her icy stare landed on me.
Rex's POV
"The next time you try that again I'll remove your head from your body." I said quietly. The short narrowed his eyes at me and kept his hand on the hilt of his katana, but I wasn't deterred. No metal could harm me.
"Hey! Freak show! Just what in the hell did you do to all these people!" One of them asked, pointing a finger at me. He had black hair that was gelled back and he was wearing sneakers, jeans, and a white t-shirt. He also had very big brown eyes. I growled at him a little, barring my fangs.
"Watch your tone when speaking to me, human." I spat out at him, clearly angry. "I can squash you flat in a second." I added on. He kept glaring at me though and didn't move.
"What did you do?" He asked again through clenched teeth. I rolled my eyes at him.
"It does look like my work, doesn't it? Well, I hate to break it to you, but these guys were already dead when I got here." I said, looking down at them. I frowned a little and took a closer look at their skin. It certainly looked like what my powers could do, but I wasn't the one to do it. I thought, for a brief second that maybe there was another Catalyst around here. But I quickly shook my head at the idea; it was impossible. I was the last one left. The tallest one with the orange hair moved forward then, and he got too close for my comfort.
"Hey! You're the only one around here, so don't try to trick us!" He yelled, moving a little closer. I lifted my head and my eyes glowed a bright green color and he was thrown back by my force field.
"Do not tempt me to kill you human, because I will. With my pod being broken I cannot purge this planet yet, but don't think I won't start early if you anger me. Keep that in mind, fool." I snarled at him. "Besides, you would know if I did this." I said quietly.
"Give us one good reason as to why we shouldn't think you did this? You're the only one here, and you're clearly not human." The redhead asked me. I stood up then and glanced around, walking over to a stand where some clothes were. I did come here to get some new clothes. I grabbed a few items and grabbed them, eyeing them for a moment. I didn't answer and somebody growled behind me. I turned around to see the short one and his sword moving towards my face.
I held my hand out and a bright green light emitted towards the sword, and when it connected, the sword turned to rust before it hit me, and crumbled, finally making a rust colored pattern on the ground. He stopped short and stared wide eyed at his sword.
"What the hell?" He asked.
"You are not human, but that will not spare your life from me little man. Now back off." I growled out, pushing him back with my force field. He glared at me and stood up, but the redhead placed a hand on his shoulder and held him back.
"What did you just do?" He asked me, blinking a few times. I stared at him for a moment and frowned.
"I slowed down the molecular structure of the metal and froze it, causing it to become useless." I said, before turning back around and looking through the clothes again.
"That's what you can do?" He asked me. I shrugged.
"I can also speed them up so the sword would have just melted. But, that's the jist of it. Man, you guys are nosy." I observed before pulling an item off the shelf. It was a one-piece spandex outfit. It was a halter with no back that zipped all the way down the front, and it also had no shoulders. It stopped just above my knees. It was a start. I pulled my broken armor off of my body and then stripped out of the stretchy spandex material I was wearing. I heard someone scoff behind me.
"Jeez, whatever the hell you are, don't you have any humility?" A voice, the brown-eyed boy, said behind me. I turned to see them all facing the other way and I raised an eyebrow.
"I apologize, I didn't know you boys have never see a naked girl before." I said with a roll of my eyes.
"That's not the point! Ugh, forget it. Just where did you come from anyways?" He asked me, still not turning around. I zipped up the spandex outfit and finally the short one turned to look at me, and the others followed as well.
"Space." I answered flatly, before turning and looking through more items of clothing again.
"Space? As in…you're an alien!" The tall one asked. I rolled my eyes again.
"It would seem to be that way." I said with indifference, grabbing another one-piece outfit. This one was different than the spandex one. It was made of a softer material and it was brown in color. The bottom was shorts, which ended just above the spandex shorts I was currently wearing. The top opened like a jacket and ended all the way down the front, but there was a white sash around it that held it in place. I put it on and tied the sash. The shoulders still slipped around my upper arms but I shrugged, it was comfortable. Now just something for my feet and hands.
It didn't take me long to find brown gauge type bands and I wrapped them around my wrist and halfway up my forearm. I also wrapped them around my ankles and halfway up my calves. I finally found a pair of brown ankle boots and gloves with a metal plating on the back. Finally I was finished and turned to face the boys and they were all staring at me with a wary look in their eyes.
"If you don't stop staring at me I'm going to kill all of you." I said through clenched teeth. "Now what do you want?" I asked with an annoyed voice.
"We were told to come here and see what attacked all these people. We show up here and find you. Figure it out." The brown-eyed boy, who I assumed was the leader, said. I glared at him.
"I already said I didn't do it." I said, turning to walk away from them. The short was fast though and stopped in front of me, but learned his lesson before. He didn't break my personal space, which was smart on his part. I was getting fed up with this. "I wasn't kidding when I said I would kill you all if you kept pissing me off. Now leave it alone. I didn't kill any of these people. You're wasting your time with me." I said, turning to face the leader.
"Then why are you here?" He asked, not trusting me.
"To purge the planet." I answered with a shrug. It didn't matter if he knew anyways.
"Purge the planet? Of what?" The tall one asked.
"Everything that resides on it. People wise anyways. This planet will be for sale on the black market to the highest bidder, but we can't have you nasty humanoids cluttering the place up and depleting the resources, now can we?" I asked with a smirk. The leader glared at me.
"Oh, yeah, now we can easily tell that you didn't kill these people when it's your mission to kill everybody." He said. He had a point, but I shrugged it off.
"Maybe. But If I were going to kill everybody, it would be over before you even knew about it. It would only take me about an hour or so to purge it. You'd be dead before you knew what was happening. Not to mention I wouldn't just be walking around and arguing with you either. I'd just kill you. Now if you keep asking me these stupid questions I'm going to do just that. I have to find some way to get off this stupid place before I can purge it anyways." I said, pushing my hand out and shoving the short one back with my force field. He grunted and then stood up with a glare.
"So you expect us to let you go while you start to kill everybody as soon as you find transportation?" He asked.
"It's not like you can stop me." I said with a shrug. Seriously, what was I saying that this stupid human couldn't comprehend? "Now leave me alone." I said, starting to walk off again. "Besides, you might wanna find out who killed these guys before you start worrying about me. Hell, I may not even have to purge the planet if this guy does it for me." I said, motioning to the dead bodies.
"Hey! Come and see our boss!" The tall one said. I stopped walking and whipped around, turning to eye the tall one with a questioning look.
"Your boss? And just why the hell would I wanna see your boss?" I growled out.
"He's the ruler of the spirit world!" He said. My eye twitched as I looked at him.
"The spirit world? This world has a spirit world?" I asked, intrigued now. The leader blinked.
"Yeah, and a demon world." He said, eyeing for a moment. I blinked.
"And a demon world?" I asked, perplexed now. He nodded and I bit my bottom lip. Well, that changed everything. If I'm going to purge this planet, that meant I was going to also take out the spirit world and all the demons. Not that I wasn't capable of doing so, but depending on how this system worked, I could be in some serious issues. "Hmm, it seems I have some…diplomatic issues to take care of before I purge the planet. Alright, let's go." I said, crossing my arms. Nobody moved for a moment and I narrowed my eyes. "Now!" I yelled, getting agitated. My tail flicked away from me and the tip of it twitched on occasion.
"Koenma, portal!" the leader yelled out. A portal opened and the tall one and the redhead went through. I glared at the short one until he stood up and grunted and walked in as well. The leader was looking at me now, and pointed to the portal. "After you." He said with a sarcastic voice. I smiled and walked passed him, looking towards him. I gazed at him for a moment before holding my hand out and quickly blasting him away. He hit the wall and landed on his knees with a grunt and I smirked at him.
"I told you to watch your tongue when you're around me, human." I said sharply, and then walked into the portal. A moment later he appeared next to me with a glare on his face.
"Try that again and I'll introduce you to the ground. You'll be best friends." He said through clenched teeth. I glared at him and crossed my arms, ignoring the talking baby behind the desk who was now howling a question at me.
"Oh yeah? You wanna put that to the test? We'll see who becomes best friends." I said with a glare. The tension was thick and there seemed to be electricity sparking between us and I growled,
"HEY!" The baby yelled, finally breaking my concentration.
"WHAT!" I screamed back, ready to just blow this entire place up. I was so fed up with everything! It got dead quiet for a minute before the baby huffed and sat back in his seat.
"Who are you?" He asked me. I rolled my eyes.
"Rex." I said flatly.
"Rex. I'm Koenma. Ruler of the spirit world. Are you the one who-" But I cut his question off.
"Listen closely. For the LAST time, I did NOT kill those people. The next person who asks me that I WILL kill, I am in NO mood for this shit!" I yelled, my tail actually beating on the floor, the tip of it creating a crater that was getting a little larger every time it hit.
"Then why are you here?" He asked me.
"I'm from space. Nox sent me to purge the planet." I said with narrowed eyes. Koenma's eyes widened.
"NOX! As in…NOX!" He yelled. I glared at him.
"No, Nox as in not Nox. YES NOX! What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked.
"Apparently, we have a lot to talk about." His said, his line forming a thin line. I continued to glare at him.
"We will talk about whatever I choose to talk to you about. You will stop asking me these annoying and pointless questions. And I swear to God the next person to annoy me is getting blown apart." I said, physically seething. A green aura was around me now and was slightly pulsating, and my tail was sill smashing into the floor. "Now, pay attention. I am only going to say this once." I growled out. I finally then got a look at the blue haired girl in the room and I narrowed my eyes. "Who the hell are you?" I snapped out.
"The grim reaper." She said with a smile on her face. I stared at her for a moment and then narrowed my eyes, and I cursed in my home language.
It was going to be a rather long day.