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Catalyst Cross

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Synopsis
Naph had a couple of years of extremes. One year, he was trying to chase down a few rats in a desert. Another he was hunting bears in a river. There was a year when he just chilled himself on a beach. His volatile heart mayhems his life. This time his hunt had a different breed entirely. Named Bulwark. Quite the bounty on such a name. The only requirement? Bring the head back clean and without damage. Hunting was a sport. At least that’s what he had learned by watching others. Every adult showing off their repertoire of the dead. His volatile nature and teen years hadn’t taught him whom to show off or not. Bulwark was his first human kill. Yet it was his first insight into what a ‘catalyst’ could do. His survival had been on his intellect earlier, but not anymore. The world responded. He ran. Ran into things he hadn’t heard. Will the world make him another number in its long list of the dead? Or will he learn its truths? Will he know of the unspoken words he hadn’t processed? His heart a volatile entity; the world a raging a beast chasing him. And a few words that he didn’t knew- yet one etched itself in: “Cata”.
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Chapter 1 - Bulwark

"Peeing on your slain enemy feels so nice. Doesn't it, Bulwark?" a boy in a neon jacket asked.

Raising the cleanly severed head of a girl, he mimicked, "Yes, yes. It's wonderful, Naph."

He held the head by her neck, while he finished his business on a butchered body lying in front of him.

He moved her lips a bit. "But Naph, what now? Will you just keep peeing on me!" Naph's broken sense of humour, with his bloodied hands, kicked in.

The view around him was pure devastation. It had taken him days of planning to even come up with a plan that could have taken Bulwark down.

He looked down at a mangled corpse of a 12 year old girl. His business to hunt her, and his intrusive urge to mock her, washed away. His sense of humour really worked wonders whenever his volatile heart wanted to cross boundaries he felt like.

Tossing Bulwark's severed head from one bloodied hand to another, contemplation on his next course of action took place.

"Should I mess around this devastated patch? Or go and collect the bounty of 10 million Tarna? Hmm, what's your wisdom 'oh, great Bulwark of the head'?"

Grabbing the severed head by both hands he mimicked Bulwark's voice, "maybe, maybe, maybe. That's all I hear! Buwahahaha!"

Naph exhaled. Shaking his ashen hair, "She literally went off with those words. How rude! Couldn't even think that the world may have someone who can kill her."

He tossed her head once again between both of his hands, as he walked toward a case he had prepared earlier to keep her head in.

Mimicking her one last time as he shut her head inside the soft padded inside of the metallic cubic case, he screamed in a whispering voice, "No! no, no, no. I am just a child! I want to live!"

"Who cares?" he shut the case close. He was disgusted of the carnage. A vile reaction his heart had, yet he had enjoyed the same carnage as he had unleashed it on Bulwark.

Carrying the metal case, a 17 year old boy in a neon jacket left a devastated ground out of reach of the closest city's outskirts.

He turned a left after a recognized boulder he had marked earlier. This was where his first escape plan was hidden, or to be exact had an indication of where his escape ride was.

Naph pushed himself against the boulder, trying to move it away. It didn't budge even a little.

"Huh! Huh! Man, is this one busted? Did it rain yesterday here?" He screamed out to the skies. Hoping it would listen.

Not a twinkle of light shifted to his shouts.

Shaking his head, he slammed the metallic case into the boulder. "Either the boulder moves, or I lose my 10 million. Come on now, show me who's a Bulwark, Bulwark!"

The boulder lost to his repeated assailing blows. The metallic case proved its strength.

"Good job, Bulwark! Now you are of help!"

The boulder's movement revealed a small opening, a pit in the ground. Rather than dropping in, Naph laid down next to the pit extending his hands into it.

He grabbed something inside. After a few tugs, he pulled out a sophisticated mechanical vehicle.

It had four wheels, a steering, two different sets of paddles, and a pair of seats. One in the front, the other in the back.

"Now, Bulwark. This is how you ride. Do you want to ride 'oh, great capital buster'?"

Naph shook the metallic case up and down. Not an iota of noise escaped out of the metallic case.

"I guess you are well asleep. So sad, I would have given you a piggy back ride too." He tossed the metallic case into the back seat. "Off with your head."

Climbing into the front seat, Naph adjusted his seat, the belts to position himself and the steering. "Time to ride to a new death!"

He paddled and his ride rigorously picked up speed. One paddle at a time. Then it smoothed itself into a constant maximum speed.

"Ee, haw!" Naph screamed aloud.

A city's outskirts were coming into his view as he turned right, then a bit left. He kept correcting the ride's path to avoid obstacles. The head was still priceless as claimed.

The bounty paper was attached into the front of ride. Wind smashed into it trying to rip it away.

"Nah, windy. Not today! You should have visited me last year on the beach. The damn beach was too watery for me." Naph laughed at the wind's attempts.

He was well aware how terrifying the wind could be. A few memories did flash by. One of a rain over a river, the other of the desert storms Naph had faced.

The city's skyline was approaching fast. It was too traditional. More casual than the ruins he had seen. Massive skycrawling ruins.

This city at its best height was just a seven storey high.

The city's name fit that height, Sevenren.

"Oye, Bulwark! Look, look. It's Sevenren! Your buddy!" Hysterical at his own joke Naph laughed into the wind.

Sevenren's outskirts had people glancing him, but none were quick enough to snatch the metallic case. He thought to himself, 'who even could? There's nothing magical about our world, just plain old dead and death. That's what is magical.'

Closing away his thoughts he stepped out of his ride at the inner gate to the city. The guards were dubious of Naph's ride. Naph just showed the metallic case's inside, and said, "Bulwark."

The guards, with their spears, trembled where they stood. The eldest one suddenly said, "just go in, fast before someone tries to steal it away. And boy stay out of sight. Trust me."

Naph nodded to him. Yet he rose his shoulders for a split second, shrugging the advice off. What could even happen to him the worst? Someone steal his ride and the case. Beat him up?

He is after all just a bounty collector.