Descendence
The Catalyst Stories
Crystal & Alex’s Story
The First Day
Her eyes flickered open at the sound of rapid knocking at the door.
“Crystal! Hey, Crystal! Are you up!?”
Crystal Inos raised her head slightly. She could barely see, her hair was a mess. Everything that was supposed to be at the back, was hanging and ragged at the front. She huffed as she turned over, sweeping her long brown hair back. On her bedside table, lay a small alarm clock. Seven o’clock in the morning.
With a loud groan, she turned back to her bed and slumped back down, closing her eyes tight.
“I heard that!” called the voice again, knocking away on the door once again.
“It’s only seven! Go back to bed!” Crystal moaned into her pillow.
Her eyes grew even tighter shut as she heard her bedroom door burst open. A woman the same age charged into the room, her best friend, Alex Talos.
“Rise and shine! It’s a brand new day!” Alex began to sing off-key in a loud pitching voice.
Even though Crystal was annoyed at the disruption, a small smile stretched across her face. She couldn’t help but be amused.
“I said it’s a brand new day!” Alex snapped as she rushed around the bed and pulled back the closed burgundy curtains. Light warped into the room, hitting Crystal’s eyelids. Now frustrated again, Crystal threw herself around so the light was no longer hitting her, even though she could still feel its warmth on the back of her head.
“Will you get out!” she replied. She then felt her bed bounce as Alex perched herself on the edge, bouncing up and down as she sat there.
“Can’t get out until you get up.” shrugged Alex.
“Give me like...five more minutes.” A yawn erupted from Crystal as she tried to get at least some form of extra sleep. Alex however, was having none of it.
“Want my advice-”
“I didn’t ask for it.”
“-You should have more early nights. Instead of spending all night writing in those journals of yours. If you want to be a writer, write a damn book already you nerd.”
Crystal’s eye flicked open as she now sat up, holding her duvet cover up to her chest as she faced Alex.
“I wasn’t writing. I just went into a bit of a daydream by the window and-”
“Probably dreaming about all the lovely burning hot metal that creates that steamy atmosphere in the workshop. I know you love it.” Alex winked as she hopped off the bed.
“You make it sound so heart-warming.” Crystal replied in a mocking tone. Alex now turned to her, hands on her hips with an evil grin.
“Come on now, we’ve got a big day ahead of us. Don’t make me pull that duvet off.” Alex said, raising her hands and moving her fingers as a pace Crystal had never seen so quick. She gripped the duvet hard and pulled it to her chest.
“Don’t you dare. I’m getting up, now get out.” she laughed.
As Alex began to skip out of the room she pointed at Crystal with a wink. “I see how it is, going commando, I like it. I’ll see you in the dining room!”
As she left Crystal couldn’t help but give an annoyed yet grateful sigh. She had been living with Alex for six months now, and while there were testing times, Crystal was happy she had moved in with her childhood best friend.
* * *
Crystal got ready like most mornings, but unlike today, she didn’t need to fetch her rough shirt, apron, and gloves that she’d be wearing for work. Today was the one day of the week she and Alex had off from their job at the blacksmith workshop in Rich District. It wasn’t where Crystal wanted to be, but she had to help pay the rent for the room somehow.
Both herself and Alex lived right above the workshop in fact, and the rent was pretty cheap for such a nice establishment. It was always incredibly warm though due to the furnaces and equipment downstairs in the back. They usually had to have the windows open wide. It created one heck of a battle in the Winter when they tried to find a balance between hot and cold.
Dressed and ready for the day, Crystal was wearing a nice sporting white shit, with a brown cropped overcoat. She had bought a pair of new denim jeans a week ago and now seemed like a fine time to start wearing them. As she entered the dining room, Alex offered a light wolf-whistle which made Crystal stop and pull a dramatic fake pose as she waved Alex away.
“Oh stop, you’ll make me blush.” she laughed as she began to get her breakfast.
“You want anything out of this? I don’t usually do fry ups, but I thought I’d try. It’s not burnt I promise.”
Crystal shook her head as she popped back up with a box of simple oats cereal.
“Seriously!? You eat that every day. Try something different.” said Alex.
Crystal moved over to their fridge, taking out the jug of milk on the bottom shelf, before putting them both on the counter while she fetched a bowl.
“Two things. One, it’s the only thing we have at the moment, we need to go and do a shop by the way. Second, the day I try your cooking is the day after the world turns upside down because I’m eating this and you can’t stop me.” replied Crystal.
“Wow. Some friend you are. Maybe I won’t cook for you.”
“Maybe you won’t have a choice. We’re all out. Enjoy that meal.” Crystal laughed as she made her way to the table with her breakfast. She could feel Alex’s cold glare on her neck as she did.
Alex continued to cook her meal, which came out at least semi-successfully. She sat opposite Crystal, take a chunk out of her two sausages before scooping up as many beans as she could.
“So, plan for today-”
“Do you have to talk with your mouth full?”
A pause.
“Yeah!”
Crystal sighed.
“So, plan for today. Eat up, head out into Catalyst District, see the sights, go to some shops, then head into Catalyst Circle.” Alex rambled as Crystal raised her brow.
“You know I’m not interested in that whole Catalyst technology mumbo jumbo stuff. Why can’t I just keep shopping while you watch the show?” she sighed.
Alex huffed and pouted. “Well excuse me for wanting to spend quality time with my best friend! Need I remind you I went with you, all the times you’ve wanted to get a make-over, all the haircuts, and manicures, pedicures, I’m-not-into-that- kind-of-stuff-icures-”
“Okay, okay, okay! You’ve made your point!” Crystal laughed as she finished her food.
With breakfast finished, both of them got ready to leave. As they did, Crystal shot a snide glare at Alex.
“I do wish you’d let someone cut your hair though, you’d look really good!”
“I ain’t letting no demon with blades near my hair. You saying you don’t like my style?”
* * *
The day out moved along like any other. Crystal and Alex managed to catch an early transit through Northern District into Catalyst District. Once there they slowly moved through the outer edges of the city, going further in as the day went on. The announcement was at 12:00 PM, so they had plenty of time to spare. Crystal found a lovely pair of new boots she thought would suit her great on a night out, and Alex secured a new set of gloves she was more than happy to use as a replacement for her...previous ones. The less said about those the better.
But as lunchtime approached, Crystal and Alex grabbed what they could from a nearby supermarket complex, and made their way to the centre of the city, to Catalyst Central.
The next half hour of their lives turned from two joyful friends laughing together, to two women staring up at the sky in fear...
High Lord Catalyst Hinoros announced The Catalyst Challenge, an event that would trap all humans living in Convexity. Their job, to locate and destroy twenty-five Catalyst-Made machines. The knowledge gifted upon them, that the Catalyst Barrier, which now sealed them within the city, granted an instant death upon touch. There was no way in or out anymore, this was the betrayal of the Catalysts.
When that being vanished from the eyes of the humans who had hoped to hear of a new defensive line of machines, the world turned into fear that split second.
Screams of panic filled the air, and the crowd that had been celebrating the view a Catalyst was now frantic to escape.
Crystal and Alex were among them on that first day...
* * *
‘Day 1’
“Crystal, come on, we need to leave now!” screamed Alex. She was pulling away at Crystal, who could barely move.
She was completely frozen in her mind, it was as if everything had ended and nothing had begun in her life. There was this moment of thought, deep thought, one where Crystal thought back to her whole life, experience every memory she had in a second.
It was a feeling in her chest that bought her back to her senses. Her chest felt tight, it felt like there was a pain she could not feel. Was she struggling to breathe? No, but it felt as if the life was being sucked out of her very body. She clutched at it as Alex appeared into view among the running crowd around them.
“Crystal! Hey, look at me! It’s okay, we’re going to get home, it’s okay!” It was clear Alex was only saying all of this to help her.
As Alex stood there, desperately pulling at her friend to move, she could already tell what was happening. There were times in the past Crystal had felt like this, when an attack had pounced upon her and she was unable to continue with her daily duties, and it was usually Alex that took it upon herself to help Crystal in those times.
But right now, even she was panicking. Not enough to have an anxiety attack like Crystal was having right now, but she had no idea where to go. Home was the obvious answer, but how did they get there? This whole city was falling apart, not literally, but the people around them, this was city-wide. How bad was it going to be outside of Catalyst Circle, in the city itself?
Between the pulling and the begging, Crystal could only blink as she looked around in fright. She was at the epicentre, and she already believed this day was her last. Through her panted breath she grabbed Alex tight.
“A-Alex...I don’t think...I don’t I can...I can’t-can’t.”
Crystal felt Alex’s cold hands hold her face and turn it towards her. “Listen to me, I know, okay? I know, it’s scary, it’s horrible. But we need to get home. We can get out of here, but we have to stick together. As long as we’re with each other, we’ll get through this. I promise!”
It didn’t instil confidence, but these were words Crystal needed to hear.
Although she wasn’t calming down anytime soon, she gripped Alex’s arm tight, and let her guide her away from Catalyst Circle. As they began to leave the centre of what seemed to be the apocalypse itself, Crystal looked back up. A bright blue beam, shooting high into the sky, creating that layer of thin matter. The Catalyst Barrier, that hung over the city sky high, and with a single touch, would end life in an instant...
* * *
As soon as they entered the main street, all they could see were people sprinting around, covering their heads, people falling on the ground in a huddled mess. The city was in a straight panic, everyone dashing around. Alex called out, saying they needed to find a way through to Rich District.
“We’ll have better security there, trust me on this!” she insisted as she pulled at Crystal’s arm. All the shopping they had bought, everything they had enjoyed finding throughout the day, had been left back in the centre of Catalyst Circle. This was no time to grow attached to new clothes, or the food they had stocked upon. What mattered right now was their lives. Everyone around them seemed to be going crazy, and that meant they needed to escape the Catalyst District.
Crystal and Alex ran down countless streets, navigating the sidewalks and roads, trying to find the safest routes through the onslaught of fear. But through every turn, there was a new obstacle that struck their hearts and minds deep.
Vehicles that did not care what stood in their path, tossing lives into the air. On another street, the select few who had already been pushed to the brink mentally, and had fallen from the high tops of buildings above.
Raiders, looters, criminals exposing themselves in the open, some old, some new, as they took what they could. As many supplies as they needed, and even things no one would need in the near future. Trinkets, expensive items no one could hope to buy in a city where the state of affairs as normal.
Convexity had become chaotic.
Crystal and Alex found their way to the main walls, which surrounded the Catalyst District. They just needed to find an entrance to the Western District, and from there they could make their way through towards Rich District.
The canyons that passed through for what could be a quicker route were too dangerous. No transport could move through that maze of rock, so they already knew that option was out of bounds for survival.
As they continued to move along, the chaos continued. They tried their best to stick to the walls of Central District, but the crowds pushed them deep into the road.
Crystal felt herself stumble time and time again as she tried to cover herself from the pieces of trash and hard objects people were throwing all around them.
“Clear the roads, you idiots! Clear the road! Oh, my-everyone clear the damn road!” Alex turned to see a civilian yelling at the top of his lungs as he motioned towards an oncoming transport that was speeding down the street. In a split second panic ruptured through her body as Alex watched people being thrown through the air at the might of a car bonnet. When she turned back to help Crystal further, she realised she was suddenly separated from her friend.
“Crystal!? Crystal!” she cried out, tears already swelling.
Crystal heard the cry and looked around. Her breathing quickened as she tried to call out. Her issues were besting her again as she wheezed a response. “A-Alex!”
Crystal was so focused on finding her friend...she did not notice the car rapidly approaching her.
“Look out!” cried a voice.
Crystal felt herself hit the ground hard as arms wrapped around her. For a moment she panicked that she had been attacked, but the arms left her as quickly as they had wrapped themselves around her. Whoever had tackled her had taken the hit of the ground, keeping her safe. As her wrap snapped up, she saw the transport ahead crash into a nearby building. Had it almost hit her? She had almost been killed by that, and if that person hadn’t saved her...
“Hey! Watch where you’re going you stupid creep!”
Crystal felt Alex lift her.
“You’re okay! I’m so sorry, I turned my head for a second and-”
“I-it’s okay, really! Let’s get out of here, come on!” Crystal didn’t know where her sudden determination came from, but being that close to death had suddenly pushed out her original fears. She didn’t understand if anything she should be more scared.
Whoever had saved her from the car had taken off into the city. It seemed there were still some decent people out there even during times like these...
* * *
Crystal and Alex had escaped Central District. Both of them now stood in the In-Between point between Central, Rich, and Western District. Hunched over, trying to catch their breath, Alex was the first to rise. She looked up and felt her eyes widen.
“Would you look at that thing...” she gasped.
Crystal looked up now too, still catching her breath. Above them lay the thick bright blue Catalyst Barrier. A piece of technology no human had had any knowledge of and had now trapped a portion of the human race inside the city.
“I don’t get it. What do they gain from something like that hanging over us?” Alex questioned out loud.
The fear was setting into Crystal again, and she quickly looked away. “Do you think we could...maybe not think too much on it right now? I don’t want to look at it.”
Alex gave her friend a concerned look. She had to step up here and make sure they got home safe. But she had no idea, neither of them did, on what the situations were like in other Districts now.
“It’ll take us a while, but we should start making the walk to Western District now. We don’t need to worry about anyone else but ourselves right now. We’ll take it slow...” She looked back up at the barrier, shivering. “We’ll try and stick under the trees...”
They followed the path slowly. Many around them did the same. Civilians who lived in the other Districts, some who were escaping from Central. You could tell who was who. Most sprinted past desperate to escape what they had seen, while others kept a pace wondering what they had just seen. It was still an uncomfortable situation, but things felt a bit more peaceful on the walk.
Neither Crystal nor Alex spoke a word the entire way to Western District. Neither of them had the words to say about what had happened. Occasionally though, Alex would put her hand on Crystal’s shoulder, just to see if she was okay. She was always met with the same weak smile, one that showed Crystal was putting on a brave face, but also one that was bottling up too much fear.
Hopefully, things would be better when they got back home, Alex was sure they were through the worst of this now.
Along that path, they heard countless questions from others.
“What the hell did we do to deserve this?”
“I can’t believe this...I just...I just can’t...”
“We can’t go back to Central, come on, the outer Districts will be safer.”
“Mum? Can’t we wait for Daddy?”
“He...he’s probably already home waiting for us.”
“We should have taken the Northern District route out.”
“Yeah right, that place is probably just as much a riot as Central. We’re better off going East.”
Alex kept her head down, but she kept her ears prone to every conversation going on around her. Hearing families that were separated, people who were lost with what to do now. No one could help each other right now, not when there was so much confusion. But she hoped one thing, that Western District wasn’t going to be as drastic in attitude as what they had just seen.
* * *
There was no security at the gates to Western District, instead, people were just waltzing right in. As soon as Crystal and Alex entered, they took a deep sigh and moved forward.
Western District was the educational grounds of the city. In a way, it was one big school. Every group of education was housed here. Nurseries, primary, secondary, college, and university, all under the name of Convexity.
It also meant a lot of bigger families lived in this District. The housing was supplied to families who had children who were going to study here. A whole District where some spent their whole childhood. It had everything a family would need to survive. High processed stores with high-quality goods, sturdy quality living conditions, no wonder so many people were coming here. They would no doubt begin to process of stocking up on whatever they could given the quality. This was already the worst step to take. Some people here struggled enough as it was, despite being quality products, it wasn’t exactly cheap. With the chaos, it was only a matter of time before it reached this place, putting families, and many children in danger.
Crystal and Alex nonetheless, never thought about that was they trudged through the sobs and sighs of those who were resting now they were here. Those who had fled from Central were sitting around the main entranceway, right in the park centres. There was something peaceful about these people laying on the grassy patches, if their emotions weren’t so negative, it would have been just that. Ahead they could see the Catalyst Barrier slowly forming down, where over the District skyline, no doubt just beyond the University of Convexity, it connected to the ground, sealing them in.
Admittedly, Alex wanted to see just what it looked like when it was connected to the ground but now wasn’t the time. Things would need to die down before she started doing what she wanted to do again.
A thought crossed her mind, what about her work? How was that all going to be now? Would people need weapons more than ever now given the circumstances? The High Lord himself had said there were twenty-five machines that needed to be destroyed. What if this was an opportunity?
But what if it was also a cause for concern? Who could say people would need weapons and armours for this? What if they were criminals, looters, bandits? The thoughts made Alex shudder again. She had no idea what she was going to do.
It was when they reached the gate that connected to Rich District that everything went from bad to worse.
“What do you mean no one can enter!? We’re residents! We live there for crying out loud!” barked Alex. Behind her, Crystal stood frozen, her arms crossed, trying to hold whatever she had left together. The Human Legion security in front of her raised his hands.
“I’m sorry, miss. But we have to contain any potential threats to the District-”
Alex was already walking away while giving off a not-so-friendly gesture in her wake. As she reached Crystal, she tugged on her arm.
“Come on, we’ll find somewhere to stay for the night.”
“Alex, I just want to go home.” sighed Crystal.
“I know, but due to certain people!” She stressed this while shooting a glare back at the guard. “It...it looks like that ain’t happening tonight.”
Their first bet was to stay in one of the inns, which were mainly reserved for students, but also housed the occasional traveller.
That did not fare well. Most inns were packed with citizens begging for a bed for the night, and everywhere was practically full. Everything was too crowded from the onslaught of people, and Alex and Crystal were forced onto the streets.
* * *
“It’s just one night...” said Alex.
Both women had made their way to the University itself. It had only been a couple of years since they had both graduated from the place, so they were lucky their names still held some value. But there was no room inside for them to stay. Instead, they like many others who had been let in were relegated to the halls and classrooms of their form school.
They had been lucky enough to find a secure classroom, all secluded, and to themselves. The whole University had turned into a makeshift refugee camp. But by nightfall, the fears and cries of those who had no home anymore died down into a peaceful silence.
That didn’t stop Crystal shaking. Try as she might to sleep, her fear made her feel cold, defenceless, pointless. She looked over at Alex, who seemed fast asleep, turned away from her.
Even when Crystal closed her eyes to try and let sleep take her, she could see the faint pale blue light through her eyelids. The barrier shone through the windows at night, almost like a bright moon. It bounced off of the surfaces like water, casting a wavy reflection.
A small whimper escaped Crystal’s mouth as her eyes sprang open, a single tear falling down her face. She felt something touch her hand, and when she looked, Alex was still just as awake as she was, and was now holding her hand tightly.
“Hey, we’ll be okay. Just one night, remember? At least we’re not out on the streets, completely homeless.” she tried to assure her.
Crystal shook her head as she returned the grip. “What are we going to do, Alex?” she cried.
Alex herself was trying hard to fight back tears. It was hard enough being in this situation, but to see her friend seem so lost, she’d seen this sight many times before.
“We’re going to work it out, both of us. I don’t know where this whole thing will take us, but what I do know, is we’re going to smash it, each in our way.”
You turned on her back, putting her free arm around the back of her head, and smirking. “Just you wait and see, Crystal. We’re going to show those Catalysts how strong we really are. They ain’t tearing us apart!”
Crystal wished she could smile and share Alex’s optimism, but she couldn’t dig down enough to even try. She was scared, she was defeated, she wasn’t strong enough to cope with what was happening. In her mind, things were only going to get worse, and nothing good could come into her life right now...
Next Time
Crystal’s Story
The Personality Reform Part I
&
Alex’s Story
The Broken Blacksmith
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