The Catalyst

Chapter VI: Rise of a Catalyst

Dante went home after the mysterious incident that happened the other day. He wondered about it all the way home and while he went to sleep. It was really the only thing to keep his mind away from Layla, which was suprising. He woke up the next morning still wondering about the hoodie and the door. "How did that even happen?" He wondered. He stared at the hoodie with a sence that he should wear it, while he was putting his shoes on for school. Without any hesitation he put it on. Thinking that something was gonna happen. Nothing did it was just a hoodie. As disappointed as he was he still wore it for it made him look quiet fearfull. He put the hood on while he looked in the mirror. It looked as though a dark shadow had covered his eyes and part of his nose. He could see fine. But the mirror showed otherwise. All you could see was his pubescent stubble he forgot to shave the other night.

He walked outside and started heading down the road to the school. A newspaper was rolling down the road as the cold winter wind blew on the part of his face that was visible. He picked it up as he continued to walk. Most of the paper was disorted to Dante messed up by the snow. All that could be read was the main article on the front page. A picture showed a building. It looked to be a very well kept building. It had flag poles in the yard in front of it. All carrying a different flag. It was white with collums up and down the front. Dante had no idea what the building was. All he understood was what he read. The article told of a tragic decision made by this one man, whom Dante didnt really know of. This man apparently killed 15,000 people the day before. This man was the president.

The people who were killed were never heard of by Dante. But according to the article it seemed they did something bad. It didnt seem bad to Dante though. Dante was disgraced at what the man had done. The people who he had killed were protesters wanting a change in something. What they wanted changed was not told in the article. Dante crumbled the newspaper up and threw it in the forrest next to him. When Dante continued to walk he began to relize how mad he was. He never really noticed other worldly problems. All his life he only had one person to care about.

When Dante made it to school, Layla was waiting for him. Dante's mind still pondered over the tragic article he read. He looked at Layla with a look that told Layla that something was bothering him. "Is everything alright?" she asked. "You seem troubled." "Im fine" Dante said. "Just a little frustrated thats all." Layla's curiosity grew with her new boyfriend. She kept asking Dante about it until the bell rang to get to class. Before they entered the room she hugged Dante. Dante hugged her back but with less passion than before. His mind was focused on that tragedy.

Before Dante knew it, it was the end of the day. Dante and Layla hugged goodbye and Layla left. Dante didnt though. Instead Dante went to the hall where Room 555 had appeared. He walked up to the empty wall and nothing happened. He turned around and looked back but to nothing. Dante began to get even more angry. He punched the empty wall in his rage, and started to walk away.

Out of no where the hooded people came. They surrounded Dante like they did before. Except this time one talked to him. "You are mad. Good. " the hooded person said. "You think its just a coincidence that you found that paper. That all the other articles were not readable." Dante stood on confusion. "What are you talking about? How did you know there was a paper?" The hooded figure that had talked to him grinned. "You were chosen Dante. Weve seen your life and we know your history. All thats left is you show us your future." "What in the hell are you talking about?" Dante said. "You can change things Dante. Make them better. We know you can. You just havent tried. We are gonna show you the way." As scared as Dante was he was still interested. Up until now his life seemed to be nothing but loneliness and self care. The hooded figure gestured at Dante's arm. With hesitation Dante lifted his arm. The hooded person grabbed it with extreme force and shoved what seemed to be a handle onto his arm. Dante screamed with pain, as the handle was glowing with ember at the end. "Welcome to the Catalysts."