Fate's Reliance

This is Fate’s Reliance, a collection of stories about a boy, who the world knows as Order, who allied with Fate itself. Not all of the stories will make sense, you may have to read inbetween the lines, and many will be as much of a mystery as when you start the story. You take over from there.

If you enjoy The World’s Word, I suggest you have a look at the other side to these stories: The World’s Word, which is Catalyst’s collection of stories.

The first story is the same in both collections, it is the mutual introduction to these two and the world they live in.

Enjoy!

At the start, there are two.

“You aren’t random, you are chosen. Both of you are.“

A girl, with the world on her side, literally. She has the World’s Word. But she’s just a girl.

A boy, the only person immune to the World’s Word. Fate relies on him. But he’s just a boy.

Their names? Well, the World calls them two specific names. It does not know them by any other.

The girl. Excited and eager, she wants more than what she has even if she has it all. She doesn’t think high enough of herself, and idolizes every being. She knows what a miracle life and humanity is. She understands the importance of the World, and everything that resides inside of it. The World gives her its word, and she understands. She understands its power. She understands its drawbacks. She understands its importance.

She is powerful. She has her drawbacks, and she has an importance, like every being in this World. The World gives her its word, and she uses it.

She gets angry, like every being in this world. She fights, for life, for herself, for the boy. For the World.

She makes mistakes, like every being in this world. Her anxiety gets the best of her, she draws nothing but the negatives with every mistake.

Her biggest enemy is herself. Like every being in this world.

The boy. Watchful, considerate, and caring. He wants nothing but the best, every scribbled line in life to eventually even out to a single, smooth, and happy line. He understands the importance of health, the need for happiness. The World knows him, it gives him its approval. The World will never control nor influence the boy, he is in control of his life, like the girl is in control of hers.

He understands the World’s Word is a hefty weight, and slides half onto his own shoulder. He is human.

He gets overwhelmed, and stressed when his articulated and careful plans fail. He is human.

He hides himself, but doesn’t realize she sees him. He shines through, straight to her, like a star in a dark night sky. He is human.

His biggest enemy is himself. He is human.

The World knows them as Catalyst and Order.

Initiation

“She doesn’t know. Enjoy your game. Good luck, and look good."

Order sighed. Another day, another 24 hours of wondering what’s supposed to come next. What did he yearn for? He didn’t know. What was he hoping for in the future? His aspirations? Again, he has no answer. He stood up from his bed, with a long stretch, and closed his eyes, still able to see the golden sunlight seeping in from his half-closed curtains. Reluctantly, he threw open the curtains, and so began his morning routine - or so he wished. Hanging down, grinning back at him, was Catalyst. He sighed, shut his curtains - much to Catalyst’s dismay - and got back in bed, deciding that his rule of getting up at 8am every day no longer mattered and he needed more sleep.

A few knocks sounded into the silence.

Order ignored the knocks. It was only Catalyst, afterall.

Another few knocks, weirdly spaced out.

Order ignored them again. Then he realized - these knocks were morse code, and they were not coming from the window. Counting them and translating them, he stood again and opened his curtains, surprised at the sight he saw. Or rather, what he didn’t see. Chaos had disappeared. As he realized this, the morse code message had finished, and he took a shaky breath.

He knew Catalyst wouldn’t do something like this, it’s not chaotic enough. A game that would test his mental abilities is not something Catalyst would create, he knows that all too well from knowing Catalyst for many years. The message was probably talking about Catalyst too. So, who, or what, was it? And why did he see Catalyst at his window too, was he imagining it? No, he wouldn’t allow that. That would make him too susceptible to mental attacks. He would never allow that. Was somebody impersonating Catalyst?

Order sighed, choosing that to be his answer.

The real Catalyst really isn’t going to like an impersonator.

Enigma

“Something was off. She always knows when something is off.”

Order opened his eyes, knowing what he would be opening them to. Sure enough, Catalyst was right in front of him, holding someone by the collar of their jacket, and promptly dropping them to the floor. She turned to Order.

“Again?” She said. “These guys have had you before, where’d your so-called intelligence go, hm?”

Order groaned, releasing his arms from the rope he was tied to. “How do you always manage to turn up and get to them first? I had them right where I needed them, I was just about to make my move.”

Scoffing, Catalyst kicked a guy across the room to make way for Order to get to the entrance. “Come on, you’ll be late for lunch.” She watched him for a second, before lending him her arm, Order being quick to lean against her. Apparently he’d sustained some injuries.

“Why can’t I ever escape you?” He looked at her as they walked.

She looked forwards, not meeting his eyes. “Fate, I guess.”

“But what is fate, really? Is it the World, or a force similar maybe?”

“The World isn’t a force. It’s the World. Not much more nor less, it’s alive in the same way a plant is I guess. Not quite conscious, but alive.”

“And that’s why you talk to it?” Order mocked.

Catalyst rolled her eyes. “I talk to it because it needs caring for. It’s like talkin’ to a dog. It can’t tell what you’re saying, but it understands, y’know?”

“Not really,” Order responds. “But you do you.”

Catalyst sighs. “One day you’ll understand. You’ll connect with it, I know you will. Much to my annoyance,” She added the last part in a mutter, then pretending not to notice Order smiling at the thought.

They arrived back at Catalyst’s place swiftly, Catalyst using the World’s Word to get them there quicker when she realized how injured Order actually is. Her only response was a simple “Dumbass” before sitting him down and grabbing some bandages. As Order complained about having to be saved by her, Cat wrapped his leg up and made sure he was gonna be alright.

“You complain like I’m not thinking the same thing. Ego much.” She says.

Order looks down at her. “What happened?” He asks, seemingly out of the blue.

“What?” She responds from the floor.

“You’re awfully chilled today. I’d go as far as saying sad. You’re acting off, basically.”

Catalyst shrugs. “Ask the World I guess.”

“Dumbass.” Order responds, quoting her earlier shot at him. Catalyst simply rolls her eyes at him, with a slight smile that puts Order more at ease. They act like they hate each other, but deep down, they do care.

The Consequences: 2

”All actions have consequences, some ones others have to fix.”

There were voices, the voices of people: Angry, protesting, sorrowful. Order stood up immediately after one particularly loud yell, deciding he needs to know what’s going on. Catalyst, sitting on his sofa, broken out of her train of thought, watches him.

“I don‘t know what’s happening out there, but I want to find out. A protest these days leads to mass murder, legal by this god forsaken government…” Order said, whilst Catalyst sighed.

“You talk too much, just go, I’m right behind ya.” She smiles, standing up.

Nodding, Order rushes out the door, only to be met with the sight of exactly what he feared: A protest against the way they had to live, against the government, their lives, all of it. People were getting tired of it, he knew, but he was hoping they had more time before protests started to get more than social media posts. This could be dangerous.

He rushes through the crowd, Catalyst close behind, assuring he wouldn’t be stopped with her Word. Swiftly taking a place on the slightly-raised platform where the best stalls in the old marketplace used to have residence, he breathes in, knowing he needs to convince this crowd to stop before the police get involved - or worse. He looks over his shoulder. Catalyst meets his gaze, nodding confidently, attempting to give him the confidence to speak up.

“Please, everybody, listen to me!” He shouts over the crowd, waving his arms. He hears a small grunt of a laugh behind him - Catalyst was telling him he was making himself look like an idiot. He frowns.

“SHUT UP!” He yells, as loud as possible, which gains the attention of at least half of the crowd. “Thank you.”

Slowly, the crowd falls silent, all attention on Order. Catalyst had moved into the crowd of people to make sure she isn’t going to be noticed, but had stayed in Order’s sight. Order sighs.

“I know you all aren’t fans of how the state of your lives are as of now. But please, this protest will do more harm than good - the government do all of this for you, it’s best this way…” He begins, deciding to try and defend the government due to the fact he knows they’ll be watching this, and he needs to keep himself in their good books.

A young, blonde-haired girl, holding a camera, spoke up. She was stood next to Catalyst, immediately putting Catalyst on edge; however, Cat seemed to be rather interested in the girl, Order noted.

“Excuse me, but how is any of this for the best? We’re constantly being watched, every move we make is being judged and controlled, everything is so invasive! Not to mention the threats that are popping up everywhere - what are we meant to do, sit and let this government ruin our lives?” The girl spoke.

Order frowned a little, processing her words. He knew she was right, and hated that he had to defend the government - but that was the only way he could get this protest to break up before the government forces took control. That would be deadly, and exactly what Order tries to fight against.

“I know. I know how you feel, I really do, I am also a person affected by this just as you are. However, there really is a positive to all of it. Every corner of every street is under surveillance, but that means criminals are found with ease. Every person is linked to their address, but that record means anybody can be found and put under protection if they’re threatened, or again, criminals can be found. As for the threats…” Order takes a deep breath. “A new plan is coming into action very soon, one that is going to protect all of you. The government are working on it as fast as possible-”

Before he could finish, the girl spoke up again. “How would you know this, Mr Person Affected Just As We Are? You’re clearly a representative from the government itself, we can’t trust your word.”

The girl's words earned her a grin from Catalyst, which Order chose to ignore. “I am, you’re correct, but I'm still affected. As for how I would know this..” He takes a breath. “I know because I am the plan. I’m the person who is going to protect you, the Government’s front line.”

Catalyst shakes her head slightly at him, telling him they’re not going to understand what he means. The blonde girl sees this, but stays silent, now watching them both. She’s letting him keep speaking.

“I am currently on the way to becoming the first ever government-recognised… superhero.” He says, slightly grimacing as he says the final word. He knows it sounds stupid. “I know you’re all thinking I’m absolutely insane, so, I’ll prove it to you.”

He glances at Cat, then raises his hand to a nearby loaded bin. The bin begins to rise, just as he’d hoped - Cat had used her word, specifically “Rise”. He held it in the air, Cat whispering the word “Stay” to keep it there. He looked over his audience, who were all clearly trying to figure out how he’d done it - except for one. The blonde-haired girl.

She was watching Catalyst, who’s current focus was on the floating bin. She knew. She was clever. However, much to Cat and Order’s luck, she didn’t speak up.

Eventually, he lowered his hand - using his own power to release Cat from keeping the floating bin in the air. That was all he could actually do after all. Simply reverse or change what Cat was doing with her Word.

“I will speak more in future, but please, make this deal with me. If I cannot prove to you that I will protect you, you may continue this rally in future. Until then, simply stay with what is happening, and trust me. Thank you.” Order says, scanning over the crowd, now speaking confidently to try and force this last attempt at breaking the protest… And it works.

The blonde girl speaks up. “Okay. I trust you. Prove me right.” She says, and the crowd begin to nod, agreeing with varying levels of reluctance. After that, the crowd takes mere minutes to break, some clearly scared of what may happen if they don’t. Order was simply surprised that a simple floating bin was enough to disperse them.

Stepping down from the platform with a sigh, Order walks up to Catalyst, who was watching the blonde girl. She was clearly intrigued.

“You know her?” He asks.

“No, but I want to.” She responds, before finally taking her gaze away from the girl. “She seems clever. She clearly had an ulterior plan, that wasn’t her actual plan. I can tell.”

Order nods in agreement, noticing the girl was now watching them, but deciding not to alert Catalyst. Besides, Cat has a weird ability of knowing when they’re being watched anyway - something he just assumes is part of her word.

Objective: Subdue the Chaos Incarnation (Code Name: Typhon)

Date: XX/XX/20XX

Location: Classified

“You’re coming up to the C-I’s airspace now!” John, Order’s Handler, shouted over the radio.

Taking in the words from his handler, Order took a breath. He may have been fighting the C-Is for a few weeks now, but they still scared him. The name even scared him - A Chaos Incarnation, C-I for short.Chaos Incarnations were anomalies a few years ago by the first ever actual superhuman recognised in the UK. Order knew him as Chaos.

Chaos had caused a dozen different “anomalies” to shop up, things that go against the very laws of nature - Like C-I: Raiden, a storm that had destroyed half of the UK Midlands within its single week of existence, its lighting causing everything it touched to combust into flames… even the very air it ran through.

Order was currently riding in a Eurofighter Typhoon, in a specially designed drop tank with the intention of jettisoning him off onto the back of his current target. C-I: Typhoon is a huge wyvern-like creature with a 200m wingspan, and every time it flapped its wings a tornado formed somewhere on Earth. All attempts by all militaries to damage or subdue the beast have failed, it’s immune to bullets, bombs, missiles – even the hydrogen bomb dropped on it had no affect. But Order was confident his abilities would allow him to reduce the creature to nothing.

“Twenty seconds until drop off!” John shouted again, Order knew, he had had felt the creature’s presence 40 seconds ago, the consciousness that controls its huge, indestructible body was like an angry red splotch on his empathic radar. Ever since he and Catalyst linked empathically all the living anomalies seemed to be easier to recognise. However, that then worried them both; if Chaos had the same wavelength as them, did that mean his powers were somehow linked to the duo? How difficult would he be to fight once they found him?

Cutting off his flurry of thoughts, Order’s drop tank was released and he held his breath as he focused, tuning into the power he knew Catalyst set off the second he dropped.

“Land.”

And he landed.

The drop tank fell apart, and his trajectory was angled perfectly to land on to C-I: Typhon’s back – its thick scales having significant enough indents to acquire foot holds without too much slipping. As he looked down, stood on the top of a flying creature about 52,000 feet above the dreary city of Nottingham, Catalyst materialised beside him, a smirk already having formed on her rosy lips.

“So, how exactly is the mighty Order, the world’s first government recognised superhero, going to deal with this mighty… behemoth?” Her fiery red hair swung around bizarrely in the wind, almost in the complete opposite direction to how it was travelling, as she grinned maniacally.

“Well, I was thinking of sinking my hands into its flesh and just dissolving it… it worked last time.” Order answered her simply.

“Yes, well last time it was a giant slimeball, this thing’s scales are capable of tanking hydrogen bombs… I somehow believe it’ll be a little harder to manipulate.” She cackled over the wind.

“So, you’re just going to let this thing keep destroying our home?” Order shot back at her, clearly striking a nerve as she turned away, but not before seeing a flash of guilt in her eyes.

“Of course not, move your hands ya d-bag.” She held her breath for a moment before whispering a single word.

“Dissolve.”

She whispered into the skin of the beast, its scales melting away, giving Order ample room to work his “magic”. His set of abilities allow him to manipulate Catalyst’s own commands to the World to a certain extent, along with being able to unravel the existence of anything created by Chaos. He can reverse Chaos, and control Catalyst. As he sunk his arms into the crater Catalyst had created, he felt into the core of the monster, for the source of the anomaly’s power. He pushed his consciousness into its nexus of energy and began looking for its Origin, the point from which it originally sprang from and from where he would be able to unravel it from. As his consciousness became beholden to the Origin he imagined reaching out and grabbing a string from Catalyst’s jumper and just pulling, reaching for her power to aid him.

“End.”

C-I: Typhon froze completely in mid-air, and to any outside observers it would have been seen to have begun to turn into solid light, its texture and colour slowly leaving it. The light then begins to fade, back into the nothingness it was brought from.

“Hide.”

Catalyst returned to being invisible, but Order could tell she was right next to him through their empathy link as he descended to Earth’s surface, Catalyst being the entire reason he was able to ignore the cold, and the wind and the lack of air around him 52,000 feet above the ground as she brings her own little bubble of liveable conditions with her wherever she goes.

Having been hiding next to the drop tank the entire journey, Cat used her powers yet again to make sure Order didn’t die upon landing. As much as Order has power, it has far greater limitations than Catalyst’s, but if she had introduced herself to the government, they would have turned her into a damn Guinea pig. From what the government can tell, Order is only capable of 1. Surviving and 2. Getting rid of the C-Is, which is all they need right now. But there would have been no way to hide the limitlessness of Catalyst’s abilities if she had gone public, and so she remains in the background, making sure Order does not die, and helping get rid of the anomalies Chaos created.

“Good job.” John met him as he landed, having done so gently onto the roof of one of the horrendously tall buildings in Nottingham. “You’re ridiculously good at dealing with these things, and for that, we’re all super thankful.” He chuckled nervously as he ran his hand through his short, cropped hair, the bags under his eyes were deepening every time they saw each other. “Any other missions set up for next week mate?” Order asked John.

“No, not for a short while thankfully, as much as we have faith that you’ll always make it out alive we prefer taking the precautions we deem necessary to make sure we don’t lose our one and only way of fixing all of this mess that Chaos caused.” He sighed as he finished his sentence, as if a weight was off his shoulders. “Although I’ve only known you for a week, kid, I really appreciate what you’ve done, you being around when you have been has allowed me to go home and see my husband and kid every night.”

Order took note of the tear forming in his eye, as if imaging what would have happened if C-I: Typhon had not been dealt with sooner. As it were its tornadoes were minor, although they had been building up in the week it took Order to go fully public, so there was no telling how bad it could have gotten if the pair had not done what they did when they did. Only a few cities in the midlands had suffered any real/serious damage, but enough that no one was denying the existence of them anymore.

“Well go and get some rest then, say hi to Alex and Chloe for me,” Order smiled as he spoke, noticing the shift in John’s shoulders, the tension that had remained even after his sigh earlier, finally releasing like an untied balloon.

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“Well, that was fun,” Catalyst spoke. The pair were in a quiet city park, sitting on a bench, the splitting wood littered generously in moss and the brick-coloured paint chipped. The gravel path in front of them was wrapped in moss as if the moss were trying to hug the dirty stone, flattened by the years of being trod on.

The mission had been completed early in the morning, and so they had decided to grab some chips from the nearby chip shop and gaze into the pond as they munched.

“It was, wasn’t it?” Order mused, he felt like some fantasy Chosen One, destined to fight off all the monsters that savage his country's land, with an even more powerful (but restricted due to plot) wizard by his side. Cat tossed a chip to a crow, the food materialising at its feet as she kept her “Hidden” active whilst they were in public, but Order could still hear her when nearby. They both chuckled as it spun into the air, squawking at the magical chip on the ground. “Which one do you think they will make us deal with next?”

“Not a clue hun, they barely had Raiden and Typhon organised by the time they got you to deal with them, and Ooze just so happened to be a much lower threat level and basically round the corner when you first demonstrated your ability to get rid of the entities.In fact, you were so lucky that it wasn’t corrosive cuz you could have sunk up to your bloody elbows into the creature before you realised it if it was.” Cat shook her head in disgust. “And then what use would you be? Can’t sink your hands into anything if you don’t have any.”

“I guess so, but I could somehow just tell that if I tried to touch it, it wouldn’t be able to hurt me anyway, so I don’t think it would have mattered.” Order responded to her teasing tone.

“Hmph.” Was the only response he got. He gazed harder into the pond, concentrating on a dragonfly as it zipped across the surface of the water, resting ever so gently upon stalks of Bulrush.

“We’re going to fix everything; we’re going to save the world.” He murmured. Chaos had created several dozen anomalies all over the world, the UK just so happened to have 5 “big ones” as Cat called them, seriously dangerous entities/events that have de-homed seven million people in the UK alone. Some, like Ooze, were much smaller and easier to deal with, but still created complete mayhem whilst it was around. Its ability to multiply small inorganic objects that pass through its core completely broke the laws of physics.

“Yeah.” Cat affirmed, grinning that maniacal grin of hers as Order turned to look at her. “We’re gonna kick some serious monster ass!”

Order smiled warmly; her humour never failed to make him chuckle to himself. They were going to save the world. They were going to do it. Together.