I am not writing a children's story, life has its ups and downs, fecal matter hits the fan most often when we least want it to.

ALSO: I don't know how many ways I got to write it but I was hoping some of you would catch on, Leo is flawed, egocentric, prideful, psychotic (refer to the prologue, killing in the defense of another can also mess you up) (also refer to chapter one, his infancy, he suffered something similar to the Chinese water torture, unable to move and constantly being driven mad by what is in reach but unreachable, people have lost their shit with this torture) He also has a caring heart (refer to Sophia and his sister he was willing to die for one and kill for the other)

ALSO#2: For those of you that are concerned with personality development in this arc, HINT, this arc is less than half about the MC though what happens here will effect him down the line.

Chapter Twenty - For Whom The Bell Tolls

*** Leo Cazador ***

Where are they?! I looked around frantically not caring for the damage I was doing to the land as I relinquished my usually tight reigns on my power. Each of my movements caused the earth to tremble, plant life to wither, some animals would even die from the overwhelming force I was twisting. Nature itself was begging me to stop the madness, to call back my power, but I needed it.

I flitted around the forests and hills that surround the city stopping at every camp I discovered, some were caravan camps, others were simple travelers, but there was no sign of the pirates I was looking for.

The sun was starting to set and I still had not found them, it wasn’t until the camp fires started becoming visible that I finally tracked them down. They were in between two hills hidden and out of sight unless one passed close by.

I didn’t bother introducing myself, I was here for murder. I didn’t sense her here, at this proximity I should feel her presence slightly, that I did, but I didn’t feel it here. Too bad for them, had they still had her here in the camp…well no need to think about that, she wasn’t here.

“Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”

*** Morgan Castle ***

“Captain,” Doran turned towards me. We were drinking contently as the men made merry around the fires, we made a good haul with the girl, with some of the earnings I bought a good bit of good wine for the men to enjoy.

“What is it?” I asked taking a swig from the bottle in my hand.

“Winds picking up,” He said.

“Rain?” I asked. The man was ever cautious and attentive.

“No,” he shook his head. “It’s something else. I felt nothing earlier and the signs weren’t right for rain.”

“Might need to cut the celebrations short then,” I sighed. “No point in getting the men sick with a chill.”

“Indeed,” Doran nodded. “Should I give the word?”

“Yes,” I nodded getting up. I was slightly unsteady on my feet but I didn’t let it show. “Do it, then go get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow.”

“As you command captain,” he nodded and stood up as well, abandoning the log we both had taken as our seat. I watched him go off to tell the closest group of men to get some shut eye, when I noticed something strange. There were slow flying masses of air heading towards the camp. These masses had quite a bit of mana in them.

“To arms!” I cried out dropping my bottle and sent a volley of air blasts towards the first and closest of the balls. “To arms! We are under attack!”

The sphere I struck remained unscathed and as it reach its intended target there was a sudden bright flash of fire as the air trembled with a mighty shockwave. Before I could even recover from that another went off and then another, and another.

I found myself crawling on the ground as one of the blasts had gone off close to me and caught me off guard, I spat out some blood, I had bitten my tongue when I had been thrown through the air. While at extremely close range the blasts could kill it was clear that they were made more for stunning, for the shock and awe.

My eyes were still focusing when the screams started, there were a lot of them, many of which were cut short as more took up the task. My ears were ringing, but I could hear enough to know that soon the screams would be upon me. If not for the protective layer of wind magic I would have been helpless, but that was not the case.

When I recovered enough to see I turned to flee, no point in standing to fight a battle I would lose.

“Where are you going?” a child’s voice asked from behind me, the voice sent shivers down my back.

I turned to find a stocky boy not yet even a teenager. He was wearing a black overcoat with a crimson and gold vest underneath, his pants and boots too were black. The face however, was hidden behind a yellow mask revealing only blood red glowing eyes. He was drenched in blood and carried a sack over his back. In his left hand he hand the mangled head of Doran, it looked like the boy had ripped off his head instead of cutting it off. In his right he held a single black book, strangely enough that was the only part on him that was not covered in the blood of my crew.

“Who are you?” I asked. Before I got my answer I felt tendrils crawl up my legs locking me in place, I couldn’t even attempt to break free of them before they were up my legs, over my torso, and locked by arms outwards. The tendril vines then tore open my vest and shirt revealing my naked chest.

“I will tell you,” the boy replied as he set the book literally in the air to one side of me, right next to my chest. He dropped Doran’s hand as flames consumed his arm. After the fires died out they revealed a perfectly clean and unharmed hand. The same could not be said of the blood and overcoat sleeve.

He grabbed a pen that was imbedded into the book, looking at it closely now there was only one thick page in that book, thick enough to have an indentation for a pen. The pen floated out from the boy’s hand as it started to scribble a seal on me.

“My name is Leo Cazador,” he began. Leo, where have I heard that name? “A couple weeks ago you took from me something precious to me. Of course you didn’t know you were stealing from me, how could you know? But that doesn’t really change the fact that you did.”

“What did I steal from you?” I asked trying to negotiate. “Maybe I can get it back to you.”

“It’s not what you stole but who,” the boy explained.

“Who?” I asked confused then it dawned on me. “You! You are Papi!”

I didn’t even see the slap that struck me.

“Only one can call me that,” the boy admonished. He said it calmly but by the way the trees fell apart, shredded by his killing intent, I knew the calmness was only a façade.

I could taste blood in my mouth.

“I…I know where she is,” I offered, in hopes of some mercy. I had already given up hope of coming out of this unscathed. I couldn’t even summon the forces of air to aid me.

“So do I,” he replied. “My being here is for another matter entirely.”

“Which is?” I asked knowing I would regret hearing the answer.

“In my seething rage I have had time to think as I chased after you day after day,” the boy explained. “I thought of all that I would do, how I would kill you, how I would destroy you, but then I realized that death is far too…finite. I am going to do something truly abominable to you, I am going to make you live forever.”

Immortality? He was granting me immortality?

“And you will curse me for the rest of eternity.”

For a moment there was only silence except for the noises of the scribbling pen. As the seal finally started looking complete, it was one written in gold and diamond dust ink which meant it would be an everlasting and powerful seal, the boy spoke again.

“This seal is called Eternal Torment,” he said pointing to the title words written in strange runes in the seal. “This seal is a true abomination, so much so, that after the seal is complete I am going to write one more seal that hides the design on your body and then destroy my own book. This is a curse I will reserve only for you and no other. You have shown me the errors of my hubris, I will not make the same mistake again.

“As for what the seal does, it will keep you eternally as you are now, you will be in a constant state of regeneration. The designs will keep you from dying by broken bones, fatal injuries, fire, suffocation, dehydration, malnourishment, the test of time, save for complete destruction of your body in a single instant you will not die. Your punishment, however, will be equally as grand, it will rob you of your voice, you will find your hands to not have the strength to lift even a single pen, and once every day, for one hour, your body will be torn apart, your muscles will be shredded, your bones will be shattered, and the feeling of pain will be amplified. The reason for one hour a day, every day, for the rest of your eternal life, is this, I don’t want you to completely break, I want you to always be aware of why you are suffering. Needless to say, the seal will neuter you, and block all feelings of pleasure you will never know satisfaction nor the sense of fulfillment ever again.”

“Why me?” I asked despair in my voice, how could I not believe that the boy could do all this to me if he could overwhelm both Doran and I and my entire crew in mere moments? “Why single me out for this?”

“You led these men,” the boy replied. “I knew you were the captain as soon as I spotted you, it made killing everyone else all that much easier as I knew where I could hit hard and where I couldn’t. I also need a witness to be a testament to my wrath, I may free you of your torment one day. I want you to stand as a warning to others of what I am capable and willing to do against those who offend me.”

The pen stopped moving and I found my heart beating faster. The boy then grabbed the pen as he added a small layer to the complex seal, when he was done he made a slight cut in his finger with wind magic then placed it on the center of the seal leaving a bloody red mark. “There, it is done. Ready yourself, the seal will take its first full effect in moments.”

“Please…” I begged, but the boy’s eyes bulged, he turned towards the direction of the city and like a hurricane he crashed through the forest tearing trees apart from the sheer force he exuded. Something had happened to the girl, I could feel it in my gut, I could also feel the chance of acquiring any mercy fleeing with that revelation.