A wave of cool air immediately washed over him, a direct contrast to the massive amount of heat crashing into his back. Chuckling to himself Issac still couldn't help himself but marvel at the simplest show of magic. Even holding the door open did nothing to the temperature, it was as if his body was split in two. A blazing inferno behind him and a cool room in front of him.

Just from looking into the office, you wouldn't believe that it was surrounded by a literal hellscape right outside. The lamps situated around the office washed the room in a gentle peaceful light. The smell of lavender lightly hung in the air luring anybody into a relaxed state. Just stepping into the room caused all of the outside noise just seemed to fade away leaving only the gentle hum of the a/c vents behind.

There were no more screams of people dying. No more sounds of gunfire blasting off into the distance. No more roaring flames consuming all in its path.

Just silence.

In front of the window overlooking the yard was a large Latino man, standing there, watching as the people caused chaos through the streets. He just, stood there, in his pristine white suit watching as the whole mountainside went to hell, and yet it looked like none of it mattered.

He didn’t even care enough to turn around and look at whoever opened the door into his sanctum, his heart of operations. Someone had just stepped into what should have been the most important and sacred place to this man and still, he didn’t care.

Already you could see the lights of the sirens rushing towards the mountain as firetrucks and policemen sped through the streets hoping to stop the spread of fire before it devoured the whole city.

It wasn't until Issac reached the front of the desk that the man finally spoke. “ Leo, he’s dead right?”

Issac, too tired from the mass mind control from earlier, decided to humor the man and try and get as much rest as he could in the process. And besides, it's not every day that you find someone that can calmly talk about the death of their brother.“Yeah.”

“ And Manuel, when did he die?”

“I think he died first.”

Sighing, the man hung his head as he went over the information just given to him. “ I knew that Leo was pathetic, but to this degree?”

Finally turning away from the window Issac finally got his first good look at the man.

Standing at over six feet tall the man seemed to look down at Issac, staring him down with dark brown, almost black eyes. A bald head loomed over a well-groomed salt and peppered beard. His eyebrows were non-existent, either from an accident or personal choice Issac didn't know.

His lips were pressed into a permanent frown and if you focused your eyes you could see the hint of ink on his neck with more seemingly hiding underneath his clothes. Muscles straining against an expensive white suit, his hands clasped behind him. This man was nothing like Miguel who got fat off of luxury or like Leo so sure of his uniqueness that his very existence screamed childlike arrogance.

No this man was somebody who built himself up from nothing and in the process not only received a body meant for war but also gained a vision that looked over the masses below him

Just by looking at his unfocused glaze, Issac knew that he thought nothing of Issac’s presence. Instead, his mind seemed to be focused on something far away, to this man whatever was happening right now was not important enough for his full undivided attention.

Stepping away from the window he took a seat at his desk clasping his hands together in front of his face. “ Disappointing, but at the end of the day I knew that he would disappoint me in some way, just not this bad. But that was not the reason that I ordered you here so instead let's get down to business.”

Pulling out some paper from his desk he laid them out on the table, turning them around to face Issac. Just from a glance, Issac could tell that these papers were special. Both of them had magic woven into them.

One of them appeared to be burnt black and only carried a faint trace of a magical signature while the other was a pristine white stylized piece of paper full of magical energy.

Because of how burnt it was Issac was unable to make a lick of sense of what was written on the first one; the only words visible were the two signatures at the bottom. The first one was Manuel’s while the second one was somebody named Markine Cutter de Silva.

Looking up at Markine Isaac realized that Manuel’s employment wasn’t just a regular business deal. Magic had turned his signature into an actual binding contract that connected Manuel to this man.

Already this new revelation brought Issac's already tired mind closer to the edge.

Seeing people have magical energy was one thing, Issac had seen multiple people around the world whose internal energy acted differently from other people. Their bodies, like his, drew in the natural energy around them storing it within their bodies. But those people were always sickly and did not know what their bodies were doing.

More often than not the people that he met never seemed to live long, in fact, every one of them would die before they even reached eighteen.

But this paper changed things.

Magical rings, that is one thing, Issac himself could craft his magical items. So the thought of somebody surviving this magical sickness and making these rings wasn’t impossible. But magical paper contracts, that, that was something that Issac could never see himself making.

While these contracts didn't seem complicated, they were in fact, a whole different kind of beast compared to the rinky-dinky toys that Leo had. Magic at its corner was energy, and energy needs specific contains otherwise you will find yourself with some interesting reactions.

Paper was something that needed to be more flimsy and weak. Magic was an ever-moving, living energy put that on something like paper, and more likely than not you’re gonna get a paper that was now on fire.

And yet here it was, paper with magical power.

This wasn’t something that somebody could create on a whim, this level of industry needs years of research and testing just to invent. And then, Issac was assuming, an experienced hand would be required to make something of this quality.

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This contract, even just by sitting there, opened up a whole new world for Issac. But Issac couldn't let that cloud his mind right now. He still had a job to do, after he found Lucy then he could let his mind explode with all these new revelations.

“As you can see due to Manuel’s unfortunate “breach” of contract I am now down a suitable worker. But this does mean that there is now an opening.” Pushing the newer contract forward Markine continued. “ All you have to do is sign right here and we can begin a new-.”

Issac had to cut him off, he had a feeling that if he didn't bring the subject up himself then they would never get to it.

“ Where's Lucy?”

Offended by the interruption, Markin looked up, and for the first time looked at Issac in the eye.

“Who?”

Normally Issac would have no problem with letting Markine ramble off, maybe even through in a few one-liners himself. It's what he did with Leo, and he rarely gets the chance to set the stage for the show.

But right now Issac just couldn’t bring himself to care anymore, he didn't want to play any more drawn-out games and he didn't want to have some idiot talk his ear off. All he cared about was finding Lucy and going to bed.

All of these contrasting feelings of anger, regret, and joy, all they did was pull his mind from one extreme to the other.

He was so stupid. If only he had looked harder he wouldn't feel so alone. But because he thought himself so special he never thought to look harder. Because who else but he could be so special, if anybody could be the outlier of earth then why not Issac? He let the chance slip away of finding people like him.

But none of that mattered right now. The only thing he could do now was get to Lucy, everything else comes afterward.

“ the little girl.”

“ Oh her, well you don't have to worry about her, she is just down the mountain, at that quaint little bar that these Infa’s frequent. Funnily enough, if you had listened to the rest of my call on the phone you would have already had her.” That broke Issac out of his self-loathing. What does he mean she wasn't here? Where else would she be but at the Boss’s castle?

“ If she was down the mountain then what was the point of trying to threaten me? Without her, you have no leverage, Nothing that could keep me here.”

Smirking arrogantly at Issac Markine taunted. “ The point was to see what kind of person you were if you were a meticulous assassin or a raging lunatic that would charge at the first thing in his line of sight.” Leaning back in his seat Markine folded his hands in his lap. “And, you, my little friend, are obviously the latter. Either way, it wouldn’t have mattered that the child would have still been under my control, and she will be until the day she dies. ”

Gestring at Issac’s neck Markine began to explain to Issac what he did. “ That little girl is your own little personal collar. Right after our call ended I realized just how much you seemed to care for her. So I place a complex formula on her body, one that, at any time I desire, will cause her to feel the worst pain imaginable.”

“ But enough about that, let's get back to business. What you need to do for me is to amass 20,000 dollars every month for the rest of your life, this deal will be passed down to your children and their children, this part does require you to have an heir to pass this down to.”

Issac couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had rushed all the way here to save Lucy from whatever torture that she could have been facing and now he finds out that he could have taken her if he only Waited a little bit more!

By rushing over here he might have inadvertently tied the noose around his neck. Now this was just something else that he had to clean up.

Slamming his hands onto the desk, Issac leaned forward to the point that their faces were almost touching. Staring him down through his eyes Issac tried to convey all the hate and bloodlust that he felt into Markine.

“ You think that I came up to your gang and climbed this mountain, set everything on fire, just to join you.”

“ While I admit I was a little heated over your little temper tantrum, I am ready to look past a little bit of ruly-ness all in the name of our future cooperation. So what do you say? Will you join?” Reaching out Markine gave the contract to Issac allowing him to get a proper look at it.

At the top and bottom of the paper were lines of unreadable texts, at first glance, they looked like some kind of stylized borders but after taking a closer look Issac theorized that they could also be runes meant to enforce the sides of the contract and maybe add a few clauses that he couldn't see.

At the top of the paper sat a coat of arms, a tree wrapped with what looked like ribbons and encircled in Portuguese letters. The letters themself read out as ‘A Mighty Tree, Guarded by a Gentle Stream’ and for the life of him, Issac couldn't figure out what it meant. Was it about the Amazon or maybe some sort of riddle?

Man he hated it when his mind just started wondering, he can never seem to focus on one thing.

But none of that mattered because not for a second did Issac consider Markine’s offer. His pride just wouldn't let him, in this life or the next nothing would control him.

“ Sorry friend, but you can take that tissue out of my face and shove it right up your ass.”

Frowning at Issac's words, Marking stood up towering over Issac by a good two feet, something forced Issac to have to look up just to maintain eye contact.

“ Are you sure you want to do this because you're not irreplaceable, I can kill you at any time.”

“ Big words from a man who's got what looks like a penis for a hea-.” Before he could even finish his sentence a force threw him up from the desk and slammed him directly into the wall behind him. The throw was so powerful Issac even found himself halfway embedded into the wall.

His whole body ached and he didn't even know what hit him.

Markine, still standing at his desk, had his fist raised in the air almost as if he was punching somebody. Somehow faster than he could react, Issac was punched with enough force to land him into a wall.

Pulling his fist back Markine walked out from behind his desk and made his way towards the downed Issac. Loosening his cuffs he reached out and yanked Issac from within the wall. Holding him up from the neck of his poncho with one hand Markine could see that Issac's body seemed to be in a state of shock

“ Maybe a little lesson will set you straight. Don't worry, a bit of pain never hurts anybody. We can talk about your servitude when you wake up. When this is all over I think you’ll have a different answer for me.”

Raising his fist Markine prepared to turn Issac's head into a gushing fountain of blood, but then, out of nowhere, he started hearing a strange sound.

Laughter.

Someone was laughing.

After checking the office for any person that he might have missed, Markine turned his attention back to the only person left in the room, the one still clutched between his large hand.

Issac couldn't help himself, staring up at the ceiling he couldn't help but laugh. A damsel in distress in an unknown location, a villain high off his fumes monologuing directly into his ear, and a stage engulfed in flames. Every second the clock ticked and questions roared through his mind. Will Lucy live, will this dumbass win, or will they all be engulfed in flames.

A wide smile lit up Issac's face. The stage was set and the actors in their places, just outside the audience waited in bated breath and now came in the main lead.

Everyone was ready for a show.

Reaching into his pockets Issac grabbed a couple of bits of candy and, stuffing them into his mouth, Issac prepared his body for the main event.

Lifting his head Issac stared into Markine’s eyes watching as they filled with rage over his disrespect. Shooting off his widest smile Issac called out, starting to climax.

“ Ready, Set, Action!”