The temporary side effects that accompany the imprinting of seals are a topic that is greatly underemphasized. The imprinting of a seal temporarily twists the mentality and emotions of a person into a semblance of what the origin planes are: cold, chaotic, and insane. This twisted effect lasts for hours, and in some extreme cases, days, transforming innocent individuals into cold-hearted killer machines.
The Twisted Effect.
A research paper on the side effects of accumulating seals.
By prominent scholar Eric Tython
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Aodhán gasped, taking urgent mouthfuls of air as the deathly grip of cold on his lungs was suddenly released. He fell to his knees, wheezing as he forced air into his starving lungs.
Andrew lay shivering beside him, covered entirely in a thick layer of frost that had turned his skin blue. Needless to say, they hadn’t made it out of the training room before Daruk’s skill had struck, and if it wasn’t for the watcher who was in charge of security within the training center, they probably would have frozen to death.
Rahim had appeared only a second after the watcher and had immediately dispelled the deathly chill that had filled the training room. Aodhán wheezed again as his body spasmed, and his heartbeat slowly returned to its normal rhythm.
Aodhán collapsed. He felt weak and was unable to hold himself up any longer. It took him five minutes to summon up enough strength to roll over and glare at Daruk.
He understood that it was an accident, but he and Andrew had almost died because of Daruk’s carelessness. The least they deserved was an apology, but rather than the expression of guilt and regret that he expected to see, Daruk stared back at him coldly, his stance rigid and unfeeling. “I do apologize for your near-death experience; I’m aware it can be a tad unpleasant.”
The words were flat and monotonous. There were no inflections or emotions behind them, but having just narrowly escaped death, Aodhán didn’t notice all that, and anger rose within him.
“My neat death experience? Daruk, you almost killed us!”
“And I have apologized.” Daruk replied in the same unfeeling tone that sent Aodhán into a maddened rage.
“Apologized? Apologized? Can you hear yourself, Daruk? Are you mad?” He stalked forward, and unbridled rage roared through him. He wanted to smash Daruk against the wall and rip his throat out until he crumpled to the floor as a lifeless—
“Enough!” Rahim shouted and rushed to stand between the two boys. He glared at Aodhán and said, “Retract your claws and assert control. You’re not a beast!’
Confused, Aodhán looked down and realized that his hands were gone, replaced by a black, scaly limb adorned with sharp claws. Horrified, he realized he’d only been moments away from ripping his own brother to shreds.
The claws disappeared immediately, and Aodhán staggered, but Rahim grabbed his shoulders and steadied him. “Calm down; it’s not unusual for something like this to happen; you just need to learn how to control your familiar better.”
Aodhán closed his eyes, horrified by the thought of what would have happened if Rahim hadn’t been here to stop him. Memories of a ruined ship flashed across his mind, and he shook his head vigorously.
He pushed the memories aside and focused on inhaling deeply. When he opened his eyes a few seconds later, he was much more in control of himself and his emotions. He was still angry, though, but he had enough presence of mind to realize that the anger he was feeling wasn’t truly his, but Varéc’s.
“What is wrong with him?” Now that he had calmed down, it was obvious that something was wrong with Daruk.
“He almost killed us, yet he shows no remorse or regret, not even a half-decent apology.” Andrew gritted out in anger as he slowly rose to his feet, and Rahim responded.
“He’s not exactly himself at the moment, as he’s still suffering from the aftereffects of gaining a seal. He should be relatively back to normal in a day or two.”
Aodhán turned his gaze to Daruk, who stared back at him coldly. “I’m sorry for...”
He trailed off, unable to complete the sentence. What would he say exactly? I’m sorry for almost ripping you to shreds.
Daruk blinked and smiled coldly. “You tried to kill me, but you would have failed, and I would have killed you instead.”
“Okay, that’s enough.” Rahim turned to him. “He’s not in his right mind, Aodhán; disregard his words.”
“So, I’m not even getting an apology?” Andrew asked angrily, and Rahim shot him a glare. “What part of he's not in his right mind, do you not understand?”
“I am perfectly fine, Rahim.” Daruk responded, his unfeeling gaze locked on Andrew. “I already apologized once; you don’t deserve another.”
“Okay, Daruk, come; we need to talk.” Rahim led Daruk to one corner of the hall and began speaking to him. The fact that Daruk had gained a seal was a good thing, and it would have been cause for celebration if they hadn’t almost been frozen to death in the process.
He shrugged when Andrew asked if he was doing okay and moved to sit against the wall on the other side of the training room. This wasn’t the first time Varéc’s emotions had bled into his own, but it had never been so overwhelming that it had overridden his reasoning.
For a moment there, it was almost as if Varéc had taken over. He suspected it was as a result of being frozen almost to death. His mind must have dimmed or weakened long enough for Varéc to take control.
Even now, rage simmered within him as Varéc glared at Daruk with malice. He needed to find a way to prevent this from ever happening again. Not with Daruk, not with anyone.
He sighed wearily. Never in his life had he been so close to death. It was scary and sad, but it made him realize that he wanted to live, and not just that, but to thrive and prosper. He wanted to get married and have a family of his own; he wanted to see this new world that he’d been transported to, but mostly he just wanted to live and be happy. Nothing more, nothing less.
To take his mind off thoughts of death, Aodhán decided to review Daruk’s status. He half expected to be denied access, so he was surprised when the icy blue screen appeared before him.
….
Congratulations! You have successfully harnessed 100 units of willpower, Bronze title gained.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Congratulations! You have been acknowledged and marked by the origin plane of cold. Sealbearer title gained.
Congratulations! You have perfected a skill and earned the title of Architect.
Caution! Energy enhancement technique is incomplete.
….
[STATUS]
Name: Daruk Brystion
Class: Evolved Ice awakened (53.9%)
Title: Inheritor, Neophyte, Bronze, Sealbearer, Architect.
Tier: 17-37.4%
Glimpse ---> Grasp: Increases elemental control by 1.5%
Techniques: energy enhancement (crude), perfect imbuement technique
Skills {Innate}: [Ice manipulation and creation] [Ice conversion]
{Other}: [Freeze] [Cold Vision] [Drain Heat] [Forge constructs]
Bloodline: FrostForged Ancestry (Rare+).
•Amplifies ice and cold-related abilities by 2.25%
•Grants major resistance to cold
•Aura of frost heart.
Aodhán marveled at all the changes a single action had wrought in Daruk’s status and smiled. It seemed his brother had finally tapped into his potential, and Aodhán was excited to see just how powerful he would become.
….
Considering the circumstances, Daruk was given permission to skip control training, which was scheduled to take place in a few minutes, but Rahim had declared Aodhán and Andrew healthy enough to attend the class, neverminding the fact that they’d almost died only a few minutes ago.
“I can’t believe it.” Andrew complained as they made their way to the class, his expression a mixture of annoyance and disbelief.
“It’s true whether you believe it or not, Andrew.” Aodhán replied with a small smile, and Daruk shook his head.
“Just this morning, we were planning on ways to guilt you and Yurin into training us.” Aodhán scowled, but Andrew didn’t seem to notice as he rambled on. “Now that he has a seal, you have a familiar. What do I have?”
“Your life?” Aodhán chided, but Andrew glared. “That is not funny, Aodhán; in fact, it would be better if we refrained from speaking of life and death for the rest of the semester.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Aodhán mumbled, and Andrew sighed. “Like I was saying, I still can’t believe...
Aodhán nodded, barely listening as Andrew droned on, complaining about how he was so unlucky to have been born in a generation filled with freaks.
It didn’t take them long to reach the hall chosen for the class, and Aodhán noticed that, compared to their other classes, this one was significantly larger, able to easily accommodate about 300 students. The entire hall was made of polished Jorgumien wood that emitted a faint light. It was unadorned and bare, save for the dozens of prayer mats arranged on the floor.
A woman stood by the door, and as they walked in, she directed them to pick a mat each and settle into a meditative position. Aodhán moved to the middle of the hall, and Andrew simply followed along.
Unsurprisingly, some students were already meditating on their respective mats, while others chatted amongst themselves. Lupin waved at him from one corner of the hall, and he waved back with a smile, glad to see another familiar face before sitting down to meditate.
His session was cut short a few minutes later when the woman walked to the front of the hall and introduced herself. “Welcome to Control Training. My name is Krell Lamarr, and I, along with several others, will be teaching these sessions for the rest of the year.”
“I believe that you all know the importance of having sufficient control over your individual affinities, but for those who are ignorant, I will say this. Power is bred from control; without control, you’re just as susceptible to your own attacks as those of others.”
“Honing your control grants you an edge over your peers; it makes you faster and stronger, and it grants your skills a sense of impact that they would otherwise lack without control. So, for the rest of the semester, I’ll be teaching you the best techniques to hone and sharpen your control.”
“Today, we’ll start with the most basic technique called a weave. Already, some have mastered this technique, but for those who haven’t, pay close attention.”
She waved her hand, and a single blue-gold weave appeared before her. She began explaining the process involved in the creation of weaves, and after ten minutes, Aodhán zoned out. His current technique was so much better than the weaves that trying to learn them would only hamper him. He focused instead on harnessing and taming more of his willpower.
Fortunately, with the number of inexperienced students in the class, Master Lamarr barely had the time to notice his lack of participation, although he did catch the attention of a few students.
His mind returned to the class when a chorus of exclamations rang out, and he saw Cyrus standing before the class with 19 weaves floating before him.
Aodhán was surprised and a little jealous. The boy was only a few weeks past 16 at most. For him to display so much more control was astounding. A few others showed exceptional control over their affinities, but none surpassed Cyrus.
The class ended about two hours later, and although he hadn’t gained anything from the class, he had made good use of his time, and the dense ball of willpower within his core was a testament to that fact.
Immediately after the teacher dismissed them, Aodhán rushed to his feet and timed his exit so it coincided with Lupin’s. She laughed and called him out on his scheme, but it was obvious that she appreciated it.
Perhaps it was as a result of his near-death experience or just plain idiocy, but the next moment, he blurted out. “Would you like to have dinner with me this weekend?”
The question seemed to have taken her off guard, and as she stuttered, Aodhán pushed forward. “Or perhaps lunch. We can go this afternoon if you like.”
“I’m sorry.” She politely declined. “I’m swarmed currently, but the weekend is fine.”
“Oh… Okay, the weekend it is.” Aodhán replied, shocked that she’d actually accepted. She waved goodbye, and Aodhán turned around to find Andrew shaking his head in disappointment.
“You were going to leave me after all we’ve been through? We almost died together!”
“You said no death jokes.” Aodhán reminded him, and Andrew glared. “Do I look like I’m joking?”
Aodhán sighed wearily as Andrew began a lecture on the importance of friendship. "Friends, don’t try to kill each other or freeze each other to death!”
“I don’t know, Andrew; if I had the ability to freeze you to death, I probably would have done so by now.” Aodhán responded as they walked into the cafeteria, but Andrew ignored him.
“You were about to ditch me for the girl.”
“I told you, I forgot—no, that’s a lie, I didn’t. Honestly, I did not forget; I just didn’t remember at the time.” Aodhán argued.
“I am disappointed in you, Aodhán; we are near death buddies.”
“We are no such thing. We are simply buddies, death excluded.”
Their bickering continued for almost an hour and only came to an end when they finally parted ways in front of House 1. Aside from his near death, his first day had gone well. Maybe not as good as he’d hoped, but it was much better than he’d dreaded.
A smile flitted across his face as he made his way to house 14, but as soon as he arrived at the compound, a sound like shattering glace rang out from within the house, and he immediately pushed the door open to see Eren slash at Marcellus with a serrated metal blade.
The illusion of Marcellus shattered like glass, and he appeared on the other side of the room, his trademark sneer fixed in place. Imani looked horrified as metallic constructs swirled around Eren like a vortex and shattered every one of Marcellus’s illusions before they could even completely form.
Meredith stood to the side, half dressed, and Aodhán turned his gaze to a corner of the room where Marcellus actually stood, hurriedly putting on his clothes. It was obvious what Eren had walked into, but Aodhán didn’t understand why he was so furious.
It was a little surprising to see that Meredith had directed her attention to Marcellus, but it was even more surprising to see that Marcellus had entertained and even reciprocated her ‘affections’. Didn’t they hate each other?
A large metallic hammer smashed against the window and shattered it. None of them seemed to notice, but when Eren smashed the second window, Aodhán decided enough was enough, and before they damaged more of the house with their attacks, Aodhán released his aura and imbued four strands of willpower into it.
His four housemates crumbled to the ground immediately, their knees hitting the wooden floor hard enough to crack it. The constructs and illusions disappeared, and Imani groaned in pain.
Eren burned his willpower and pushed himself back to his feet, but he was unable to do anything else. Aodhán restrained his aura a moment later and pointed to the shattered windows and scars that now marred the walls.
“The destruction of school property is a crime; besides, Marcellus is over there.” He pointed to a chair at the opposite end of the room, and Marcellus rippled into existence with a sneer.
He ran towards Aodhán, who was a metal blade, but Aodhán wasn’t fooled, and a moment before the illusion struck, Aodhán shot a bolt of lightning to his left.
Marcellus yelled in surprise and pain as lightning rushed through him and left him panting on the floor. Abilities such as cloaks, invisibility, and illusions were useless against Aodhán, who could easily sense the cores of his opponents.
Eren stomped out of the living room a moment later, and while the others gathered themselves from their fallen positions, Aodhán loved drama, but that was only true as long as he wasn’t involved in it.
He made his way to his room, and after spending half an hour on the assignment Valerie Potts had given them that morning, he sent a concerned text to Daruk.
When he received no reply after ten minutes, he sighed and closed his eyes, replaying the events that happened all through the day, but he was tired, and before long, he drifted off to sleep.