Chapter 37. Imposing the seal

- All is well. - The lady backed away and hastily continued. - I've got it sorted. But there was one thing that bothered me. I asked the elder if he had killed disciples before. He didn't give a clear answer, even to a direct question. Do you understand? We can lose geniuses on missions, in secret areas, they can even kill each other in a duel. But killing disciples by elders is unacceptable. Especially open murder.

- I want to see that Elder. - The patriarch informed coldly.

- As you wish. I have sent him to the stretch. - Dra Jae smiled slightly. - It's just that, in these five years, I've noticed that the rules are being neglected a bit. The elders are taking on too much. They seem to have forgotten the master's hand.

- Forgotten, you say. - The elder stroked his beard. - Yes. It's been a long time since I've spoken to the younger ones. Time to remind them who's boss. In the stretch, you say? Well, let's start there.

The patriarch has created a portal.

The lady smiled coldly. She was tired of bending over every overconfident elder. As the youngster grew older, his opponents would have increasingly powerful patrons. And it would be easier to give them a mass flogging now, than to deal with each arrogant jerk individually later.

She had no doubt of the Master's reaction. When the boy had first been taken to the Discipline Department for fighting with a disciple, she had overlooked and the boy had been punished to the max. And then there was the seizure. An ordinary seizure. But it turned out to be perhaps the most dangerous of the five years. The boy went over the edge. Then the Patriarch was the first to get the boy out of the darkness. It was a bad time for everyone else, including the Lady and the Head of Discipline Department.

And back then everything was within the rules, and no one was seriously intending to harm the boy. Just underestimated the danger of the seizures.

Now an attempted direct murder. Someone had dared to get their hands on the Patriarch's property. The lady was eager to know what awaited the overconfident elder.

***

The door has opened.

- Punishment's over. Dismissed. - The voice of the elder in charge sounded.

Yee Rhys opened his eyes. Calmly he stood up and walked out. On his way out of the hall, he mentally summed up the results of his three-day imprisonment. There had been no particular success. He expectedly achieved two wisps of Qi first, and spent the rest of the time cultivating mental energy.

When the young man approached the gate, it was ajar so that only one person could pass. Letting the young man out, the flaps closed.

Rhys took a few steps down the wide and deserted corridor. Then a portal opened before him, reeking of a familiar aura.

An audience? Why should it be?

He stepped through the portal without hesitation.

On the other side was the familiar chamber with the green along the walls.

- Rhys welcomes the Patriarch.

- Whose are you? - The old man, with his back to the guest, asked.

- I am yours. - An expectant reply followed.

- You are my treasure. - The patriarch turned and looked intently at the young man for a reaction.

- I am your treasure. - Yee Rhys calmly agreed.

- You are my tool.

Is this our new "Hello"?

- I am your tool.

- My word is the Law.

- Your word is the Law.

- Take off your disguise.

The young man obediently unmasked his mind. The elder studied what he saw with an impenetrable face. Then he joined his hands and a seal of mental energy appeared between them. Despite its outwardly simple form, inside it was multi-layered and multifunctional.

Seeing the seal, Yee Rhys suddenly understood what the Patriarch had been doing for the past few days and what was coming next.

- I hope you will not resist. - The old man's eyes sparkled darkly and he placed the seal on young man's forehead. His movements were deliberately slow so that the impertinent boy could understand and feel it.

Yee Rhys stood calmly, shutting off all emotion. He just had to endure it. When the seal touched his forehead and entered his mind space, the young man only grimaced. He felt as if something nauseatingly disgusting, slimy and grossly inedible was being forced into him. His body rejected it with all its might. It was only the will that kept him from explicit rebellion.

***

The patriarch watched intently. He himself could not say what he wanted more: for the boy to obey or for him to rebel. Although rebellion was not terrible, the old man longed for something else. Absolute loyalty. The patriarch had many subordinates, but they were all only loyal in their words. It was only a matter of weakness and personal ambition would take over. These men respected only strength.

The young man was different. Stubborn on one issue, he was surprisingly malleable on others. He retained his personality and ambition. But at the same time he surrendered himself calmly to the will of the other man. No fear and no resistance. He allowed the elder to mold him into whatever his heart desired.

And this feeling of power over the other was intoxicating. It was not the usual suppression, when orders were carried out out of fear. It was not power over a broken man who no longer had an opinion of his own.

The young man had both character and his own opinion. And a terrific malleability. One wanted to enjoy it again and again. The boy would make a fine weapon, which the Patriarch planned to sharpen under his own hand. Only his own.

And as he watched the seal slowly sink into the young man's mind, the elder felt satisfaction. Although the mind was agitated, the young man allowed the seal to enter and settle in the depths of his mind.

The patriarch knew that laying the seal was a very unpleasant process. Usually one had to break the object's resistance and force the seal into place. Sometimes breaking the person as well.

The young man, on the other hand, stood pale and covered in sweat, but maintaining a calm expression.

- Perfect. - The patriarch smiled coldly. The seal of the mind is much more secure than the seal of the body. And much harder to remove without damaging the object. - You can rest now.

A portal arose in front of him, and he stepped through it immediately.

***

He stepped out of the portal, Yee Rhys looked around. And even for a moment he forgot about the rebellious mind. He'd expected to find himself in his cabin. But he found himself in a completely different place.

A small windowless room, illuminated by a night perl on the ceiling. There was a bed in the far left corner, and a low table beside it. A small bedside table in the near right corner held a basin and a bowl for washing.

Turning around, he saw the door.

Nostalgia kicked in. The same room where he had lived before he had fallen into the hands of the Lady and become a worker.

The next moment Yee Rhys was brought back to reality by another muscle spasm. His head was buzzing and bubbling. Nauseous.

Dashing behind the nightstand with the basin, the young man found the night pot there and bent over it. When his stomach emptied and he felt a little better, Rhys wiped his lips. The body fiercely resisted the intrusion. A racial trait, too, it seemed. The human reaction should be less violent.

The young man smiled sadly. When had he managed to scare the Patriarch so much? The elder's fear was almost physically palpable.

Yee Rhys bent down with a new attack of rebellion. And you can't explain to him that everything goes within the plan. That if successful, this seal would not last long. In the meantime, it's just to appease the Patriarch. As are those spells in his body. As long as the young man is obedient, he will live. As long as he lives, the plan will work.

Good thing the seal was just a tracking one, albeit a twisted one. A slave's seal would have caused a complete revolt in his body. However, then Yee Rhys wouldn't have had to suppress it. Better to die than become a slave.

The old man still seemed determined to train him nicely without destroying his potential. At least he never got to the point of doing really unforgivable things like threatening his family. All relationships so far have been built only between the two of them, with the Lady merely acting as a temporary overseer.

A protesting organism is normal. It will pass. In the meantime...

The young man finally broke away from the pot as there was nothing else to pour out of him. His stomach was empty. Yes, even the physical body rejected the seal planted in his mind. On shaky legs Yee Rhys made his way to the bed. Sat down. Looked at the bedside table. On it stood a bottle of pills and a jug of water. Just like the other day.

Drinking it, the young man was able to partially wash away the nasty taste in his mouth. And his stomach clearly approved of the portion of water. Then Yee Rhys took a nutritious pill from the vial and ate it. Finished satisfying his body's needs, the young man lay down and closed his eyes.

The mind was already covering the seal with mental energy, just as the body directs blood to an open wound. Soon a crust would form and the healing process would begin. In the meantime, there was only sleep that he needed. Eat and sleep.