Sealed Return (Part 1, Part 2)

Author: The Imprint of the Wind
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: Born within the seal, grown within the seal—is it self-imposed confinement? Or just for the beauty and brilliance of breaking free from the cocoon. He was born in the homeland of the wise, determined to become a great sage. He traveled across the war-torn continent, only to seek and fulfill his life's purpose. He knows only magic, not martial arts. Like all people in the world, he is not perfect. Yet even with only magic, as long as one puts their heart into it, as long as they put in effort, there can be perfect techniques, there can be the joy of overcoming the strong with the weak, there can be the ingenuity of using four ounces to lift a thousand pounds.
Excerpt from the book:
Prologue Although it was already the depths of winter in the twenty-third year of the Seal Calendar, December, Grett Solen couldn’t feel the usual chill and desolation of the season. Before him was still a lush green landscape, and standing on a small hill, he often had the illusion that it was already spring. After leaving Ivol Mountain in the Faoidian Principality, Grett wandered aimlessly through the hilly terrain. Although he had successfully destroyed the undead transformation array forgotten by the world beneath Ivol Mountain, he couldn’t bring himself to feel happy. A strange restlessness took hold of his heart, and everything around him seemed to provoke his anger. He didn’t want to see anyone, not even the slightest desire to go back to the village of Narmel to report his safety to the village head. At the same time, he grew bored of food. The dried rations he carried were utterly bland—things he had almost eaten for half a year straight. Although the rations he carried were running low, they seemed to last forever. He rarely felt hungry, often eating just a couple of bites before feeling full. Every morning when he washed in the mountain stream, he found his mouth covered in bloodstains. Even during the day, he often felt salty, bloody fluid oozing from the gaps between his teeth—proof that his gums were bleeding. What was worse was that in the past two days, Grett had felt his legs and feet particularly swollen and numb. Previously, no matter how far he walked, even if he felt tired, it had never been this severe.