A New Light (The Astral Wanderer Book 1) by D'Artagnan Rey (best romance ebooks txt) 📗

Wulfsun waved a large hand dismissively before he immediately brought it back to hold his jacket tightly against him. “I don’t need that title crap. Not much use for it nowadays. You can call me Wulfsun, lad.”

Devol nodded. “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wulfsun!”

“Just Wulfsun. Come on now.” A sheepish grin appeared on his face. “All Templars are brothers and sisters here, and we will be soon enough if you’ve come to join us.”

“He’s merely here to train,” Vaust interjected. “He hasn’t made his mind up about whether he will join us or not.”

The giant frowned and stroked his beard as he studied the young Magi. “Is that so? Only to train? There are many academies and guilds to look into for that. What made you seek us out, then, boyo, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Devol took his pack off. “No, it’s all right.” He retrieved the map and handed it to Wulfsun. “I was told to come here by my father and Mr. Lebatt helped me on the way.”

“Is that so?” The man’s smile widened and he darted a glance at the mori as he took the map and unfolded it. “It’s not like you to take strays in, Vaust.”

“I saw him in action and he’s hardly incompetent if that’s what you are implying,” the other man countered. “In fact, he was able to draw his Anima out in one night.”

Wulfsun whistled, clearly impressed. “That’s quite a feat!” He scrutinized the map. “And I wasn’t saying nothing bad, only that—” His eye widened and he stopped in mid-sentence and darted a glance at Vaust, who responded with a nod. “Huh, ain’t that like him,” the giant muttered, folded the map, and handed it to Devol. “Tell me, lad…that blade on your back wouldn’t happen to be a majestic, would it?”

He nodded and drew his shining blade “I’m not sure what it does, but it’s a big reason why I’m here.” He held it aloft and let his Mana flow through it and in moments, it shone with the ethereal light.

The Templar commander observed it with astonishment, his mouth agape. “That looks exactly like—”

“Something you’ve seen before?” Vaust asked and cut him off. His comrade looked at him in bewilderment, but when he caught his gaze, he merely nodded slightly.

“Aye, something like it.” He gestured to Devol. “You can put that away now, brother,” he stated as he turned. “Let me welcome you to the Templar Order hall. I can tell things are about to get quite interesting today.”

Chapter Eight

The entrance hall of the main building was adorned with several paintings, large and small. They all seemed to capture vital moments—battles, victories, armies standing ready, or a lone warrior preparing to fight a monster. Devol guessed that they were historical pictures and noted that many of them also bore the circular Templar insignia that he had seen on the castle entrance and Vaust’s arm.

Wulfsun pushed a pair of large doors open. The room within was large and two curved staircases at the end led to two separate floors. A large desk stood near the stairs. No one was seated there, but he was surprised at how ornate it was. In fact, much of what he had seen of the castle had a sense of splendor to it.

He saw a few more large canvas paintings, and when he looked at the ceiling, a large version of the insignia was inscribed there in gold. He was not too familiar with architecture or any type of building design, but he could tell this structure was quite old yet remarkably well-maintained.

“So then, where should we head to first?” the captain asked and placed his fists on his waist as he looked at Vaust.

“I’ll leave that to you,” the mori replied as he gestured to one of the staircases and walked toward it. “It would appear that the madame isn’t here, so I’ll have to search for her.”

Wulfsun snorted. “You simply gonna head off, then?”

His comrade waved dismissively. “You are in charge of the new trainees, aren’t you? And you are capable.” He stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked over his shoulder. “I’ll catch up. I need to drop my bounties off and report. For now, get to know the boy. I think you two will get along famously.” With that, he began to ascend the stairs and left the two of them alone.

“Always shifty, that one,” the giant muttered with a scowl. “It took quite a while for the two of us to see eye-to-eye, even when I had both of them.” He turned and looked at Devol. “He didn’t give ya too much grief on the way here, did he?”

The boy shook his head. “Mr. Lebatt was quite helpful. He traveled with me, showed me Anima, and even helped me with the first test.”

“First test? What test?”

“The one to open the anchor,” he said cheerfully. “You know, to get in?”

Wulfson folded his arms and uttered a surprisingly soft chuckle for a man of his stature. “Heh, that was no test, boy. At least not one for the order.”

“Huh?” Devol shook his head in confusion. “But there were instructions and everything on the map. How was I supposed to get in without using the anchor?”

His protest met with another chuckle. “I saw the instructions and I assume you didn’t read them through properly.” He held his hand out and spread his fingers. “You were supposed to place your hand on the anchor and let your Mana flow into it. Someone would have come through eventually.”

“But I did that when I was trying to open it,” he stated.

“For how long?” Wulfsun asked.

“I tried it multiple times and I poured a lot in!” he confessed.

The man shook his head again. “Ah, I can’t tell if he was honestly trying to test you or merely having a laugh. You simply had to position your hand and let your Mana flow for about one full minute. It is a signal