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

face with pretty green almond-shaped eyes, flowing green locks, and a single horn on her head. She was dressed in pale-green robes with browns and blues woven in.

“Those are…a squama, dwarf, and dryad?” Devol asked.

“Aye. They are more impressive in person than as pictures, eh?” the captain commented. “We’ve got realmers from all nine of the known realms, although not all are here today.”

“I wanted to ask…” the boy began but trailed off for a moment as he considered his question.

“What is it?” Wulfson responded encouragingly.

“This castle is huge and there are so many people here.” He turned to look at the Templar. “But given the size, it feels like there should be more.”

The giant nodded and gestured for him to follow him to a stone bench near the forest arena. “Aye, and there are, but not all are here in the arena. I’d bet you a splint most are in the tavern right now, while others are off on missions.” He sat and folded his arms as the boy put the bag of food down and sat next to him. “But even if we had every Templar here, you would still be right. The order is somewhat light on bodies. It has been for a while.”

“But why?” Devol asked. “My father spoke so highly of you and from what I saw of Mr. Lebatt, you are amazing.”

“We certainly can be,” Wulfsun said with a smile. “But that doesn’t mean that many are flocking to our gates. I won’t bore you with all the details given that you don’t know what you want to do yet. But I’ll say that our order is ancient—hells, all other guildhalls were based on our example. But with that long history comes some dark times, and those can overshadow all the good you do, unfortunately.”

“What happened?” He felt sorrowful as he sensed the commander’s forlorn demeanor.

The Templar forced a grin, straightened, and clapped him on the back. The friendly blow almost knocked him off the bench. “Ah, don’t worry about it for now. The thing is, that incident is old news but it caused some shake-ups in the order. That and the establishment of the guilds meant we lost esteem, but we still remain. We have a duty to.”

“Establishment of the guilds?” the boy repeated. “So does that mean the Templars aren’t a guild?”

“We aren’t but most people call us that since those are the norm nowadays,” Wulfsun replied. “The Templars are an order. It might be a minor difference to most but it’s a statement to us. We are an order connecting to all realms. There is no other Templar order but ours, and although some tried previously, they didn’t last.” He leaned forward and peered skyward. “We have a duty to defend the realms from evil, and it isn’t a matter of philosophy. Anything that seeks to destroy or corrupt is our foe.”

“The knights and chevalier guilds work similarly, don’t they?” Devol pointed out.

The commander shrugged. “As I said, all guilds foundations are based on ours, but there are important differences.” He glanced at him. “Including a mission we have been in charge of for centuries.”

“And what is that?” The boy leaned closer, wanting to hear more of this.

Wulfsun straightened and folded his large arms behind his head. “It’s something the Templars have to deal with for now. You needn’t worry about it.”

Devol frowned. It seemed both he and Vaust shared the habit of withholding information they didn’t think he should know.

“Now tell me something, boy,” the captain began, “what kind of training are you looking to get here?”

He leaned back as he considered it carefully. “I’m not entirely sure. Um…I guess focusing on my majestic would be the most important.”

“That would be wise but beyond that, I mean we can teach you weapon combat, Mana arts, all the usual things. But unless you have a goal, I don’t see why you would need to stay here to learn all that specifically,” the Templar replied.

“A goal?” He placed his hand on his side and touched the hilt of his blade. “I do know that I want to be a warrior like my father. I feel that if I do have something special about me, I should use it to help others, right?”

Wulfsun uttered a loud laugh but in merriment, not mockery. “That is the best way to use it, I think. Yours is better than some of the responses I’ve heard over the years.”

“I’m glad you think so.” His gaze drifted to the different Templars and absorbed a few more details. “This is beyond what I even imagined it would be. I…I think…” The words trailed off and he paused and wondered if he was merely caught up in the moment. He didn’t want to make a promise he couldn’t live up to or would regret.

The Templar sensed something weighing on the boy and assumed that Vaust had dropped hints to him that he should join them. He was somewhat guilty of it himself and he had only known him for about fifteen minutes. With a reassuring smile, he patted him gently on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about too much right now. You can get some rest and think about it. Feel free to stay with us and train, then see what you think.”

Devol nodded, closed his eyes, and drew a sharp breath. “Thank you, but I’m fine. I came here to train and if you’ll take me, I’m ready to start right now.” His speech was punctuated by a noticeable growl from his stomach and his eyes widened as he shook his head. “Well, maybe some food first.” He lifted the bag and began to undo the knot. “Do you want some? Mr. Lebatt bought so much.”

Wulfsun chuckled and nodded as he helped the boy open the large bag. He had spirit, without a doubt. That was something many lacked, so he already had a significant advantage.

Chapter Nine

Once he had shared much of the food bought by Vaust with Wulfson,