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

later.” He gestured to his book. “I was trying to see if I could learn anything about your majestic’s ability.”

He pointed to the left page that showed an inked picture of Devol with his name and basic information written next to it. “I’ve worked with my majestic over several months, and I have it set so that if I have the chance to learn about someone, the specifics of their majestic is one of the first things to come up. Of course, not many people have one so I’m somewhat lacking in practical experience.” He moved his finger to the section titled Majestic that read emits a bright, unnatural light. “As you can see, I unfortunately had no success. If my tome can’t deduce it, my observations are stored so it can build on them later.”

“Is it because I don’t know much about it?” Devol asked.

“Probably. There have been a couple of times where I’ve discovered something my target forgot or didn’t know about before. I hoped it would work like that here, but no such luck.”

The young Magi sighed and his frown returned as he looked at the Templars, who seemed to have resolved none of their disagreements. “Then it looks like we’ll all have to find out together,” he stated before he strode toward the two opponents.

Jazai reached a hand out in an attempt to stop him. “I wouldn’t interrupt them when they are like—”

“Hey!” he shouted and immediately drew their attention. With his free hand on his hip, he stared at them and let his exasperation show. “Thank you for helping me thus far, but I want to know more about this sword and we won’t find the answers any sooner if you stand here and shout at each other. So please, can we get back to the tests?”

The apprentice lowered his hands and managed to control a laughing fit when he saw the perplexed expressions on the two elders’ faces. Zier coughed into his hand and backed away from Wulfsun, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Eh, sorry about that, lad—a civil disagreement between a couple of old comrades,” the commander muttered in a subdued tone.

“Quite,” the dryad agreed. “I suppose I was caught up in the excitement. Majestics are quite rare, and anything in the perplexion class is extremely rare and I wanted to— Oh, it does not matter at the moment.” He turned to Devol and nodded. “You are right. We need to learn more about your ability before we can get any real work done. And the next part of the test should at least provide us with a starting point.”

“Which was exactly my point,” the giant Templar muttered. His comrade darted him an irritated look.

“Wonderful, then let’s get to it!” the boy exclaimed and thumped his fist against his chest. “So what’s the next part?”

Wulfsun placed his hands on his waist. “We’ll head into the arena so you can show us your skill, and you’ll get to try your majestic in a more…hmm…visceral setting.”

“I’d like that,” he said with an eager nod. “So will I spar with a beast or something?”

“He has been called that before.” Zier snickered and the commander cast him an angry look.

“Context is important there, scholar,” the giant retorted and turned to the boy. “But I’ll give you better than some beastie. boyo. Your opponent”—he placed a thumb against his chest plate and gave him a broad, toothy grin—“will be yours truly!”

Chapter Fourteen

“I have to slay you?” Devol asked and stared at the Templar, his eyes wide. “That seems like it could be…awkward.”

“You don’t have to slay me, boy.” Wulfsun sighed and shook his head.

“I would not mind it,” Zier mumbled loudly enough for the Templar commander to hear.

“Shut yer trap,” he retorted and looked at the boy again. “It’s only a sparring match. We’ll try to see if using your majestic will provide more information in battle.”

“It’s a chance to see what your power might be,” the dryad added as he bound the hefty tome Jazai had retrieved for him previously with a length of leather around the waist of his robes.

“Aye, that too.” The giant thumped his chest with one of his hands. “Take this match as an opportunity to go all out. We’re here to see how far you’ve come until now.”

Jazai lowered his head down and whispered to Devol. “Gonna spoil the big secret here. The test isn’t to determine whether you’re worthy to join the Templars or not.”

“It’s to see how strong I am, right?” he responded. “Where I need to focus my training?”

The apprentice nodded and straightened. “So you caught on?”

“Yeah. I’ve heard them saying things like that for the last little while,” he replied. “It’s been so much process, but my ears are sharp.”

Wulfsun clapped sharply. “All right, are you ready, boyo?” he asked eagerly.

Devol nodded and pointed to him. “Will you use your majestic as well, Wulfsun?”

The Templar smirked. “Of course. I can’t make this too easy. There would be no point to it if I did.”

“So do you need to go and get it first?” he asked.

“No need.” The commander shook his head and his smirk became a broad grin. “I’ve almost always got it on me.”

“Oh, can I see it?” he asked and scrutinized him to see where he might have strapped it on his person.

“You’ll see it soon enough.” The chuckle that followed seemed a little ominous. “Come along now.”

Wulfsun marched past the boys and back to the outer room with Zier on his heels. The two young Magi soon caught up and Devol wondered what the man’s majestic could be. He’d said he already had it on him and it could be any number of things. Vaust’s was a kama and a rather ornate one at that.

He did mention that they typically had an elaborate look about them, and looking at the large man now…well, it certainly wasn’t his coat. He noticed his gauntlets—black with an intricate, looped pattern in gold. His thoughts