A New Light (The Astral Wanderer Book 1) by D'Artagnan Rey (mystery books to read TXT) 📕

“She’s been staying in the order for a few years now, being looked after by her guardian, Freki. She’s begun training hard over the last year or so. Can’t say too much, partially because it’s not my place and partially because our conversations are usually pretty brief.”

“Give her time,” Wulfsun stated with a small frown. “The reason she’s here isn’t as simple and comfortable as yours.”

Jazai nodded. “I know. I’ve not pushed her.” He looked at Devol. “How old are you exactly, though?”

He pointed to himself. “Me? I’m fourteen, turning fifteen in a couple of moons.”

“Oh, then you are closer to her age than mine,” the boy responded, lowered his arms, and gestured at himself with a thumb. “I’m fifteen, turning sixteen during the awakening moon.”

“Let us hope that is the start of you earning some wisdom,” Zier remarked, shut the book, and focused his full attention on Wulfsun. “So I assume the reason you are here is that the boy is trying to learn about his majestic’s abilities, then?”

The commander nodded. “Aye. The lad doesn’t know a damn thing about it.”

Jazai raised an eyebrow. “Can I see it?” he asked and held his hand out. Devol nodded and handed it to him. The apprentice drew it and Zier studied it for a moment before his eyes widened. “Oh, that’s a majestic indeed,” the other boy muttered as he examined the blade’s surface and the light under it. “Have you seen something like this before, Zier?”

“I believe I have.” The dryad glanced at Wulfsun, who nodded curtly. He thumped the book onto a nearby table. “Come with me.”

Jazai seemed surprised by his mentor’s reaction. He turned to Devol and shrugged, slid the blade into the scabbard, and handed it to him. Zier took the group to the other side of the room and into a larger chamber, this one with a stone floor and a large table in the center. “This is where we will hold your kinship trial,” he stated.

“Kinship trial?” the new young Magi inquired as he looked a little warily at the large cupboards, racks filled with various tools and scrolls, and a massive chandelier above.

“It’s another test, basically,” Jazai explained. “This one will help you to discover its origin and ability.”

“Oh, that would be useful,” he said, a little distracted by the numerous and very different objects on the table. “So will we have to look through books or something?”

“Nothing that mundane,” Zier said and approached him. “You will speak to your majestic.”

Chapter Eleven

“The majestic will speak?” Devol frowned at his sword. “Are they…alive?”

Zier's eyes closed for a moment before he turned his head slowly to look at Wulfsun, who shrugged with indifference. Jazai chuckled and slid an arm around the young Magi. “Nothing like that. He means resonation.”

“Resonation?” That meant little and he felt more confused than ever. “Vaust said something about the fact that not everyone can use a majestic so I assume it has to do with that?”

The scholar nodded. “Indeed, although in this case, we can see that you are already forming a connection to yours. What we will attempt to find out is what power it has.” He gestured to the table.

Devol examined the items again and noticed over a dozen weapons and instruments, although none looked particularly ready for battle. “Are those training weapons?”

Wulfsun shook his head. “Nah, boyo, those are the rivets I told you about.” He walked closer and selected one that resembled a mace but was almost all black and made of a rough-looking material. “I guess you can think of them as practice exotics. They use enough special material to contain the magical enhancements but aren’t practical for battle unless you are trying to show off.”

“On occasion, we find someone who is worthy of a majestic,” Zier continued and stepped beside the commander. “We have several stored awaiting a master, but even in our current condition, we are not in a position to merely hand them to someone who shows promise. Majestics are powerful, and while they may not be sentient as you suggested, young one, they can connect themselves to another.”

“Mr. Lebatt said something about that too,” Devol recalled. “He said that if it bonds itself to you and it gets damaged, that could affect you as well.”

“Aye.” Wulfsun nodded. “And worse, if you try to force a bond with a majestic when you aren’t compatible or ready to wield one yet…well, people have lost things to the process.”

“Lost ‘things?’” he asked a tad nervously, although he tried to not let it show.

Jazai leaned closer. “Mana, limbs, lives, things like that.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, that’s unfortunate.”

“Indeed,” Zier agreed and examined the other objects on the table. “This is a simple study. You are to try each weapon in turn and see which one resonates with you the best. In normal circumstances, this would tell us what kind of power the user will best work with. You see, while majestics and exotics are different, there are some similarities. The abilities of exotics and the Mana that fuels them are similar, almost like a person’s biological—”

“I think you’re wasting your breath, Zier. Not the time for a lecture.” Jazai interjected with a glance at the other boy. “Basically, discovering which power works best with you might be a clue as to what your majestic does. It isn’t always right but as he said, it is a simple study.”

“I see.” Devol sheathed his sword on his back as Wulfsun tossed him the mace he held. He caught it, surprised by how light it was. “Are all rivets this light?”

“Many are.” The commander folded his arms. “Although they are made with the cheapest special materials, as much as that sounds like a contradiction. But that mace’s power is to increase and decrease its weight depending on the wielder’s control. Try it and see what happens.”

Without hesitation, he let a trickle of Mana flow into the mace. He had some experience using exotics as his father had