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

The boy looked into the warm glow of her eyes and took her hand. “It’s an honor, Grand Mistress,” he replied.

She chuckled again. “No need for that as I just reminded the captain.” She squeezed his hand for a moment before she released it and her hands vanished into the folds of her long robes. “Devol—that sounds like ‘devil,’” she stated and her gaze darted to the side as she considered the idea. “I thought humans considered devils to be dark creatures or of ill omen.”

“Uh, that’s normally right,” Wulfsun agreed and ran a hand through his shaggy mane. “I didn’t question it much. He’s from Monleans and they have different interpretations of—”

“It’s ‘loved’ backward,” Devol interjected. “My father said before I was born that any child of his would probably be a little devil—like, rambunctious and all. My mother said she did not think it was funny but when she made the connection, she liked the name and it stuck. I haven’t had too many problems with it.”

“I see.” Nauru’s eyes flickered briefly. “That is an adorable story.”

“Madame Nauru, may I ask a question?” he ventured.

“What is it?” she responded,

He pointed to her. “Are you a fleuri?”

She smiled sweetly again. “That I am indeed. Is this your first time seeing one?”

“Kind of—certainly my first time meeting one,” he admitted. “I thought I saw one a few years ago in the Emerald Forest outside Monleans during the fall. He was purple—that means he was born in the wintertime, right?”

“Indeed, although we use the term ‘bloomed’ instead of born,” Nauru explained and shifted her gaze to the sky as she continued. “The colors of green, white, and pink are for spring, the summer shades are red, tan, and gold, autumn’s are orange, yellow, and brown and, of course, winter is blues, silver, and purple. I bloomed on the cusp of winter and spring and so inherited the colors of both about one-hundred and forty-one years ago.”

“Wow, you’re so pretty,” he marveled before he caught himself and slapped his cheeks in irritation. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s all right, child,” she said with a giggle. “I’m glad you think so. I am also glad that we can learn a little about each other so soon.”

Devol grinned, relieved that she hadn’t been offended. “Me too. Feel free to ask me anything you like. I did come to your order, after all.”

“Very kind of you,” Nauru responded. “I do have a question if you have the time.”

“Certainly. We’ve finished the tests—right, Wulfsun?” he asked the Templar captain, who nodded.

“I caught the end of the sparring match, and you certainly gave it your all,” she remarked with amusement. “You seem gifted, Devol, but tell me, what caused you to search us out?”

“Let me show you.” He stretched toward his backpack where it had been dropped at the entrance of the arena. It elevated and he pulled it toward him. However, it appeared that his fight with the giant had drained him of much of his Mana so the bag floated only a few feet before it stopped. When he overcompensated with a heave of his Mana, it streaked into his chest and knocked him off his feet and away from the two Templars.

“Ow.” He coughed as he sat and patted the dust out of his hair before he retrieved the map.

“It’s all right, boy. I’ll fill her in,” Wulfsun stated with a thumbs-up. “Leave the map and go catch up with the others. I’m sure they want to congratulate you.”

Devol nodded and managed to muster sufficient strength to scramble to his feet and approach Nauru. He bowed to her, gave the man the map, and retrieved his majestic before he hurried to the stairs.

Jazai was the first to greet him and held his hand up for him to slap. “Nice work out there!” he congratulated him as they slapped each other’s palm. “You got your majestic working for you now, huh?”

“I guess so,” he said, although his tone was hesitant. “I’m still not entirely sure what it does but it helped me to get through Wulfsun’s shield, at least.”

“Certainly more than merely a flashlight, isn’t it?” Vaust asked.

“Mr. Lebatt!” He recognized the mori and approached him quickly. “Did you see the match too?”

“I came in with the grand mistress,” he stated. “I did see you push through Wulfsun’s barrier. I’m sure he gave you the spiel about it being impenetrable and all that?”

“Yeah, he said no one ever made it through before,” Devol recalled.

Vaust chuckled and leaned back, his expression amused. “He likes to do a little grandstanding but he is not wrong. The few times I have been with him when he has used it in combat, nothing ever made it through. Assaults certainly knocked him around somewhat and cracked it, but nothing ever broke it. You’ve accomplished a first and been here for only one day.”

“It is a fascinating development,” Zier said, his curious gaze on the majestic. “And that was on its own. We should probably see if Macha can hammer something together for him quickly.”

“It is a tad early to be thinking of modifications. Besides, Wulfsun will probably need to see her first,” the mori reminded him. “But we are getting ahead of ourselves, Zier. That is something for those who are in the order and Devol has not made his mind up on that so we shouldn’t rush it.” He turned to the boy and raised an eyebrow. “Unless something has changed since I last saw you?”

The young Magi considered the question. Everything that had happened had been very different than he had expected. He had seen the recruits train with the guardsman. In fact, they did not even start sparring until after a few weeks of basic swordsmanship training, and that was usually still instruction.

Here, everyone seemed so nice and they treated him as a comrade. Of course, Wulfsun and the other elders referred to him as “boy” or something akin to that, but it seemed friendly