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

seemed clear that it would connect with his arm and that the thief was too close to jump back. But in a moment, what had seemed so clear had suddenly changed. Koli was now several inches away without stepping back at all. Devol could not believe his eyes as the blade passed in front of the Magi’s tunic. Stunned, he looked at his opponent, who gave a self-satisfied smile before he blinked back to the trees outside of the clearing.

“You are going nowhere!” Vaust yelled and prepared to leap after him. Before he could move, a large circle of fire caged him in, followed by rows of flame that formed above him. The Templar looked at Salvo, who pointed his wand and grinned at him.

“That’s my line, buddy.” The man laughed. “You and I will have some fun. Get out of here, Koli!” he shouted to his partner, who placed two fingers against his forehead to salute him in thanks and raced through the trees.

Devol grimaced, determined to not let him take the box. He ran after him and jumped into the trees as Salvo pointed his wand in his direction and launched a large fireball at him from the tip of his wand. Calmly, the boy leaned closer to slash the fiery projectile with his blade. With a single swipe, the orb was halved, then snuffed out, and he continued with his pursuit and left his attacker standing with a look of surprise on his face.

The man formed two more fireballs as Jazai and Asla followed their friend and he launched them both at the youngsters. She maneuvered easily around them while her teammate blinked to the ground and immediately into the tree. Both projectiles struck nearby trees and set them alight.

“Damn, I guess they aren’t such easy pickings,” the fire mage muttered and glowered at Vaust. “Ah, whatever. Consider that a warm-up. Heh, I’ll be on my game now.”

“Release me,” the mori ordered and brandished Myazma, “and I’ll make this quick.”

Salvo frowned and shook his head. “You noble and devout types always have the same lines.” He pointed his wand at the cage of fire again. “Survive this and you might provide a good fight.” The flames began to increase in size as the cage retracted slowly around the Templar. It seemed his adversary intended to burn him alive while he was trapped inside.

He simply raised his weapon and cut into the fire in front of him, which vanished in a fog of darkness that traveled through the connected flames. The fire mage stared in surprise before his eager smile returned. “I had a feeling that was it, looking at what you did to the big guy,” he stated and tapped his wand against his shoulder. “Your majestic has corrosive power or something like that, right? You turned our giant pet ghoul into mush so it has to be something like that. I didn’t expect it to work on flames, though.”

Vaust walked forward and pointed at Salvo. “Immolation.” The man barely had time to raise an eyebrow before his suit was set aflame. He uttered a surprised yell and patted frantically at the flames that engulfed him. In mere minutes, he sagged to the ground.

But, as quickly as he fell, he stood and twirled his wand in his fingers and the flames vanished. The mori stopped in his tracks as his opponent raised a finger and wagged it sideways. “Was that supposed to be just desserts or something? You see me throwing flames and think that a simple fire cantrip is gonna work on me? My clothes aren’t even singed.” He ran a hand down his jacket to prove his point and held his wand up “This isn’t merely an exotic, buddy. It’s a majestic like yours. I call her Kapre.” A large orb of fire formed above his head before it split into a dozen smaller ones. “And she doesn’t like you.” He flicked the wand toward Vaust and a hail of fireballs streaked at the mori, who simply stared at them while Myazma emitted its black fog.

Koli leapt off a tree branch before he blinked to another tree in the opposite direction. He had to admit, the boy was faster than he gave him credit for—not enough that he could catch up but certainly fast enough to keep the chase interesting. He had slid the mask into his tunic and held onto the box. While he knew he should have used his marble to return to base by now, this was too much fun. If Salvo’s boss had an issue…well, he couldn’t use a marble with an enemy so close. They could potentially track it.

“Missile!” a voice shouted ahead of him. He looked around to see the book-boy pointing at him. Several glowing orbs launched from his palm. Well, he hadn’t expected him to cut him off. He must have been too preoccupied with the other young Magi. Jazai fired five Mana missiles at him and he barreled into them. They curved around him and shocked the apprentice, who had expected his attack to deliver some injury at least.

With a smile, he removed several small blades from his belt and threw them at the diviner. The boy blinked out of the way of the blades, which wasn’t an issue. He wasn’t the one he was interested in.

“Link!” Jazai shouted, and Koli felt something drag him back.

He craned his neck to look over his shoulder. A line of blue Mana connected to his back. He followed it to the boy, who hauled on the line and prevented him from moving forward. “You are crafty. I respect that,” he conceded as he grasped the link and his Anima flared. “But you don’t seem to think of the repercussions of your cantrips.” He yanked hard and dragged his young opponent out of the tree toward him. When he came within striking range, he delivered a punch to his face that catapulted him into the forest. He raised