A New Light (The Astral Wanderer Book 1)

by D'Artagnan Rey

  His tutor looked at him over his shoulder. “Just now? Where have you been?”

  “Looking for one of these damn things,” Jazai retorted and waved the scroll in the air. “We have very few left. I had to get this from the supply you keep in your quarters.”

  Zier nodded and returned his focus to the young Magi undergoing the trial. “I’ll make a note to order more.”

  Jazai lowered his arm and looked at the scroll. “When was the last time we had a kinship trial? Asla, wasn’t it?”

  “And you before that,” Wulfsun told him. “But before you…probably two or three years before you arrived.”

  “We aren’t exactly using them at a frenetic pace,” the boy muttered. “I didn’t see Asla’s trial, so this will be my first time to see someone else go through theirs.”

  “I’m interested to see which one comes up,” the commander mused and stroked his beard. “I got a splinter on some kind of transmutation ability.”

  “You also have a gambling problem,” Jazai retorted and ignored the Templar’s somewhat offended scowl by looking away to gesture at the other young man. “If I had to take a guess…I would go with evocation.”

  “Is that so?” Wulfsun asked as Devol picked up the last object. “Many majestics are that so it’s a safe bet, but not everyone falls into a class so easily.”

  “Agreed, but did you look closely at that blade?” the young apprentice inquired. “That light inside… I might not be a smithy or majestic researcher yet, but that looks like it channels a power source of its own. Many evocation-type majestic have something similar to that.”

  “Similar yes,” the giant agreed. “But not quite like it either.”

  “So, am I finished?” Devol asked as he put the mace down. “They were all different but none felt quite right.”

  Zier nodded. “It would appear so. Did any of them feel unique?”

  The boy shrugged. “They all felt about the same, to be honest. I don’t think I had any problems controlling any of them, but I don’t think I was exactly great with any either.”

  “Not that I noticed.” The dryad frowned. It would appear that they would find no hints there and he felt a small surge of excitement. This had rapidly become something of a mystery, one he was eager to solve. He beckoned to Jazai, took the scroll from him, and unrolled it. For a long moment, he studied it in silence before he nodded at Devol, who stepped forward hastily.

  “So what’s next?” he asked eagerly.

  Zier turned, stretched the parchment, and knelt to place it on the ground. “We try to discover the class of your majestic.”

  “Class? Like its type or attribute?” the boy asked, his gaze fixed on the scroll as the scholar stood.

  “Nice deduction,” Jazai commented. “Think of it as what category the power of your majestic falls under—like cantrips. Usually, this is for the user to see what magic class they are most in tune with to help to choose a majestic or exotic for them. But in this case—”

  “We would normally do something like this over a period of time,” Zier interrupted and earned his apprentice’s ire. “You would use these scrolls several times over months or potentially years if you were a novice. Gradually, a symbol would develop on the scroll that indicates your class.”

  “Oh, I see.” Devol nodded and regarded the blank page with both excitement and nervousness. “But it won’t take that long for me, will it?”

  The dryad shook his head. “You already have a majestic. We are merely trying to find out what it does.” He gestured to the scroll, which was entirely blank, and then at the boy. “Funnel your Mana into it through the blade and it should produce the symbol immediately.”

  Without hesitation, he unsheathed his blade and looked from it to the parchment. He would finally have an answer to what the light could do. A part of him felt eager while another part felt a little uneasy, and he did not know how to describe the odd contradictory sensations. So much had been thrown at him so quickly, but he reminded himself that this was the main reason why he’d come. He needed to find the answer as soon as possible so he could look to his future without doubts to hold him back.

  “Place your majestic on the page,” Zier instructed.

  “Make sure to not stab through it,” Jazai warned.

  The scholar shook his head and sighed. “I truly hoped that was self-explanatory.”

  The boy nodded and placed the tip of the sword gently onto the scroll, letting his Anima gradually gain power as he transferred his Mana into the blade and through it onto the page. The others gathered closely and awaited the results to see what future this young Magi had in store.

  Chapter Twelve

  Devol removed the sword from the scroll and bent to pick the parchment up as the others took a step back. He could see nothing other than a faint shimmer of silver from his Mana. Disappointingly, no words or symbols had appeared.

  Wulfsun scratched his head, his expression confused. “Did we get a bad one?”

  Zier shook his head firmly. “No, even if Jazaiah had chosen a defective scroll, I examined it myself before we started.”

  The other boy glared at his mentor. “I think I hear a faint tone of sadness that you can’t blame this on me.”

  The scholar brushed his protest aside and extended a hand toward Devol, asking for the majestic. He handed the weapon to him and looked on with concern as the dryad ran his hand over the sword and checked the tip of the blade thoroughly. “Odd. It seems fine and the boy was obviously able to use it.” He frowned and returned it. “Well then, it is not impossible for the scroll to not work, merely quite rare.”

  “Want me to get another?” Jazai asked, his arms folded. “Do remember I’m getting them from your personal supply.”

  Zier pointed to the scroll in Devol’s hand and the boy handed it to him. He examined it carefully to be thorough before he shrugged and rolled it. “Nothing seems the matter with this one. It looks like we’ll need to try other methods.”

  “What other methods?” the boy asked and rested the blade on his shoulder.

  “You’ll see in a moment,” he promised, pointed to the other boy, then indicated one of the cabinets in the far corner. “Jazaiah, I’ll fetch a crystal. Get the pedestal ready, would you?”

  His apprentice whistled in surprise. “You gonna use the crystal now? I don’t think I’ve seen one of those used yet.” He continued to mumble as he and his mentor went in separate directions. Devol followed the younger scholar.

  “What’s this about a crystal?” he asked and peered over his shoulder to where Zier and Wulfsun looked in different cupboards on the opposite wall.

  “Don’t worry about it too much,” Jazai said reassuringly. “It’s another way to potentially discern the class of magic your majestic fits into. Although I should mention that this one is trickier.”

  “Oh, got any pointers?” he asked, a little worried about what made this one different than the scroll. If he failed the easy trial, would this go any better?

  “It’ll require Vello,” the other boy explained, opened the large doors of a cabinet, and searched through the contents. “You will pour some Mana into a crystal, which will charge the Mana with its essence and react to it in a unique way, depending upon what class it falls under. It’s basically a curio.”

  “A curio?” Devol remarked but the answer did little to resolve his confusion. “I’ve had curios before but they are simply magical knick-knacks—toys. I don’t think something like that can be of much help.”

  “That is more common nowadays, I guess.” Jazai chuckled as he continued to search through the cabinet. “But curio is a very generic name. It is better to think of them as exotics that are not meant to be used as weapons. They aren’t always souvenirs for people passing through the big city.”

  He regarded his companion with a raised brow. “That sounds like a judgment.”

  The boy chuckled again and shrugged. “More an observation. I guess I’m a city boy, technically.” He final
ly retrieved out a bronzed, three-legged pedestal from the depths of the cabinet. “Here it is. I doubt we’ll have any problems with it being defective. This used to be the only way to discover a Magi’s talent a couple of centuries ago.”

  The two rejoined their elders. Zier now held a fist-sized clear crystal and once Jazai positioned the pedestal securely, he placed it on top and motioned for Devol to sit on the floor. The boy did so and, his nervousness seemingly forgotten, studied the crystal. On closer inspection, it had what could be a glow in the center that he had not noticed before, or maybe it hadn’t been there until this moment.

  “Place your hands on either side of the gem,” the scholar instructed. He nodded compliance and moved his hands slowly to the sides of it. Immediately, the light inside began to shimmer faintly. “Now, this should not be difficult, but it will require concentration and might be taxing on your Mana supply,” the dryad continued as he sat opposite him. “You need to send your Mana through the outer shell of the crystal so it connects to the light inside. That light is what we refer to as a Mana cell, something that can absorb Mana.”

  “Like what is inside cobalt, not so?” Devol asked.

  “Not exactly.” The Templar seemed to prepare himself to begin a lecture until a slight tap of Wulfsun’s boot on his back stopped him. “Humph. Well. For now, it is close enough. But this has been modified to take Mana in and search it. As a result, it will have a different reaction depending on the type of power your majestic has.”

  The boy nodded and noticed his hands shaking a little. “Wait—shouldn’t I hold my majestic or something?”

  Zier shook his head. “This is for people who are still discovering what type of majestic they could wield so holding your weapon serves no purpose. But in your case, you already have a majestic that has connected to you, albeit lightly from what I can tell but enough to leave a type of imprint on you. This crystal will be able to detect that imprint and react accordingly.”

  “Oh. That makes sense.” The boy frowned in concentration. “So what kinds of reactions are we looking for?”

  “Well, if it is in the constitution class, it will form a tight ball of light. If it is the conjuration class, it will form into a kind of mist and swirl around the inside of the crystal,” the Templar explained. “Things like that, but since we haven’t gone through what each class represents, we’ll hold off on that for now and attempt to discover what your class is first.”

  Devol drew a breath and moved his hands slightly closer. “I’m ready.”

  “Good, now take a deep breath and concentrate,” Zier ordered and watched closely. The boy obeyed, his eyes closed, and thin trails of Mana flowed from his fingers onto the side of the crystal. “Send a little more now and remember that the Mana cell is your target, not the crystal itself.”

  With a small nod, he scrunched his face and focused more intently. The thin strands of Mana grew thicker and finally pushed through the crystal and seeped into the light. He continued to push more into the crystal, where it was drawn in by the light. Zier, Wulfsun, and Jazai all looked on eagerly, waiting to see the reaction from the cell.

  “You doing fine,” Jazai murmured. “It might take a couple of minutes but keep going.”

  Devol responded with the slightest nod, now almost fully focused on keeping his Mana in check. He didn’t want it to grow weak or even to potentially overload it, although he was unsure if that would create a problem. Maybe a large amount was needed to cause a reaction.

  A sense of tension settled over the group. Zier noted small changes and studied each one carefully. The light began to glow brighter and shifted its form, but nothing conclusive resulted. He should have had more patience, but his patience had begun to wear thin. He was oddly invested in the revelation of the boy’s majestic’s power and now decided he would step in and help him.

  “Go ahead and increase the flow of your Mana,” he instructed. “Don’t overdo it but send a surge in and let us see if that yields something.”

  The young Magi immediately released a pulse of Mana that traveled into the cell, and it flared brighter than it had previously.

  “Looks like we’re finally getting somewhere.” Wulfsun smiled and leaned closer. “Now let’s see what it looks like—huh?”

  The trio gaped as the light formed into a ball that suggested it might be constitution until it did something rather unexpected. It began to enlarge and a torch-like fire enveloped it as it stretched before it bounced around the inside of the crystal and began to divide itself into small copies.

  “By the hells, what is all this?” the commander demanded.

  Zier shook his head as he clasped the boy's hands. “I honestly have no idea. Devol! That’s enough. You need to stop.”

  Devol opened his eyes and his eyes narrowed on the crystal as the light began to swirl rapidly inside. The flames formed a halo that began to rotate. He backed away hastily, along with the rest of the group. Even though he had cut the flow of Mana off, the Mana cell did not stop.

  “Uh…are we in danger?” Jazai asked.

  “Shield!” Zier called and an illuminated shield of green Mana formed in front of him.

  Jazai frowned and reached a hand out to drag the other boy closer. “An unusual way to provide a hint, friend. Shield!” he snapped to create a barrier, this one of blue Mana.

  Wulfsun remained in place with his arms folded as they continued to stare at the crystal. It began to glow even brighter and everyone wondered if it would erupt or collapse but awaited whatever would happen with bated breath.

  It turned out they had been too anxious. After one final burst of light, the Mana cell inverted itself quickly and faded, surprising all of them. Jazai and Zier took a moment to observe it and make sure it would not have one last surprise in store before they dropped their barriers. The scholar stood, walked cautiously to the crystal, and prodded it a couple of times before he picked it up and examined it.

  “So, does that tell ya anything there, head scholar?” the commander asked and looked from the dryad to Devol.

  His fellow Templar nodded, silent for a moment before an amused laugh caught Wulfsun and Jazai off guard.

  “What is it Zier?” the apprentice asked.

  He gestured dismissively. “My apologies, but it’s been so long…” he muttered and turned to address the others with a smile. “I do indeed know what class he is now,” he revealed and smiled broadly as his gaze settled on the young Magi. “It has been quite a while since we’ve had a perplexion amongst us.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Though Zier stated his words with the air of someone who expected a rather shocked reaction from those present, he instead drew an amused look from Wulfsun and Jazai and a bewildered one from Devol.

  “A perplexion?” the boy asked, drew his sword, and rested the blade on his shoulder. For some reason, having it there brought him confidence. “What is that? Are you saying I’m weird?”

  “No, no, not weird. Special would be more appropriate,” the dryad responded with a smile the young Magi assumed was supposed to be calming. Given his rather terse personality until now, however, it seemed more creepy than comforting.

  “Well, if that’s all done and settled,” the commander began, stepped closer, and clapped the boy on the shoulder. “We can continue with the test—”

  “Now, now, Wulfsun. No need for that, is there?” the scholar interjected. “There is so much more the boy needs to learn, and he came here for training if you recall.”

  The giant regarded his comrade warily. “Aye, but the whole point of learning his class was to determine where we should start his training.”

  “True, but that’s precious time we are burning,” Zier pointed out and placed a hand on his chest. “I propose that we begin his training immediately and I will, of course, lend a hand to—”

  “Oh no, you don’t,” the commander snapped, stepped away from Devol, and jabbed a massive finger into the dryad’s chest. “I see your plan now. You found s
omething new to play with, and you want to hurry this along for your sake.”

  The other Templar frowned, grasped the finger, and jerked it aside. “This is far from ‘play,’ Wulfsun, and I don’t see how this is not beneficial to the boy. I might have my own interests, true, but that does not mean—”

  “The boy is here for training, not to be your study specimen!” the giant countered and folded his arms obdurately. “He’s only learnin’ this stuff, and if he’s going to train, he needs to do it right.”

  Zier’s scowl deepened and matched the furrowed, angry expression of the Templar commander. “Honestly, how often do we have a majestic in the perplexion class? We are not even quite sure what it does, so what use is there in conventional training right now?”

  The two continued to argue and Jazai stood beside the bemused young Magi. Both boys watched the argument escalate. “So…uh, what’s happening, exactly?” Devol asked in a low tone that their superiors were unlikely to hear.

  “Something you will probably get used to around here,” his companion admitted and gestured with his head at the bickering Templars. “I’m not saying Zier and Wulfsun hate each other or anything, but they are different enough that if they spend too much time around one another, they eventually butt heads over something.”

  “I see…” he replied although it wasn’t entirely true. The opponents wagged fingers at each other and Wulfsun now looked a tad red in the face. “So can you tell me what a perplexion is?”

  Jazai nodded. “It means you are special, but not in a condescending way. Although when Zier says it like that, I understand how one might be confused.” He chuckled and unlatched the book from his belt. “We were trying to discover your majestic’s power and perplexion is a rare class of Magic. The fact that the test reacted in such an odd way means you don’t fit into any of the normal classes, which makes it unique.”

  “Oh, that seems logical.” Devol nodded and held his sword up for a moment to look at it. He released a trickle of Mana and the light began to float around it. “Is that a good thing?”