The Oblivion Trials (The Astral Wanderer Book 3)

by D'Artagnan Rey

  “Okay, that’s a fair point.” The boy folded his arms and nodded to Asla. “How long are you gonna be with her?”

  The wolf wildkin looked at his apprentice. “I’ll let her warm up a little more,” he decided before he nodded at him. “You be ready. I’ll call you in faster than you probably expect.”

  Jazai watched him leave and looked at the rings on his fingers before he clenched his hand into a fist. “Great.”

  “Grand Mistress,” Zier said politely, took his place at her side, and turned toward the arena. “What brings you out here?”

  “To observe the young ones, the same as you,” Nauru responded. Both watched as Asla bowed to Freki and they prepared for their bout. “They’ve been training for almost a month now. What do you think of their progress?”

  “It could always be better,” Zier stated bluntly and folded his arms as Asla struck immediately at Freki with her claws. The elder wildkin dodged the attack easily. “Although I must admit I am amazed at how quickly they grow and mature. Even after their missions, I worried that they may still be too green. While they still are to some extent, their instincts and prowess both seem to improve day by day when they should be near collapsing by now.”

  The grand mistress nodded and the light in her eyes dimmed slightly. “What do you believe are their deficiencies?”

  “For all of them, it is their skill with their majestics.” The scholar looked at his apprentice, who was focused on the fight. “Jazai relies too much on his cantrips and mana pool. In a way, I think he idolizes his father far too much.” He chuckled when he thought of his old partner. “It is true that he is potentially one of the most skilled casters in this realm, but Jeddah only achieved that over many years of training since he was a boy.

  “In fact, he and his son have almost reversed journeys. Jeddah was trained for war and he became a scholar. Jazai was sent here to be a scholar and he now trains to fight.” His gaze lingered on the tome strapped to the boy’s waist. “He could get so much more use out of his majestic, but he has yet to find a way to work in tandem with it. To him, it seems like nothing more than a glorified reference guide.”

  “And Asla?” Nauru questioned as the cat wildkin’s anima flared and took the shape of its signature feral form when she dropped on all fours. “She seems much more in tune with her majestic.”

  “Indeed, but she limits herself, holds back its abilities almost like she is afraid of it, and fights against it.” Zier traced the shape with a finger. “I heard from Jazai that during their last mission, she tapped fully into the power but was exhausted after a few seconds of use.” Asla began to dart around the arena and Freki gave chase. “Before you ask, I know why she is hesitant to use the majestic. I understand that it may be emotionally taxing but she has decided on this path and holding back like she does will only lead to her joining her kin prematurely.”

  The grand mistress sighed but nodded in agreement. “I do wish you could be a little less callous but you are right.” She lowered her hood and pulled her hair forward. “But despite all that, do you think we should still let them attempt the trials?”

  “It is no longer up to us,” he reminded her. “They earned the right to do so. We keep telling them we see them as comrades and equals. If we hold them back because of our concerns, that would merely show that we think less of them.”

  She smiled faintly. “You are right again, Zier. I suppose once Vaust returns, it is out of our hands.”

  “So should I disappear for a little longer, then?” the mori asked and surprised both the scholar and grand mistress. He offered them an easy smile as he tipped his wide-brimmed hat. “Hello again.”

  “Welcome back, Vaust,” Nauru greeted and composed herself quickly. “I trust you were able to procure the signets?”

  He held a hand up and between the spaces of each finger, he held a signet. “All I had to do was turn the papers in. But given that our status with the Council is still good despite how most others feel about us, we could have simply asked.”

  “Do you know where the trials are taking place this year?” Zier inquired.

  “Of course I do.” The mori nodded and handed the signets to Nauru. “Not that they would tell me, but it’s easy enough for me to determine.”

  “Will you tell our candidates?” Zier questioned.

  “Where would the fun be in that?” Vaust chuckled and the three turned to watch the sparring between Asla and Freki. “I merely wanted to know so I can follow them to see if they can get on the right path themselves. They already have a head start as it is taking part in Renaissance this year.” He scanned the arena and raised an eyebrow quizzically. “Where is Devol?”

  “He will return tomorrow,” the grand mistress answered and tucked the signets securely in her robe. “He wished to see his parents before he and his friends departed for the trials.”

  “I see.” He nodded and thought back to his experience at the trial. “It’s a wise decision to have a moment of peace before possibly heading into oblivion.”

  Chapter Three

  “Hey, Mother, do we have any more roast?” Devol asked as he picked his plate up. It was almost clean with the exception of a smear of leftover gravy.

  “Isn’t this your third plate, Devol?” Lilli Alouest asked as she handed him the pot. “You’ve eaten today, haven’t you?”

  “Of course.” He filled his plate quickly and set the pot aside. “But Father made me run exercises with the guard recruits today and I worked up quite an appetite.”

  Victor Alouest chuckled and drained his beer. “You probably wouldn’t be so famished if you hadn’t expended so much energy showing off.”

  “You let him participate with the recruits?” Lilli filled the water cups around the table.

  “Of course.” The man looked teasingly at his wife. “What’s with that concerned tone? You do know our boy is in the Templars now, don’t you?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m not daft, Victor, but isn’t it improper for a non-recruit to participate in the classes?”

  He placed a large arm on the table, held his hand up, and rested the side of his head in it. “I’m one of the guard captains. What can they say? Besides, it was good for both them and Devol. It was excellent training for…well, the recruits, mostly, and probably more like exercise for him.”

  The boy took a mouthful of his third serving of roast and grinned. “It’s been a while since I’ve used a normal blade. But it felt almost no different than using Achroma, except that they were shorter.”

  “So you practiced with training weapons?” Lilli asked as she took her seat again with a slow sigh. “Well, that’s a relief.”

  It was Victor’s turn to roll his eyes this time. “Again, he’s with the—”

  “Well, it wouldn’t be fair for me to use my majestic against them,” Devol responded and interrupted his father. “They only used truesilver blades—standard-issue.”

  His father looked at him askance but shrugged. “I should probably have let you break the shiny blade out to give them a taste of what it’s like to fight against one.”

  “But that’s not what they do,” he pointed out and cut another mouthful of meat with the side of his fork. “That’s the responsibility of you and the other captains, isn’t it? You’re the ones who take on any foes or creatures with advanced ability or items, right?”

  Victor nodded, leaned forward, and folded his arms. “Indeed, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance that they might be caught by a foe with an exotic or something of that nature. A guard has to be ready for anything. While they should make a point to fetch me or one of the other captains or knights, they may still need to hold such a threat off until we arrive.”

  “I guess that’s fair,” the boy conceded and speared another piece of meat. “Although I don’t think I would be the best candidate to demonstrate the power of a majestic. I still don’t fully understand what Achroma can do yet.” He sighed as he placed his utensils down. “I’ve had it fo
r months now and I have to admit that I’m starting to feel like an idiot.”

  “Oh, come now, Devol,” his father chided. “Don’t start feeling sorry for yourself. It took Elijah a long time to fully unlock the abilities of Achroma and it wasn’t divided in two at that time.”

  Devol shrugged but he felt slightly better about his predicament. Lilli smiled reassuringly at him before surprise overtook her. “My goodness!” She looked at the boy’s plate. “You just filled that.”

  He looked down and when he realized that the contents of his plate were gone, he grimaced in surprise. “Huh. I was hungrier than even I thought. But it has also been a while since I’ve had your cooking, Mother.”

  She smiled and shook her head. “They are feeding you at the Hall, aren’t they?” she asked as she took his plate.

  “Yep. Quite well, in fact.” He took a small sip of water. “I’m merely enjoying it while I’m here. Sooner or later, I will head out on more and more missions.”

  “You have to earn your keep,” Victor said with a knowing smile. “But with that portal outside the city, you can always drop by when you have the time.”

  “Yes, sir,” Devol agreed. “But once I’m on missions, I’ll be gone more.”

  “Do the missions take a long time?” his mother asked. “With that last mission when you were here, it only took you a day or so to complete, right?”

  “Well, we were lucky and it was close,” the young magi admitted. “Other members of the Order went on similar missions and some took a couple of weeks to finish. It varied depending on where they set off to as it took days for some of them to reach the location.”

  “My, that’s quite a way, but you’ll have the chance to see other kingdoms, won’t you?”

  The boy nodded. “Hopefully soon, but I have other things I have to finish first. Besides, I’m fine learning more about Renaissance. I never realized how little I’ve seen until now.” He took a moment to look out the window as a couple passed the house under one of the amber-glowing streetlights. “Speaking of which, how has Monleans been? Anything interesting, Pops?”

  Victor shrugged. “Well, interesting things to many people have grown rather normal to me so I suppose I’ll have to think about it. Beyond the end of the year festival coming up, I can’t think of anything of note that has happened recently.”

  “Not even at work?” Devol pressed. “No funny stories or odd happenings?”

  “Odd happenings, eh? I guess there has been something like that.” He leaned even farther over his large arms on the table. “There has been a rash of thefts lately. Captain Zelas is particularly incensed about them since that crime falls under his responsibilities but we’re all on the lookout for it.”

  “Monleans is normally safe but thefts happen in all major cities,” he commented. “Is there something weird about these thefts?”

  His father nodded. “Some are the usual crimes—pickpockets and whatnot—but there have been aggressive attacks against magi travelers, both leaving and coming to the city,” He took a large swig of water and spun the cup. “Very violent and a couple were fatal. Those who were found or reported their thefts all mentioned that a similar item was taken—some kind of dark signet with a four-winged creature stamped on it.”

  “A dark signet?” The description was familiar to Devol. “Is that so?”

  “So are you both finished?” Lilli asked as she stacked the plates. “Dessert will be ready soon so I hope you saved space for that at least, Devol.”

  “Of course,” he said with a smile and watched his mother hurry to the kitchen before he turned to his father. “Hey, this signet—did the magi mention what it was for?”

  “They were very quiet about it, but it was obviously for the Oblivion Trials,” Victor took another sip as his son stiffened in his chair. He studied the boy curiously. “What’s the matter?”

  “You know about the trials?” Devol asked and kept his voice down.

  “You know about the trials?” his father repeated, placed his cup down, and rested his chin on his fist. “I assumed your next question would be to ask me what they were. They are something of an open secret for guys like me, but it seems you already have some knowledge of them.”

  The young magi realized that he had caught himself out but decided now would be a good opportunity to see what his father thought about the matter. “Yeah, if everything goes well in the next couple of days, I’ll be participating. It’s one of the reasons I came to see the two of you again.”

  Victor’s face began to change and slid from raised brows of surprise to wide-eyed shock and finally, to glowering concern. “You will participate in the Oblivion Trials?”

  “Not only me. My friends Jazai and Asla will enter as well,” Devol replied, although it almost came across as a childish plea. Despite the time away, the stern tone in his father’s voice made him recall the times he had chided him and refused to let him participate in one event or another for being too reckless or because he was not yet old enough to do so.

  It felt ridiculous, he had to admit. What was his concern? That his father would put his foot down and stop him from going to the trials? That would cause him to hang his head in shame at the Order.

  The man considered this for a moment and finally nodded before he stood and motioned the boy to do the same. “Lilli, hold off on the dessert for a while,” he stated and moved to a cabinet.

  Devol’s mother came from around the corner with a towel in her hands. “What’s the matter?”

  “Oh, nothing’s wrong,” Victor replied, his voice a little easier. “We realized we ate more than we anticipated so we’ll go work it off for a little while.”

  She sighed but nodded. “You both have that habit. Try not to do anything too strenuous. You’ll get cramps after eating so recently and the cake won’t help matters.”

  “No worries, darling. It’ll only be a short time. I’ll make sure Devol doesn’t push himself trying to show off again,” the man promised and his wife nodded and returned to the kitchen.

  His face settled into the stony determination it had held moments before as he opened the cabinet and removed two massive swords. The boy recognized them immediately as the custom-made exotics he used on patrol.

  “Let us head outside, son,” Victor said and slid the covered blades over his shoulder. “We need a little bonding time and a chat.”

  Chapter Four

  “Where’s your weapon, son?” Victor asked as he rested his swords against the fence at the back of their home.

  “Hmm?” Devol responded, a little distracted and unable to shift his gaze from his father’s weapons. Most people did not name their exotics, unlike majestics which typically had names after centuries of use. When he thought about it, though, he realized that amongst the majestic users he knew, he could only recall himself and Vaust having names for theirs, along with some of the guards. And Salvo, of course, but he preferred not to think of him.

  His father, however, was an exception to this. His swords—more along the lines of claymores than standard-issue blades—had both been personally named by him. Calcul was the large blade with a brown grip and darker metal that he wielded in his left hand and Vent, wielded in his right hand, was made of a bright metal that shimmered when it caught the light.

  The magi had never sparred against his father while he used his blades. Hells, anytime he had asked to see him use them, the man had always chided him with the sharp reminder that they weren’t toys. Now that he faced them without asking, a part of him wished to remind his father of his words.

  “Your majestic, boy—Achroma. Where is it?” Victor asked again as he drew both blades. They were large enough that he should wield one with both hands but instead, he easily managed each in their specified grip.

  “Oh, right—one moment,” Devol held a hand out and in a flash of light, Achroma appeared in the air. He grasped it quickly by the hilt and held it in front of him.

  “Well, you can do things like that, at least
,” his father observed and tilted his head as he studied the blade. “That is something, you know.”

  “Yes, but to be fair, most majestic users can do something akin to it,” the young magi admitted and eased his posture a little. “The majestics are linked to their user in a more complete way than exotics. You can summon them to you if they are close enough.”

  Victor looked at the second story of the house and the window of Devol’s bedroom where he had left his blade. “What about from miles away?” he asked.

  “Eh? I’m not sure,” he replied and raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Why would someone leave their majestic like that?”

  His father shrugged. “They probably wouldn’t. I’m merely curious, I suppose,” He lifted both his blades and took a stance. “Ready, Devol?”

  The boy shifted quickly into his defensive position again. “Remember that Mother asked us to not push ourselves too much.”

  Victor breathed deeply through his nose. “Are you ready?”

  Devol grimaced but nodded. Typically, he would be excited to train against someone, even if they had a clear advantage over him or he did not know what they could do. But most of his skill in swordsmanship came from his father and he was well aware of what he could do, which made him more tense than usual.

  The man took a single step forward before he twisted, spun to his left, and swung both blades toward the boy as one. The young magi lifted his blade quickly and blocked the attack, but this wasn’t a strike meant to slash but to crush. The force of the blows knocked him back and he stumbled a couple of steps before he slid a few feet until he was only inches away from one of the windows of the house.

  He prepared to retaliate. Victor was strong but having wielded two large swords like that and committed to a heavy attack still required considerably more recovery time than a rapid strike from Devol. He had a small opening.