(7)
As Astalos turned away from the ship, he saw eyes of people looking behind him. When he turned around, there were templars walking out of the ship. Between the templars, he could see a man wearing a white gown with a symbol he hated more than anything, the symbol of the temple of Estardes,
For past twenty years that symbol has been chasing him both in the real world and the dream world. He has gotten over the fear toward the symbol many years ago. But it was too difficult for him to get over his hatred. Instead of getting over that feeling, he has learned to hide it under the thickness of time and memories.
As the templars came closer, Astalos stepped aside and stood along with other people in the harbour to make the way for the templars to pass. The man in the middle, guarded by the templars must be the inquisitor. The inquisitors of the temple were always mysterious. They could have just waited in their temples while the templars return with captured casters but instead they moved with the templars.
Astalos suspected that inquisitors could possibly be casters as well. People of the old used to say fight fire with fire. His mentor could not kill a single templar with all his spells, even with the help from the ritual he has prepared for years. Something seemed to be protecting those templars. Armours they wear are nothing more than plates of tempered iron put together. He had seen the templar armour up close many times as a child because his father was one of the templar commanders. Their relationship ended quickly when he found out about Astalos’s potential to become a caster. His father hunted him like a dog for months until Astalos finally met his mentor who helped him escape.
Soon the templars entered the town while a couple templars guarded the harbour. Astalos moved along with a crowd of people who wanted to watch the inquisition.
