The Guardian Crusade

                                          Volume II

                                                      Chapter 30

Nick looked around, the room was dark but he didn’t feel cold.  “Hello.” He shouted out as he looked around.  This place was familiar too him but he couldn’t really put his finger on why.

“Nickolas.” The faint voice said.  “Is it true?”

“Who is this?” Nick asked again.  “I know you.” He said looking around again, the voice sounding familiar.  “Pixca?”

“Yes” She replied.  “Tell me Nickolas is it true?”

“Is what true?” He asked confused.

“The last time we talked I could not sense Rayne and now I feel her and Alexander stronger than ever before, have they bonded?” She asked.

“They’ve bonded lots.” Nick mumbled to himself with a laugh.

“I do not understand.” Pixca replied.

“You mean did they get married?” Nick asked.

“Yes”

“Then yeah they bonded.” Nick told her.

“Than it is time.” She said and Nick’s face fell in puzzlement.

“Time?” Now it was his turn to ask questions.

“You, and the others, the four of you must come to Ashmourn, they are getting ready for war, I hear their echoes when they talk.” She said her voice flowing through his ears like a light breeze. 

“War what do you mean war?” Nick asked shocked and a little scared.

“The time is now Nickolas.” Her voice said.

“Wait.” Nick said as he sat up.  Looking around quickly he realized the room wasn’t dark anymore in fact it looked green, green from the sun as they tried to pierce the curtains that hung around his bed.

“Nick?” Nalia said from beside him.  He looked at him as she sat up, her hair fell in front of her face, and she looked like she wasn’t quite awake yet.  “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Nick said remembering what Pixca told him.  “I mean I don’t know.”

“Was it a dream?” She asked.  “Was it Pixca?” She asked hoping it wasn’t.  Whenever he had a dream about her or said he had talked to her, he started changing.

“Yeah I think so.” Nick said as he pulled off the blankets.

“What is going on?” Nalia asked as she followed him out of bed.

“I had a dream with Pixca.” Nick told her as he grabbed his robe.

“Not this again.” Nalia sighed.

“What do you mean by that?” Nick said looking at her.

“Well it is just that every time you talk to her or have a dream, we end up running off somewhere.”  Nalia told him as she watched him get ready.

“Oh so I should just ignore her?” Nick snapped.

“That is not what I mean Nick.” Nalia said defensively as he walked to the door.

Nick spun around.  “I don’t have time to fight about this; we need to go see Rayne and AJ.”  He then turned and opened the door, before he left he turned back around.  “Are you coming?” He asked as he held the door open.  Nalia quickly did up her robe and followed him out of the room.  She didn’t say anything as they walked down the hall.

They had stayed in Winnol for the night, along with the others, since everyone but AJ and Rayne had stayed up pretty late partying.   Nalia would look at Nick out of the corner of her eye, his lips moved but no sound came from them.  She took a deep breath wondering what he was doing, talking to himself, to Pixca, or was he changing again, changing more.

“Where’s the fire?” Someone said from behind them and they both turned around.

“Where’s Alex?” Nick asked as Nalia smiled a little seeing Kevin.

“Sleeping I think?” Kevin said and Nalia heard a little confusion in his voice.  “Why, what’s up?” He asked.

“I need to talk to them.” Nick said as he turned back around and headed towards the Kings bedroom.

“Is he alright?” Kevin asked Nalia as they followed behind him.

“He said he heard from Pixca again.” Nalia said not hiding the worry in her eyes.

“AJ!” Nick shouted as he knocked, almost pounded on the door.

“Nick, dude they still might be sleeping.” Kevin said a little annoyed now by Nick’s persistence.

“I don’t care, we need to get ready.” Nick said as he quickly looked back.  “AJ!” He shouted again and as he went to knock once more the door opened.

“Can I help you?” AJ asked tying up his robe with a very pissed off look on his face.

“You and Rayne need to get dressed, I had a dream about Pixca, we need to leave for Ashmourn. “

“Now?” AJ asked still annoyed.

“Yes now, so hurry up.” Nick said turning around.  “We’ll meet up in your office.”

As Nick walked down the hall AJ looked back to Nalia and Kevin.  First to Nalia who smiled lightly with a soft sigh and then left to follow Nick down the hall, and then too Kevin who just shrugged. 

“Ugh.” AJ huffed as he closed the door almost slamming it.

“What is going on?” Rayne asked as she crawled out of bed.

“Nick’s on the war path again, apparently he had another dream about Pixca.” AJ sighed as Rayne put on her robe.

“What did she say?” She asked.

“I dunno, he just told me for us to meet him in my Meeting Room.” He replied as he walked over to his dresser.  “He said we need to go to Ashmourn.”

“Today?” Rayne asked and AJ saw the disappointment on her face.

“I know darlin’ but if it means finding Pixca.” AJ said as he walked over to her.  She sighed and then nodded knowing that was more important than the alone time they had planned in Drisel.  “Get dress, if this is going to be a wild goose chase, don’t worry I’ll freeze him and lock him in the Gryphon Tower.”  She lightly laughed as she walked over to her dresser to get ready.

Once they were both ready to go, they left their bedroom and made their way down to AJ’s office.  When they got there they saw everyone else was there, Howie, Brian and the Wives had all joined them.

“They’re here; now tell us what the heck is going on?” Brian said as everyone watched Rayne and AJ walk into the room.

“I had a dream that I was talking to Pixca, and she said we needed to get to Ashmourn.” Nick told them as they all stared at him.

“Why?” AJ asked.

“Because she said they are getting ready for war.” He told them.

“War?!” Rayne said shocked.  “Who is getting ready for War?”

“Ignis’s Army.” He replied to her.

“But Ignis is dead.” AJ said confused.

“Well he might be but his army isn’t.” Nick looked at him.  “We need to stop them before they leave Ashmourn.”

“Well we need to get our Army’s ready.” Rayne said and Nick quickly shook his head.

“We don’t have time.”

“Nick we are not walking in there just the ten of us, we need an Army to fight an Army.” Nalia said as everyone looked at Nick like he was mad.

“Well Pixca thinks we can, and come on guys we’re Guardians.” Nick said as he looked at them and everyone looked at him in silence.

“Rayne how long will it take you to get the Sarila Army together?” AJ asked.

“I can have Jaina gather them immediately an hour at the most.” Rayne replied.

“Nalia what about you?” AJ asked.

“We don’t have time.” Nick said quickly.

“I am not sending Kevin, Howie, Brian and the girls in there with just us as protection, I’m not going in there without some kind of back up, Nick are you fucking crazy!?” AJ shouted at him.  “You saw yourself what lies in there.”

“And I took it out myself, I brought it down on my own, I’m not going to sit around here and wait.” Nick said angrily as he headed towards the door.

“Nickolas where are you going?” Nalia asked as he opened the door.

“To find Pixca, with or without you.” He mumbled as he slammed the door behind him.

“What was that about?” Howie asked a little confused.

“This is how he gets when he says he’s talked to Pixca or she’s talked to him.” AJ said with a tone of sarcasm.

“I will go see if I can get him to wait.” Nalia said as she quickly left.

“If he goes.” AJ said stopping her.  “Go with him, we’ll catch up.”

“I will send a hawk out to find you when we get to the Forrest.” Rayne said to her good friend.  Nalia nodded and then left the room.

“So, what do we do now?” Kevin asked.

“We get ready for War.” AJ told him.

“Again?” Brian whined.