The Guardian Crusade

Volume III

 Chapter 36

AJ gently put her down and did up his robe as she flattened out her hair.  He looked over at his brother frozen in place. As he did up the last couple of clips he walked over to Dyn.  “How did you do this?” Rayne asked and he turned around.

“I don’t know.” He replied and looked over to where he saw everything happen.  “I was trying to stand up but I was woozy from when we crashed into the wall.”  He told her.  “I saw him push you out the window and I lost it.”

Rayne stood there and the look on her face told him she was lost in thought.  “What were you thinking when it happened?”

“Holy fucking shit Rayne’s being pushed out the window” AJ replied.  “I don’t know.”

“Alex you need to think.” She told him.  “The Magic we use is about thought and emotion.”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, so he could think. “I saw him throw you and I freaked, I screamed no.” He told her.

“What were you feeling?” She asked.

At first he frowned at the question, how was he supposed to answer that? “I was feeling like…” He paused as his mind remembered.  “I was thinking…” His eyes opened as the answer came to him.

“What?” Rayne asked.

He looked at her. “I didn’t want what was going to happen to happen…I wanted everything to stop.”

“That is it then, let it go, release everything and time should start again.” She said.

He looked at Dyn, maybe he should push him out the window before he tried to return everything back to normal.  He then looked at Rayne.  Taking her by the hand he walked her away from his brother.  Still holding her hand he closed his eyes and with the thought of her being safe and beside him, he let the spell go.

A weird zipping sound was heard and a thud as Dyn slammed hard into the bench.  Quickly AJ opened his eyes as his brother turned and looked at him.  Dyn then looked at Rayne his eyes showed shock and disbelief.

“Even you could not have teleported that fast.” Dyn said and AJ could tell his brother’s anger was growing.

AJ said nothing as he sent a wind spell towards Dyn.  The spell got stronger and things started blowing around the room.  Dyn stumbled back trying to get his footing but the spell just kept getting stronger and stronger.

“I will be there every single day…” AJ said as he let go of Rayne’s hand pushing the spell at his brother.  “To remind you dear Brother…” He pulled his hand away and grabbed Dyn by his Robe as the spell stopped. “It is me that has the heart you long so desperately for.”

“This is not over!” Dyn shouted just as someone knocked on their door.  AJ did not hesitate and kept his stare on his brother but then with a light whooshing sound Dyn disappeared from AJ’s grasp.

He turned to Rayne and saw her looking around.  “He won’t be back for a while.”

“How do you know?” She asked.  “I use to know what he was thinking but now…” 

AJ walked up to her and took her into his arms.  “Well first he needs a minute to figure out how the fuck you didn’t fall from the window.”

He noticed Rayne was about to say something but there was another knock on the door and AJ remembered about the knock from a moment before.  Giving her a quick kiss he walked over to their bedroom door as she quickly put on a night robe.

“Oh, hello” AJ said surprised to see Kimiri standing on the other side of the door.

“I sensed a disruption…” Kimiri said as he looked right at Rayne and walked over to her.

“Well come on in.” AJ whispered sarcastically.

“A disruption?” Rayne asked confused.

“Something has happened, time was halted.” Kimiri said as Rayne quickly looked at AJ. He noticed the old Elvaan looked at him right away.

“Alexander” Rayne started to say.  “Dyn pushed me out of the window and some how Alex stopped time.”

“Wonderful!” Kimiri said excitedly with a clap of his hands.

“Huh?” AJ replied confused and both him and Rayne looked at the Elvaan confused.

“There is so much more to a Mage then some attack spells and teleporting.” The man said to AJ.  “Yes they use the Elements as their main attack spells but you can also use those spells to manipulate.”

“Still not following.” AJ replied.

Kimiri walked over to a chair and sat down.  “Teleportation it is just you manipulating the wind to carry you faster than you can move.” Kimiri told him. “You can use your water spell, manipulate it so you can breathe under water, ah and you already conjured an Elemental. Some spells like your Wind spell you can manipulate for many things, some you can not.”

“So than how did Alex stop time?” Rayne asked as she walked up beside her husband.

“Water is like the Worlds blood flow, the Air is its breath, the Ground is its skin, Lightening is the connectivity that keeps it together and Fire, Fire is the heartbeat that keeps all things moving.” Kimiri said and AJ was starting to understand.

“So when I wanted everything to stop…”

“You stopped it.” Kimiri replied with a smile. 

“Why did you not tell us this before?” Rayne asked.

“There are so many jobs, so many professions.  Now that Pixca is gone, more and more you will find new advantages to them and I will be there to explain them but I wish it were as easy as telling you everything you are missing.” Kimiri frowned.

“Well if that happens every time I am never doing that again” AJ sighed.

“The spell can be concentrated into a smaller force, so you can stop one object, one person.” Kimiri told him. 

Just then the door flew open and Avit along with Jaina came running in swords drawn.  Rayne, Kimiri and AJ looked at the two of them confused.  The two Generals also began to look around confused.

“May I help you?” AJ asked.

“There were reports that Dyn was here, someone told me they heard a commotion and yelling.” Avit said as he slowly put his sword away.

“He was here but he is gone now.” Rayne said.

“What happened are you two alright?” Jaina asked.

“Yeah we are both fine.” AJ replied.  “Although I bet Dyn is most likely confused as all hell right now.” AJ said and Rayne snorted a laugh.

“I do not follow.” Avit replied as AJ looked at Rayne with a light smile. 

“You two sit down and we will fill you in.” AJ told them as his wife walked over to the couch.

Rayne stood in front of her mirror staring at the woman looking back at her.  She looked at this woman, her face was strong, her body showed pride but she knew on the inside this woman was scared and even though she had the love of the biggest heart she had ever known, she felt alone.  Two major connections have been broken the connection of a Father and the connection of a Mother.  But those two connections no longer apart of her left her feeling empty.  With a sigh she looked down at the necklace she held in her hand, it was the necklace her Father gave her when she was eighteen, the one Kevin found when Ignis had taken him to Drisel.  Closing her eyes she fought back the tears not wanting to deal with the pain right now.  There were much more important things to worry about now. 

“Everything alright Beautiful?” She heard AJ’s voice from beside her and she turned her head as she looked at her Husband.

She smiled.  “I am fine, was just thinking…”

“About your Mom?” He asked as he walked over to her.  All she could do was nod; if she spoke she would lose it again.  His arms wrapped around her and she slipped hers under them.  She placed her hands flat against his back and fell against his chest.  Like a tap pouring water into a jug, the emptiness started to fill up.  She wrapped her arms tighter not wanting to let go, not wanting to feel empty again, alone again.  “I miss her too.”

“I am okay.” She said as she gently pulled away.  “Besides right now there are more important things to deal with.”

“Rayne your Mom…” AJ started to say but she put up her hand in quiet protest.

“Loki, we focus on Loki and then I will deal with that.” She replied and hoped he would let it go and respect her wishes.

He gave her a light smile and cupped his hand on her cheek.  “Alright”

Her husband kissed her gently and then walked over towards the door to the bath.  When the door closed her eyes drifted to the spot where they had made love and thought about that moment. How he took her by surprise, how he had pinned her against the wall and how it had been the first time any man had taken her with such passion.  His aura was bright and strong and at one point she thought it would consume her.  Without knowing it she smiled a little and bit her lip.  A knock at the door broke her from her thoughts and she looked up a little startled at the door.

“You got that Beautiful?” AJ yelled from the other room.

She walked over and opened the door.  “Hello”

“Hey, is AJ here?” Nick asked and she could tell he uncomfortable being around her.

“Alex it is Nickolas.” Rayne shouted towards the bath.  “Come in” She told him as she motioned for Nick to walk in.

“Was talking to Lawrence he said Jaina told him Dyn was here.” Nick said as AJ walked out of the room.

“Why were you talking to him?” AJ asked and she couldn’t help but smile at the defensiveness in his voice.

“Cause Bussa wasn’t around?” Nick replied confused by the comment.

Rayne heard AJ mumble something but she couldn’t make it out.  She watched as he sat down on the couch and turned to Nick. “So what do you want than?”

“Nalia and I are going with the Kalica fleet, we’ll bring Howie, Leigh, Rok, and LeighAnne with us, plus we’ll have Bussa.”  Nick told them.  “You guys are going with Kevin, Kris, Avit, Jaina and Lawrence.”

Rayne heard AJ mumble something again and this time Nick heard him.

“What?” Nick asked.

“Nothing” Her husband replied with a sigh.  “We should get going then.” He said standing up and looking at her.  “We need at least a couple of hours on the Kalica fleet.”

Rayne nodded in agreement.  “We will send someone to inform you when we set sail.”

“Awesome” Nick nodded and then walked over to the door.  “We’re going to beat him, he thinks we can’t stop him, and that will be his downfall.” With that Nick opened the door and left.

Rayne looked over at AJ who was looking at her.  “He seems confident.”

“Good” Rayne replied.  “Because we need all the confidence we can get.”

“You seem uncertain about this.” He said as he walked over to her.

“It is not Loki I am worried about.” She replied.

“Dyn?”

“No” She shook her head.  “The Drak’nor, when they learn Loki, Ti’hort and Pixca are dead, they will come for this place again and if the people from Aurona who had more powers than us could not stand up against them, what chance to we have.”

He placed his hand on the side of her neck and they drifted down to her shoulders as he brought his face close to her.  “But we know something they do not.” He said in almost a whisper and she looked at him confused.

“What is that?”

“We use Loki’s blood to close the portal, the door permanently, than the Drak’nor can not get in.” AJ replied and she looked at him even more confused.

“How do you know this?” She asked.

“Nick, he learned some things about Loki.  Like how he was summoned here.”

“Summoned?” She replied her voice showing curiosity.  “By who?”

“Not sure, Nick said one of the people before they came did it.” He told her.

“Kimiri…” Rayne said and then she quickly walked towards the door. 

AJ stood there for a moment confused and then followed her as she walked out of the room.  She made her way to the farthest hallway and up to a giant set of doors and knocked.  Just as he came up to her the door opened.

“Queen Rayne is everything alright?” The tall elder Elvaan asked.

“Why did you not tell me someone summoned them here?” She asked and the look AJ saw on Kimiri’s face made him sigh.  Why must people lie?

“We thought you would cast judgment like we had brought this on ourselves.”

“The only judgment I will cast is on the fact you lied.” Rayne told him.

“I did not lie, I just left that out.” The Elvaan said and AJ looked at Rayne as she looked back at him oddly.  He was about to ask her ‘what?’ but then she looked back to Kimiri.

“You will meet with Alexander, Nalia, Nickolas and myself downstairs in my meeting room in five minutes and then you will tell us everything.” She told him.  “Is that clear?”

“Yes your Highness.” The Elvaan nodded and AJ was surprised to see he behaved like any other subject of her Kingdom.