Imperial ((Imperial) Web of Hearts and Souls)

by Jamie Magee

  I could swear then I was only let out of my death sentence so I could witness the end, so I could see how clearly I had failed. That wasn’t a good feeling to have.

  I had accomplished nothing each time I spoke to Silas. He was still a threat to Vade’s line, and in turn, mine. If I protected him, I would ensure all those others under my care would perish—and eventually so would he and I. It seemed so cut and dry, yet I had no idea what my next move was going to be.

  Maybe I should get Vade to reach out to his Fated, get him to instill control within them, and hopefully that would buy us some time.

  I stood from the pew and bowed to the voices around me, then manifested outside. There I found Mazing viciously pacing back and forth in the distance.

  “What happened?” I asked Rasp as I appeared at his side.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I swear every moment she becomes more insane. Each time we’ve been out, she has a come apart. How is it possible to hold in that much wrath?”

  “It’s possible,” I murmured. I’d seen her do this right before a big hunt, right when the air filled with the scent of caramel.

  “Well, the second we landed here she lost her f—reaking mind.”

  “I know what curse words sound like, Rasp.”

  “Yeah, but I’m fond of living,” he said, cocking his brow, meaning that Vade would not be pleased with him using foul language in front of me.

  I breathed in deeply. “I don’t smell it,” I said, stating that no other line was near us, not Xavier’s caramel or Fielder’s lilies.

  Rasp had done the same, coming to the same conclusion.

  “Is it in The Realm? Is that what she is picking up from here? Silas said he was going to a battle.”

  Rasp looked down with disapproving eyes, not believing that I had let Silas go to fight. But he did not know what I had witnessed in that place of worship, what he was really fighting for.

  “No, it’s here,” he said as he focused his eyes on the horizon.

  Firsts and sovereigns could see across dimensions, through every level of The Realm as well. Rasp’s icy eyes were firmly focused to the north. When I followed his lead, in the distance I could see a massive blackness, I could smell death.

  “There is only one way to calm her down,” I said to him. “Let her kill.”

  “Of course that is the only way,” Rasp said sardonically.

  We both manifested at Mazing’s side, blocking her fierce pace.

  “Something stirring you up?” I asked as if I didn’t recognize the obvious.

  “Set me free,” she breathed. “Say it. Tell me to fight.”

  I let out a sigh as I looked her over. Her auburn eyes were near red with rage. Her long auburn dreads outlined with blonde streaks were pulled behind her head, and every muscle in her body was flexed. I really had no choice in the matter. Someone was about to die.

  “So be it.”

  She vanished before the ‘it’ was uttered. Rasp and I followed her essence, manifesting at random points across the north before reaching a black cloud. Mazing was crouched down, peering into it. I nodded my head to tell the wind to clear the way so I could see what that mass was hiding, and when it obeyed me my soul seized once more.

  “You have got to be freaking kidding me,” Mazing said as she stood from her crouched position.

  “What am I missing here?” Rasp asked as he stared forward at a very beautiful, rather enormous manor.

  “That house came through The Fall not too long ago.”

  “A house?” Rasp said disbelievingly.

  “Yep. Right through the damn thing at a warp speed, took off the top of a third of the forest on its way through,” I said with a sense of awe.

  “A house? The other side threw a house at us?” Rasp said with the most awkward expression in existence on his face.

  “I don’t know the details, but I saw it pass by.”

  “And it wasn’t empty, apparently,” Mazing seethed. “They loaded that joker up with the rank smell of lilies, and it threw it back out. Escorts must have gotten past us. Smarts ones, those on the other side flung our trash right back at us.”

  Wrath was strangling her words now. The only scent in the air the night that manor passed us by was ours. Actually, now that I think about it, it was nearly gleaming as bright as the sun. I remember smirking, thinking that the Calvary had arrived, that Xavier and Donalt better duck, along with any other king that was foolish enough to follow their quests.

  “She’s under us,” Mazing said as she circled where she stood and stared at the ground that was white with snow.

  “Lilies,” Rasp said to me.

  Mazing was losing her mind right now because the Creator-forsaken petal that had taken her rush was feet from her. I should have held her back, I realized that...but I didn’t.

  “So be it.”

  Hearing my reply, Mazing vanished. She was underground now.

  We followed.

  We walked into a battle zone.

  Cadence was there all right, and so was Fielder. They were head-to-head with a pretty little blonde and two good-looking boys. I breathed in. I could see fire in the boys with the girl and the power of a Phoenix all over the girl. They were either in transition or soon would be. No doubt, when these three completed their transition they would be lethal. Clearly, Fielder and Cadence were trying to prevent that from happening.

  This was a toxic dance Fielder was engaged in. Phoenixes had common traits with Escorts, in a manner of speaking; eternal lives, and whatever emotion they grasped during their transformation was the one they shielded as a weapon. Call me crazy, but if they were head-to-head with Fielder, then the emotion they had was most definitely not sunshine and butterflies.

  As soon as I laid my eyes on that blonde, something told me I knew her, at least her essence, but I couldn’t place it right now. This was not the time for any kind of meet and greet.

  I didn’t understand this room, why Fielder had stored souls in the three grandfather clocks that were centering the walls, why I could smell the death of one of his petals in this room.

  I didn’t have time to understand any of it. Everything happened too fast. Time was stopped for the soon-to-be Phoenixes as Mazing flung Cadence to the ground. Cadence’s image flashed, telling me that she was indeed a mirror. Cadence reached up to pull Mazing’s soul from her body, and my instinct took over. One thought from me not only diminished her image, but her soul, wherever it may be.

  The surge of power I’d used made me dizzy for an instant, and I swayed but caught my balance.

  This was not good. I kept trying to figure out why Fielder had not made a move toward me, then I realized that I must be cloaked by Rasp. He was boldly standing before him.

  A sinful smile came across Fielder’s image. He glanced to his frozen-in-time prey, then to Rasp.

  “An act of war,” Fielder mused to himself in pure bewilderment. He then gazed at Rasp as if he had lost his mind. “And if I wasn’t offended by that, I’m definitely not happy that you interrupted my little role play.”

  As Rasp held his ground, I glanced around us, to the clocks that I knew had trapped souls within them. I could sense even more of them less than a mile away, all trapped, all tortured—all robbed from my dear friend the Reaper.

  Though their numbers were great, I knew in my soul that this was not even a fraction of the souls that had been taken by Fielder.

  It was my fault these souls had been noticed and stolen. This blonde and those with her had been charged with cleaning up my mess. I had to find a way to help them do that tonight so they could press forward and release the myriad souls that were surely imprisoned by Fielder.

  I whispered sacred words that I’d heard the Reaper say before. I grew weaker, but one by one the trapped souls in this room began to vanish.

  “Who is with you?” Fielder demanded, looking squarely at me, yet not seeing myself or Mazing, who was shivering with rage—or was that weakness? What was happe
ning to us? Why now? Could we really be this weak? Taking out one low-lying, mirrored petal and freeing a few souls had wiped us out.

  “Harboring death? Really?” Rasp said to him.

  “I’m a king. You do not speak to me that way. Tell me now who is with you. You have no power to kill a mirror and release the dead while staring me in the eye.”

  No answer came from Rasp; he was too focused on ensuring that we could not be seen. I could see his warrior body tremble ever so slightly. There was no reason for that because he had the strength not only to hide us, but also fight whilst doing so; something was wrong.

  All at once, a roaring thunder shook the stone room we were in and Vade appeared before Rasp and stared murderously into Fielder.

  Rasp swayed at that moment. I was right before: he was weak for some reason. Something was hurting both lines.

  Even though we were still invisible to Fielder and a bit light-headed, Mazing and I both moved slowly to flank Vade.

  “Vade, how wonderful to see you,” Fielder said in his classic charming tone. That was his normal manner; when he ‘role played,’ he could mock any voice.

  “What the hell are you doing, Fielder?”

  “Me?” the king of grief said, flashing his perfect white smile and seductive little grin. Fielder had to use charm; he was smaller than the other kings, at least by half, and he was still built, lean, and muscular, but Vade had a good three inches on him and so did Rasp.

  “Yes, you,” Vade seethed.

  “I’m at a bit of a loss here, brother. You show up and smite my innocent little petal and dare to release my dinner into The Realm, and then ask me what I’m doing?”

  Fielder breathed in deeply. Now that I was closer to him, he was starting to sense me. Right about then, Vade’s scent of mint suffocated the room.

  “You crossed lines,” Vade breathed.

  Fielder laughed aloud as he raked his fingers through his dark hair. “Have we been watching twisted replays in the springs? Your adored’s First crossed lines.”

  “Your PETAL was in the bed with her FEVER, promised to couple with Xavier’s First.”

  Fielder’s olive skin turned as pale as snow.

  Vade stepped forward, fully engaging him. I could tell that Rasp wanted to be at his side, but Vade held up one finger. It was clear that for some reason, right now, Rasp could only do one or the other, hide us or fight with Vade.

  “Tell me that is a lie,” Vade seethed.

  “That was eons ago. It was a little joke, just fun and games,” Fielder said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

  Vade thrust him across the room, knocking a hole three feet deep into the stone wall.

  A second later, Fielder manifested in front of Vade again. “All right, so it was a bad joke.” Fielder raised his hands. “Listen, Xavier came to me and said that Glory was plotting to take his line, that half of yours was not enough. He saw her First with his.”

  “Colton was not his First,” Vade said with a murderous glare in his eyes, daring Fielder to try and play him for a fool.

  “Right, then. I suppose you have been paying attention. So he stole Colton from Glory, but still, he claimed him as his First, and therefore that’s what he was. If Glory figured it out, then we have diplomatic measures that we could have engaged. Instead, in the end we figure out she wasn’t a sovereign after all...no harm, no foul.”

  “What the FUCK did you just say to me?” Vade bellowed so loudly that I felt my soul vibrate.

  Fielder’s eyes grew wide for an instant as he replayed his last words. “Well, well, I suppose you didn’t know that. Which leaves me to wonder why now? Why you came for my petal now? That is an act of war.”

  “Like we are not already at war. How did he steal Colton from Glory?” Vade hissed, stepping forward. Fielder took a step back with each of Vade’s. Coward.

  Fielder grimaced, hating that he’d let that part out. “It was more like a switch. His First ticked him off, so he imprisoned him and needed a fast replacement. He grabbed one of Glory’s mists and embedded it in a mirror image of Colton. It was supposed to be temporary, but...well, it didn’t work out that way.”

  Vade crossed his arms. “You do realize that now I have the right not only to destroy you, but also Xavier?”

  “Apparently I don’t, or I wouldn’t have given it to you,” Fielder said as he pulled his shoulders back in a meager display of power, a power that was not nearly prevalent enough to take down Vade. Fielder would need a lot of help with that, and even though he could not see me, he had to sense that he was outnumbered right now.

  Vade smirked. “Glory’s First never betrayed her or invoked war. Mazing fell for someone in her own damn line, and by doing so she unknowingly discovered that Xavier had declared war long before that point. You knew he did, and then chose to aid him—not only aid him, but stand up in front of me and tell me that it was for the best, and fair.”

  “It was for the best,” Fielder said, rolling his eyes. “When are you going to figure that out?”

  “Are you that high?” Vade bellowed. “Can you not see how you are nothing that you were before—nothing like what we are supposed to be?”

  “I am high, and well fed. That girl messed with your head. You thought you were all special because the Creator gave you a little toy—and what did she do? Blinded you, stood up and made a fool of you when she told her line to find nourishment from mere thunderstorms—freaking thunderstorms. Who does that?”

  “You are killing us,” Vade breathed. Even though he was full of rage, he had grief for this fellow king of his that was now an addict of emotions he was meant to reprieve.

  “No, brother,” Fielder said with a tilt of his head, “there are quite a few humans that are doing that. We’re just joining the party. I want to know what stoked your fire. Why you are in my nest right now. Maybe I should ask around.”

  “Going to be hard to do when you’re dead,” Vade said with an evil smirk.

  “There you go again with all the empty threats. You killed my petal. Debt paid.”

  “Shove it. I know damn well as soon as I leave here, you will manifest another image of her to toy with these people,” Vade said with a nod to the three in the room.

  “Not people. Not at all.”

  Vade glanced to the frozen images of the room, then back to Fielder. “Right, they are your karma...looks like they were faring well.”

  There is a call to kings that bellows within their core. It is the sound that brings us all to the round room. That call began to ring.

  Vade and Fielder locked eyes.

  “Someone is in a fuss,” Fielder stated. “Awesome, now I get to tell them all at once that the great King of Anger struck my petal, then we can have a jolly old time trying to understand why.”

  Vade only offered a glare. He wasn’t afraid, but I was. He was walking into a room of seven, and three of the six beyond him were known adversaries.

  “See you there,” Fielder stated as he vanished.

  That second, the rest of us appeared in the springs, moved there by Vade himself.

  Rasp collapsed to the floor and Mazing rushed to his side. I swayed, but I was not near as weak as I was before.

  “What the hell is going on?” I said to Vade.

  “You’re asking me that?” he said with disdain. “Let me catch you up, my sweet rush. You were supposed to speak to your Fated; instead, you set him free to fight. Considering that Rasp is on the floor weak as hell, you should know what the consequences of that were. And if that was not a fun enough-filled afternoon for you—you decided to invade Fielder. He is no fool; he knows you were in that room. Now I have to walk into a circle of kings. No doubt they know I’m weak because they have struck my Fated. I wonder how this is going to end, Glory.”

  “I didn’t let him go to fight you. I would never hurt you,” I said as my wrath made my voice tremble.

  “Yet you do every day. I failed you. I failed the Creator. He should have picked a better k
ing for you, a better man.”

  My eyes were wide, my mouth open with shock. How could he say such a thing? He stared at me, pleading for something I could not grasp. Before I could tell him that the metallic energy he dreamed about exists, that Silas was watching those souls, he vanished.

  Rasp stood.

  “How bad is it?” I said to him as a sick feeling came to me.

  “It’s not as bad as he made it out to be,” Rasp said. “He’s just protective. It was the echo that hurt our lines. It stopped too quickly to have occurred in real time. Someone stopped it before it became tragic.”

  The echo was the voice of the dead. They lived on a different frequency than reality and often could speak of the future. I was grateful that whatever could have happened was stopped, but the risk of it happening again was far too great to ignore. I had to handle Silas. I had no choice.

  “Go to them, to the Fated. Do whatever you have to do in order to make them stronger. Move mountains,” I ordered, knowing that even if our Fated had dodged death moments before, they had to be weak, there had to be chaos in The Realm at this moment. “Mazing, go with him.”

  They started to argue, but I raised my hand to stop them. “Mazing, dare not walk with shame, for your heart knew from day one what was rightfully ours.”

  “Why are you telling me goodbye?” she asked with wide eyes.

  “We all know where Vade is right now. It would take the Creator Himself to get us out of this alive. Those Fated will not perish with us, for we have not gone to them, not connected. You will go now, and use your last moments showing them what we are supposed to be.”

  I now understood why Vade had not spoken to his, why he had not told me to call all mine home. He was protecting them, ensuring that the kings would not find a full victory with our end, that they would forevermore face our essence in one form or another.

  Rasp and Mazing vanished.

  With a shaking hand, I touched the spring and Silas’ image consumed it. He was at the point where the Veil and The Realm met, and he didn’t look good.