Read Imperial ((Imperial) Web of Hearts and Souls) for Free Online

high as I passed them by.
    Not long after that point, the gates to The Realm were before me. Their pure gold entrance opened wide, inviting me home.
    The Realm on its purest level is a shared dream world. A dream that can be as wicked or as blissful as any soul would wish. In the beginning, it was the place that my kind delivered their sacred charge. In this place, souls of the universe would dream, and in their dreams their subconscious would release the emotions they could not bear in reality. It was a balanced meeting ground. Human souls would never even know we existed or had brought them much-needed relief, and our charge would be fulfilled, in turn nourishing our beings.
    Once the war began, that all changed. This place became the breeding and grooming ground for each line of Escorts. Those that chose to fan the flames of emotions in reality and bring back such emotions to the rest of us were the ones that had faced every past deed in their existence. They were the bravest in my sight. I’d lived in the real world, and it was no easy feat.
    Others, when tested, hid from their deeds and their blindly chosen heritage. They became a part of The Realm, the energy that created the scenes that the living needed when they dared to share a dream, something that should be done but was now more dangerous than ever.
    The Realm had changed, too. I could sense the mark of each of the lines in the air. I could feel battles that had recently occurred. Battles that should not have occurred. I sensed living souls within this spectrum. If my senses were on point, the playful war I left behind had now become ominously deadly.
    Were humans aware and now opposing us? Were we now at war with the one race we were created to provide reprieve?
    No one was in sight. I could feel them, though, meaning they were either cowards or that Rasp had cloaked us. Something only a sovereign or the first in line was capable of doing.
    Massive moving stones ascended before me. It was the stairway that would lead me to the home that at one time I so mournfully dreamed to see once again.
    Mazing shared one with me whilst Rasp took the one behind us.
    “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Mazing said in a low tone to me as we began to ascend into the aged orange sky.
    “I couldn’t agree more. Did you sense the recent wars? Humans?”
    “Worse. I sensed the one Colton had forsaken me for.”
    Not good.

     
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    The First in every line is the fiercest soul within the line. Lore stated that they are created that way to be guardians of the sovereign. Not only are they deadly, but they are also the most beautiful. Only their sovereign surpasses their exquisiteness. In my case, I would never consider my name to be linked with beauty. I’ve been told my perception is faulty in that regard.
    The First are precious to all sovereigns. Their every care and desire is heeded, and an abundance of respect and honor is returned. So, when mine found herself swooned by Colton, Xavier’s First, I should have been told. But Mazing was ashamed and shielded what she thought was a passing fever from me.
    If Escorts find a fever with another Escort, they always find one in their own line, or not at all. Simple as that. Truth be told, commitment was not really our thing. In most cases, permission to be coupled only arose when an Escort developed a fever for a human. When that occurred, lengthy judgments were set in motion to ensure that the Escort was not under a spell or being threatened by an opposing race, simply because the opposing race often wanted what we could not freely provide—our kind could not state or feel the four letter word that begins with an ‘L’ in the English language.
    The lore has various reasoning for that as well. One is that the word and emotion unite all beings as one, which is the goal, of course, but if we are one with them we cannot take the emotions that harm humans away. If we dared to, it would infect the masses.