So, I Transmigrated Into The Heavenly Realm

5. Office Party or War Memorial?

5

The palace of the Heavenly Emperor was a sprawling labyrinth of rooms and corridors interspersed with courtyards, orangeries and rooftop terraces filled with plants.

In the centre of the complex was a large ornamental garden, open to the air and filled with what seemed like every deity in the Heavenly Realm.

Warm, gentle sunlight filtered through the leaves of heavily manicured laurel and fig trees onto the gathered attendees of the event. Not a single leaf or flower was out of place, trailing ivy and clematis were expertly draped over arches and walls. Roses in orange and yellow hues were mixed in with herbs in borders filled with polished sea glass.

Bruised leaves of the oregano and basil plants that lined the paths around the event space gave off a pleasant aroma. They added a calming and homely scent to the heady perfume of the flowers. Gentle music was playing somewhere among the sculptured topiary. Loud enough to be heard, distracting but not disrespectful to the nature of what was happening.

If any event needed a calming vibe it was this one.

Throughout the garden, deities from both the Heavenly Realm and the Underworld were mixing somewhat awkwardly among the foliage.

Dressed in their best.

Dressed to the nines, gold glittering off of the neck, wrist and finger. Jewels hanging from chains and sewn into thickly woven and embroidered clothing.

Only the manner in which they dressed really separated those belonging to the Heavenly Realm and those who resided in the Underworld apart. Bright colours, pastels and brilliant white fabrics being heavily popular in the streets of the Heavenly City among its residents contrasting heavily with the dark autumnal dress of the Underworld deities.

Several thousand years had passed since the battle of Wind Blown Tears had ended the war between both realms. In the early days, the attendees had all participated in it in some way and emotions had run high. Even now so much time had passed and the then named 'Demon Realm' had gone through some serious rebranding it was hard to forget the blood that had been spilled.

There were few people now who had been there on that blood soaked mountainside that were still capable of attending. The original atmosphere of mourning had softly ebbed away leaving a formal event to attend.

So many deities still attended because of the opportunity to see and be seen. It wasn't often they got to mingle with the deities of the opposite realm and this was a great networking opportunity.

Remembering the battle and the citizens who had fell still happened but the atmosphere was a lot lighter and considerably more civil.

No longer a powder keg.

After everyone had, had enough time to hang out, meet, greet and eat a few overly decorated canapes the real event began.

In front of a set of white marble statues, stood the Emperor of the Heavenly Realm and the King of the Underworld side by side. Both were wearing armour that felt oddly out of place in the now white tie atmosphere of the event.

They approached the statues together, armour clanking noticeably, as they descended the stairs that led down to the fountain. Their pace sedate, as if both monarchs were leading a funeral cortege.

Each statue in the fountain was true to life in the size it depicted it's subject. Something that made the previous God of War's figure all the more impressive.