So, I Transmigrated Into The Heavenly Realm

33. First Meeting

33

Long ago there had been a time where every newly emerged deity that made the long and arduous journey of gathering a following large enough to enter the Heavenly Realm had received a personal welcoming ceremony.

The senior deities had gathered together in a glittering array that had been carved out of the rock upon which the city now stood and recited speeches. A new face was rare back then and everyone fought to be the one to take their new junior under their wing.

Times had changed.

Even when Elgaldir and Dythos had ascended up to the land of deities in the clouds, that custom had fallen out of use millennia ago. As humans increased in number and their societies grew increasingly complicated there was more need of Deities and more things for them to be deities of. What had once been a miraculous arrival at the top of the stairs leading from the Mortal Realm into the Heavenly one was now a cramped commute. The sheer numbers of new Gods, Goddesses and Deities meant that those one on one welcoming things from the Emperor of Heaven and the senior deities were now transformed into elaborate entrance ceremonies.The sort where the senior members of Heaven corralled them into a large space to be spoken to en masse.

Like a university entrance ceremony.

That was where Elgaldir and Dythos had originally met. Well, to be exact they had met in the lines of newbies hanging outside the venue before the ceremony, fussing over their clothing and trying to look like they belonged there. Like they had already acclimated to the city that they had found themselves in and weren't terrified.

Like they already belonged.

Getting to the Heavenly Realm was a journey in itself. Though there were more of them that made it now, the journey was just as hard as it had always been.

First the humans had to have something happen to make them believe in something new. The longer the world existed the more and more you were competing with preexisting beliefs in order to make your name known. Not a lot of blue sky religious ideas left out there. So that new thing couldn't fall under the natural belief they had in someone else and their skill set. Then the human belief had to solidify and give you an actual form. After that you had to gather enough believers, fulfil some impressive prayers, have some sort of temple made in your name and get noticed by the higher ups.

Nowadays they couldn't even do a welcoming ceremony like that. It was entirely impractical. Humans had created so many small gods that came and went as quickly as the seasons changed. They'd rocket in popularity and power before burning out and disappearing just as quickly.

When Elgaldir and Dythos had been young, attending the welcoming had been a very formal event. That was why they were so bothered about their clothing standing in that line. No matter where they were from or how many believers they had, everyone was dressed in their best.

What that best was could vary wildly depending on who believed in you and what your area of expertise. There had been a fashion for beautiful martial goddesses in skimpy impractical armour and gods with spiky hair wearing the most heinous cargo shorts possible for about a hundred years.

You had to attend the ceremony as well in order to be formally accepted into the Heavenly Realm. So going was a great way of meeting and making friends with other deities that had ascended at the same time as you.

Your Heavenly Cohort.

Elgaldir remembered thinking back then, that he had had to make at least one friend there because he was really struggling to adjust to his life here. Going from the chaos of the battlefield in the human world to here was hard to cope with.