13

The Emperor of Heaven had both a massive and beautiful throne room door, until the God of War kicked it in.

Boom.

A sound like that of a battering ram hitting the drawbridge of a castle emanated through the air.

It reverberated with the force of the God's foot before the huge wooden door with its intricate fish carvings splintered into thousands of pieces.

Wood slivers, gold and shattered oyster shells rained down on the stairs descending into the throne room. The debris was blown so far inside that a golden seashell even landed at the feet of the Emperor's throne.

Several members of the court who had not fled or dove for cover during the explosion, were left standing in a room that no longer had a door. Several were unable to stop their mouths from falling open as they stared at the space where it had once been hanging until it had incurred the wrath of Elgaldir.

It took a good fifteen seconds before the guards rushed out to grab him. No-one had ever even tried to do this before. Occasionally someone would come and kick the outer door of the palace but never had someone actually done any lasting damage to the structure. Once they were closer to the pissed off God of War, the guards could see that he was holding a flaming sword in his left hand.

The braver ones drew their own heavenly weapons and once again reached out to grab him. Elgaldir braced himself, fully ready to fight his way up to the throne if he needed to. The ringing of the bell was enough reason to throw all logic aside. Thoughts of Dythos were enough to abandon almost anything for.

His hands were shaking.

Apart from the Deities of Death, everyone had told Elgaldir that Dythos was dead. The power still remaining in the protection seal in Dythos' courtyard had reassured him that wasn't so but the God of War had faced four thousand years with questions that no-one would answer. They had been so adamant. They had told him it was his grief, that it was the weight of his sin that made him so sure Dythos was alive.

But he had seen Dythos' life timer. There had still been sand in it. 

Of all the voices, that of the Emperor of Heaven was the loudest.

He'd never been put in this position before. All this time he'd trusted the Imperial family and yet they had lied to him. Not only had they lied, they had lied about something that was so catastrophic.

Killing Dythos and horrifically wounding him were both unforgivable but they were also two entirely different things.

The sword hilt held in his calloused hands shook as he attempted to swallow past the lump in his throat.

Mouth dry, eyes moist and teeth clenched he steadied his grip.

Just as Elgaldir raised his sword and dropped into a more defensible position ready to clash swords with the guards, the Emperor stood up from his throne and commanded.

"Let him in and lower your weapons."

Elgaldir took several steadying breaths as he glared up at the throne. A thin sheen of sweat covered his face and his knuckles cracked from the sheer strength of his grip on the sword. It took a while but he was able to sheath his sword and reign in enough of his anger now that he was no longer being actively prevented from his approach to see killing everyone in his path was not likely to end up in him getting the answers he desperately needed.

The God of War approached the throne and the God now standing in front of it. His steps echoed in the silence of the marble filled chamber.

Each tap of his shoes on the polished floor sounded like the footsteps of a giant.

The ministers were all hiding behind various marble columns that held up the ceiling, too afraid to intervene but too curious to flee.

"The door does have a handle you know. I'd appreciate it if you would make use of it." The Emperor said, returning languidly to his seat on the throne. He drew around himself a red velvet robe, trying to make it look like having his door obliterated by an incredibly emotionally unstable and particularly dangerous God of War was something that happened every Tuesday.

No.

Nothing unusual at all.

'I am still in control of the situation.' Was the thought plastered all over the bemused smile he flashed Elgaldir as he languidly crossed his legs.

The chatter of the members of the court who were in attendance grew in volume. If the Emperor was still happy to crack a few jokes then things couldn't be all that bad. If there was something that Heavenly deities loved it was gossiping in large rooms about other people.

"One would think that you had finally lost your mind." The sentence was filled with restrained anger. Anger that only people who had had their door kicked in could have.

It wasn't hard to notice the twitching of his long shapely eyebrows and clenching of his jaw.

A blue glow surrounded the fragments of what had once been the door and they started to float in a cloud of shell, gold and wood. Pieces bumped into one another as they searched for the ones they had previously been joined to before snapping together as if pulled by magnets.

Soon, in the place where there had been a door, there was a door once more.

Though you could still faintly see the lines where the pieces met. Like a shattered teacup glued back together it looked like it would always bear the scars of this event.

"For what purpose do we have the pleasure of your presence during this emergency meeting of the court?" The Emperor asked. Someone had recovered enough from the events to bring him a cup of coffee and he was now sipping on it adding to his cultivated air of not being phased. Despite still being several metres away Eglaldir could still see the slight tremble in the Emperor's hand as he placed the cup back down onto its saucer.

He wasn't fooled.

"Where is Dythos' body?" Elgaldir seethed.

The Emperor of the Heavenly Realm choked on a mouthful of coffee he had yet to swallow.

It wasn't just the sword that was on fire now, Elgaldir's entire arm was wreathed in flame.

~

Any further discussion was interrupted by the groaning of the newly repaired door and the various members of the War Department piled in through it. They were breathless after sprinting all the way here from Dythos' labyrinth, trying to intercept Elgaldir before... well before this happened.

Clinking armour, exhausted panting and several awkward coughs filled the silence of the Heavenly Emperor's annoyed aura. At least this intrusion had left his door intact. He heavily contemplated buying a revolving door but no doubt the God of War would have destroyed that too.

"Dythos' body is being kept in a secure location." The emperor stated after regaining his composure. "You know that. I don't understand the need to destroy my door and walk in here armed in order to be told that once more."

Seeing that their boss was currently too enraged to explain the mysterious ringing of the bell, the War Department members did their best to.

"We are aware. It's why-" The Emperor said, yawning as he was interrupted by another member of palace staff rushing to replace his empty coffee cup with a freshly filled one. The rest of his sentence was cut off by a growl from Elgaldir whose sword flames were now scorching the stone beneath his feet.

"It's why," He continued, making note to make the God of War pay for the cleaning and potential replacement of his throne room flooring. He had been looking for an excuse to redecorate. Black marble was so out of fashion. "We will be sending someone to investigate. The bell was set up to warn us of any movement in the place his body is being kept in stasis."

Elgaldir's face betrayed his thoughts.

"I'm sorry but you are not the first person I would think of to deal with this situation."

The juniors sucked in a deep breath. This was a... touchy subject.

The Empress walked across the room from the corner where she had been attempting to talk to staff about state affairs, obviously annoyed at what was going on between her husband and the God of War.

Everyone's gaze was drawn to her at her movement and the heavily sequined dress she was wearing that sparkled in the light of Elgaldir's increasing rage. "Only Mother Willow and Omdum the God of Healing know where Dythos' manifestation is." She stated, taking a seat in her own throne not far from that of her husband's.

The staff members of both the Palace of the Emperor of Heaven and the War Department started to whisper among themselves about this. No-one knew where Dythos' body was. Sure there was the statue right here in the palace but after the battle, not even Elgaldir had been told where he had been buried.

Something that only solidified the God's feelings of worthlessness for many years being told you weren't even worthy to visit the grave did not help. It was another scar on a heart already heavily wounded by the events of the Battle of Wind Blown Tears.

The whispered conversations were immediately ended, when Mother Willow walked into the room. She touched the door and all the tiny cracks disappeared. The door was now one solid piece of wood again.

"Do we not have door guards?" The Emperor complained. "At this point I might as well live in a field." Beside him, the Empress rolled her eyes before smiling warmly at the new visitor and turning her gaze back to Elgaldir.

"I was trying to prevent a Balmud – Eglorol situation from happening for everyone's mental well-being." Mother Willow said. She reached out a hand deeply wrinkled and gnarled with age and gently placed it on the taller God's back. He clenched his jaw, fixing his glare on someone new.

"Who?" One of the younger members present asked a friendly looking neighbour but it was overheard by the ancient Goddess.

"Before pretty much any of you existed. When you were but a twinkle in the eye of your first believer, there was a God of the Demon Realm that kept the dead body of his teacher like an incredibly macabre body pillow. A body pillow that he wouldn't be parted from. One he slept with every night for years." Mother Willow explained.

People winced. It was best to not let your mind wander when thinking about that one particular tale.

"You see why?" The Emperor said.

"I am not deranged enough to... to disrespect him in such a way." Elgaldir ground out. He only wanted to have a grave to visit. He only wanted to be able to talk to Dythos.

To apologise.

To kneel before it and beg for forgiveness.

To know he wasn't in pain anymore.

"You seem to have forgotten just how much of a handful you were in those early days." The Emperor said as he descended the stairs from the throne and stood before the gathered members of Elgaldir's staff. "Since the crystal bell had rung not just once but loudly and clearly. It seems that the God of Wheat will walk among us once more."

"If he's still the God of Wheat." The Empress added, now visibly annoyed by her husband who couldn't keep his mouth closed.

Mother Willow cleared her throat, annoyed with pretty much everyone present.

"If you would like to go, I will take you but you have to prepare yourself for a potential adverse reaction to your presence. "She said, taking Elgaldir's hand which was not currently on fire in her own wooden ones.

The God of War twitched, the flames on the sword began flickering. To those observing he seemed to be vibrating from the energy he was using to restrain his emotions.

He'd seen Dythos' body on the battlefield. What had been done to it, what HE had done to it... still haunted his dreams. Damage that wasn't survivable even for a war god and yet there had been something this whole time... something telling him he wasn't dead.

People had tried to convince him that he was stuck in the denial phase of grief. No matter the time that passed, the feeling lingered.

Elgaldir knew deep in his heart that he had been lied to but having them acknowledge it was just as destructive as it was relieving.

It seemed that he really had been lied to.

Dythos really was alive.

"After everything... I just... I just needed to see that he's, that he's not dead." Elgaldir choked out. His eyes were filled to the brim with tears that threatened to spill at any moment.

Omdum the God of Healing was yet another unannounced visitor to the throne room but he at least softly closed the door behind him as he entered.

"He never was dead." Omdum said, making his way through the room to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mother Willow.

"But he certainly was as close as any deity could be to utter destruction for a very long time. "Mother Willow stated. She was still looking at the God of War. His sword's flames had not only charred the surface of the marble tile but were now etching a round hole into it. The stone glowed faintly from the heat as it returned to lava. "I was granted by the Deities of Death the permission to view his timer in the Underworld and there was only a single grain of sand left in it. We had to ensure that absolutely nothing disturbed him whilst his divine soul tried to heal his corporeal manifestation."

Elgaldir sighed once again taking several deep breaths to calm down. Being angry with them for keeping this from him was something that he could figure out later. What was the most important thing now was making sure that Dythos was okay.

Even if he was angry with him and never wanted to see him again, Elgaldir just wanted to see him.

See the light back in his eyes again and not the lifeless looking crumpled and blood soaked body of the God of Wheat as he had last seen him.

"If both Mother Willow and Omdum are willing to take you then I am happy to sign off on this as long as you leave the sword behind." The Emperor gestured to the Holy Weapon that was now merely emitting steam and the rapidly cooling but still smoking flooring tiles.

He was going to get his new flooring after all.

The God of War handed his sword over to the juniors with a look that screamed if I see anyone's finger print on this when I get back, you're all going to have to polish my entire sword collection.

Even thinking about it was enough to give all of them sore arms. They bowed to the Empress and the Emperor before leaving and quickly exited the room, looking back to see the tears Elgaldir had fought so hard to retain begin to fall down his cheek.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

Mini Theatre

Emperor: Look at the flooring!

Empress: Yes Dear.

Emperor: It's brand new!

Empress: We've had it for 4,000 years darling. You complain about it being unfashionable every day.

Staff: We have spare replacement tiles.

Emperor: No. I have to replace the whole thing now!

Staff: We can just take this tile out and replace it.

Emperor: *storms out*

Empress: *sips tea* Just replace this tile and tell him you did the whole floor. He won't notice.