Lord Shadow

HOOT!

HOOT!

The sounds of birds chirping could be heard in many parts of this beautiful and large garden.

Around the ponds some deer’s are taking a drink before running away started by some beaver showing their face near the bushes.

This large garden is none other than the Gardens of Pandemonium.

The All Demon Place.

That is what Pandemonium literally translates to.

But while it is translated like an All Demon place it is anything but. It is one of the most peaceful and safest places in the whole wide world.

It is full of people living and a great civilization center of the world where people of all different walks of life gathered.

Because of the type of government in Pandemonium which is quite laid-back it also is able to accommodates many people of all different kinds.

But just because it is quite laid-back doesn’t mean it is a place where crime is rampant. On the contrary it is a place that has low level of crime.

Outside Pandemonium there are many crimes and most crimes before the Fall could even be considered a norm after the fall.

But in Pandemonium it is slightly different.

Probably there is not many would do heavy crime in Pandemonium.

Is it because they are law abiding citizens? No. It is simply because they are afraid of Death Monarch.

Not to mention there is still the Three Generals as a deterrent force. None of the Three Generals is considered merciful when executing punishment.

The cities in Pandemonium are booming with migrants and refugees from all over the world take their chances and sail the Pandemonium Sea to reach to Pandemonium and become its citizen.

No matter how treacherous the sea and dangerous it is, people won’t just stop coming to this once forbidden continent, feeling only safe when they reached the soil of Pandemonium.

People are settling down here, setting own their roots in Pandemonium. It is a peaceful continent and a beautiful land minus the monster and constant raid and exploratory expedition around the Forbidden Zone.

And in Pandemonium, especially in the Centre Region where the Centre palace is located, the Capital of Pandemonium there is the most beautiful garden in the world.

The Gardens of Pandemonium.

It is the largest garden in Pandemonium and is located inside the Centre Palace grounds.

When one enters the Garden one could not help but be reminded of Northern France. It is actually Death Monarch tribute to someone.

This large garden is maintained by gardeners and botanist.

There are a lot of willows on the bank on one of the pond in this garden.

There is a small intricate design of bridges across the pond enhancing the beauty of the multitude beautiful scene all over the gardens.

Some of the bridges in other parts of the pond are covered with beautiful wisterias.

The clear water of the pond reflects the flowers in the surrounding creating a breathtaking scene.

Not to mention there are a lot of flowers from different species.

Some of it is flowers from before the Fall and some of it is some flowers that grows after the Fall.

Some of the flowers in the garden blooms and become crystal at night and by morning turns back to flowers with petals.

There is also the climbing rose in some parts of the garden, making some parts of the garden to look like a kingdom of rose.

By now there are 13000 different types of plants and trees in this garden.

The walking trails in this garden are well maintained by many people and there is also animals like deer, beavers, butterflies and birds.

It is also like a conservatory.

When anyone is entering the garden they would see the intricately detailed statues of Death Monarch and the others heroes of Pandemonium like Wang Jian, Sofia, Sina, Athena, Freya, the Seven Fairies and Loki all around the different parts of the garden.

This is not one of Death Monarch input.

Instead it is the administration decision as they think it serves to enhance Azief prestige and reputation.

Since it does not harm him, Azief approves it.

Fountain is also present in many parts of the different parts of the garden.

If one look closely at the fountain one would see a few silver coins on the bottom of it.

When some of the Keepers of the palace went to the gardens some of them throws a coin into the fountain and make wishes.

And the Garden is also a perfect place to make out. And not before long one could guess what would happen.

But after one of the guards of the Palace was caught making out in the Garden with someone, the Keepers of the palace and the related department all started tasking the Guard to patrol the area.

The guard that was caught only gets a slap in the wrist. It is a person named Milos or something.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the Garden of Pandemonium is probably the most beautiful garden in the world right now.

Many do not know this but the Death Monarch is quite the patron of arts.

The one maintaining his garden is a famous Botanist that could enhance growth of plants and flowers.

He is also a patron of many sculptors and artist.

Azief was never the man of the arts.

While he knows the name of famous painting he himself never understand what the art tries to convey.

But Katarina loves it. She used to tell him how much she loved it. There is this kind of light in her eyes when she spoke about art.

To her, even when the world has fallen apart, art still matters.

Azief did not understand it. But he didn’t need to understand it. What he knows is that Katarina loves it and it matters to her.

That is the only reason he need to support it.

One part of the garden is designed to look like Claude Montre’s Garden, in Giverny of Northern France.

That area has a pond filled with water lilies. That area is a tribute to Katarina who loves Monet artwork.

In the central part of the garden, there is a man clothed in black. Around him life seems to dance. But yet there is also an aura of Death.

But the aura of Life around him suppress that aura of Death

That man in none other than Azief, the Death Monarch.

He sits on a throne of bones, looking calm and dignified.

With flowers blooming behind him and the aura of life that seems to come out from the garden, somehow the throne of bones and the background of flowers blooming create a beautiful contradictory scene that seems to highlight the cycle of creation and destruction.

He seems to be enjoying an evening tea, the wind from outside blowing gently inside the Garden bringing with it the fragrance of the flowers.

There are a few dishes in front of him. The table is made of a mineral that seems to be as hard as diamond maybe even surpasses it.

He was gracefully eating.

Beside him is one of the Keepers of the Palace.

Azief was coming early to his meeting.

Because he knows he has kept Hirate waiting for long enough. He smirks and chuckles a bit when he thought of it.

The Keepers of the Palace saw the Death Monarch smirking and chuckling. The Keepers pretends he did not see anything.

Azief takes a deep breath as he takes another bite of the biscuits. He likes to be in this garden when he had to think of something.

It did not take a long time for this garden to be finished.

Considering he rarely returns to the Palace he half expected for the Gardens to be unmaintained.

But he underestimates the fear people have for him.

Even though he was not present, the fear that the Death Monarch would find wrong with any of the job of the Keepers of the Palace kept the Head Keepers of the Palace awake at night.

He even have nightmares in his sleep.

The reputation of the Death Monarch is entrenched deeply in the minds of the people around the world.

The Death Monarch had this image of doing anything he wanted whenever wanted, fearsome and terrifying.

One minute he could be laughing, the other he would be chopping your head in the middle of a conversation.

That causes the entire Keepers of the Palace to always double check everything in the Centre Palace, each part is maintained perfectly.

Azief smell the tea and then took another sip. It was then he saw a butterfly landing near a nearby flowers

It flaps it wings slowly and gently and purple dust comes out from the butterflies. Azief whistles and that purple dust dissipated.

The butterflies turn into a smote of purple dust and disintegrated like a paper being burned by a fire.

Azief only scoffed and then he looks at the garden trails and said.

‘That is pretty bold of you, Hirate’

Then Azief heard footsteps.

Being escorted by one of the Keepers of the Palace was a man wearing a purple robe that is designed to look like the official robe for the World Government.

His hair was long and he had that regal bearing of a person accustomed to power and commanding people.

Some people would be awed by such regal bearing but in front of Azief that kind of bearing pales in comparison.

If Hirate, walking to Azief exudes the bearing of a Great King, Azief sitting there on his throne of bones exudes the majesty of an Overlord overseeing life and death.

Around Hirate Psionic force envelops his entire being. And around his shoulders there is a lone purple butterfly, flapping its wings gently as it stayed always near Hirate.

‘It is nothing to you Death Monarch. Just simple tricks, not worthy of mentioning. I just wanted to see if you were angry or not so I sent my little butterfly to probe. I mean nothing from it’

Hirate said. He keeps smiling as he approached the table.

‘I am sorry that I am a little late. There is a lot I had to think about. After all, this talk of ours could determine the political landscape of the world’

Azief just nodded but he did not say anything else.

He just took another sip of tea in front of him and gesture the Keepers of the Palace to be dismissed from the garden.

The Keepers that was standing beside the Death Monarch took the plate of dishes and leave the pot of tea and the two cup.

The keepers that were escorting Hirate also dismissed himself.

Now inside this large garden there are only two people. They look at each other. Azief like always was expressionless and Hirate had that smile.

That smile that resemble Loki smiles.

When both of the Keepers of the Palace went out from the Garden the sweat they repressed from their forehead come drenching own.

They looked at each other and both of them gulped as they nodded each other. They both understand what the other experienced

People need to be there to sense the tension in the atmosphere when the two men meet each other.

Not to mention the aura coming out from them could suffocate anyone even though it was not directed at them.

One of them stands beside Death Monarch and the other one stand beside Hirate. Both of them felt their Orb shaking and cracking just being exposed to their aura.

They sighed a breath of relief and immediately exited the gardens.

***

The meeting between the two began. This is the second part of the chapter. And they didn’t even talk yet. Go on…I know you want to read the next chapter.

leave some comments. Shout out to DarkEden and Asura. Your battles are legendary but a new contender has risen recently in the comment section.

Thank you for supporting me. And next chapter I would announce something. And I want to ask all of your opinion about that matter. So, go on my readers, Continue your journey to the (third steps) this reference would be understood when you reached the last part.