My legs moved as always, forward and only forward. This time, though, I was met with an unexpected difficulty, and while taking a nightly walk, no less.
Four deities surrounded me. I was quite happy to see them after such a long time. After all, they were my students.
I put my all into raising them, but they barely ever visit nowadays... They have things to attend to, or so these scoundrels say...
"Well? What's the occasion for this? When was the last time more than two of you visited me simultaneously?"
Although... once I look around, someone seems to be missing? Right, Mnemosyne. As my daughter, she inherited my innate technique. That child must still be mulling over my teachings. Even back then, thousands of years ago, she was always the most attentive one among my disciples.
"It seems that Mnemosyne is busy writing, correct? I've told her countless times, you know? To always take a break when needed, but she never listens Hahahahahah." I haven't laughed in so long, it feels somewhat freeing.
All around me, their faces dropped. Brandr looked angry, Seraphina looked sad, and Chang'e looked disgusted.
Behind them was my first disciple, who wore a blank expression. A quiet but always ambitious person.
"What are you laughing at, old man?! Do you think what you've done is a laughing matter?!" My third disciple, Brandr, angrily spoke. He was always arrogant, even in his later years, yet he is now speaking to me like this? Even for him, it's not normal.
And who's an old man?! Years matter not! I am a young man at heart... and appearance too, not to brag, heh.
Taking me out of my mulling was the last disciple I took in, Seraphina. She stepped closer; a sword hidden beneath her sleeves, just like I had taught her.
In the midst of that, she decided to say something I didn't quite understand...
"Master, you continue to laugh after what you've done? I recall all our memories together, we laughed and cried together as a family, all 6 of us. But this is enough evidence that you must be sealed away, never to return."
"After all I've done? My path to divinity was a righteous one; slaughtering needlessly was something I refrained from doing. Having even gone out of my way to save countless people, beggars and nobles alike."
"There's no need to keep pretending, bastard! We have enough proof to be certain you've done this!" Chang'e, with her usual ferocity, screamed. Only now, this ferocity was directed at me.
It would be easy to say that this is the first time she had raised her voice at me.
Chang'e tried to draw her katana from the scabbard, the one I had gifted her when she set out to create her own legacy.
But the expressionless, quiet man stopped her.
"Chang'e, shouldn't we listen to master's side of the story first? We can't jump to conclusions just yet. Perhaps he has irrefutable evidence that he hasn't done it."
I rolled my head back, letting it rest on my neck. The sky was cloudy, and no stars could be seen, even in the dead of the night.
"My feelings are starting to get hurt now. Just what have I been accused of exactly?"
With his tone lowered, he answered.
"Master, you're being accused of the murder of Mnemosyne." These words almost made me faint, my vision narrowed, and the only thing I could think about was my daughter. At that moment, I tried thinking about it rationally, but unfortunately, that was just not feasible.
"That's not possible. She has no enemies to speak of, and neither do her believers. You're joking, right?"
Chang'e did not seem to enjoy that response and only got angrier. She bit her words back, blood rushing out from the corners of her lips, seemingly not wanting to say anything.
Calm as always, he spoke once more. This time, an undertone of sadness was layered into his voice. "Master, we have evidence that you are the murderer of Mnemosyne. Please refute it."
"You all accuse me of murdering my own daughter and claim that you have proof, where is it!? Show this so-called 'proof' to me!"
Brandr stepped forward, no longer the small, frail child he used to be, now strong and tall as a mountain.
He took something out of his pouch. It was a torn page alongside an open book. It was the book I usually wrote in to use my ability.
Brandr flipped to where a page had been ripped apart, and there he placed the torn page, where each tattered piece of the paper fit perfectly.
Written on it was as follows.
"Mnemosyne, having now lost all of her believers due to the rage of a rampaging lower deity, will fall into a great depression, causing her to turn into a hermit, which further enhances her depression. Shortly after writing her last story, she will die from overloading on mana, trying to revive her fallen believers."
..Tears rage down my cheeks. My daughter. My always sweet daughter. Taken away, just like that?
Brandr raised his voice, presenting the evidence further. "Old man, this is your innate ability, is it not?! The one you share with Mnemosyne. With that fact, does a motive not present itself here!?"
"The fact that she had reached the 9th level mastery over this ability. Same as you, it means that if you were to kill her, you would gain another level of mastery. The 10th level, something even you, the God of gods, had never been able to do."
What kind of evidence is that? To kill my own daughter over power? Never. They should know this very well, that I'm not such a person... So why?
"Do you really think I've killed Mnemosyne? And if I had, wouldn't I be powerful enough to decimate all of you this instant?"
"As you know, old man, there is a grace period of 1 day after gaining the mastery of a dead person. Mnemosyne has only been dead for 9 hours by now. If we don't make a move now, who knows what you'd do with all of that power?" Brandr stretched his arm out,
"So all of you are sure that I did this?"
Seraphina cried out; she was tearing up as well. "Of course not, master! That's why instead of killing you, we're going to seal you until we make sure nobody else had a hand in this!" It was clear she didn't exactly want to do this.
Chang'e, whose blood had mixed with her tears and who was already blinded by anger and rage, had other thoughts. "Of course he did it! He's the only one with probable cause!"
And I was the same.
Any sane thoughts had gone out the window the moment I heard of her death. After my tears had now dissipated into the ground below, merging with the soggy dirt, only anger remained, towards the one framing me, unfortunately towards my disciples who did not believe me, and towards the world itself.
"Fools. Your worst error won't be mistakenly accusing me, but rather sealing me instead of outright killing me."
"Which is why, as my last mercy to the days I've spent teaching, raising, and loving all of you, I will beat all of you only half to death!"
(Note that this is just an initial draft. Any kind of valid criticism would be very helpful.)