[ WP ] For the first time in history , a mortal stands trial for the crime of Deicide - the killing of a god .

The torches, each dull and flameless, were powerless against the darkness. The chilling shadows seemed to seep closer and closer to the septet of men and women, seated in a crescent formation around a bound man. 
 
 `` Look what you've done. See the cost of your arrogance.'' The central figure, a tall feminine nonperson, spoke. Like her six peers, she was clothed in red and orange robes. Even their faces were covered in metallic masked, twisted metal colored and shaped to resemble flames. 
 
 The man, kneeling before the Elders, said nothing. His head was not hung in shame, but in weariness. He wore only a few pieces of leather armor, characteristic of an enlisted soldier. However, this light armor was shredded and charred, the rewards of recent combat. 
 
 `` Have you any idea,'' began another of the Elders, `` what you have unleashed upon our world?'' 
 
 The first speaker, the High Elder, raised a hand to silence the other. She sighed, desperation apparent. Silence hung in the shadows, like water, filling the room and making it difficult to breath. The only source of light was the hole in the ceiling that normally allowed smoke to escape. However, at that time the sky was dark, except for a beam of blue-white light that fell onto the floor between the prisoner and the Elders. 
 
 `` *Balance* is the word that best describes the key to our existence. We strive to exist only in the cracks between the gods, in the filthy spaces they do not care to control. For millennia we have survived, because of this. We only even *speak* to the gods when polite and necessary. You know as well as anyone their power. Many have been... *harmed* the way you were, and all of them felt the same pain you feel.'' 
 
 Suddenly the man shouted, shattering the silence like a pane of glass. `` They know nothing of my pain. Do you know what... *it* did to me?'' 
 
 `` We likely have only hours to live, tell your story.'' The Elder's voice raised slightly, more to match the tone of the prisoner than out of emotion. 
 
 There was a pause, as the man prepared to tell his tale. `` *It* came in the form of a young man, not handsome, but... average in every sense of the word. For a month, it lived in my house, working in the fields with my sons, and eating at our table. But then, the thing had the gall, the *nerve* to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage. 
 
 `` A total stranger, asking for my daughter's hand in marriage? I told the *thing* in no uncertain terms that the request itself was an insult to myself and to her. It was angry, and revealed its true form. It claimed that it had worked hard, and earned my respect. The *monster* pompously called me selfish and unthankful. It had no concept of the time it takes to earn respect, because the immortals never understand the passage of time. It thought it was doing me a favor by living in my house and working for food. 
 
 `` It... *took* my daughter, killed the rest of my family, and left me in agony. Burning, but never dying. Seeking death as a respite to my pain, from injury and loss, but not finding it.'' 
 
 Rumors would spread, now and then, about the gods afflicting mortals with tortuous effects. Before, they had been merely rumors, to scare children into attending weekly sacrificial ceremonies, but now the stories were made real in the form of an exhausted man. 
 
 `` But my anger was hotter.'' He finished his story, and his head dropped, again in weariness. 
 
 The Elders were silent for another moment. There was a boom in the distance, which gently shook the ground beneath them. 
 
 `` I sense the end is near, we have less than hours, I think. I wo n't ask how you accomplished your mission. I'd be more curious if we all were n't about to die.'' 
 
 The man shook. At first they thought he was sobbing. But his laughter grew into the audible realm, and soon it filled the room. Over his merriment, crashes and screams could be heard, growing ever nearer. 
 
 `` And they will *all* die with us. By killing the first, I've doomed them all. They will follow in their father's footsteps to oblivion.'' 
 
 The roof of the building whipped off, as literally a giant hand scooped it off. 
 
 `` WHY?!'' A titanic roar make the ground shake. The face of the god loomed over the man, ignoring the Elders completely. 
 
 `` Because you took her from me.'' 
 
 `` YOUR DAUGHTER WAS NOT WORTH THE LIFE OF ONE IMMORTAL. MY FATHER DID NOTHING TO HARM YOU. HIS LIGHT AND WARMTH PROTECTED THIS PLANET FROM ETERNITY PAST. YOUR ANGER HAS CAUSED THE DEATH OF US ALL.'' 
 
 Now it was the man's turn to scream. `` You have no idea! Even now you sit, arrogantly, in your ignorance! Taking my daughter earned my anger, but *killing my love earned my fury. *'' 
 
 `` I DO N'T UNDERSTAND YOUR IRRATIONAL ANGER, BUT YOU WILL NOT LIVE TO FEEL THE EFFECT OF YOUR ACTIONS. THE REST OF US MAY FREEZE TO DEATH AS MY FATHER DIES OF YOUR POISON, BUT YOU DIE NOW!'' 
 
 A massive fist, the size of the building itself, crashed down. The boom that resonated across the earth, even then becoming devoid of life, as the sun grew darker and darker. And so died the Godkiller.
