Helicon Mountain.
An ancient temple stood silently at the summit, hovering like a pure memory cube held in a giant's palm.
They had arrived at the Temple of Memory!
On the gravel path below, Lorne and the nine Muses, ten people in total, looked up at the wonder at the end of the road and nodded to one another.
Mnemosyne, goddess of memory, language, and writing in the Greek world.
Daughter of Uranus and Gaia, one of the twelve Titans, she had lain with Zeus and given birth to the nine Muses, earning her the title "Mother of the Muses."
Helicon was her sacred mountain.
Having openly broken with their former lord Apollo, the Muses had thought it over and decided to come to their mother's temple to seek help and support.
Yet in their memories, Mnemosyne was extremely detached.
She rarely interfered in the quarrels of the gods and was often indifferent even to her own daughters.
Add to that the binding power of the Styx oath on the Titans, and the Muses had no idea how their mother would react.
Fortunately, they were not alone.
The goddesses glanced at the God of Wine, who had stayed by their side the entire way, offering encouragement and support, and their hearts steadied.
They took a deep breath, climbed the final steps, and pushed open the doors of the Temple of Memory.
The moment their hands touched the doors, the space rippled like water.
A strange sense of dislocation washed over them, as if their five senses and memories had been gently peeled away and placed into a lighter, more sensitive body.
When Lorne came back to himself, he was already inside the temple.
The interior unfolded before his eyes.
Geometric forms, clean colors, pure space, everything created an atmosphere of quiet solemnity, beautiful in its utter simplicity.
The surrounding space constantly twisted like a turning Rubik's cube, yet stabilized with every step they took.
In every section, neatly arranged bookshelves stretched endlessly, filled with countless volumes that shimmered like stars.
Lorne instantly felt as if he had stepped into a world-class library, and a wave of familiarity washed over him.
"Mother, we've come to see you!"
Erato, Muse of love poetry, had barely landed when her lively personality burst forth as she grabbed Lorne with one hand, cupped the other around her mouth like a megaphone, and shouted at the top of her lungs.
Before the others could stop her, the cheerful voice echoed through the silent Temple of Memory.
In the next instant, tens of thousands of bookshelves trembled as if awakened.
Several books fell from the shelves, floating in mid-air.
Pages flipped rapidly, glowing runes and dancing characters flickering within.
The Muses' faces changed instantly, as if some unpleasant memory had been triggered.
Seeing the scene, Lorne suddenly recalled a universal rule from libraries in his previous life.
—No loud talking inside the library.
"Run!"
At the same moment, Erato realized the danger as she yanked Lorne with one hand, covered her head with the other, and sprinted deeper into the temple.
Almost instantly, every bookshelf shook violently.
Books on astronomy, geography, poetry, magic, and more rained down, clogging the passage ahead and the dome above, like soldiers answering a call to arms, and hurled themselves at the intruders who had disturbed the temple's peace.
"Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!"
"Ouch~~"
Thick history books and heavy geographical atlases slammed into the backs of several Muses' heads, drawing a string of pained cries.
Lorne finally understood why Erato's reaction and evasive maneuvers had been so practiced and lightning-fast.
Clearly, "love" that dared to break the rules had been beaten black and blue by "reality" many times before.
He didn't have time to think we he ducked his neck, shielded his head with one hand, and charged after her.
The Muses, who were a step slower, were hammered by "knowledge." And ran for their lives with hands over their heads, glaring furiously at the sister who had caused the trouble and then ran the fastest, cursing her in their hearts.
Thankfully, the hundred-meter corridor wasn't that long.
In just a few seconds, Erato dragged Lorne around the corner at the far end.
The cheerful young goddess leaned against the white archway, patting her chest in relief that she hadn't been hit.
"Phew, we're safe, we—"
"Get down!"
But the instant she tried to step forward, a strong arm from the left slammed her to the ground.
"BOOM!"
A massive gray-green claw crashed exactly where she had been standing, smashing a terrifying crater into the white marble wall.
Dust rained down. Erato looked up and saw two horned, hideous heads with yellow-brown serpentine pupils and bodies covered in hard scales.
—Ares's poisonous dragons!
Erato's face turned deathly pale.
"ROAR!"
A furious roar sounded. The two monstrous heads opened jaws full of fangs. Poisonous fire smelling of sulfur was already brewing in their throats.
But before the dragons could attack, a golden, divinity-wrapped hook punch flashed like lightning and smashed straight through both heads.
Strange… are dragon-types always this fragile? The sensation feels off…
While Lorne was still puzzled, he looked up and saw the dragons he had just punched to pieces dissolve into floating text.
Then the bookshelves in the passage ahead trembled.
Light patterns peeled away from the books, and one legendary monster after another materialized.
The three-headed Chimera, the hellhound Cerberus, the sphinx…
Lorne swept his gaze over the snarling creatures and finally landed on the [Mythic Epics] section as a thoughtful look entered his eyes.
If he wasn't mistaken, these were memory constructs created by Mnemosyne's power, guardians of the temple, illusions meant to stop intruders.
He glanced back at the Muses, who were now covered in bumps from being beaten by books, then looked at the Titan-level memory guardians blocking their way, and couldn't help shaking his head.
'Teacher, you never lied—knowledge really is power!'
The rest of the Muses finally escaped the book barrage and caught up with Lorne and Erato.
They stared at the upgraded guardians around the corner and exchanged uneasy glances.
Strange… why were these lethal memory constructs activated?
Soon, they thought of one possibility, and their faces fell.
Could it be… Mother doesn't want to see us?
Noticing their sudden dejection, Lorne coughed lightly and reminded them gently.
"Um… is it possible that it's because your auras and divinities have changed?"
"…"
The Muses slapped their foreheads in realization.
They had completely forgotten—they had just quit on Apollo.
Their divinity and godhood had shifted, so the temple's defensive spells had misidentified them.
Realizing it was probably a false alarm, their spirits lifted.
But a new problem immediately appeared in front of them.
Since the proper path was blocked. What now?
After a moment's thought, all eyes turned to one particular sister.
Erato instantly felt like she was sitting on pins and needles and tried to shrink into the corner.
But the Muses, who had just been thoroughly beaten by books, dragged her out without mercy, pushed her to the front, and even thoughtfully added an amplification rune, ready for her full-powered output.
No helping it.
She was the one in charge of solo singing and love poetry, after all, her voice was the loudest.
A moment later, a high-pitched, slightly trembling wail exploded through the white corridor and echoed throughout the entire Temple of Memory.
"Mother! Open the door already!"
After a strange silence, the whole temple shook violently like an old man with Parkinson's.
Books flew off the shelves in droves, charging murderously at these utterly shameless intruders.
At the critical moment, the surrounding space twisted like a Rubik's Cube.
Before Lorne and the others could react, the world blurred—and they were pulled into a quiet, spacious study.
Behind a desk adorned with crystal balls, hourglasses, astrolabes, and other instruments, a goddess who had been reading quietly lifted her head.
(End of this chapter)