The world of Zostrora was a world where the times of legends came and went often, with both great progress and destructive results to show as a result. This caused such times to be both feared and reveared by the people of the world. Feared for they would have to live in such dangerous times again while also reveared because of the great acts done and legendary treasures left behind for those to come after them.
One such great treasure left behind was the lighthouse of Alexdra. One of the great wonders of the world, as it shows one of the brightest lights in Zostrora. It was the only thing keeping the terrible beast in the dark ink from tearing the lands of Zostrora apart.
The common people lived in wonder of the heroes born and the great deeds they committed in the legendary era. The people also shuddered in horror at what the villains at the time did at the horrors they unleashed upon the world. The children of the common man often pretended to be the heroes and villains, replaying the legends of the past.
One such story of legend the children loved to play out was the story of the battle between the dwarven villain Fotin and the elven heroine Amra. The elven druid Amra had defended the woods under her protection against the brutal assault from the dwarven alchemist Fotin, who wanted to drain the forest of all its worth. Children liked to play the story because they got to pretend to command an army of animals or pretend to have access to unending explosives. Either way, they had fun.
The leaders feared such times because it was a time of testing as the leaders of empires and kingdoms were pushed to their limits to maintain their domain. It was a time when, if disasters were not shattering countries, it was the revolutionaries toppling the government to bring about the change they wanted. If the leaders survived and if their realm did as well, they would be legends.
One such legendary king would be Leocres, a legendary king of the Lion People who kept his people together despite constant assaults by hyena raiders and dealing with droughts at the same time. This was unlike his neighbor, the crodile king, who found his kingdom undone by a revolutionary simply known as the ticker.
Even the gods both loved and feared the times of legends. As they could find their pantheon flipped upside down with their leaders overthrown or outright slain. But for the ambitious young god, it was a time to improve their standing among their compatriots. For those older gods who could shelter the storm and defeat all those who dared to come for their throne, they would find their power increased greatly through new believers inspired to faith in seeing their demonstration of might.
One god of a pantheon that was made up of desert gods found himself growing in power as many powerful sand storms began to tear through the land far more than ever before. So the god Olios a god of sand found his power increasing as people needed him to cross the dessert and not be left to die in the desert's endless sands. This was just one of many tales of the gods benefiting from the unnatural increase of natural disasters that will occur in a time of legends.
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So it sufficed to say none escaped unscathed from the storm that was a new era of legends. None were spared; none would be safe from the times reach, as it was not distinct from class, race, gender, or even creed. For in an era of legends, the blood flood flows as champions kill each other across the world.
This was a darker aspect of the times of legend as Great City burned. Thousands were slaughtered, whether they were soldiers fighting on vast battlefields or farmers fleeing for their lives in fields. Ancient works would be lost as others would be discovered while others still would be destroyed, never to be found again. These were among the many tragedies and miracles of the time of legends, as the innocent were slaughtered, the evil butchered, and works of good destroyed, as well as artifacts of evil sealed away never to be seen again.
Sadily for Zostrora, the time of legends was upon them once again, though only a few had noticed the early signs of a new age of legends, but it was starting once again whether they knew it or not. So whoever you are, whatever you may be, may the fates watch over you because only they can help you in times of bloody chaos such as these.
The fates watched from the realms above Zostrora, watching and cataloging all that happened, all that was destroyed, as well as all that was made at the time it happened. They were the only ones who knew the total truth of history; they knew that not all villains were truly villainous and not all heroes were truly heroic. Though they would never go down to Zostrora to correct the record as it was not their place to do such things, they merely kept a total record of all things, no more, no less.
As all went about their business, both the knowing and the ignorant, to prepare for the next age of legends or to go about their lives as they had for years before, there was one god who was preparing, though he was sure it wouldn't be enough like all the times before. Phabium was a god of monsters; in fact, he was the greater god of all monsters.
He was trying to prepare for the time of legends that would be when all the civilized races champions, both heroes and villains alike, sharpened their skills slaughtering those under his domain. He had tried time and time again to prepare to keep as many of his monsters alive as possible, trying plan after plan only to have it fail as they only survived because they bounced back from the edge of extinction quickly.
"Perhaps this time it will be different." Phabium said quietly to himself in his realm above Zostrora as God of all monsters. He hoped, as he always did every time a new age came, that this age of legends would be different from the ones that came before. Sadily each time it was just more of the same as those he shepherded were slaughtered despite his best efforts. But perhaps this time it truly would be different perhaps this time there truly would be a new age for those he shepherded.
