The Legend of Tantus - Book 3

The Time Devourer - Prologue

    Future, when a world follows its natural path, whether it is right or wrong, worthy or unfair, guided by efforts far beyond comprehension. For centuries Tantus has evolved tirelessly, spectacularly, peace has prevailed throughout all winters since the end of the great wars that terrified the continents mercilessly. The old Discord of the Power, the later war referred to as "The Children of the Discord", and even the obscure "War of the Darkanians", the great heroes born during those terrible and, so to speak, fantastic campaigns, of legendary warriors like the great Sumith Maxlyeben, the spectacular Seth Alberich, brave men who defied death and tyranny to keep the world on track, sacrificing themselves as cheap payments for everything they ever believed in.

    Once again the balance maintained by the Lords followed its perfect course, the world was abundant, and with the peace provided by the sacrifices of the past, people enjoyed a natural comfort, thus science was born, and with it technology began to show its benefits, like medicine, Tantus slowly resembled its origins, this, of course, for those few who knew the legends of the most distant past...

    Over time, people have evolved their livelihoods significantly, as the violent battles have been left behind. The magical strength of the world itself would never cease to exist, but the magic was almost extinct, the Library of Magic, due to the absence of a new guardian, popularly called "heir to Tantaluz", was closed at least four hundred winters ago, the traditional and magnificent powers, which made such a difference since the dragons' rule, were no longer needed and, except in the military and city development, very few were those who still retained some remnant of its strength, but nowhere near the splendor of yesteryear. The dragons, absolutely isolated in their mysterious fog, were no longer interested in the rest of the world, deciding to remain at peace for the rest of their existence, or perhaps waiting for some reason to return once more... The world's greatest advisor, Krantenion, the last of his race to be seen by all peoples, now remained on Plane as Lord of Fire and would probably never be seen again for peace, but this was always the intention, this was always the goal.

    With the growth of the cities and the prosperity of many of the regions, they declared their independence, gladly accepted by the ancient kingdoms, as abundance was present for all, and thus ended the days of the ancient kingdoms of the great kings. Then came the autonomous communities, the countries, each administered by its Regent, and trade between them has never been stronger. There were many opportunities and options for life, because goodwill was always something remarkable in Tantus, goblins, cyclops, griphons, now it was all something from the past erased, they themselves rarely presented problems to other peoples, or were going into extinction, or they were simply content now with the opportunities that showed themselves even to them, although they would never return, or try, some kind of relationship with others, hatred could still be felt, even weakened over time, and this was the damn legacy left by the great enemy of yore, Zeijadel.

    With the evolution of livelihoods, “magic crystals”, or “elemental crystals” were born, starting from the same principles of the stones of the old staffs, used, properly set, through gloves or scepters. The remaining elemental users were tasked with creating them, which made everyday life much easier, animals were now rarely used as a means of transport, nature no longer had a strong influence on large sea voyages, metallic and clearly technological vehicles took over city streets and roads between kingdoms (now properly paved), buildings have also evolved superbly, more especially in the countries of Terrus, Brambus and Anarkandy. In all these crystals had a strong influence, air crystals were more used in ships and aerial vehicles, land vehicles were moved by thunder and light, because they are forms of energy, earth crystals were perfect for civil construction, water crystals, which since the time of the battles such an element had the power to use existing water or simply create from the humidity of the air, they were crucial in supplying cities in the most arid regions, an element of nature for crops, an element of life for hospitals, among many utilities effective, and only five of the elements had no crystals produced: darkness, holy, planar life, status and fantasy, due to the difficulty or very few possible applications for them. The ancient continent of Tantus has always been more advanced than the others in this matter, and they were responsible for the greatest discoveries that were brought to the world. Security, which also could never cease to exist, has been improved (or perhaps regressed), because in the place of unparalleled magic, beneficial or devastating in war, elemental weapons were born, normally fed by crystals of thunder, ice, light and fire, simple basic magic trigger devices, still lethal indeed, but much lighter and less destructive, although the traditional blades were destined to never cease to exist, the new armors of the armies, more adapted with the evolution, maintained the same colors as the continents of yore, differing only by the symbol that each country now possessed, and those that remained the same, as the kingdoms of Lieben, Terra, Arfank and Balvera kept the traditional symbol in honor of the past. Several other systems were born, of administration and control, basic sanitation in the cities, leisure and transport systems, education, military force, everything that a world that was striding towards the future could need, and all this in a few centuries, it felt like another-worldly progress. Men, always the majority in the world, populated countries considerably in all regions, the moghrans, whose population had grown satisfactorily and perhaps the most friendly people of men, were also present in everything, now fully united, the tartars, still in a minority compared to the others, but already recovering much of their lost population in the past, more attached to nature, which in fact was necessary to keep the planet properly balanced, and therefore prioritizing rural areas, continued their lives more isolated in their determined regions in the ancient continents of Zelante, Scyra and Meira, continued to maintain contact with the other peoples, but less than before, the wolves, clearly closer to the other peoples, with new cities and villages spread across other continents, they participated in trade actively and amicably, but were still extremely independent in their livelihoods, including military, very happy not to disturb others and not to be disturbed at this point, but everyone said that their prosperity was unique, perhaps even ahead of the rest of the countries, and they still had a great king commanding their people in their main kingdom, the Wolver Colony, and finally the mers, who were the only ones practically immutable, their submarine kingdoms, safe and untouchable, ruled by their absolute queens, the only visible change was participation in trade through the Merchant City of Mernys, trading the abundance of the oceans as riches, a masterpiece for elemental crystals and supplies, always appreciated by many, since they also took a liking to the supplies of surface, but what few knew was that they also used the current technology in their means of submarine transport.

    For five hundred winters since the end of the great war the world has changed, grown and matured, but it was at this time that things were destined to change again.