Legend

At first there was the war. No one knows who started it but, when the nuclear weapons started exploding all over the planet, no one cared about this kind of detail anymore .

The forbidden weapons of humanity, over 10.000 in number, enough to cover the skies under their terrible shadow, were all deployed in one day. All major cities on the planet were devastated but that was not what people truly feared.

Radiation.

10,000 nukes were enough to cover Earth in a cloud of radiation capable of ending life as we know it.

After the initial strike, hospitals were full of patients, people ran away from cities creating giant traffic jams and the death count kept increasing.

The experts believed this to be the end of the world and the military leaders of the world together with the wealthy and influential civilians hid away in underground bunkers in a futile attempt to escape the radiation cloud that were to cover the planet any moment now.

But that never happened. Three months latter, even people near the blast zones that should have been long gone under the merciless claws of the ionizing radiation that should have been released by the countless nukes, were still alive and kicking.

Six months latter, once it was confirmed that there were indeed no radiation whatsoever, the governs of the world started working in order to bring the world back under order.

Back then the complete absence of any kind of radiation was considered a miracle of epic proportions.

They had no idea just how wrong they were.

Six years after the "False World End" as it was known back then, somewhere in the Balkan Peninsula, the first Hell Gate opened. At the same time a message was send across the world: "You destroyed your world. We saved it. Now it's ours."

Ten years latter, 99% of the world population would have been killed by the endless hordes of demonic monsters from myths and legends.

The weapons of humanity were useless against this terrible creatures from hell, bullets would bounce off their hides and rockets could barely deal with the weakest demonic beasts. Even the remaining nuclear weapons were used in a futile attempt to defeat the endless monster tide but, in the end, all was useless.

Year 2037: humanity's population fell bellow 10,000,000 living people worldwide.

But as someone once said, "as long as we are alive, there is still hope", the humans were given a second chance. It all started with a 12 years old girl. The year was 2039, it was winter, it was snowing and she was all alone in a wooden hut somewhere in Alaska.

As one of the least populated areas, Alaska had few people living on it but there were also less demonic beasts there. Unfortunately for the little girl, one such beasts made its way towards her location

Abandoned over 30 days ago, with little to no food and even less wood for fire, the girl was already on the verge of death. But, even in this terrible situation, a small light could be seen in her eyes. When the walls of the hut were shredded by the giant bear-like-creature, she ran away, when she fell over a stone breaking her arm in the process, she rose her body and kept running, when the hellish creature bit her shoulder, she ignored the pain and kept running.

Bloodied and filled with wounds, chased by a monster that she knew she could never escape from, the little girl just kept running.

The monster was playing with her, finding the desperate struggles of the little human funny. But she kept running. Not even for a second was there a moment when she though of giving up.

When she collapsed in the snow from blood loss, that should have been her end. But, in the moment when the demonic beast lost its interest and decided to end the chase, in the second between life and death, a miracle occurred.

As her soul was about to be separated from her body, the little girls undying will to live just kept it in place. And from her soul a power that should not have existed emerged. Using her body as a medium and her will as the fuel, the desire of the little girl to see the giant demonic beast dead was materialised as a blinding ray of light. And from that light, salvation came.

The little girl was the first hero of the human race. As she grew up slaughtering demonic beasts, the once frail little girl discarded her old name and created a sanctuary for the human race in the frozen lands of Alaska. That place was known as "The Star of Hope" and the little girl took upon herself the title of Queen of Salvation.

In the following years more and more heroes were born.

Year 2072: For the first time in many decades there was a positive population growth rate.

Year 2077: The first Devil was killed at the expense of 17 heroes.

Year 2099: The first human hero, the Queen of Salvation, defeats a Lord of Hell and escapes with her life.

Year 2108: Humanity's hero population exceeds 100,000.

Year 2110: There is hope.

….........

In reality none of this has anything to do with me.

'Why is that?' you might ask? That's because I died.

To be honest I don't remember that much… It was the end of fall, year 2028. A random rampaging demon just popped out of nowhere and killed me. At the very least it was a fast death, with little to no pain.

But if for others "Death" is the end, for me it was nothing more than the beginning.

With my death Earth lost one random teenager and Hell gained a new Herald that might have had one or two loose screws.

Who won and who lost in that trade is debatable. Still, one thing is certain: things would become far more interesting for both realms from now on.