A strange poisoning happened across the land of Dysanta. Killing thousands, it sent residents into murderous and cannibalistic rages, targeting the parts of the brain that controlled those impulses. If you didn't expire from the debilitating sickness, you would die from the sword of those tasked to kill you. It could be described as a plague of apocalyptic proportions.
To go along with the plague of infected, cataclysmic earthquakes wreaked havoc on the already despaired land. The quakes displaced millions of people and destroyed cities that were originally places of safety.
The nation originally attempted to combat the disease, but it proved to be a perfect pathogen. Carried by insects, such as mosquitoes, and mammals, such as bats, it was transmitted into the human bloodstream. Once there, it destroyed the cognitive impulses and caused a sickened organism to go mad.
The body would attempt to combat the pathogen, and would be so weakened by the fifth day that the disease would be able to take total control. As the pathogen progressed, the subject would begin to lose feeling in the extremities. Toes would grow numb, then fingers, arms and legs. The subject would no longer feel the pain.
For some it meant that the body had defeated the plague, for others, worse was on the horizon.
Next a defeated subject would be stuck in a state of confusing dreams and endless sleep. Around the third week, the subject would wake, but without any sense of intellect or reason. A purely instinctual creature arose, driven by a hunger for meat.
By the time help could arrive, it would be too late. The creature would attack and kill any who neared to close. Even the fear of humans most animals had, never registered in the brain of the creature.
Only what seemed like a deep hatred could be recognized. Nothing could be done once the infected reached this stage. The pathogen had taken its toll and left a cannibalistic creature in its wake.
The earthquakes sent people away from the cities, maybe for their own good. A less populated area would benefit in slowing the spread of plague. The first reported quake, killed four thousand people and several thousand more are still missing. Buildings several stories high collapsed on themselves killing everyone inside under the immense weight.
Civilization was brought to its knees in a matter of months. Survivors fled to the countryside. The great plains to the east. The mountains to the north. The desert in between.
To the north was a land covered in snow and ice. Trees that kept their leaves all year round covered the landscape. Great forests of evergreens went as far north as the Great Divide. There a gorge, thousands of feet deep, was cut into the earth. It was a mile across with walls that nearly went straight up and straight down. Beyond that was a great expanse of nothing and temperatures that plummeted well below zero. An expedition beyond the Divide would be considered suicide. So few returned, that those who did, would be crowned a national hero.
The Divide itself would be greatly mentioned in all lore of the aboriginal people of the areas. The ancient culture told a story of a great creature, with jaws that summoned flame and claws that snatched up warriors and killed them in one fatal grip, that lay deep in the Divide. The creature waited, biding its time, for the perfect time to strike.
According to the aborigines, it's been down in the bottom of the gorge for two thousand years.
Many believe that to be a story told to children to keep them away from the Divide. Some think the story may have some truth to it.
A group of scholars, men with enough money to buy an education, went into your gorge, looking for signs of the creature. Sure enough, claw marks were etched into the dirt and stone.
The calm of the deep was something that was rarely ever felt. The silence was absolute and gave the place a terrifying feel.
Many of those who traversed into the depths, rarely made it out with they're sanity intact. It is unknown what truly lies in the deep.
The creature that lay in the Divide is not normally one that is talked about lightly or in a joking tone.
It isn't the only creature that flew in ancient times, terrorizing the people of the area. Two and a half thousand years ago, a creature of the night, with black scales and wings that would blot out the sun sent the people of the southern mountains into exile. The creature took their home and riches and hasn't been seen since. The people had been insanely wealthy and prosperous, spending years in the mountains harvesting the gold, iron and other ores.
Where as those of the mountains depended upon the bounties under the earth, those to the west depended on the fertility of it. They planted great fields filled with wheat, corn, and other crops. They didn't have the great cities like others around Dysanta. They lived mostly in small villages, with only around one hundred people each. From above, the land would look like a great puzzle with patterns that stretched on for miles.
Once, a very long time ago, a serpent arose from that earth. Built like a snake, but with jaws like that of a shark, it sported thousands of teeth. When it arose thousands of years ago, the people died by the hundreds. What saved them was the proximity in which they resided with each other. One could travel hundreds of miles to make it to the next farm town. It is not known where the serpent retreated to. The chasms which it left are still around, but remain largely unexplored.
The most ancient of the great beasts of legend was a monster of the sea. It arose nearly three thousand years ago, out of the depths. It destroyed the cities of the coast and killed nearly one million people. It then disappeared into the sea and was never seen again.