The gods are dead.
This is no metaphor, no fable. The old gods are dying, slowly and irreversibly. The divine pressure they left behind is weakening year by year, and atop its ruins, powers suppressed for a thousand years are awakening: wizards, monsters, dragons, and every forgotten being will return.
The Empire knows nothing of this. The knights still train in their breathing techniques, the lords still fight over territory, and prayers continue in the churches. They think it is only the Empire that is declining, never realizing that an entire world is in decline.
On the wastelands of the Ashlands, Lu Chen will build a tower. Upon the ruins left by the dead old gods, he will establish a power that spans countless worlds. While everyone else is still asleep, he will be the first to awaken.
