Author Notes – I would like to thank cjupsher for letting me write my own interpretation of his great story. Please read the original when you have the chance.

s/11969844/1/For-the-Love-of-the-Gods

Legends.

Legends tell a history all of their own.

Many legends speak of heroic champions or of the gods themselves. But one legend stands out among the others. One legend is so grand that even the gods themselves had to recognize it's greatness.

This is the legend of the mortal who would change the gods and one day stand among them. The human who did what even the gods said could not be done. This was the man who tamed lightning and death and brought destruction to its end.

Would you like to hear a story, child?

This isn't just an ordinary story, no this is history. This is how the world came to be what it is now. This world use to be much wider, and the gods in the heavens came to the mortal world so much that some even chose to live among us mortals. This was when the gods were plenty and there was a god for everything we mortals did.

There are not that many gods left in this world now though. They all fell to wings and fire so many years ago. There was a war you see, a war so great that it consumed even the heavens themselves. A war between the gods on high and the beasts of the skies. I speak of course of the dragons, the only race besides the gods that could kill a god. Dragons were led by two powerful beings as old as the world itself.

The Bewilderbeast, the great king of the dragons held his throne with nothing but the respect for his great power. He didn't truly rule his race for he chose rather to explore the great oceans then to lead his people. Many believe that he hoped his race could rule themselves without needing him. And they may have been able to if not for their queen.

The great beast of death and rage that was the queen of the dragons was a monster if there ever was one. The Red Death, as she was known, wanted the world for her own and was willing to use her race to take it from the gods. It was she who started the war between dragons and gods and who wiped but races from the mortal realm and heavens. When war was finally over from the hundreds of gods there was only a few dozen remaining hiding away in the Realm of the Gods.

The dragons did not fare any better from the bloody war that raged. From the thousands that once flew the skies of the Mortal Realm there now was only three known dragons left. The Red Death who would lay in wait for any god that would come to this realm to devour them, The Bewilderbeast who none had seen in centuries still believed to be swimming the oceans.

The last of the dragons was known as the Night Fury, a dragon much smaller than his two cousins, but was feared much more. For where he flew only destruction followed and none to this day has even seen the true form of this beast. Well, that was until now.

This day was one that all the gods feared, for the Red Death has stirred and awoke from her mountain lair. The gods saw this great shift and prepared for the battle that was sure to follow. From all the realms that the gods resided in they gathered in the great hall of the king of the gods. As the last of his few remaining gods arrived the great king North leads the charge into the mortal world hoping to finally slay the monster.

What no mortal or god expected when they finally reached the beast's home was the sight before them. The mountain lair lay in ruin, destroyed beyond repair or use. The very island it rested on barely staying above the crashing waves of the turning sea. Fearing what could have caused their foe to become this enrage North began to worry that she may take her rage out on his mortals.

As the gods followed the wide path of destruction and fire left in her wake they came upon a large crater recently formed. The hole was large enough for a small town but nothing could be seen from within the crater for a great fire still burned within the hole. North watched the great flame wondering what could cause such a large and intense heat to still burn even now. It was then that everything that the great North thought he knew was proven wrong.

It stared one of the younger goddesses came too close to the flames and fell back from what she saw in them. The other gods quickly came to her side to see what could cause her worry and fear and every god stood still as stone at what they saw. The great fire in the large crater was none other than the ever burning remains of the Red Death herself. Someone or something had slain the queen of destruction and left her body here to burn for all time.

What could have slayed the beast that not even the gods on high had been able to kill after centuries of war? Why were they not here now to claim the praise and rewards of such a feat? All the gathered gods began to worry that a new threat had appeared even greater than the Red Death to threaten them. In all the chaos and fear none of the gods but one could hear the small voice calling to them.

It was the goddess of love who heard the voice and felt the waves of love and regret from somewhere nearby praying to her. No, that wasn't quite right. They were not praying to her alone, the voice was praying to all the gods that remained at once. One by one the gods heard the ever-growing voice and quieted to hear the prayer that had reached their ears.

What had started as one voice slowly grew, and what once was one was now dozens of voices all praying for the same thing. It was North who recognized the voice as one of his most faithful mortals, who lived his entire life to honor the king of the gods. But it was the prayer itself that caught all the gods off guard. One wish desired by so many people all at once. North quieted all the other voices to listen to his faithful mortal alone.

"Please oh great gods, hear my prayer and show mercy. Don't let this foolish father lose what he just now realized he had" the voice begged "Please North, save my son!"