DESTINY: BECOME LEGEND

ACT ZERO: PROLOGUE|SCENE ONE: THE SILVER AGE

All seemed well on the blue planet for quite a while. Medicine was revolutionized in the times after the Fourth World War ended. All the time that was spent fighting could now be used to help and repair the damage caused by the terrible conflict. The nations of the world came together and collaborated peacefully. It seemed as if this was the herald of humanity's greatest era. Issues were shared and solved around an open table, not on a bloodied and scorched battlefield. This was the dawn of the Silver Age. Humanity prospered and life was well. But of course, this could not last.  Things such as War. Conflict. Death. These were all undeniable truths of human life. All undeniable truths of Darkness. Man had dominated the planet Earth for a minuscule amount of time compared to all those who have come before, yet they managed to destroy it the most. They were managing to destroy each other. Yes, the species had their moment of peace and quiet, their Silver Age, but this was just the calm before the coming storm. Humanity was weak willed, but strong minded. Born with the ability to comprehend and understand much more than most organic life forms, but cursed with the inability to coexist with itself, man created terrible things. Suddenly, their most prosperous era fell apart. The Silver Age rusted, and then came the first in a series of cataclysmic and near-apocalyptic events. Then, came the First Great Collapse. Suddenly, this perfect calm was ripped away in a burst of flame and radiation. The atom bombs wiped out Russia. Sources indicated the attacking country was located in Asia, and the retaliating chemical warfare left all of Asia uninhabitable. It seemed then as if the dust could settle and peace would return. Until North American life was wiped out in a single bright flash, that is. A supposed misfire by the United States' latest project. South America died out slowly and fell victim to disease, no longer sustained by the other, much more powerful countries. Africa burned as the side effects of the weapon that had supposedly wiped out America showed themselves. The ice caps melted and the world flooded, only the highest points in Europe remained. Even with how little human life remained, even after the effects of conflict were clear to see, man still fought amongst itself. It wasn't long until a single nation remained, a single power in a wasteland of death and destruction. The Earth was all but dead, these final people were destined for extinction. But there was one final hope. They miraculously still had a single prototype shuttle capable of sustaining life on another planet. They would head to Mars in hope of finding something there. A new life. A new hope. It was then that Project Rebirth was set in motion, the most promising members of what little society remained were prepared for launch and shot off into the darkness of the night. What man found upon the red planet of Mars was much beyond what anyone could have hoped for. The astronauts touched down on the planet's seemingly barren surface and then noticed a storm suddenly forming in the distance. An anomaly, but not enough to warrant exploration. Until their scanners indicated the storm was producing pure, drinkable water. Mars was supposed to be dry, supposed to be dead. This water could not be. The three astronauts scaled great mountains and traversed large plains of sand until they came across a large crater. They climbed up and in the center of the crater hovered their savior. The Traveller. A great, white, mechanical sphere with unimaginable abilities and knowledge. This Great Machine spoke to humanity, and told them of what greatness they could achieve. It told them of how to triple their life spans. It told them of how to heal their planet. It told them of how to expand their species back to its once mighty size. It told them of how to take to the stars and make them their home. It told them of how to recover. It told them of how to find peace. Peace that truly would last. It was with the help of the Great Machine, with the help of the Traveller, that humanity was restored to its previous state. It was with the guidance of the Traveller that man advanced beyond what it once was. The Bronze Age, our modern age, had fallen to the Third and Fourth World Wars. These conflicts had given way to the Silver Age. The Silver Age had been destroyed and man led to extinction by its own hand. This near-extinction. This fall from grace. This unparalleled destruction. This era of death was known only as the First Great Collapse. Of course, it was only called the Great Collapse at the time, no one could have expected the even steeper fall that would follow. But that is another story, for another time. For now, humanity was evolving much farther past anything it ever was, and anything it could have ever been were it not for the Traveller. The First Great Collapsed revealed the way for the new Golden Age of man, and no era in the species' existence would ever hope to compare. A new species arose next to man in this time, though. The EXO's. A meld of mind and machine, an artificial intelligence within artificial body. These machines would stand alongside man now, in his greatest moment. And they would continue to do so in his darkest hour. Man was no longer alone in the position of dominance over the planet, and thanks to the Traveller, they now knew that they weren't alone in the universe. They now knew that there was so much more out there for them to go and explore. What they didn't know, is that something would soon come for them. They didn't know that even with all of their newfound strength, they would not be ready.