The long winter ended, and all things began to grow.
Since the heavy snow had faded from the Mortal Realm, the world changed its appearance; the various changes that had ceased due to the shift in seasons seemed to resume their proper course.
Signs of life re-emerged outside the ruins that had been turned into wastelands by natural and man-made disasters, and the traces of mortal activities once again spread out towards the east and the south.
Perhaps one day, they would reach the East Sea and encounter those who were once of the same origin but had been taken to the seas, viewing them as foreign visitors.
No matter from which perspective, the current Chaos World greatly differs from the Greece of later generations. The disparity exists not only in the loss of culture and legend but also geographically.
After all, by comparing maps, one can find that the later Greek peninsula is a landmass extending from northwest to southeast, jutting deeply into the Mediterranean Sea as the southernmost part of the Balkan Peninsula. Constantinople, built between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, lies beside it, and the peninsula itself is interspersed with straits and rivers.
This is a location in mythological records where water was more abundant than land because many of the legendary stories didn't occur on this peninsula at all. For example, the Caucasus Mountains in The East, which were originally a place of Prometheus's imprisonment, are actually the territories of later Russia, separated from Athens by several distances of Greece.
At the junction of the Eurasian Continent, the famous Strait of Gibraltar is topped with a massive rock known as the 'Pillars of Hercules.' This was also considered the end of the western world to the Greeks, a place where Heracles once arrived during his twelve labors.
In such circumstances, if one were to draw a map with the aforementioned landmarks on the eastern and western sides, the Greek peninsula would indeed seem insignificant in comparison; it would appear too small no matter what it is measured against. But obviously, the current Chaos World does not have a vast Mediterranean Sea, nor does it have numerous straits.
What should be the Iberian Peninsula facing Greece across the sea became part of the continent, the land of Egypt in the south was not yet part of Chaos, and many places to the southeast of Greece naturally transformed into large islands.
Of course, this is a world that is many times larger, so those large islands could actually be termed as 'mini continents,' capable of supporting tens of millions of people in their lives and even establishing independent kingdoms.
Phoenicia was such a place, a kingdom later located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and facing Cyprus, now became an island nation. Surrounded by the Ionian Sea—which is not the name of a game, but a real sea area to the west of the Greek peninsula of later generations. However, now, it has come to the eastern side of the continent.
How this kingdom of humans came into being is now unknown. The humans on the land still possessed the skills and wisdom of at least a previous era, using these to record history and develop civilization. However, the humans at sea did not inherit these completely.
Poseidon sneered at the earthly things of those mortals, allowing these ant-like lives to grow wildly on land. After all, as long as they stayed at sea, they had to revere the Sea Emperor, who controlled storms, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Therefore, the history of the Phoenician kingdom was interrupted for some time.
Although they inherited the transcendent powers passed down by their ancestors, recalling the tales of the deities, that was all there was to it.
In short, Phoenicia had become very different from the humans of the mainland. Under the reign of King Agenor, they lived and worked in peace and contentment, with primitive farming and fishing as their livelihood. The Divine King who could bring torrential rain and thunder and Poseidon who ruled the seas were revered as Principal Gods, in hopes of protecting the nation from natural disasters.
Until this day, an unexpected event caused turmoil in the kingdom. The royal guards imposed martial law in Sidon (Tyre), and the three princes, each with transcendent martial skills, were summoned back to the city from various locations.
The king was in a rage, and everyone knew why. Phoenicia's sole princess, Europa, had recently disappeared.
And most crucially, no matter how one looks at it, this disappearance doesn't seem like a natural event but appears to be premeditated by some intelligent life.
The 'exquisite' pottery shattered into pieces on the ground as Agenor stood expressionlessly in the palace within his royal residence.
In front of him stood three valiant young men with their heads bowed in silence. They understood why their father was angry; in fact, even their own hearts were filled with anxiety.
Not long earlier, one summer afternoon, the princess Europa, who had been playing with friends by the seaside, was carried away by a wild bull under the watchful eyes of many.
The princess had only mounted its back—this beautiful and gentle bull was indeed charming—and then it bolted.
It ran faster than a flying horse, treating the sea surface as stable as the land. In the blink of an eye, the princess's figure vanished over the western sea, leaving behind agitated companions who then frantically reported everything to the king of Phoenicia.
The king's fury knew no bounds, for he and Queen Telephassa had three sons but only one daughter. Europa's beauty was unsurpassed in the kingdom; she was lauded as a girl kissed by the Goddess of Beauty. But now she had vanished so mysteriously.