The First Sign of the End

All religions acknowledge The Adversary, and so all have myths about his Four Horsemen who will ride out at the end of all things to bring the world to an end. What causes the end is different in every religion and there are even variations between sects, but in Rilea the accepted version comes by way of a prophecy, outlined by the Oracles of Rilos.
The prophecies that outline the end of all things are frustratingly vague and are also long and complicated, so are usually addressed individually. The first sign comes as the Horseman War breaks free from his prison, where the gods have hidden him since the beginning. The prophecies begin thus:

"The beginning will be Heralded by the spread of Strife across the land. Where once men called one another friends now they shall see only their greatest foes and no oath nor vow will stay their hands. The lowest vassal shall take up arms against the highest lord at the passing of the Rider, whose sword is Cataclysm and brings Ruin to the Kingdom of the Gods."

This is followed by a series of general warnings and signs that confirm the arrival of War, including ambiguous astrological signs, and sightings of a rider in a red cloak, passing through towns and villages, giving a call to war which the people will heed despite all reason. Where there are no enemies to fight they shall invent them, and where enmity has already made its home it shall be stoked into an open flame. Where the rider has passed, the water shall tast of blood, and the bread of the ashes of bones.
Conflict shall then spread everywhere, leaving none untouched. It is unclear how much the rider actually participates in the conflicts and if he actually leads any of the troops he raises or if the mere presence of War is enough to ensure it. The destructive wars "bring low the great kingdoms and empires of men", and culminate in a great battle at the fields of Aceduce. Aceduce is not a location on any map, so there is debate about where these fields actually are. Aceduce breaks the last organised states of the world, and leaves its people fragmented and scattered. After this battle, the second horseman, Conquest, will be sent into the world.
Many times throughout history, there have been claims of a battle or a war being the First Sign. This happened especially often around the fall of the Ulman Empire, a prolonged process of wars and conquests, but as that was four centuries ago there are few who now believe it to have been the sign.