Need some ideas for magic's return

[Muddman]

I have some ideas but you guys are very creative and I'd love to get some advice:

In our last campaign on this homebrew world, an elder evil popped up, devoured all magic and almost ate the world. The heroes saved the day, ascended to godhood.

Its been 800 years and magic is still gone. I want it to come back, any ideas how? And how do you think the heroes should discover it?

 

[kalil]

A terrible black plague kills half the population. But those few that survive gain magical abilities from their feverish dreams.

 

[1of3]

What happened to the Elder Evil? Did it leave a body? That might have decayed, letting magic diffuse into the ground. Or was it imprisoned? It might have died there and when the prison opens magic is released.

Or maybe new magic is imported from elsewhere. A new people from another world. Or an individual who saved her world's magic. Or there is a fountain of all magic somewhere in Astral Space and you just need a new serving.

 

[Grogg of the North]

What happened to the characters that ascended? Perhaps magic returned because they perished? Maybe more magical creatures, such as dragons, are being born? Or maybe, the elder god, passed some gas and the magic returned that way?

 

[was]

The day the elder evil died, a meteorite struck a remote section of the world. Unbeknownst to most folks, it is actually the heart of that elder evil which contains all the magic it devoured (call it something like the Heart of Darkness/Heart of Madness/Heart of Magic). Maybe the new gods can impart that knowledge to pcs in their dreams.
The area around the impact crater has been tainted. Bizarre, twisted and alien creatures and plant forms devour any trespassers who dare to approach the region. The pc's have to survive the journey to the crater, recover the massive heart and find a way to destroy it (artifact) in order to release the magic. Maybe throw in a crippling/mutating curse (like radiation) on the heart (or surrounding areas) that pcs have to deal with while trying to find and destroy the heart.
You could also have them race to the artifact/compete with an apocalyptic cult determined to raise that elder evil.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I’d say the new heroes are responsible for bringing it back, somehow, rather than just discovering that it's back. It’d have a nice synergy with the prior campaign. Maybe they end up discovering the magic locked away within the corpse of the elder evil – it’s given rise to various undead nasties, and defeating them frees the trapped magical energy?

 

[Snapdragyn]

With magic gone from the world, the wards that kept it closed off from the other planes have faded. Now the barriers are growing weak, and the paths have begun to open. New creatures - some wondrous, some terrible - are being seen.

Perhaps the adventurers meet a mysterious figure who offers to teach them long-forgotten knowledge (someone from another plane looking to teach magic on theirs - but to what end?). Perhaps they are blasted with energy from one of these gates as it breaks open, imbuing them with abilities. Perhaps a secret organization has been working to reopen these paths all along and bring magic back, heedless of the risks of what else might get through; the PCs could be working for this group (as pawns? as knowing accomplices?), or against it.