It's 2026, twenty years after X.A.N.A.'s forces invaded. When they came, the world, rather than unite, crumbled. Militaries were slow to react, and couldn't stand up to high-powered lasers. Soon, all of Europe had been consumed. Out of desperation, America, Russia, and China decided on the use of nuclear weapons. However, by some horrible trick of X.A.N.A., they were turned on their own cities.
I write this as a freedom fighter now operating in what was once France. Our world deserves better keepers. A machine sees no beauty.