Prologue:
It takes a few moments for everybody to get ready. Tensions and emotions are high. People are feeling very uneasy, but who can't blame them? They cover the streets of the town erratically, waiting for the screen to light up and somebody step on stage. They have been kept in the dark for long, yet most know that something has happened. Countless lives have been lost, and there's an irreparable hole in their souls.
They gather at the main plaza near the Timber Maniacs office building. Timber being a rather small, industrial township compared to the metropolis. The townsfolk, composed of mostly former rebels against their iron-fisted government, are people very aware of circumstance and the ineffable consequences it entails. Perhaps this is because the Timber Maniacs, which in itself is the most accurate, independent periodical publication on current world events, dwells near the heart of the town. Or perhaps it is because the townsfolk were so repressed by Galbadia's former, not to mention late, president, Vinzer Deling, that they have come to understand to an enormous degree what is like to be deceived with pretty colored lies.
Regardless of which statement is more correct, the usually strong citizens of Timber quail in fear right this moment as they stare into the sky to the largest building. A large, bone colored edifice that contains The World's only radio-wave communication television station. Communication through radio waves had all but disappeared after the end of the Sorceress War decades before. After the war ended and the mighty Esthar disappeared, Galbadia, under the rule of President Deling, invaded Timber and its nearby township, Dollet. It's in Dollet where the Radio Communication Tower resides, high above the town in a neighboring mountain top.
After the invasion, radio waves, which had been an incredible asset for the country during the war against Esthar's ruler, were almost as if banned. Communication between townships became harder, cutting some of them completely off, such as the small, rural town of Winhill, composed primarily of small wooden shacks and one road that runs along the length of the town. The continent of Galbadia asserted its position in The World by controlling most aspects of the daily lives of its people. As a military power, radio waves became focal in which they were used to guide target-missiles to great lengths. It became very likely that power was the motivating factor.
But that is all in the past.
For a little over a year now, The World is living in a renaissance where rights and politics have a domain, the people. Galbadia, Esthar and the snow-covered continent of Trabia to the north are joined to bring order to the people of The World. Their rulers, bounded together by fate more so than circumstance, take their subjects needs front and center, and maintain what can be known as a common piece. They have known each other for quite sometime, and it was only a year before that they survived the Time-compression, such an event that changed history and its participants in ways that they will never be allowed to die and be forgotten. But today they have failed. Millions are dead, and the great adversary walks the plains of Esthar, waiting.
The people of Timber wait patiently, although in some cases this seems very minimal. Then as the clock strikes 7 pm, the TV station's large screens light up. Around The World, people are gathered among several stations like this, cautiously observing as the sienna-colored podium is shown with the flag of the Coalition hanging behind it.
A man of moderate stature wearing a light blue, buttoned down, short-sleeved shirt walks on stage. He stands at the podium and taps it softly. He looks up to the camera and strokes his long, black hair, loosely tied together in a ponytail and pushes it behind his ear. He swallows a bit, mainly because of nerves. He's never been one for speeches. Even if you have never met him or even heard of him or his reputation, you could tell that he was too good-hearted to be hard-as-a-stone when delivering speeches.
As he looks towards the camera, a small gesture escapes into his lips. He smiles gently, as he looks back on that dreadful day. He had survived the entire horde of Esthar's soldiers, entrapped its ruler, and somehow managed to find himself inside the Presidential Palace. Days after deliberation from Esthar's elders concluded, a small man with what seemed like a forced hissing accent who wore a bright-red umbrella as a poncho walked up to him, grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously while saying "Congratulationz, Laguna Loire. You juzt became our Prezident."
He was accompanied by his two best friends. They had been with him since the early days of the war, all through his journey towards Esthar. Years of fighting side-by-side made sure that their bond would be one that would endure far beyond pettiness, idiocy and getting them lost, not to mention nearly killed, behind enemy lines. Kiros Seagill was a tall, very trimmed man of black-colored skin and long beaded locks. He was pessimistic, perhaps a bit too much, but he never lost his temper, always keeping a level head, even in the most dire of situations. Ward Zabach was an intimidating man of large proportions, yet it was his heart that was the most engrossing aspect of him. He was gentle-natured and very loyal to Laguna.
Laguna often speculated that it was because he had a tendency to screw up everything that he touched that he stuck with him. Yet it was Laguna's natural gift to make everybody feel like part of something good and his always optimistic attitude that impressed people. He stumbled into situations and always escaped unscathed, in most cases, assuming we're not going to delve into the embarrassing events that transpired inside Lunatic Pandora; perhaps on a later date.
Yet, he was always a kind man that attracted blind loyalty and friendship. He had power. He defeated an immensely powerful ruler and toppled her government, yet for all he did, he refused to spill blood, because that was not in his nature. That was Laguna then, and that is him now.
He remembers Kiros words to him as Dr. Odine said those words to him.
"If I had half the luck you have," he said shaking his head in utter denial, "I'd have won the lottery three times in a row by now."
He had lived his life with nothing but sheer dumb-luck, friendships that got him through every bit of trouble he encountered and a love that was never realized. But now he's standing inside Timber's TV Station, about to address The World, and he is lost for words.
He's alone. His friends are no longer with him and all that remains is just him and everybody else, connected through the sleepless abyss inside the lens of the camera. He rubs his ring and closes his eyes. Then as he takes a small huff of air, he opens his eyelids and stands upright; grasping the sides of the podium with both hands, and exhales softly.
It's time. . .