“The choices that led to this point are truly harrowing, disheartening, and a horror that should be remembered by humanity going forward. But we cannot focus on that horror any more—and focus on the horror in front of us now because that’s the only way humanity will go forward again.”
- Queen Amelie Ludendorf of the Kingdom of Orland, April 21, 2025.
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West Orland
November Palace
April 24, 2025
“Is the teleprompter ready?” Nia asked. “Please check it well. I don’t want any last-minute errors.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” one of the techs replied, as the staff around Amelie’s office prepared everything. Her desk was cleared, tidied up, and prepared with just the few symbolic objects that should be there. A few files, the pictures of the former Orlish Queens behind her, the flag of Orland, and the Royal Standard of Orland. That was all that would be seen by the world.
Then they fixed the lighting. Not too dim, but not bright either. The techs carefully curated it to ensure that the lighting itself was perfect to deliver the atmosphere she was aiming for—a grim message for the world on the brink of complete catastrophe.
Amelie looked down at her journal, flipping on it for the few last times that she could. This was it. She already had a lot of times where she told her those words. This was it…when she became Queen. This was it…when the elections happened. This was it…when the first shots in her homeland were fired by the rebel’s tanks.
This was it…now that all of Orland was locked in a global conflict.
I wonder…when will I say those words again for something positive…
She continued looking through her journal. Each day, she wrote something. Well, some days had missing entries, but most had entries ever since she retrieved it. Each entry didn’t really show hope. It was so different from her entries before she was Queen when her pages were only filled with the simple day-to-day enjoyments and frustrations of a young woman who lived a sheltered life.
When she could go on and on about food.
About sweets.
About the new books she read.
About the endless, grinding studies she had to take.
About the drawings she did.
About the annoying peers she had at school.
About the new spells, she learned and trained.
Or about tests, and her endless belly-aching about staying late for it.
All those were replaced now with endless, grim, entries about each and every day where she simply listed her daily failures. It was all just news, after news, after report, after…she stopped at one of her entries. It blamed her. Her own words, penned by her own hand, blamed her on that fateful day when the war began between Orland and Larissa.
“Why didn’t you stop it, you absolute failure of a Queen?!”
She wanted to laugh at that old Amelie. She was the one in that situation, wasn’t she? She was the one handling Orland in those days. Why? Why would she even write such scathing words that Amelie now could read?
But Amelie accepted those words, this time around. She wasn’t sure if she had improved much since her early days in Orland. After all, she struggled to find things where she really won. Sure, she stopped the collapse of her government. She kept most of the OAF under her and kept them fighting for her. She had most of the country. She managed to unite the Mandate of Nations against a threat that would surely consume the world at the last minute. She stopped the enemy from easily bombing her own people.
And she finally gave men some taste of grim, imperfect equality, by finally getting the Women’s Mobilization Bill passed democratically.
But…even that wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t even enough. What did it even mean for them, really, other than another empty gesture by a desperate government trying to appeal to their sense of loyalty even after it failed them again and again? And Amelie didn’t stop this global conflict. She only prepared her own side for it. She made no effort to avoid it. If anything, she escalated everything just to ensure that she’d be able to stack some advantages to her side once the powder keg ignited.
What am I really? Amelie asked. The leader of a potential free world, or just another warmonger trying to ensure the continuation of this brutal status quo? What am I? What am I really?
The cameras, the microphone, the staff…they were now on their last preparations. Already, she was being asked if she was ready. Was she ready to finally confront a world that was asking her questions? Questions about why it all led to this? Questions about why her originally pacifist platform turned into one that advocated for military power to triumph against those she deemed as enemies of the civilized world. Questions about why…the world was on fire now?
“I’m ready,” she answered. “I’ll face them.”
“You sure?” William asked. “You don’t seem to be in the best—”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“They’re waiting for my words, don’t they?” Amelie said. “Get the cameras rolling. I’m ready.”
With that, William nodded. Always the ever-loyal bodyguard he was, always ensuring that she was fine, but also never so overbearing that he’d deny her direct orders. Nia was not far off. Then, Amelie’s mind began wandering one by one about the people she ruled with. The same people who stuck to her side to fight for her ideals. She wondered, if she was faltering in her ideals, were they too?
Did William really believe that she could give salvation to men?
Did Nia believe that her ideals of full reform were sound?
What about Jacqueline? Was she getting tired of being the face of her regime’s day-to-day failures?
General Albrecht…why? Why would he continue to fight so hard, and sully his hands with the blood of so many young men under him for Amelie’s sake?
Admiral Halberd, did he really believe that Amelie could bring peace between men and women?
What about Walter? Was he tired of watching his party turn into a laughing stock that it was now?
Marie…to this day, why would she continue placing herself in direct danger for the sake of Amelie’s regime?
Allison…was she now disillusioned with Amelie constantly pushing young women into danger?
Why would Albert even continue fighting on the high seas, where he could brutally die any day?
Does Alice even look at me as her big sister anymore?
What exactly…did the world and Orland even view her?
She didn’t know.
“Your Majesty, it’s ready.”
She gave them a thumbs up, and they began their countdown.
Soon, it started.
“...People of Orland…no, people of this world, I need to have a moment to speak to you all, today. I don’t know where exactly each of you is right now. I don’t know what you are all doing. I don’t know what you are all planning to do. I don’t know what you are seeing. I don’t know what you are expecting. I don’t. There are billions of you. But I do know that all of you are asking questions. Looking for answers. And receiving it. From all sources. Yet you, whoever you are, probably struggle to find which one is right.
“I do too, everyone. I do too. Truthfully, there are so many questions being asked, and so many answers, many false, many true. But also, there are questions that have no answers. That’s something true too. And that’s a frustrating reality we are facing. Just the same with the fact that the entire world right now has been dragged into a conflict that we all wanted to reserve to the darkest sections of fiction.
“It’s right in front of us. In front of me. In front of you. In front of our world. I have nothing to deny from this office that I sit in. Yes, the world is at war. You’ve heard it right. This world we live in is on fire. And we’re all going to be burning in it. Some worse, some less, but regardless, we’re now at a disaster that surpasses those that we have seen in centuries. And we are all going to be victims of it. Even I do not know if, by next year, you’ll still see me speaking from this office. That’s why I’m not going to say that it’ll be alright. Because it isn’t, everyone. Nothing is alright. And you, and each government, and each one of us, must recognize that as reality.
“We made mistakes that will echo in generations if there will even be generations after us if we fail even harder. And I will not absolve myself from this scenario we are in, because I, the Queen of Orland, made mistakes. Mistakes that I don’t expect this world to forgive me for. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to tell you, that while comfort is hard to find today, that while the path forward from here on out is dim, the fight is still on, everyone. And you, and every good man and woman, are needed today. Precisely because it is grim.
“I have received the grueling reports from each of the fronts where we, Orland, and our allies, are fighting. In Gallia, the defenses of the DMZ have been breached. All while the expeditionary forces of the Ivory Alliance are fighting against a horde of steel and hell. In the air, the situation is deteriorating. The Northern Sea has been closed. Global trade halted. Many of our ships had been sunk around the seas of Lorathia. All while our allies in Southwest Vaeyox, the Kingdoms of Constania and Latia, continue their desperate defense against Larissan armor.
“Up north, my family’s once rival, the remnants of House Illyenov’s rule, is besieged in a brutal fight of attrition that could swing one way or another. In the Pieran Continent, our allies, vulnerable as they are, have been bombed by ballistic missiles that we were unable to intercept, leaving so many innocent civilians dead. In Central Vaeyox, our unprepared allies are evaporating, all while our reinforcements are disrupted by brutal bombings on our logistical lines.”
Amelie turned ever grimmer.
“In East Vaeyox, Empress Xue’s forces are holding against the tide of multiple millions of newly-raised troops by the Republic of Hebei, with many formations desperately holding against endless tides of men and armor. We are also told that Asanai, even with her powerful air force, is now being stretched to its utter limits. At all places. The situation…isn’t pretty.
“Our lines are faltering. The defenses we placed our faith in are being chipped away, one by one. Many of our territories and the people we protect in it have fallen to enemy hands. Our safety has never been in this state of grimness, for centuries. And our enemy, have prepared for months for this great violence, while we have not prepared adequately to oppose them. We are, right now, facing a grim, military disaster, and indeed, the consequences for that will be even grimmer. And we expect more blows to come upon us.
“But, I refuse to lose all hope. And I refuse for all of you to lose hope. No, I believe that if we continue to fight, prepare, and do what must be done, which is all being done as I speak by our gallant forces on the ground, then however grim the days ahead of us, we shall not fall. Right now, our industries are awakening. Our forces are being mustered. Our air forces, growing in numbers. Our defenses against missiles from the heavens, becoming more and more ironclad. Our control of the seas, solidifying. All because the young men and women, now on the frontlines, both in the real front and the homefront, are doing their duties.
“People of this world, that’s the truth. If all of us do our duties—if all of us, instead of wallowing in this darkness, accept the grim truth, and act today for the homes we live in—we shall not falter. That is the mission of my government. That is my mission. That is the mission of every man and woman of Orland. That, I believe, is the will of our allied governments. And thus, we shall see to it, that this mission, at all cost, is to be conducted in full. And I have full confidence that if all of us follow that, and all dutifully try to do our part for it, we should prove to ourselves that we can carry on to defend our nations, our world, and the ideals that live in the hearts of every good individual of this world.
“Thus, I declare, that the Kingdom of Orland, her allies, and the Mandate of Nations, shall see to it that we will outlast the mad tyranny from this band of rogue, wicked nations until the dark days of this great storm are over. We shall go on to the end. At all costs. We shall fight in Opellia. We shall fight over the Pieran Continent. We shall defend Gallia. We shall fight in the Far East. We will fight in all corners of Pollos. In our lands. In the seas. Under the seas. Even in the airspace above us. We will never surrender, and we will continue our cause, to the bitter end, if need be. Together, I am sure we will all rally to our flags, and carry on the struggle, until we ensure the good future of humanity itself, and liberate all of our sisters…and brothers, no matter where they are.”