The Speech

Anevys wrote it down as it was told. They said not to bring stuff from other dimensions here, but this piece of paper can be an exception.
 
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I address this to the whole world, to all dimensions, to all those who can hear it. I do so not to command, or require, or claim anything from any of you. Not because I would have any right to speak in your names, or to have you listen to me. I do so because I want to plea for your help, and to plead for something dear to me.
 
First of all, my plea is to my dear Redochians, who have for so long sacrificed their all for the Values of freedom, God and country. It is because of these sacrifices that it pains me to make this plea, but also for these sacrifices that I know my plea will be understood.
 
You all felt the message that captain Nernixis of the Sapphire Sword and her crew sent us. A message that permeated the soul, directly, not through our senses, but through our very conscience. I was right there, when that most brave and selfless woman, my dear friend Eve, sent the message, from the dimension of xy to all dimensions, to all people living in them. By now, we can all understand the magnitude of this, we can all grasp the importance of the events unfolding right in front of us.
 
You must wonder about this war. We have seen wars fought against tyranny before, we have fought many such wars ourselves. But this isn’t a war like the rest of them. As captain Nernixis so aptly pointed out, it is a war both within us and without. It is a war where the object of the struggle is the very nature of our world, of all our dimensions: these imperfect huddles of souls, where we are born, live and die under the star of one great hope, that we may rise from this the great evils and small pettiness, from the great suffering and small inconvenience, from all that makes this world imperfect, and climb those steps that our own innate imperfection forged us, to reach back to our home, our home beside God Almighty.
 
Some of you may not believe in Him, and to those I’ll say: look at these forces gathering to take down our souls, to imprison them. You think this is a war for territory, or power, or even a war for destruction? Then why haven’t they attacked us all? Why haven’t these undead, these endless legions of slave-soldiers with no mind, already attacked us too? Why is the enemy so keen to take down the symbols of our hope, of the beauty within our world, why does it target all that would elevate us? You saw that great beech tree, the Primordial Tree of the Elves in the dimension of magic, and how Xantinya targeted it. It is not the first time this happened. You all remember the UFDX. You all remember Xantinya's terrible wars of conquest. They were just prelude. In the span of 15 years, the dimensions have been losing their symbols, entire nations have been uprooted, and our ideals were mocked, or simply erased. If in the dimension of magic they have mocked the very idea of life, by raising the dead as magic-controlled puppets, now they simply want to create new sorts of puppets everywhere, untethered from what made us conscious beings. We saw that with the great dictatorships of our time, which turned us all into slaves: no identity, no purpose, no higher goal to reach, no voice to use, no choice to make. Choices were being made for us, in our name, for their benefit.
 
Now, it's a similar recipe, but much more far-reaching, and, I must stress this, it's permanent. Xantinya aims to change the very way in which this world works, so we can all be trapped in this slavery, little better than the undead she now commands. Us now, and future generations as well, all trapped in a world where she can control us, deny our choices, lock away our souls.
 
So, even if you don't believe in the Almighty, now that you have seen the Devil's face, I still ask you to think of your freedom to choose, your freedom to understand yourself and the world in your own way. We have seen that being challenged before. Now, it's much worse. Now, we almost won't know when the executioner's axe will fall all the way to the end, and chop our heads off.
 
Almost. Almost, because these brave people that you listened to two days ago warned us. They came here, after travelling their world, and the vast expanse of the xy dimension, in order to be able to tell you of the war. They told you better than I could ever do now what is going on in their world, with their home. But I am sure you can understand, and relate. You have seen our freedom stripped from us before, you have seen your home overrun, partitioned and destroyed before. Well, our war, our struggle, that's a story that only made us stronger, more vigilant and more ready to spot the evil and injustice committed around us. We learned the importance of hope, of protecting that chance to always be more, that aspiration to grow. Now this will be taken from us.
 
This is what the war is all about. So it is not a matter of getting involved in someone else's struggle. This is the struggle of everyone here. Yes, it may take different forms in different dimensions, but do not think that we are safer here. Xantinya's ultimate goal, once again, is not destruction, but permanent subjugation.
 
For all these reasons, I plead for our country to join the war currently raging on around us. Through any means possible. And I am first of all talking about the war in the dimension of magic. There, Xantinya is currently planning to wipe out yet another great nation of that dimension, after ruining so many: the Continent of Elements, the home country of captain Nernixis and of Verfys the fire elemental, whom you've come to know. She has amassed her armies of undead and Orcs - yes, you know them - to exact revenge on those who have defeated her before. The Continent is inhabited by millions of elementals, and all risk being massacred to the last one, right now, as we speak. Right now, Xantinya ravages through their lands.
 
It is not something I do with an easy heart. We have already endured many wars. The last war, which only ended two years ago, cost the lives of 67 thousand of our brave soldiers, and more than 2 thousand civilians. The Unlawful war of 2001-2003 cost the lives of almost a million. But do you remember then, when Vodonia and the Gorod Castle Alliance and Bavareso and Kurmensak and Conia were all invading us, all our neighbours attacking us for no better reason than the hatred of some, the ambition of others, and the desire to split the world neatly between superpowers, with no care to what really happens beyond the border lines on maps? Do you remember how we hoped, and wanted, to have someone at our backs, someone to support us? We had allies, but the alliances were broken, and nobody came.
 
But now the Continent of Elements is faced with a similar problem. Invaded by armies far larger than their own, for no reason other than the plans of Xantinya to enact her twisted justice and revenge, destroy all those who would dare oppose her New World and secure the subjugation of all... Aren't they the same, if not worse? For back then we were invaded by mere men, for worldly purposes. Now this war has much greater stakes, as I've said. In this crucial hour, every country in every dimension can see, there is no better time to help, no better time to support them.
 
Why Redochia? Why us? Remember, I address this plea to everyone, in all Dimensions. But I am your queen, so I plead first with you. And I know you understand the best. You have been in this situation. But that hasn't made you look the other way. All this war hasn't made you try to avoid this new one. You hate war, I hate war, obviously... But somehow, war won't leave us. Because those who wage it... They wage it over our soul. And as the soul is immortal, so is their desire to continue the war. So we are faced with a choice. Join it or not. Ignoring it is not an option.
 
It is at this point that I have to stop from my plea and explain a few things. I have talked about the object of this war, I have talked about why it is the most important war in our lifetime, possibly in our whole existence, I have talked about why we as Redochians can understand this war and should join it. But I have to confess some things now. I have disappeared for more than three months, together with my husband, your king, Bajid. You might have seen something in the message we all felt, but it is still very unclear. Well, I will explain. I owe you that, before I can finish any plea, or even claim to speak for you - or to you - at all.
 
We wanted to help the Dimension of Magic. Bajid and I. We knew about it, yes. But you know well what happened when Xantinya opened other dimensions and sent her armies there. We wanted to protect this Dimension, so we kept it secret. Still, others would find about it anyway, and in that respect I know I failed and I take full blame. My intent was to help them against Xantinya, because I learned first hand that she is alive there and waging her war. I knew full well how important it is to stop her, and I wanted to help them do it.
 
I did not want to abandon my country. But I knew about Xantinya, I realized the importance of this war... I couldn't ignore it, you see. You can always make a choice, but ignoring the choice is by far the worst sin you can commit. I could choose to not help them and stay home instead. I could drag you into this, but I wanted to avoid that until there was no other choice. Still, I felt that the time would come when I would have to ask for your help, so I prepared for it, and that is why today we have an army with the training and equipment to fight in a style that fits the Dimension of Magic - so we won't have a technological shock if we join the war and enter it. But at the time I still hoped I could help just on my own accord, with Bajid. And Ghighi, yes, I would be an idiot if I didn't mention him as well.
 
But I failed. I was stupid. I... lost Bajid. I didn't help him. Nor did I help you, because I couldn't return, and I abandoned my country, even if I didn't want to. It did happen. I was gone. That's what it is. And I didn't help them either, the people of the Dimension of Magic, because now they're in a dire situation, locked in a war they can't currently win.
 
I was wrong to ever think I could help just like that. And I pay the consequences for it. I will pay even more, once this is over. I don't expect to have any authority to do anything, after my decisions led only to the darkness we find ourselves in today.
 
That is why I am here, before you, pleading with you. Not as your queen *takes down crown* but as Lullaby Rastel-Rabent, who just like you felt the message and has something to say of this war. I have no authority to ask, but I still have the burning desire to plead, and the duty to give everything I have for this.
 
For there are things beyond our lives, beyond our countries, and even our dimensions. They are very few. But they are. And this war is about protecting them. The Values that we hold dear, that's what I am talking about. These values of Love, Hope and Faith, that Xantinya wants to tear away, they are worth everything else, just to keep them here, just to keep them inside all of us. Maybe you don't have that much of one or the other, or of any, but you all want to have at least the POSSIBILITY to have them, right?
 
I don't know what more to say... I look at you, honoured members of Parliament, and I can imagine the looks on all the faces of people listening to me, looking at this broadcast, and I know you don't want more war and death, but it's coming. I have to be that kind of messenger. And send a message of war. But if God had called us to stay put, and let our souls be consumed... no. You all heard it. You all saw it. Fight. The Fight. These people have been fighting ceaselessly for the past year. Let us help them. Let us answer to their call, that touched our souls, our very souls. How can we not respond to a message like this? How can we sit back and try to protect life, when the very things that give life sense are at stake?! Without these values, life is just... un-life. A space in time. An existence of slavery to whoever can direct our souls. Xantinya, that is.
 
For all these reasons, I plead with you: let us come help the Continent, and the Dimension of Magic, and anyone currently suffering the full brunt of this war. I call upon you to raise arms against the one who wants to steal the real meaning of Life from us: let us march against Xantinya, and protect all our souls. She can be beaten, and she must be beaten, and she will be beaten! For Xantinya may cover the skies in thick clouds, but she cannot extinguish the flame of the Sun!
 
...
 
People of other countries, of other dimensions, I speak to you too, I plead to you too. We may join this war today, or not. But you could make the same decision. You have the same choice. It is not by any authority on my part that I make this plea to you. It is for the sake of these brave people still fighting. They are fighting for us all, you know. They sent the message to us. Are we going to answer? Are we going to join? Will we let them fight alone for us all? Or are we going to be there? This is no longer a Union versus Anticommunist League war. This is no longer about any of that. I make the same plea to the peoples of the Union as I do to our allies in the League.
 
And to those who say they love peace, I tell you: peace is not politically correct. Peace is not achieved by not confronting the existential threats lurking in this world. In an imperfect world, we have to accept the existence of, and confront the evils that make it imperfect. Not ignore them, not look the other way, but confront them. Confront them! Fight! Fight and never give up! The moment we choose the quiet way out, that's the moment evil will triumph! You still think I exaggerate when I say "evil"? Look again. Think again that beautiful message that was sent to us! Analyse it well!
 
We all have a choice. I thank God for bringing captain Nernixis and her crew to this point, where they were able to send this message. They are truly the heroes of our time. They are people who, despite all hardship, despite the power of the enemy, have never ceased fighting. If not for the sake of anything I've laid down above, then at least for their sake, for the sake of these people and for the people like them who keep fighting in the Dimension of Magic, please, join them! Help them!
 
We will show Xantinya why she can never win. The flag we fly is that of immortal Values. That will never fall.
 
She will try to break us. She did break me. I am sorry, Bajid. But now I will continue the fight that you carried, that you died for. And I plea with you to join me. That is all.
 
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And your people will never forget your sacrifice. I love you, Bajid.