Inside Coffee Coffee, Lig sat quietly across from the man in front of him.
The noise of the café continued around them, but their conversation remained low.
Lig leaned slightly forward.
"Bro, I think you saw the news."
The man nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?"
Lig paused for a moment before continuing.
"I need the data. I need to know how it happened."
He looked directly at him.
"Our weapon wasn't supposed to be that powerful."
The man remained silent for a few seconds.
Then he simply nodded.
"Okay. You'll get the data."
Lig gave a small nod.
"Thanks, bro."
The man leaned back slightly.
"But you have to do one thing."
Lig looked at him.
"Don't cancel the invitations."
He paused.
"Do it for me, bro?"
Lig stared at him for a moment.
Then he smiled faintly.
"Okay."
A brief silence followed.
Lig's expression became serious again.
"But you haven't told anyone my identity, right?"
The man shook his head.
"No, my Captain."
Lig let out a quiet breath.
"Thanks, Mr. Dave."
For a moment, neither of them said anything.
Then both smiled.
It was the kind of understanding that did not need to be explained.
Lig slowly stood up.
"Go to the car. I'll come after a call."
Dave nodded and left.
Lig waited until he was gone before stepping outside.
He took out his phone and called Nemo.
"What about them?"
Nemo answered almost immediately.
"Sir... extremely bad news."
Lig's expression changed.
"What happened?"
"You have to come by afternoon."
Lig looked towards the road.
"I will. And until then, organise the ceremony."
There was a brief silence on the other end.
"But, sir... Alisa can't come. She's in the hospital with her one-day-old child."
Nemo hesitated.
"And..."
"Stop."
Lig ended the call.
He stood there for a moment, staring at the phone in his hand.
Then he quietly put it away.
A few seconds later, he got into the car.
Western Kingdom
At a stage in the Western Kingdom...
The lights slowly dimmed.
Thousands of eyes turned towards the stage.
The hall became unusually quiet.
The host stepped towards the microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, students, citizens, and everyone watching this ceremony from across the Western Kingdom...
We now request the Captain of AOB to come forward and address you."
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
Then Lig walked towards the stage.
His footsteps echoed through the silence.
He reached the microphone and stopped.
He looked across the crowd.
Students.
Teachers.
Parents.
Officials.
Soldiers.
People sitting in the highest seats.
And people standing at the very back.
Lig did not speak immediately.
He simply stared at them.
For several seconds.
Then he slowly brought the microphone closer.
"Every student... every teacher... every parent... every person present here today.
And to those who could not be here...
To those watching this through a screen...
I have one small suggestion.
Put on your headphones.
Because some of the things I am about to say...
You may not be allowed to hear all the way through."
The crowd became restless.
Lig waited.
Then his voice became firmer.
"This part...
Is for the students."
He paused.
"Studying is not education.
Education is not knowledge."
Silence.
"To study...
You memorise.
To become educated...
You understand.
But to gain knowledge...
You have to experience."
He looked towards the students.
"You have to question.
You have to speak.
You have to listen.
You have to meet people who think differently from you.
Make friends.
Go outside.
Look at the world with your own eyes.
See what is actually happening around you.
Because knowledge does not live only inside a textbook.
It does not live only inside an examination hall.
It does not live inside a certificate.
And it certainly does not begin and end with a mark written beside your name."
Lig placed one hand against the podium.
"Do not sit in one place for years...
staring at paper...
staring at a screen...
and convince yourself that everything written there automatically represents reality.
Because the real world does not always behave the way a page says it should.
Reality is complicated.
People are complicated.
Society is complicated.
And sometimes...
the truth is uncomfortable."
His voice grew heavier.
"Sometimes, questioning what you have been taught will make people uncomfortable.
Sometimes, asking why will make people angry.
Sometimes, refusing to accept an answer simply because someone older, richer, more powerful, or more respected gave it to you...
will make you controversial."
He looked directly towards the crowd.
"Fine.
Ask anyway."
A few students looked at one another.
Lig continued.
"Because everything being built around you...
Every system.
Every machine.
Every law.
Every technology.
Every institution.
Every decision being made today...
will eventually become your reality."
He paused.
"You will inherit what we create.
You will live inside the systems we design.
You will use the machines we build.
You will carry the consequences of decisions you were not even old enough to participate in making."
His voice hardened.
"So don't ever tell yourself...
I am too young to understand.
You are not too young.
You are not too insignificant.
You are not too powerless to question what is being built around you."
He leaned slightly towards the microphone.
"Ask questions.
Ask why.
Ask how.
Ask who benefits.
Ask who pays the price.
Ask what happens when the system fails.
Ask what happens to the people standing underneath it."
The hall had become completely silent.
Lig continued.
"Because one day...
you will stand on what we build today.
And if we build it wrong..."
He stopped.
His eyes moved slowly across the students.
"You will be the ones who fall."
A long silence followed.
"So ask.
It is your right.
And more importantly...
it is your responsibility."
Lig straightened.
"And don't fear."
His voice became calmer.
"But before you look at the people sitting at the top and ask,
Why aren't they improving our conditions?
Turn around.
Look beside you.
Look around you.
And ask another question first."
He pointed towards the crowd.
"Who chose them?
Who gave them that power?
And why?"
He lowered his hand.
"Because leadership does not appear from nowhere.
Systems do not appear from nowhere.
Power does not appear from nowhere.
They are built.
They are maintained.
And sometimes...
they are maintained because people stop questioning them."
Lig took a slow breath.
"And remember this.
If a system fails you...
If a society fails you...
If an institution fails you...
Stand against what is wrong.
And change it."
His voice echoed through the hall.
"Not because you hate the people inside it.
Not because you want chaos.
But because no system...
no society...
no king...
no government...
no authority...
is greater than the people it is supposed to serve."
He paused.
"And there is one thing...
one thing that every system fears."
The crowd waited.
Lig looked towards the students.
"You.
The youth.
Your questions.
Your ideas.
Your ability to think beyond what you were told.
Your ability to imagine something better."
His voice rose.
"Do not let anyone convince you that your voice does not matter.
Do not let anyone convince you that your questions are dangerous simply because they are difficult to answer.
And do not let anyone convince you that silence is the same thing as peace."
He stopped.
Then looked towards the parents.
"And this part...
is for you."
His expression became serious.
"Look at your children.
Really look at them.
For one day...
forget the divisions.
Forget the arguments.
Forget the labels.
Forget the things that were taught to separate one person from another."
He slowly looked across the entire hall.
"Look at them...
and ask yourself what kind of world you are leaving behind."
His voice softened, but the words became heavier.
"There is no division in blood.
There is no division in humanity.
We are human beings first."
He paused.
"Then who taught us to hate one another?
Who taught us to stand on opposite sides?
Who taught us that one person is worth more because of religion?
Because of caste?
Because of skin colour?
Because of wealth?
Because of a degree?
Because of the family they were born into?"
His voice sharpened.
"Who benefits when ordinary people fight each other?"
Silence.
"Think about it.
When people are busy fighting one another...
they stop looking upwards.
When people are busy defending a label...
they stop asking questions.
When people are divided...
the fire inside them becomes easier to control."
Lig looked towards the officials seated near the stage.
"Do not let them control that fire.
But understand something...
Fire is not meant to destroy everything around it.
Fire is meant to give light.
To give warmth.
To create.
To rebuild.
So don't burn your world down.
Use that fire to change it."
He took another breath.
"And look at what we were promised.
Look at what was supposed to be built.
Look at what was supposed to change.
Then look at where we are standing today."
His voice became cold.
"How many promises were fulfilled?
How many were forgotten?
How many people were left behind?
How many were told to wait?
Wait for tomorrow.
Wait for the next year.
Wait for the next leader.
Wait for the next promise."
He shook his head.
"Tomorrow keeps coming.
But for some people...
the change never does."
The hall remained frozen.
Lig continued.
"So when someone tells you that they deserve your loyalty because of religion...
ask why.
When they tell you that they deserve your respect because of caste...
ask why.
When they tell you that one person deserves more because of the colour of their skin...
ask why.
When they tell you that a degree automatically makes someone wiser...
ask why."
He stepped away from the microphone slightly.
"And when someone tells you,
This is freedom..."
He paused.
"Ask yourself one simple question."
Lig looked directly towards the audience.
"Can I speak against them?
Can I question them?
Can I disagree with them?
Can I demand an answer?
Can I tell them that they are wrong...
without being punished simply for speaking?"
Silence.
"If the answer is no...
then what kind of freedom are we talking about?"
His voice dropped.
"Do not let fear become normal.
Do not let silence become tradition.
Do not let obedience become the definition of citizenship."
He looked towards the students once again.
"To every student studying today...
To every young person building something...
To every engineer, scientist, artist, teacher, worker, inventor, and dreamer...
Do not let this country die because you were afraid to question it."
He paused.
"Build.
Think.
Learn.
Question.
Create.
Stand together.
And when something is broken...
don't simply complain that it is broken."
Lig's grip tightened around the microphone.
"Fix it."
A beat of silence.
"Because this country...
this society...
this world...
does not belong only to the people sitting at the top."
He looked across the hall.
"It belongs to you too."
Lig slowly lowered the microphone.
Then, almost in a whisper—
"Don't let the fire stop."
He stepped back from the podium.
The hall remained silent.
No applause.
No movement.
For several seconds...
there was only silence.
As if everyone in the room was still trying to understand what they had just heard.
Then Lig spoke again.
"And remember this."
The hall remained silent.
"Being kind is not a duty.
Being gentle is not a discipline.
Nobody can force you to be either."
He paused.
His eyes moved across the crowd one last time.
"It's a choice."
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, somewhere at the back of the hall, a small disturbance began.
A few people started whispering.
Some stood up.
The atmosphere shifted.
Lig noticed it.
He did not wait.
He turned away from the microphone and walked down from the stage.
Straight ahead.
Without looking back.
Without waiting for applause.
Without waiting to see what his words had created.
Behind him, the Queen of the Western Kingdom began to speak.
But almost nobody was ready to listen.
Hands were rising throughout the crowd.
Students were standing.
People were calling out questions.
Several were already moving towards the stage, trying to reach the Captain of AOB before he disappeared.
For the first time that day, the crowd was not simply listening.
They wanted answers.
In the Car
Dave looked towards Lig with a wide grin.
"What a speech, bro."
Lig glanced at him.
"You liked it?"
Dave laughed.
"It was fucking awesome."
Lig smiled faintly and looked out through the window.
The car continued along the road.
At the Checkpoint
The car slowed as they approached the Western Kingdom checkpoint.
A Western Kingdom soldier stepped forward and raised his hand.
The vehicle stopped.
The soldier looked towards Lig.
"Sir... thank you for showing your support."
Lig frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
The soldier hesitated for a moment before answering.
"For reminding us not to fear."
He looked directly at Lig.
"To rise...
and never let the fire die."
Lig said nothing.
A small smile appeared on his face.
The soldier stepped aside.
The checkpoint opened.
The car began moving again.
Behind them, the Western Kingdom slowly disappeared into the distance.
Ahead...
Sector 776 was waiting.
Narrator
"What will happen in the Western Kingdom now?"
"Can questions really have that much power?"
"Or is the real danger not in the answers...
but in what people begin to do
after they start asking?"