Laguna

[06.04.00] » by Kate Lorraine

There once lived a young man who had to choose between a woman and a country. That man was Laguna Loire. He was the new president of the grand empire of Esthar. He made a profound decision which illustrated the depth of his character, the selflessness of his sacrifice, but most of all the loss of his humanity. Laguna Loire, one man, the hero and the villain of this world lost in time, trapped in memory.

He stood there, by the oval iridescent window overlooking the expanse of the empire. >From the ground miles beneath him to where the earth met the sky, there stretched endless rows of neat pastel structures all sitting in neat rows. His to rule over, for him, a dream achieved. Laguna Loire, lifelong ruler, merciful king, uncaring father.

Raine.

That word pulsated with unholy energy bounding off the walls of his cramped psyche. That word brought back a hurricane of imagery. Outside his office there hung the time worn painting of the Winhill town. Small, quint unforgettable. Winhill. The way the mist hung so thickly over the dew speckled bluffs in the crisp October dawn. The way the geese traveled into the setting clandestine sun honking their mournful lonesome cries. The way the dirt danced in circles when the soft autumn breeze swept it up in handfuls and thrust it into the sky.

Most of all, there was Raine. He could lie perhaps and say that the circumstances brought him to her, that in the end it was a romance of convenience, of reckless youthful impulse. He was a hot blooded young man after all, intent on making all the mistakes the world had to offer, eager to turn the universe on an end and laugh in unworldly glee. However, he could not, no matter how those fleeing moments of disregard begged him, stop looking back.

Perhaps, the answer was to forget. He had to forget how the pure simmering midday sky jumped off the crumbling shingles of the ancient hotel. To forget how it felt to clap at Ellone dancing with lilac garlands in her hair down the cobblestone plaza infested with dust and rubble. To forget how the slits of morning light peeking through the cracks of the shudders used to dance across Raine's features right before she woke up and complained about the fleeing of the night. To forget the way the perfume of honeysuckle and jasmine used to linger in the air so faint that you had to stop and just concentrate on picking up the sweet scent.

It was hard.

Laguna crossed his arms over his chest and watched the sun disappear over the horizon. Somehow it was impossible to believe that the heavenly body he was watching now was the same that Raine saw when she looked to the east and saw the same flaming sphere chasing away the darkness. Right about now, Laguna could see her rolling over in bed, swinging one arm to the empty half of the mattress looking for the husband that would never return. Right about now she would wake up with a sickly feeling of being forsaken. Right about now she would sit up and curse at herself for having reached out to him, the man who she had the misfortune to place her trust in. Right about now she would slip her feet into those indigo slippers and she would softly stumble out of the room ready for another day of not caring about his departure.

Laguna looked up to see a heaven of stars shining in mournful splendor. Someone once told him that only in the darkness can you see the stars. This was his life. In the end, he had to lose Raine to see how empty this dream had been. It was true finally. You could spend your entire life searching for a goal but it only took one moment to realize how much you gave up for a pile of whimsical nothingness.

But he could not go back.

He had made a choice. Esthar was sealed off for at least a couple of decades. Odine's magic, it was simply too dangerous for the world to know. He had to succeed as the protector of the planet if not the protector of his lonesome heart. This was his empire and his prison.

Laguna Loire, hero by fate, reckless by nature, traitor by choice Luck, it had always stood by him in the past. Maybe if he just held out here a little longer, everything would turn out okay. Just a little longer, surely it could not hurt.

He blinked suddenly as he saw a star fall from the heavens. A tiny glittering spark like a tear sliding down the cheek of god. He closed his eyes then and felt a sickening despair cloud his bosom.

Somewhere a woman had died.