One made for the people will rise

From land far from the isles

And with great power by the deity

Shall save in the midst of the city

It was now on every school’s kindergarten wall. And for years people speculated, discussed, and dissected the words of the prophecy an infamous local witch from the witch island called Katagusan screamed on live television, before a grenade went off. The news had been live-casting the siege of the island by government rebels when, out of nowhere, came a screaming hag who took the camera in both hands and desperately prophesied before someone yelled, “Grenade!”

A blast.

Screams.

The camera shook for a second and the woman disappeared from the screen before the feed was cut off. The people of a country divided into thousands of islands were left before their static screens, shocked. The thousands of islands had been slowly decreasing in number that year, when rebels decided to fix the country by starting with a “clean slate”. And now people of the remaining islands witnessed before their own eyes the loss of one more.

This country of a thousand isles was not the only country watching. They weren’t the only ones staring at their screens, shocked, for the whole world was, too. Because nothing interested outsiders more than the decimation of society and mass murder. This was what is called “war”. And the world fed off of it in many ways, for various reasons.

It was also the world who recognized the Prophecy for what it is—a prophecy that deserved to be capitalized. Because the country of now-not-so-much-a-thousand isles had heard the witch’s words, but only listened to her desperation and fear.

The rest of the world had heard her desperation and fear, and they listened to her words.

And when the world had noticed, then the country of islands followed. “Oh, it is!” They exclaimed, marveling at the Prophecy. “She’s a witch, after all,” they proclaimed. It echoed throughout the remaining isles. A child trying to seem smart in front of the cool kids.

What followed was a rush of talk on which country the One will come from. Or who. Or how. They seemed particularly interested in the third line of the Prophecy. Children were watched closely for signs of power—intellectual, athletic, artistic, even spiritual power. Members of religious factions especially took time to monitor their children. And all the while, the country of islands slowly lost both their men and their islands. And across their seas, a global superpower eyed them in their chaos. A tiger hidden in the brush, muscles tense,

waiting for the perfect time to pounce.