Chapter 24 - Interlude 1 - The Players And The Pieces.

It was Red. Red as far as any eye could see, except for the occasional black dots floating around, everything else was red.

In this seemingly infinite red, footsteps could be heard. They sounded calm and relaxed, like a king strolling in his castle. The one who made these footsteps could not be described with anything other than one word; black.

A black three-piece suit, black tie, black shoes, black gloves, black hat. He looked like a rich noble from the medieval times, dressed in the best quality clothes.

His face was ever changing, as if he could not settle on a particular appearance, one thing was certain, and that was all the faces he put on were undeniably the most handsome one could ever imagine.

It was unknown when it happened but at one point, the red became white. White as far as any eye could see. The occasional black dots floating around remained and of course, everything else was still white.

In the midst of this white sat a woman, a table in front of her and a chessboard atop it. There was also another chair opposite her, prepared for the person she wished to play with. The chair she sat on was white, as was the table before her and same with the second chair.

She was also similarly dressed in white, her gown, her shoes, her shawl, even her necklace had what could only be called white diamonds.

Her appearance was also breathtakingly beautiful, with white hair and skin. Her hair was longer than average, flowing down until her waist. Unlike the man in black, her face was unchanging. Her every action was angelic yet also bewitching at the same time.

The chessboard before her was set up, however, unlike the usual 16 pieces a normal chess board had, this one had 12. The pieces were of two colors, red and white. The white pieces were for her and the red pieces were for her opponent.

The man in black sat down in the chair placed in front of him and as if in response to him, the pure white chair was dyed pure black in an instant. He raised his hands and took out the third chess piece on the eighth row, (c8).

The woman also took a similar action, removing the third piece on the first row (c1). After this strange set of actions, the man finally spoke,

"He has incarnated."

"I know."

"Did you have a hand in it?"

"We both know I did not."

"But you protected the one who did."

"I was simply keeping the promise we made to him."

As soon as she spoke, the man became visibly annoyed, he was about to say something but she cut him off,

"You are the one who isn't keeping our promise of non-aggression, you don't see me taking any actions against your people, I'm sure he would do the same, so don't take any actions against his people."

Her statement, had the effect of increasing his anger even more,

"I care not for that promise, why should he incarnate himself into such a lowly existence!"

This time, it was her turn to be angry, she frowned and the atmosphere around her changed, her angelic expression instantly became one of fury. Seeing that he had angered her with his words, the man calmed down before continuing,

"Okay, so it's not that I don't care for the promise, it's just that I do not understand why he would do such a thing."

Some of her anger seemed to subside as she smiled slightly before replying.

"It's not that you do not understand, you do yet you refuse to accept it. Either way, it was his decision, just as he did not object when we started this game, we should not object when he chooses to enter the board."

The man still showed an unwilling expression, his changing faces all showing different expressions of anger, annoyance and then resignation. He then looked down at the board and said,

"It's been long since that piece was eliminated, yet no replacements have been made."

"It was your fault, it would have lasted longer had you not intervened then."

"Should we do over?"

"There's no point in doing so, we'll just have a predetermined result."

He laughed at her words before replying,

"Predetermined huh, he would eventually return to where he belongs, I would only be accelerating the process."

Looking at him, she seemed to realize he was serious and also laughed,

"Let's see how far you can go without breaking the promise, also I would take action if you seem like you would succeed."

She smiled charmingly, however he simply clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Tch... just say you don't want me to succeed."

After speaking, he looked down on a certain piece of the board, the first piece on the 8th row (a8). She also looked at the first piece on the first row (a1). Seeing the two pieces, the both spoke one after the other.

"I wonder what they are planning."

"I must be fun, enough to keep me busy till you stop watching him."

"That will never happen, as far as you intend to break the promise.

Sighing at her reply, he said nothing, only shaking his head in disappointment as he looked down below, past the seemingly infinite white, down to a single five-year-old boy playing with a sword.

Note

You probably don't understand the interlude. That is the point????.. You're not supposed to until later in the story.