Chapter 23 – Interlude 1: The players, the pieces, the ones who see beyond the surfaces
It was red.
Red stretched as far as the eye could see.
Aside from the occasional black dots drifting through midair, everything else was red.
Within this seemingly endless sea of red, footsteps echoed softly. They were calm and unhurried, like those of a king taking a leisurely walk through his castle.
As for the one producing those footsteps, he could only be described with a single word: black.
A black three-piece suit, black tie, black shoes, black gloves, black hat, and a black walking stick completed his appearance. He resembled a wealthy noble from medieval times, dressed in clothing of the finest quality.
His face constantly changed, as though it couldn't decide upon a single appearance.
One moment he appeared as a young human man in his early twenties, and the next he looked like a middle-aged demon who'd lived for millions of years. One thing, however, never changed, and that was that every face he wore was undeniably the most handsome one could ever imagine.
At some point, without any indication of when it happened, the red became white.
White stretched as far as the eye could see.
The occasional black dots drifting through midair were still there, while everything else had become white.
Within the seemingly endless white sat a woman. Before her was a table with a chessboard resting on top of it, and opposite her was another white chair, waiting for whoever was meant to play against her.
Naturally, both the chair she sat on and the table before her were also white.
As for her appearance, she wore a white gown, a white shawl, white diamonds around her neck, and white shoes on her feet.
Her features were breathtakingly beautiful, complemented by her white hair and white skin. Her hair was longer than average, flowing all the way down to her waist. Unlike the man dressed in black, her face never changed.
Every movement she made was angelic while also being bewitching at the same time.
The chessboard before her had already been set up; however, unlike the usual sixteen pieces on a normal board, this one had twelve.
The pieces came in two colours, white and red.
White represented her, while red represented her opponent, the man in black who took the empty seat opposite her.
As though responding to his presence, the pure white chair was instantly dyed jet black. He then raised his hand and removed the third chess piece on the eighth row (c8).
The woman looked at the board and sighed before taking away the third piece on the first row (c1).
After that strange exchange, the man turned to her and spoke.
"He had incarnated."
"I know," she replied.
"Did you have a hand in it?" he asked.
"We both know I didn't," the woman responded, shaking her head.
Raising an eyebrow, the man said, "But you protected the one who did."
"I was simply honouring the promise we made to him."
The woman's final reply caused visible annoyance to appear across the man's ever-changing face. He was about to respond, but she interrupted him before he had the chance.
"You're the one who isn't honouring our promise of non-aggression. You don't see me taking action against your people, and I'm sure he'd do the same, so don't take action against his people."
"I care not for that promise. Why should we allow him to reincarnate into such a lowly existence?!"
The man shot back in anger, however, the woman's sudden fury eclipsed his own. She frowned, and the atmosphere around her changed as her angelic expression instantly became one of demonic fury.
"Ah. Alright, so it's not that I don't care about it. It's simply that I don't understand why he'd choose to do such a thing."
The man realised he'd angered her with his words and calmed himself before speaking. His explanation seemed to ease some of her anger, and she smiled lightly before replying.
"It's not that you don't understand. You do, but you refuse to accept it. Either way, it was his decision.
Just as he didn't object when we started the game, we shouldn't object when he chooses to enter the board."
Despite her words, the man still looked unwilling, his ever-changing faces cycling through expressions of anger, annoyance, and finally resignation.
Heaving a sigh, he lowered his eyes to the board before them and spoke.
"It's been quite a while since that piece was eliminated, but no replacement has been made."
"That was your fault. It would've lasted longer if you hadn't intervened back then."
"Should we do it over?"
"There's no point. We'd only arrive at a predetermined result."
The man in black laughed loudly before replying.
"Predetermined, huh? He'd eventually return to where he belongs. I'd only be accelerating the process."
Looking at him, the woman realised he was serious when his face stopped changing and stayed with a single appearance.
"Let's see how far you can go without breaking the promise. On a side note, I'll take action if it looks like you're going to succeed."
She smiled charmingly as she spoke, but the man showed no reaction to the smile that would've captured the hearts of many.
"Tsk... Just say you don't want me to succeed."
After speaking, he lowered his eyes to the first piece on the eighth row of the board (a8). The woman also looked down at the first piece on the first row (a1).
The two then spoke one after the other.
"I wonder what they're planning."
"It must be fun, enough to keep me occupied until you stop watching him."
"That'll never happen, as long as you intend to break the promise."
"Haaaaa....."
The man only heaved a sigh at her words and said nothing else, merely shaking his head in disappointment as he looked below, past the seemingly infinite white, to the figure of a certain eight-year-old boy watching a planet go up in flames.