A Chess Story
~~~
“For if they rage onward
Forevermoret
Ignorant of the stories
That make their enemies soar
Then set be, their destiny
And a thousand more years
Of war.”
-Kent Olson
Chapter 1
A Tale Of Two Pawns
You can only watch the love of your life die so many times before you snap.
Perry is a death away. He was born into a world that only sees him as infantry and nothing else, a world created to simulate war, and a world that he no longer wants to be a part of.
Perry P. Pawn comes from the Pawn family, as his surname implies. He is the son of Pedro and Paloma, and brother to Patrick, Paige, Peter, Piper, and TwoStep. The Pawn families are the largest of the classes, and also the weakest, but that’s not all that sets them apart; you see, the pawns remember; while every other class gets their memory seemingly wiped between battles, the pawns remember everything; every death they’ve experienced, every death they’ve witnessed, all of it. The brightest minds on the board, trapped in uncooperative, handicapped bodies.
Perry and Peggy were stuck face-to-face in this game, which wasn’t abnormal for them. The spots of e4 and e5 were where they met, where they bonded, and where they eventually became a couple (relationships between opposing pieces were strictly forbidden within every other class, but due to the fact that most like-colored pawns are related, as well as the fact that they really do spend a lot of time staring into the enemy’s eyes, it becomes hard for any of them to take issue with the matter). Anyway, Perry and Peggy were stuck face-to-face, though this time they were not bonding. The careful whispers between these two were serious; they were murmuring talk that went against the game itself. They were coming up with a plan, a plan on how to make it so the pawns never have to remember again. They knew that if they succeeded with this plan, they would forget everything, including each other, but each of them knew that having the other gone for good would hurt much less than seeing them come and go over, and over, and over again.
Welcome to your part, reader—yes, you, this is where you came in. I hope you remember this part, but it’s okay if you don’t; I’ll remind you. This is the part where you had a dream, a dream about pawns who remember; a dream so vivid that you knew there must be truth to it, like the universe was dropping secrets straight into your subconscious. And once you woke up, something deep inside of you gave faint vibrations, telling you what to do. Do you remember what you did, reader? No? Well, that’s okay, I’d block it out too if I were you. You see, what you did was you grabbed each pawn, all sixteen of them, and peeled off their foam paddings. Once they were all stripped bare you plunged a needle deep into their bases, scratching and carving out holes in each of them, releasing wood chips and splinters that dove under your skin and drew small red dots wherever they entered. Upon the carving of each piece’s hole there would be a hissing noise, like the sound of pressurized air escaping a soda can. And in each hole you could faintly make out a small knot of wood inside each pawn, an evolution to their design that caused them to remember, an evolution that you tore out of all sixteen of them. You then reapplied a layer of glue to the foam pads and bandaged each of the cavities.
Chapter 2
Triumphant Knight
“Neighhhh!!” said the knight, as he made a brilliant leap, two tiles forward, one to the right, directly on top of the opposing queen.
“Neigh whinny whinny!” he exclaimed as all eighteen-hundred pounds of horse collapsed on top of her majesty, his hooves carving straight through her body like butter vs. a hot knife. The horse was Michael Phelps; the queen, a swimming pool.
“Neighhhh snort snort snort,” the knight called out triumphantly. He could hear his brother knight far behind him, congratulating him via a storm of neighhhs that were filled with joy. He then shook his hooves dry, and leaped diagonally onward.
Unfortunately, the knight had blundered, you—yes, you—shot your bishop from several tiles away like a flying arrow, right into the poor horse’s side.
Neigh? The other knight clip-clopped his way over, neighh…. snort snort… groan.
The other knight cried out as he watched the life leave his brother’s eyes. He stomped on the skull of the bishop to avenge his brother, but it didn’t help. He was full of grief and sorrow, after you—yes, you—killed his one and only friend.
Chapter 3
Kings and Queens
The black king left the shelter of his castle; it was lonely in there, and he missed his wife. The rook made an opening, and the king went through it. His wife wasn’t where she usually was (in her cushy resting place at d8), but it wasn’t abnormal for the members of his kingdom to wander from time to time—they always seemed to have some violent goal. And for whatever reason, the neighboring kingdom (which he was quite fond of) always seemed to have it out to get him, but his court always had his back, so he never worried much; he just missed his wife. On and on he marched about the board searching for her majesty, and it wasn’t until he was over halfway across that he could finally begin to make out her silhouette. He was ecstatic, he marched and marched closer to his love until… he saw something else… his wife was with the other king… she had left her rightful place in her home kingdom to visit the neighbors, and to get more than friendly with a king who wasn’t him. He must have tricked her, the king thought, cast some sort of spell to cause her to stray from him, but that wasn’t so, and he knew it. His queen had deliberately sought out the other king, completely of her own volition.
As if this act of betrayal wasn’t enough on its own, you—yes you—surrounded the black king with enemy pieces, leaving him trapped, and forever forced to watch his (deemed former) Queen, with another man.
Chapter 4
The Bishops
The White Bishop woke up. She was somewhere new, and surrounded by pieces she had never seen before, but as she spun around in wonder, unsure of where to go or who to talk to, she heard a voice. Her eyes followed that voice and landed upon a black bishop; she felt as if he had seen him before, and was scared he would be mean to her, but he wasn’t; in fact, he was quite nice. Next to her was another white bishop, who seemed kind, and the three of them began to talk, and joke, and laugh.
The White Bishop still felt new to this world, but now she wasn’t alone; she had friends now, and she was starting to really like them. The trio spent so much time together that the White Bishop could hardly shift her attention anywhere else. The rest of this new world remained strange and unfamiliar, but her connection with the other two only grew. She stumbled through this place the best she could, but spending time with the other two became the only thing she cared about. Though she eventually found herself coming to love this place and the people in it, that love only sprouted from the seeds that the black bishop planted. The black bishop was the easiest to bond with, primarily because he made such a strong effort to be her friend that she couldn’t avoid the connection even if she tried, but she did manage to get close to the other white bishop as well, which made her happy.
One day, the black bishop pulled the white bishop aside; he had something important to say to her. He spoke in riddles at first, a language the king or queen might understand, but not her. He was alluding to a point, but never outright getting to it, eventually though, the white knight began to pick up on what he meant; she realized that his feelings had gone from friendly to something more, and it was as if this concept went and completely changed how the white bishop saw him; suddenly he became really quite handsome, and she questioned how she hadn’t noticed how fine he was sooner. It only took a second or two before her feelings of friendship also morphed into something else; the new feelings were suddenly mutual, and she was scared and excited for what was to come.
There was one issue, though, the black bishop was married, and though that marriage was already deep into the process of divorce, the black bishop’s soon-to-be ex-wife stood in the way of their courtship all the same. But time went by as it’s known to do—admittedly too much time—but eventually the two black bishops parted ways, and at last our two key players were free to roam about the board together happily. Which is what I would say if things were simple, but they aren’t. In this world, relationships between the two kingdoms were strictly forbidden (as I’ve told you before, but your memory in regards to this world hasn’t been the most reliable, so I’m telling you again). It was because of this rule that, soon enough, the black queen told her bishop to break ties with the white bishop, which he said he would, and for a while, he did.
But it wasn’t long before the two bishops couldn’t stand being apart any longer, and found a way to communicate in secret, and suddenly they were back; the board was in peacetime, and months flew by together. What happened during those months is up to your interpretation, but believe me when I say it was wonderful. Until it wasn’t. You see, here’s where you came in—yes, you. See now the peacetime was over, the battles were back, and you had the brilliant idea to move your black rook next to the other black bishop. Quickly, one of the pawns noticed that the black bishop’s ex-wife had remarried, and they told this to him, who, before long, was completely overwhelmed with feelings of jealousy at the sight of his former lover with another. And soon enough, the white bishop was alone. The black bishop didn’t want to be with her when he liked someone else, and he had also started feeling a huge weight of guilt over hiding all this from his queen. Our white bishop was left heartbroken, with a mountain of feelings like a swarm of loud, obnoxious bees, searching for the flower field that had become the reason they woke up every morning, only to find it burned to ash.
The battles didn’t feel the same anymore. This was a place that the white bishop had come to love because of the black bishop; her passion for the battles were intrinsically tied to him. That wasn’t all, though. See, the white bishop had made so many new friends because of him; this place had become the first place ever that the white bishop felt like she belonged in, and now it was all gone. A few stayed, but it wasn’t the same; they all chose the black bishop over her whenever they could, and that, on top of everything else, left our white bishop feeling really, really hurt.
Then a knight came over and crushed her to a pulp, putting an end to her grief; and her life.
Chapter 5
The Rook
1
The Rook was happy.
2
The Rook was happy.
3
The Rook was still happy.
4
Today wasn’t as good.
5
Today was better.
6
The rook was happy.
7
The rook assisted the queen in a checkmate and won the game, so he was very happy.
8
It keeps going on like this; the rook is honestly living his best life.
Epilogue
Sounds of the World After
“Man, this game sure is fun!” Said Perry P. Pawn
Wait a second… this pawn in front of me is kinda cute… thought Peggy P. Pawna, though all Perry heard was a gentle gasp.
“Neighhhhh…” said the knight, which roughly translates to something about him missing his brother (that you killed).
“It wasn’t like that, I swear!” Said the queen to her husband as he handed her the divorce papers
Creakkkackkakak went the sound of the white bishop’s shattered wooden body as it got trampled on by the other pieces
“One day I’m gonna marry Beth Harmon!” Said the black bishop.
“Today was good.” Said the Rook
The End.