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The silence would have been deafening, if sound had existed in the dimension. "A...game?" He asked. It was a tremendous struggle to speak the words aloud, to imagine a face, a mouth, and a voice, or even to remember that he once had those. In the timeless void of the world between life and death, the most precarious dimension, his half-formed lips moved out of time with his words. "Yes.... Have you not heard the tales? Those who do not want to die.... They challenge Death to a game, with their soul hanging in the balance...." With a sweep of his gnarled hand, a smooth sheet of marble appeared. It was patterned with black and white squares, and Intricate figurines made of ivory and ebony sat expectantly on several squares. It took a second for him to realize it was a chess board. "You mean... I can choose whether I die or not?" He asked, incredulous. Death said nothing, but stared with his glittering eyes, two sparkling diamonds inset in his dusky face. The face of Death was no grinning skull, but a terrifyingly human one, albeit the gemstone eyes, with skin a black as night. The complexion was not that of an African American, but the black of shadows and secrets. "There is no question. Only a weak man surrenders to Death... Yes, I can...remember now...I was..Arrogant? Yes that's the word. In my life I knew what I wanted. And I always got it, in the end."His form was coming easier now; it was once a trickle, but now it came in a great flood. The memories of himself became a physical form, one that was a tall, broad shouldered man in a dark business suit. "Will you play?" The man grinned cockily. "No, my friend. I will win.!" Death's mouth, previously closed so tight it was almost nonexistent, cracked open into a snaggle-toothed smile. Rows and rows of sharp, brittle teeth gleamed maliciously. "Very good..." With a flick of his clawed hand, the chessboard swelled in size, becoming the floor. The man stumbled as the marbled pattern rumbled under his feet, catching himself on a now colossal black pawn. "Ah... I forgot to mention....I have never lost a game..."
Gizensha Sakugo · Fri Mar 05, 2010 @ 02:46am · 0 Comments |
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