The chess piece carved in my mother's image bled between my fingers.
A drop fell onto the bone chessboard, and the grid reacted—white squares darkened to crimson, black ones pulsed with veins. Vaelis watched my reaction like a cat toying with wounded prey.
"Do you understand now, little brother?"He slid forward a knight—a miniature warrior with my father's face. "Every piece is someone who loved you. And it's your turn to decide who gets sacrificed for checkmate."*
My demonic arm growled, the eyes embedded in its flesh flickering wildly.
"I'm not playing your sick game."
Vaelis laughed. "Too late. Look."
Behind him, shadows stretched into a massive clock—each number replaced by the face of someone I knew. The minute hand was already chewing through "III"...
Lumina—still mid-transformation—suddenly lunged at the chessboard.
"Ren... help me... understand..." Her voice had tripled, as if other mouths spoke through her.
Her twisted fingers grabbed a rook—a piece carved like my childhood best friend. Before I could react, she bit down, splintering the wood to pieces.
The chessboard screamed.
And somewhere, far away, I heard a **real** scream tear through the world.
"See?" Vaelis stroked the board like soothing a beast. "Even if you refuse to play... the game continues."
Elyria appeared above us, suspended by golden wires drilled into her spine.
"Fascinating," she noted, scribbling. "Subject prefers passive mutilation over direct action. Like #116."
My arm lashed out before my rage could—a tendril speared toward her notebook.
Or tried to.
Her body dissolved into mechanical butterflies, each wing inscribed with a word:
COWARD
FAILURE
REPLACEABLE
"The Aetherials love patterns," Vaelis chuckled, moving his queen—a spiked sculpture of himself. "But you and I? We'll break their toy."
Lumina suddenly grabbed my human hand—the last untouched part of me.
"He's lying..." Her cross-shaped eyes bled. "The real game is—AAAAH!"
Her mouth stitched itself shut, black threads bursting from her gums.
Vaelis raised a finger to his lips. "Shh. No spoilers."*
Then the clock chimed.
The number "III" exploded into glowing maggots.
And somewhere, in a world I'd lost forever...
My mother collapsed, screaming.