Chapter 104: “Sacrifice the Queen?”

Jimmy looked at the entity, the odd being in front of him with anger, and confusion. He didn’t know what to expect, and after the series of odd dreams he had, he had strong reasons to be angry. He absolutely hated this entity, who the elders described as a member of The Invisible.

“What do you want?” He asked again.

The entity did not answer. It just stood in front of him, and it was impossible to know if the entity was staring at him, because it was faceless, dark, and a bit transparent too. This entity did not bear any expressions, as it simply couldn’t.

Jimmy didn’t want to spiral down in rage like he did last time, because he felt that the entity didn’t deserve to have such a hold on him. In fact, he didn’t even understand why he was angry when he looked at it, he just knew that he had to get his emotions under control.

“The elders said that you’re supposed to be helpful, but I guess they were wrong.” He said, after he took a deep breath. “If you’re not going to help me, in whatever fuckass way you think you can help me, the least you can do is leave me alone.”

The entity still did not answer, so Jimmy stopped trying. He couldn’t force the entity to speak, so instead, he simply gave up, and started walking forward.

Jimmy walked right past the entity, and minded his business. He held his torch firm as he walked his way out of the cave, and towards the tunnel that was attached to the cave. The stress didn’t seem worthwhile.

Seconds later, the entity stood in front of him again. It teleported.

Finally, it spoke, and asked, “Care for a game?”

“Game?” Jimmy asked, and stopped on his tracks. “What game?”

The entity waved its hand, and within the blink of an eye, a chess board appeared between them. The board was not physical, and it floated above the ground, close to eye level. It was a beautiful black and white board, with pieces that barely looked like the ones from Earth.

“White, or black?” It asked.

This was one of the few times where this entity spoke clearly, and was comprehensive to some degree, so Jimmy felt that he was making progress with this entity. For that matter, he couldn’t reject the match, but still, he was a bit concerned.

“I won’t get knocked out if I touch a piece, will I?” He asked.

“No,” It answered. “Play.”

“Alright, then,” He sighed, “Guess I’ll play as white.”

Jimmy grabbed a pawn, and placed it on e4. He was not a great player, not as great as he was in his dream, at least, so he decided to rely on a surefire opening, one that didn’t require much skill to defend.

“Sicillian Defense?” It asked, after a few moves. “Poor.”

Jimmy ignored the subtle trash talk, and kept playing. In the middle game, he was two pieces up, mostly by pure luck, as he had seen a flank that the entity had missed, so he monopolized on that flank.

In the endgame, the entity had the advantage, because he had a queen, and a rook, while Jimmy only had two rooks, as he had blundered the queen six moves ago. If he hadn’t blundered, he would’ve won already.

“You’re not very good at this,” Jimmy said, and afterwards, he pressured, “So what’s your deal, why do you know how to play chess? Where are you from?”

“From?” The entity repeated. “I’m from here. Where else would I be from?”

“Let’s not play the dumb game here, alright?” He doubled down. “These people haven’t even discovered salt yet, I really doubt that they know what chess is. Yet, you know what it is, you even play it, so, I ask you again, where are you from? Because you can’t be from here.”

“Are you hoping that I’m from Earth?” The entity asked, as blunt as ever. “Do you think that’s why I’m singling you out?”

“Yes?” He replied, half-sarcastically. “You have been torturing me for no reason. What else am I supposed to think?”

“If you win this game, you can ask one question, and I will answer it.” It promised.

Jimmy got irritated, because their conversation was going well, and yet he hit another brick wall so quickly. He couldn’t win this game, no chance, and the entity knew that too, which was why it made such an offer. It held onto its secrets like a gorilla held a banana, close to the chest. If the entity was going to answer important questions, it would do so on its own terms.

Jimmy moved his rook, checking black’s king, and to his surprise, the entity sacrificed his queen, to protect the king. This looked like a blunder.

Jimmy knocked the queen off the board, and then black’s king knocked the rook off. After this point, checkmate was very difficult for the both of them, because the best piece the both of them had, were rooks. They had one rook each, black had four pawns remaining, and Jimmy had three.

The game was almost equal, but it would take plenty of moves for the game to be over. A stalemate was far more likely.

The entity raised his head, and asked, “Draw?”

Jimmy never accepted a draw in his past life. He wasn’t a great chess player, but his philosophy was that he’d lose, or win at his own merit, rather than accepting a draw.

In this case, however, he had to change his philosophy. The entity was winning two moves ago, and then it sacrificed the queen on purpose.

This meant that it could have won, and hold on to its secrets, and yet it purposely steered the game towards a draw. It wanted to answer questions on its own terms.

Jimmy had to accept the draw, because he wanted to know how the situation would play out after the game. He guessed that the entity wanted to give him some sort of an answer, something to work with.

“Alright,” He nodded, “We’ll call it a draw.”

Quick as a quiver, it said, “You can ask me a question now, but I will only give you half an answer. Do you accept these terms?”

“Yes,” He nodded, and he was even happy about this. “Let me see… let’s make it a simple question.”

It took him a minute, but at last, he asked, “Why are you following me?”

“Because you do not belong here, this is not your world.” It answered.

The entity did not say a single word more, and afterwards, it disappeared along with the chess board. Its answer was half-assed, just as it had promised, so Jimmy was as confused as ever, and he felt that he had wasted a question.

“As if I don’t fucking know that this isn’t my world, Jesus Christ.” He grunted.

The mystery surrounding the entity remained unsolved. He didn’t know what to expect of it, and he didn’t even know if it was ever going to leave him alone. He had to live with such confusion.

The only bit of comfort he had in this situation, was the fact that he hadn’t been verbally abused by the entity. He was awake, he was conscious, so he had the option to go on with his day.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep