Ci-cin.

My body levitates lightly. The ground recedes at my feet and the squares become smaller until they are the size of a chessboard.

An infinite chessboard under the blue vault.

I settle on a rounded cloud and see the fracture ahead.

“What does it mean?”

“I guarantee you equality of movement and possibility of vision. The enormous limit of your senses is an obstacle, you couldn't play otherwise.”

“Very kind.”

A little cloud takes the shape of a dice among us. It has six faces, perfectly white.

I reach out to pick it up. It is soft and deforms to fit in the palm.

“Who starts?”

“Unfortunately for you, the whites are on my side.”

The data slips from my hand and spins in the air. It breaks up into bundles of small clouds and then reassembles. It settles back between my fingers, each face scores a 6.

I gasp.

6.

6 means that at the end of the turn, the God of Wisdom will only need four moves to checkmate me and—

“You are wrong, Empress.”

“How?”

“The thoughts that certainly pass through you are wrong. Don't consider that during my turn, you can't move. Ergo, you cannot optimally defend yourself.”

“You mean that—”

The crack makes an annoying, high-pitched screech.

“It means that I only need seven moves to win.”

A roar comes from the ground. The rubbing of monumental surfaces. A gigantic tower breaks the chains that nail it to the ground and slips.

It moves slowly and produces an infernal noise. It goes straight for a huge number of squares until it crushes a black follower.

I actually cannot see the follower. It is too small a piece, but I know it is there thanks to the memories of previous players.

“If you want to come down and check it out, you can.”

I perk up my ears and swing my feet in the air.

“It's no use. Continue with your turn.”

The tower starts to grind again, leaving a trail of debris caused by the heavy chains that scrape the flooring.

The huge black Warlock is hit and, pushed to the ground, shatters, leaving debris and shattering the squares. The sound echoes in the sky and takes a few minutes to dissipate.

Six opening moves to my opponent. A checkmate in seven instead of ten.

It is scary, but I can still win.

Six is not seven.

I will still have a turn.

And all I need is a die roll greater than 1 to win immediately.

A matter of luck. A highly probable gamble.

How can it be so calm? Maybe it is the shape of the crack that makes it look that way, but I have no way of understanding.

Now that I think about it…

Ci-cin.

It has not been moving for a few minutes.

“At that time? If you're hoping I'll lose my temper, you're only partly right. Do you want me to believe that you forgot the right combination to solve the puzzle?”

I try to sound sarcastic and contemptuous, but the result is awkward and my voice shakes.

Who could stop a God from waiting even a million years before it makes the third move of its turn?

I certainly do not, ah, damn!

I am at the mercy of his whims and conditions.

“Sorry, it's difficult for you to understand, but the waiting time between one move and another can vary greatly because for me there is no such thing as time. This match began, took place, and is taking place even though it has already ended. My present implies your entire passage of time.”

“I'm struggling to understand you. To be honest, I don't understand you. If you weren't so hostile, I…”

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“Don't worry, reality is not hostile towards anyone. Bricks don't understand the cathedral, to use a metaphor you can comprehend.”

Frustration and discouragement break me. I feel so powerless.

I am dead.

I dream.

My dream is manipulated by my greatest adversary.

I am playing a game that is almost certainly lost.

Also, this entity, what…? I do not know how to define it; the point is that it is not hostile. It is nothing I can understand, or compete with.

Yet it speaks to me, it explains itself. Why? Why all this if what it needs is for me to lose this game?

What is the point of giving me memories of some previous games and—

A roar resonates from an immense distance. So powerful that I see the structures at my feet sway, the chains of the anchored pieces shake.

The clouds that support me dissolve. I get pushed and the crack disappears.

In its place, a long, serpentine skeleton emerges from the black hole and takes on the appearance of a sphere of shapeless bones.

My back hits the ground. I do not have time to get up before a gigantic Ferryman crosses my space.

The God of Wisdom's new move.

I do not know what is happening, but I cannot stay still.

[Dungeon path]

I emerge distant.

The vibrations in the air stop and I start levitating again, reaching a new cloud.

The snake bones of the enormous black and oily sphere rub together in a chaotic, fast way, breaking and recomposing until they form beautiful rings around the central body.

“Are you taking a physical form?”

“I'm being born, that's correct. The closer the game is to the end in this dream world, the more certainty my existence becomes.”

The voice comes broken and dazzling from that mass. It is profound as if a celestial body were speaking to me.

Ci-cin.

I tremble.

But that is not why I intend to give it life. In all these years, I have learned one thing: giving up is never the solution.

I have defeated the Kirl'iau, the [Devil], Irferno, and my fears. My worries. My anxieties.

Death and the prospect of oblivion will not stop me.

I point my finger at that abominable entity and shake my ears.

“You still have three moves left before my turn. You can talk nonsense, but the only certainty for me are the facts.”

A distant echo.

A move beyond my visual horizon.

“I've already done them all, Empress. Just roll the dice.”

The cloud die reappears in my hands.

I throw it in the air and it breaks down and then comes back together in my hand.

I do not believe it.

I do not want to believe it.

2.

Beautiful.

Satisfaction.

Joy.

“Hehe. God, God. They should call you God of Ravings! I did two. The match is over.”

The sphere continues to swirl. Bone blisters burst into blackish pus, then reform. A celestial body of tentacles emerges from that crust.

I like its silence.

Perhaps with existence, it is experiencing fear.

The mistake God raved about in our previous meetings. But what does it matter?

It is time to close it.

[Dungeon path]

♦

I emerge in front of its [G].

High ziggurat with towering terraces. The spire forms a sharp, pointed crown.

At the foot of this immensity, I feel tiny.

Reverent.

Ready to bow is my habit.

But something is not right. The chains are already broken. It moved. It is not in its original position.

No.

I do not want to believe it.

Knowing that you only have six moves available, insufficient to win…

“Don't wait any longer, you reasoned right. I don't need to move all six moves at once towards checkmate in seven. Two moves served to avoid checkmate on your inevitable turn.”

The voice in my head calamities my gaze to the sky. The dark star continues to swirl while the ring extends and a second takes shape.

“I…”

“Take the time you need. As already said, the game is already over for me.”

I look all around and only see more pieces.

I levitate to gain the widest possible view until the transfinite pieces become too small to recognize.

[Dungeon path]

I reached the piece that should have gone check.

Disappointment.

Anger.

Impotence.

Now its God is protected by two Followers and with two moves I would just sacrifice the piece.

On the other hand, in its turn, it will certainly close the game. Two moves are enough for it.

Unless…

…of course. I can put it off forever too. Use two moves in a row to break the mate trap in seven.

However…

Ci-cin.

…so, I will end up like the last player whose memories I wear. A perpetual game, ended by the annihilation of all will.

Maybe if I took my time…

[Dungeon path]

I emerge at the base of my [G].

I see the pieces leading the assault. Dark silhouettes of an ancient evil.

Motionless under the blue sky, these figures evoke ancestral anxieties in me. I start to tremble.

I look away. I do not have to think about it.

Ci-cin.

I walk around the enormous God, through a few boxes to do so, and climb over the taut chains harpooned on the ground.

I am looking for an entrance, a point to climb. I want to see the dream world from the top.

Even though they are gigantic monoliths, they have no entrance. One tour is enough for me to understand.

[Dungeon path]

I emerge on a taut chain. The size of the rings is sufficient to hold me and the tension ensures that it does not wobble.

[Shadow wall]

I immerse myself in the metal and like a shadow I go up the structure.

The sharp head of the ziggurat and its radiant crown welcome me silently.

I look at the cluster in the sky.

As promised, it is not pushing. It waits in its perpetual motion. Perhaps, it does not even notice what I do, limiting itself to waiting for the times of this reality.

I walk between the fangs and the arches of the crown. A chapel with a bell tower rests on these buttresses and a sealed door stands on the threshold.

Ci-cin.

My tail quivers at the sight.

This world is my manipulated dream, that structure could be my creation.

I reach the door of the central nave and try to push, but it is sealed and does not move.

An organ motif comes muffled from beyond those walls and my mind runs to Sylviette, to the orchestra hall, to Gron.

The weight of nostalgia. Maybe regret.

It is all over.

I have lost everything.

There's no point in me going in.

The dreams of the dead are illusions. No more, no less. Eternal illusions that are part of reality.

A reality that according to the God of Wisdom no longer exists.

Maybe once the game is over, I can come in.

“Okay, I'm ready to make my move.”

I will play conservatively.

I cannot checkmate, but God can checkmate me. I have to stop it until the die turns my way, trusting that it does not turn its way first.

Taking advantage of the fact that there are no pieces next to me, I can move my God.

The right diagonal is free.

Well.

“As a first move. I choose to move the God an arbitrarily large number of squares, following this diagonal.”

“How big?”

“Are you unable to play, without natural numbers?”

Silence falls.

“This is an isotropic space. The diagonal is free, if you like, I allow you to move infinitely. But it will be your sentence as the game will be infinitely ongoing.”

“It doesn't matter if it's necessary to stop you from winning.”

“Satisfactory, if that's what you want.”

The [G] slides slowly. Its head shakes like an earthquake. The chains strain and snap, shooting in every direction.

The movement begins.

Slow and telluric.

Under the blue sky, I await infinity.