I sat in my office, a reserved booth in the audience’s stands, and looked over the stadium. I thought back on yesterday’s events. The fervor of the crowd, the tense territory dispute during the game, and finally, my victory trophy; the opponent’s King. Gaming is my life, and I am undefeated, whether that be on the board or in the ring, I have always prevailed. However, I don’t exactly know what I’m doing. I get the gist of what I’m aiming for, but how do I win a boxing match in the Olympics without knowing how to fight? I’m not entirely sure myself, but it works.

The phone rang. It was Grace, my receptionist. Ever since I built this stadium, I’ve had calls from all sorts of people and places, challenging me to a game in their expertise. It’s been fun, but it gets exhausting at times. I picked up the phone. “Hey, Grace. I’m guessing someone is here for a challenge? I’ll be right out.” I said, already beginning to change into the tailor-made suit I use for challenges. “No, sir.” She replied. “It’s a group of people. They want to run an impromptu tournament using our venue, and asked you to participate.” I chuckled. “I’ll take them either way. Call the production team and send the challengers up to the suites.” She sighed and hung up. She calls me reckless, however; it’s a significant part of my branding, and while I come off as cocky and snobbish, it’s all to attract more challengers. I finished putting on my suit and made my way downstairs to meet the competitors. Sitting down, the challengers walked into the room a moment later. It was a group of 7, each in their own unique style. When you play on a professional level like this, you almost always have some screws loose, and these 7 were among the tamest I’d seen yet.

“Hello!” I began, ” As you may already know, my name is Lucas, The Game Master, and this is the Last Bastion, where Champions come to die.” I smirked. This always made people so mad. It was brash and arrogant, almost to the point of tacky; but they couldn’t refute me either. “Feel free to relax here until the tournament. The floor is divided into twelve separate living spaces, with this as the communal recreation room. Each of your rooms has 3 attendants, a personal bath and sauna, as well as a full kitchen. If you would like anything, your attendants will provide it to you as soon as possible. Now, as for the tournament… I’m sure my secretary already told you that if you use my arena, I get to make the rules, yet, you still came. Typically, I’d call you foolish and impose harsh rules because this is my turf, but I’m feeling nice today, so here’s what I’ll do. The tournament will be king of the hill, and I will go first. Anyone may challenge me to a game with rules of their choosing, so long as it doesn’t result in an automatic victory for either party. There are camera crews on site, so let them do their jobs, they won’t disturb you directly unless I have requested something specific. The tournament will take place this evening at 19:00, and food will be provided by your attendants, on the house. Do you have any complaints?” I waited and got a few glares for my taunting. A guy with a hazmat suit and gas mask spoke up first. “How do we know you aren’t cheating?” A distorted and computerized voice came. I chuckled at that. “You don’t. You’ll just have to trust me, I guess. Anything else?” Another one, a young boy, spoke up next. “So, since you’ve made the rules, that makes you the host, right?” I looked at him speculatively, curious to see where he was going with this. “Yes, I guess it does.” “And the host has to provide the prize pool, right?” I smiled. He wanted to know what I’d provide… cheeky kid. “Yes, that’s typically how it goes. How about this then.” I pulled out my phone and called my marketing department. “Yes, Mr. Nephus?” A woman asked. I sat down. “Please announce that I will be hosting a tournament tonight at 19:00; and that, from now on, the first person to beat me will win my entire fortune.” The entire room stiffened, and even my marketing director wasn’t immune to my declaration. Still, a minute later, she affirmed my decision. “It shall be done, sir.” I hung up and tossed the phone to the side. “Is that good enough for you, kid?” I teased. His eyes showed with renewed vigor, and he snickered. “You’re going down, old man!”

After a couple moments of awkward tension everyone nodded. “Alright then, please enjoy your last few hours of stardom,” I declared and left the room. I could feel the heat of their stares on my back, but I pretended not to care. I had nothing against them, they were talented people who deserved my respect, but I had to keep up appearances.

When I returned to my office, I sat heavily in my chair. I just wanted to relax today, and here I was at the forefront of a tournament. Why was I doing this to myself? I took a book from my desk, turning to my bookmark before the phone began ringing again. I groaned and put it on speaker.

“Mr. Nephus, you have more challengers,” Grace said. I sighed, trying to steady my growing anger. “How many…?” I had never turned down a challenge, but this many competitors could be a problem for hospitality, and none of them were local, either. But most of all, I just wanted to be left alone! “6. They say they were in town for other competitions but saw the writ of challenge and had to stop by.” This is getting annoying! I took a couple of deep breaths before answering, not wanting to take my anger out on my receptionist. “Alright, put five of them in the guest suites and send someone to give them a tour. The one leftover can stay in my suite for a bit.” I was just putting people where we had space, but was I going to regret this? “And, sir?” Grace reluctantly began. “Yes? Sorry, I’m just thinking.” I sighed. “No need to apologize, sir. I just wanted to mention that Mr. Concord is one of those 6.” I paused. “What? Put him on the phone!”

There was a lull, and then I heard Henry pick up the phone. “Not back for your King, I hope. It’s mine now,” I said, haughtily. After the past couple of tournaments, I’d gained a healthy relationship with Henry Concord. He was good at strategy, and while a bit brutish, he was a respectable player. “Come on… can I talk to you after you’re done with all this…?” He asked, and it sounded serious. I thought for a minute. “Sure, as long it’s not one of your rants about gods or whatever. They get pretty tiring.” There was no response on the other side of the phone, and a second later, I heard Grace again. “Mr.Concord just entered the elevator and is going towards your office. Should I ask security to stop him?” I sighed. “No, it’s no use. Send the rest of the challengers to the guest suites, and turn any others away unless they have separate housing. They can just challenge me during the tournament.” “Yes, sir,” came the reply, and I hung up just as Henry Concord walked into the room.

“Henry!” I said. Trying to let go of my frustration from all the challenges. “I hope you aren’t taking your loss too heavily. You’re a really good player, and that was one of the coolest games I’ve had yet.” He was just standing in the doorway, staring at me. He didn’t seem angry per se, just… conflicted. “One more game.” He said, sitting down in one of the guest chairs in front of my desk. I sighed. “I told you, I’m not open for a title match right now… I have a tournament tonight, and I’m flying to China for a business meeting tomorrow. Besides, if you really want to challenge me today, you can do it during the tourney.” I could tell he was getting increasingly frustrated, and it made me feel guilty. He was one of the few people I felt like I could actually relax around. “I just want to check something!!” He shouted. There was concern in his eyes, and he didn’t look like he’d take no for an answer, so I broke. “Alright,” I said. “One more game…”

I grabbed the chess pieces from the shelf and set them up on the table, careful not to scratch the metal. Each piece was a small miniature sculpture, cast by some of the best craftsmen in the country. Sitting down, I waited for him to make the first move.

Chess was one of the few games that I had taken the time to learn something about. Not only was it one of the oldest games in existence, along with Go, but it was also a very common test of strategy that had a relatively low skill floor to learn how to play. I had enjoyed it until I realized that to play at a professional level I would have to memorize almost every starting position you could make, and figure out how to counter it… And that just seemed boring. So I settled for a basic understanding of the game, like how the pieces moved, what “territory” on a chess board was, and why you need to ‘defend’ pieces. The last one was fairly obvious after playing your first game though. I may not be able to lose, really, but figuring out how to checkmate with a single pawn and a king was… brutal.

I took the white pieces, and Henry took the black. Since he wanted a rematch, I thought it only fair that we should flip the board. I decided to start with the Queen’s Pawn opening, pushing my D pawn to D4. I had hoped Henry would put his Queen’s pawn out as well, but perhaps sensing my anticipation, he instead pushed out his E pawn to E5. I would later come to find out this was called the Horwitz Defense. We defended our pawns and tried to take control of the middle of the board, but neither of us was able to get an easy win. Which is fair. When you get to the level of a Grandmaster, ending a chess game quickly becomes nearly impossible, but there was something different about this game. Henry’s movements felt totally perfect. Almost robotical. “Henry, are you… using a chess bot…?” I asked. I felt horrible for accusing him. This was my friend, he wouldn’t cheat, and I knew that, but this was weird… He looked at me, sighing. “No, I’m not. I’ll explain later.” He said. I was getting more and more curious about this “conversation” he and I were supposed to have. “Dude, are you alright?” I asked, I was concerned now. “You’ve been acting weird ever since you walked in my door today…” He looked me in the eye, and then down at the board, bringing his voice down very low. “You will shut up, and finish this game. We. Don’t. Have. Much. Time.” My body moved, seemingly on its own, and continued the game. He was right. We would figure things out later.

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The game ended after 90 moves. We had traded pieces, but I came out on top with a light squared Bishop. From there, it was all endgame. The endgame of chess is just about the most boring game you can think of. You have to think 20 moves down the line of what you’re going to do without ever giving the opponent a chance to retaliate. It’s all a slog. Block the opponent's king with yours, run your pawns to the end if you can, ladder checkmate if you can’t. Of course, I had no rooks at this point; I had blundered them away, but I made it work with a bishop and a knight. I was actually impressed I came out with so much material. I was fully expecting to have to sandwich the king in between a bishop defended by the king and kill it with a pawn, but everything worked out in the end.

I collected the king off the table and set the rest of the pieces aside, moving towards the cabinet in which I kept all my trophies. A good portion of them were Henry’s, as we seemed to play against each other in many different games, but a number of them were from others. Some of the more interesting ones I received were a glove I got from winning a boxing match in the Rio Grande Olympics as well as the medal right next to it. There was a knife I won from a kid named Souma in a cooking competition in Japan. I set the piece on the shelf and wrote “Henry” on a notecard, as well as the date, and rested it up against the King. Henry watched intently, quietly muttering to himself, and then sighed. “I still need to talk to you after your little tournament today.” I shrugged. “That’s fine with me, though it’ll probably be pretty late. You alright with that?” He glared at me. “I was hoping that nobody would try and challenge you today… You see how that went.” I laughed. “It’s like this every day. I barely have enough time to keep this place running in between all the games people want.” He stood up. “You better not run off after this.” He fumed, storming out of the room.

It was getting closer to 7:00, and since I already had my uniform, I went downstairs to the reception room. “Evening, Grace.” She looked up, smiling. “I’m going to have a conversation with Mr. Concord tonight, and I want the floor to ourselves. Put a security guard or two at every entrance to the fourth floor, and no one besides Mr. Concord and I may enter.” She stared at me for a minute, seemingly confused by my words, but after thinking for a second, she nodded. “Yes sir.”

I returned to my office and sat down in my chair. I still had a couple of hours before the tournament, and I had to make use of every moment. I started by writing a list of things I needed to discuss at my business meeting tomorrow. Merchandise, Acquisitions, Sponsorships, there were a lot of things that needed to be discussed. And then there were taxes… and there were a lot of taxes. Well, that's just what I get for existing, I guess…

I spent a couple hours doing the administrative tasks that could be completed right now. Luckily, it didn’t only fall on my shoulders. I had accountants, administrative assistants, and other finance majors of various professions. I was grateful to them, but it all cost so much money!! Okay, okay, I get that I’m rich, but I can still complain about how cruel life is, right? I looked at the clock on the wall. 5:30, huh? If I want to eat, I better get going… I thought and got up from my desk. I felt a little dizzy but calmed down after drinking some water. I must’ve forgotten to drink during that entire time… idiot…

I left the room and walked into the guest rooms. A few people were sitting in the communal area, so I decided to sit with them. Among them was the kid from earlier, the guy in the gas mask, and a woman I’d never seen before. “Good evening,” I said, motioning one of the attendants over. I told him what I wanted to eat and turned to the group. They were staring at me. “Cat got your tongue?” I asked, a signature smirk on my face. The kid spoke up first. “Um- evening.” He said, looking down at a phone-like device he was carrying. He looked up at me. “Look what I caught yesterday!” He turned the device around to show me a bluish black… beetle? I’m not knowledgeable about these things… It looked straight out of a horror story though, with stubby little legs, beady eyes, and a giant horn on its head. And the sheer size… this beetle was 5 feet tall. Excuse me!? I stared at it, speechless. “Are you guys seeing this? What is that!?” The guy in the gas mask sighed and bit the bullet, asking the question on everyone’s mind. “You should’ve seen the ones he was showing us earlier… A living sandcastle, a rock monster, a 7-meter-long flying snake… That’s creepy though… What are these?” The kid looked at him, apparently confused. “Huh? They’re my friends!!” The kid replied, the sincerest of smiles on his face. How naïve do you have to be…? I curbed the thought. The kid was a genius, and it wasn’t my job to judge how he spent his time. As long as I didn’t have to deal with them, we’d be alright.

The woman, who’d stayed silent up until now, looked at me and then turned to the kid. “How old are you, sweetie?” She asked in a somewhat creepy affectionate tone. He held up seven fingers. “I’m ten!” He said, grinning. That explains things… He must be a bit behind the development curb. Hold on, is this even legal!? The woman snorted. “You’re adorable, hun.” She said and patted him on the head. He got mad. “I’m not a little kid!” He shouted, and stomped off into the other room. She smiled. “Aren’t we a feisty one… don’t worry, we’ll meet again soon, my child…” I looked at her, a little bit startled. Creepy-... The thought was interrupted by her shooting up and walking out of the room.

We sat in silence for a minute. “What’s her problem?” I asked when the man with the hazmat suit and I were the only ones left in the room. “Not entirely sure,” came the mechanical reply. “From what I can tell, she seems to have an unnatural fondness for children… very suspicious. Anyway, I must take my leave.” He said, walking over to the edge of the room and climbing into… a vent? What a character. The attendant brought me my food, and I ate, quietly. I had come down here to talk while I ate, but I ran everyone off, apparently. Looking at my watch, I thanked the attendant and left. It was time for me to get ready. Since I was already dressed for the event, I walked over to the stadium floor. The camera crew was already set up, and people were bustling about backstage for the tournament. I saw games and props of all kinds scattered around the floor, some more used than others. The audience was already filling up, and loud music was playing from the overhead speakers with advertisements filling up the big screen. So far so good. As things picked up in the stadium, so too did things backstage. The 12 challengers (minus Henry) filtered into the area, led by their attendants. The competitors conversed idly with one another, waiting for the tournament to start, but none seemed particularly interested in the conversation. Eventually, the time to start the tournament came, and I grabbed a microphone from the wall.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” I began, and the crowd erupted in anticipation. “My name is Lucas, the Game Master, and this is the Last Bastion, where champions come to die!!” I shouted into the mic and spread my arms wide. The crowd cheered. “Today we have 12 competitors staking their names and reputations on this tournament, but we are only here to answer one question! Are they brave, or foolhardy?” I smiled, motioning for the others to walk onto the floor. “These talented men and women are here today to exhibit their skills and talents, hoping against hope to beat me, the ineffable, infallible, Game Master!” I paused, smirking. “But wait, there’s more! After the games tonight, I will be responding to walk-in challenges, and from now on, the first person to win against me will walk away with my entire fortune!” The crowd’s cheering turned into one collective gasp as the ones who hadn’t seen the announcement heard my declaration, and then the cheering erupted even louder than before. “Now, without further ado… Let the Games Begin!!”