KUNSHU SAT QUIETLY IN HIS HALL. His string quartet was not playing that day, as they were given the day off since it was a Sunday morning. He sat on his throne, resting his back on one arm and his legs dangling off of the side of the other. Suddenly, Kunshu heard a knocking on his door.

"Shirei!" he yelled out as he heard the knocks. "I told you not to interrupt me!" The door slowly began to open. When Kunshu saw who was in front of him, he bolted up from his position and reached for the Alpha Blade.

"Wait!" Kadaina cried as he saw the king prepare to kill him. "I'm not here for blood. I don't enjoy fighting. I'm simply here to exchange words."

"You want to talk?" Kunshu asked in a confused manner as he stopped in his tracks.

"Yes," the visitor responded. "I believe there is a more diplomatic way to handle this whole situation."

"Are you unarmed, boy?" the king barked at him, not trusting the diplomat.

"I carry no weapons," he answered in a calm and collected tone. By all technical logic, he had none on hand. Except, of course, his focus Brildingjr, which he disguised as a cane.

"Well," Kunshu began, lightening up in tone. "I haven't played a good game of chess in some time now. Do you know how to play?"

Kadaina's eyes widened. "I do. Shall we sit down and have a chat?"

"Very well," Kunshu continued, still somewhat suspicious, but no longer reflecting it in his tone of voice. "Just know that I will not hesitate to decapitate you at any sign of foul play."

"Understood," Kadaina nervously responded, fretting over the possibility that he could be a sore loser.

Regardless, they both took a seat at the chessboard. Kadaina sat on the side of the white pieces, while Kunshu took the black pieces. Kadaina was impressed by the quality of the pieces. Regardless, Kadaina made the first move by moving his left-side knight up and left. Kunshu moved shortly afterward, sending the pawn in front of the king forward two spots. The next few moves were made in rapid succession. Eventually, Kadaina caught Kunshu's king in check within the first few moves.

"I didn't see that coming," Kunshu spluttered, impressed by his opponent's prowess. "You're not too bad for someone your age."

"I have had plenty of practice in my young life."

"Is that what you believe?" Kunshu pondered, beginning to steer the conversation in a specific direction. "Your lifespan is young?"

"Well," Kadaina explained in a straightforward and realistic nature, "in a numerical sense, yes."

"I believe otherwise," his opponent began to lecture. "I think that once you die, you come back and watch yourself all over again. You relive your mistakes, perhaps try to mend them."

"Are you suggesting déjà vu?" Kadaina started to become interested in these ramblings. "That when we die, we're trapped until we fix ourselves?"

“Perhaps," Kunshu continued, moving his knight once more. “Who really knows? Dead men tell no tales. You'll just have to figure that out when the time arrives. I believe that when you have a moment, a slight second, you can see into something you have already done. For example, let's say you make a bad choice. You decided to join the military and you died. You may see your external future in your deepest sleep. Maybe you come back again and try to avoid the military to live a better and more prosperous life."

“Very interesting viewpoint," Kadaina commented, encapsulated by this peculiar idea that had been proposed. “I have a few different standpoints. Yes, I do believe in glances of the near or far future. However, I believe that, when we die, we become spirits that roam the land, externally trapped, and unable to perceive time. See, time is a concept; a concept that man created. That being said, the spirits wouldn't age a day. I think this has all happened before without us consciously recognizing these events. There's where the effect comes in. It's that split-second of realization."

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“But what about the afterlife?" Kunshu refuted. “Spirits suggest an in-between, a sort of limbo."

“Maybe once you mend your mistakes and admit your sins, you are granted access to either 'heaven' or 'hell.'"

“But if you never heed the effect, you'll be stuck on this plane of existence."

“Precisely," Kadaina commented, moving his rook into the final position. “Also, checkmate."

Kunshu looked at the board, perplexed that he had just lost. This was his first defeat in what felt like nearly a century, with each match taking a toll on him and making him less and less interested in the game. This was not one of those games, as he found his enjoyment sparked once more. The two of them shook hands before resetting the board.

“Let's cut to the chase," the victor suggested. “We can play chess all day like old pals and discuss the implications of déjà vu, but that won't get us anywhere. I'm here because I would like to discuss a truce between Akuni and Aotoshi."

“I will not have a truce," Kunshu suddenly interjected, rising from his seat in the process. “War is the only way to keep track of Yukan Kenshi. I refuse."

Kadaina heaved a sigh as he snapped his fingers. Just then, the room flooded with troops from the Akuni military. The sight of seventy-five other men joining the room in a span of perhaps ten seconds at maximum caused Kunshu to reach for the Alpha Blade. Just as Kadaina saw this, he activated his Lux Dei. All of the troops were just outside of the blast radius. Kunshu, having made it to his throne in just the nick of time, was dead center in the throne room and was caught with a lot of the attack. As the attack was delivered, they began to fire at the sphere of light. This was in vain, as not only were they likely not going to land a shot on Kunshu, but also that the Lux Dei attack functioned effectively as a living organism, weakening if physically attacked. Knowing this, Kunshu waited until the attack finished.

Just as the attack concluded, however, Kunshu found himself weakened by it, bizarrely enough. The troops continued to fire. Due to the Alpha Blade's ability to entirely negate any damage from mortal weapons like firearms, the bullets did little other than annoy him. Lux Dei, however, was entirely magical, meaning that the Alpha Blade granted him no safety. Even still, however, he managed to cling on.

"You dishonorable son of a bitch!" Kunshu yelled at Kadaina.

"Talking about yourself so harshly can't be good for your self-esteem," the attacker quipped. "People's lives are not pawns. You have been playing a dangerous game for far too long."

"Well then..." the king growled as he brandished his blade, "I guess it's a checkmate for you." He promptly jumped at the strategist, Alpha Blade in tow.

❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎

It was a cloudy Sunday afternoon. Akuni's troops had managed to camp themselves an incredibly close three-hundred twenty miles away from Central Aotoshi. They were all anxiously awaiting the return of Kadaina's squad. Yukan and Ite sat at one of the tables outside of their tents. Ite was carefully replacing the feathers on her arrows as Yukan fiddled with one of Kadaina's pawns, the chess expert's initials sloppily engraved on the bottom of the piece. From a distance, the army heard a motorcycle engine. Upon this motorcycle was a single Akuni troop, hauling a body bag over his shoulder. The entire army rushed to the gate to witness him as he got off of his vehicle.

"We...we..." the troop stammered.

"Spit it out!" Zenpan commanded as he delivered multiple slaps to the man. "Tell us!"

"We were wiped out," he reported to his general. "All seventy-five of us. I almost died. If it hadn't been for Kadaina, I would be a dead man."

"What?!" the general yelled out in disbelief before making a realization. "Where is Kadaina? What happened to our strategist?!"

"Where is Kadaina?!" Yukan began to interrogate the troop. "You need to tell us right now."

The troop, with an instantly recognizable look of sorrow on his face, dropped the body bag onto the ground and began to open it. As he looked in the bag, Yukan felt that he was going to vomit. It was not the sight of a dead body that caused this reaction, nor the stench. Rather, it was whom the body belonged to. The body's brown hair gave it away, as Yukan felt a well develop in his stomach, a sense of guilt wanting desperately to purge the intoxicated waters out of his body.

"He was killed by Kunshu," they answered. "They all were killed by Kunshu. It was a massacre. We didn't stand a chance..."

The closest friend of the man whose body now filled the sack fell to his knees before silently closing the body bag. Ite, having also caught a glimpse into the emotional void within that burlap sack, fought against herself to hold her tears in.

"I knew we shouldn't have sent him in..." she remarked as her defense against the increasing flood of emotion failed her. She collapsed to her knees as well, joining her partner in grief.

Most of the people there did not know how to react to this situation. A hush fell over the troops and it remained until the time came for them to return to their barracks. Even while in the barracks, there was an uncomfortable silence. It seemed that everybody on that campsite had found themselves trapped in a mental battle, unaware of how to process what they'd just heard.