CHAPTER 101: A CHESS MATCH FOR THE FUTURE AND PAST

The Board of Fate.

Such a name was not at all unfamiliar. In fact, his entire idea itself wasn’t entirely original.

Soren had seen a divination medium in Yadria that was fairly similar to the ancient board game of war he was familiar with. Something his [Eyes of the Fairy] identified as a Spirit Mosaic Array.

Back then, it simply seemed like an interesting idea—a board game with intrinsic spellforms that utilize astrology and other factors to add more depth to each piece and movement on the board. It was something Yadrian nobles liked to play in their spare time while drinking tea and conversing in politics and other affairs, but some serious runologists most likely enjoyed it for its more practical reasons.

And yet, here he was just a few weeks later, utilizing that same idea but in his own way. Soren could probably learn and master how to play with a Spirit Mosaic Array fairly quickly, but this wasn’t a matter of time, experience or mastery…

This was about familiarity.

Divination mediums, at the core of their existence, can only function through familiarity. The more closely related the object was to the person, the easier it was to interpret the hidden meanings obtained from the conduit. And currently, there was nothing else to Soren’s name aside from his Soul Weapon that he was familiar with.

Clicking his tongue, he watched as the wooden board manifested itself into reality. [Fictionalization] was once again showing its miraculous powers.

The board sat atop the round table, illuminated by the flickering bonfire of a million radiant butterflies above it. The marble canopy was shining all around in its golden glow. Slowly, the pieces began to come into being—pawns, bishops, knights, rooks, kings and queens—both in black and white colors. Their arrangement was both nostalgic and annoying.

Indeed, Soren didn’t really want to use this medium. Chess was not a game of joy for him anymore—it was a reminder of the worst parts of his life. And yet, he had no choice in the matter—fate wrote it so.

“Must you do this now?” the voice asked curiously. “What will knowing that which cannot be changed do for you?”

Soren smirked. “How can one know what is unchanging without knowing its principles?”

The voice stayed silent so he continued, “What I plan to do may seem foolish and pointless, but as I said before, emotion is a fickle thing… I will never know peace if I do not at least discover that which controls me from the shadows.”

And it wasn’t just him that was being controlled, it was everyone around him as well. He had suspected that to be the case during his brief conversation with Sienna, but he always assumed fate was just a collection of different goals all striving to move the pieces they control in distinct ways.

Now however, he doubted this notion—what he saw on Earth finally settled that debate entirely. It seemed that the people around him were also being driven by fate toward tackling the same thing—the so-called end of the world after the world’s Celestial Fate comes undone.

Julie, a girl that shouldn’t have had a single reason to be involved in the Mysterious World was now both a Phantasm and a person connected to [The Faerie Court] as an Anchor, something that should have been impossible.

But under the machinations of fate, even the most improbable event was possible.

This was no longer about just him—fate was now encroaching on anything and everything related to him. In fact, even Star Fate Guild in a way could be seen as a victim of fate’s machinations. Sienna putting Myrin, Tina and Tyrel on a mission to Yadria exactly when he had been expected to arrive on that world proved this.

And then there was his arrival in that world, itself… Coincidentally, the Nameless Mist was propagating across the Feylith Forest and into some parts of Yadria just a few days prior to his transmigration, which always seemed suspicious to him—he even thought that Mr. Unknown was behind it at first.

But now that he knew what he knew about the Rift and how it was related to the end of this world, his perspective had changed. The Nameless Mist was being used by The Whispering Dream to undo one of the promises of the Divine Accord, and that eventually resulted in the skies shattering and an armada of Vynasians arriving from beyond the Rift.

So if that was the case, who could say a smaller spatial fracture wasn’t created days after the first release of the Nameless Mist—a fracture that spewed his existence into this world…

From a certain perspective, it would mean that Soren’s transmigration could only have been possible through the sacrifice of countless Unblessed… And fate had accepted such a sacrifice and manipulated the events exactly to allow his existence to come to this world.

These theories only fueled his rage. Soren remembered the little girl he met at Point Sylvia named Liluth. Her innocence forever crushed by the injustice of being born an Unblessed and ruined even further by the horrors of having to escape the Nameless Mist… He remembered her naivety and hope—hope that her brother who escaped with her but was separated from them during their daring escape had survived…

He remembered the scenes of Unblessed women hugging the returned corpses of children who fell victim to that sickening corrupted anima—their cries of anguish could not reach outside the slums they were born in.

He remembered it all… Back then, Soren was ignorant of the world. But now, with his newfound knowledge about those events, a question continued to linger in his mind:

Was it my fault?

Did fate drive all of these events to happen to allow his transmigration to happen? If he had never researched Scribe-of-Worlds.com and tried enacting The Secrets of the Records ritual, would none of this have happened? Or would fate have driven him toward such a conclusion regardless?

Frowning, He shook his head, “Enough of this. Let us begin.” His mind was resolute—he had to get to the bottom of this. The figment of his imagination said it was pointless to understand why, but even if that was the case, he still needed to know.

After all, a Scribe who runs away from knowledge… Such a thing doesn’t exist.

Dismissing his hesitation, Soren stared at the chessboard curiously.

Reading fate using a medium was done through interpreting signs and symbolism within the chaos. The medium must present randomness that, when directed with the powers of a conduit, will present hidden meanings for the person to decipher.

His current and first divination study would be no different. The interpretations would either come from the formation of the board or the pieces themselves. Closing his eyes, he imagined the different meanings of the pieces silently. Their formations, and everything they could stand for according to his subjective self.

After a brief period of ponderance, Soren began channeling his anima through the board. It was now time to connect to the conduit:

“Begin Divination.”

That was all he needed to say. Unlike other divinations, his technique was far more special. Myrin, when he conducts Flower Divinations, needs to invoke the name of the Holy Flower Maiden with a corresponding prayer to connect to Her holy grace. The same could be said about any other deity. As for those who connect to the Records of Enigma, the process was somewhat the same. The name of the conduit would need to be invoked regardless—he had seen Cassia perform it many times.

But unlike them, he had no reason to invoke the name of the conduit. For the conduit itself existed within him—or more specifically, his Soul Weapon. After obtaining that fragment, his Soul Weapon had now become a part of Records of Enigma itself. And rather than presenting a question, his Soul Weapon could read and understand his intent perfectly.

And just like that, [Fictionalization] began to shuffle the pieces. The divination has begun.

The first movement on the board was made. And… It confused him.

“What?!”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

White pawn to E4.

According to the numerous books he had read on divination, almost all of them cited the same phenomena:

Randomness.

Divination was essentially the study of finding meaning within chaos. That was why most accurate mediums more introduced randomness—the more random the movement, the more meaning one could extract from it.

At least… That’s what he had assumed until now.

White pawn to E4. Such a move… Was it just a coincidence? Soren did expect some overlap, but this opener could be said to be one of the most popular opening moves on white. It could lead to numerous opening lines like the Ruy-Lopez or the Caro-Kann… Soren himself almost always started with it…

No, it must be a coincidence, let’s keep observing.

And just like that, the next move was played—[Fictionalization] shifted the next piece:

Black pawn to E5 to match the white pawn.

Soren’s lips twitched. “Is.. Is this also a coincidence?” He continued to observe.

White Pawn to F4—King’s Gambit.

E5 Captures F4.

White continues. Bishop to C4—Bishop’s Gambit.

“This… This is impossible…”

But regardless, he was still obtaining hidden meanings. The purpose of his divination was to understand the machinations of fate… Usually, such a lofty goal in runology would immediately be met with failure. After all, if fate was so easy to understand, then his mistress wouldn’t have been so helpless against its manipulation…

No, the reason why this divination could work at all was due to [The Faerie Court]. Soren theorized that since this place was outside the authority of the Rift, then it must at least have some ability to stop outside forces from influencing his actions here.

And he was right.

Just as white played the Bishop’s Gambit, a vision encroached upon his mind. A vision of himself, sitting in front of his familiar computer desk, browsing through Scribe-of-Worlds.com.

“What… Does it mean?”

He continued to observe the game.

Black plays queen to H4. Check.

White responds with king to F1.

Soren couldn’t help but smile. “This game… It's not random at all… The pieces are responding to each other’s movements… This is a real chess match…”

His mind couldn’t help but be shocked. This was outside the realm of what he thought possible. But there was no time to linger—the match was continuing.

Black moves pawn to B5.

“Kinda a bad move…” Soren understood that it was meant to pressure the bishop, but it still sacrifices a pawn since the bishop could immediately capture it.

And that’s exactly what happened. White bishop captures the B5 pawn.

Black responds with knight to F6. White could now respond in a number of ways—Soren waited in anticipation. But just then, another vision entered his mind. A vision of him enacting a ritual and setting up an altar. Several other images of him played, like him creating practice sigils for the spellform he was meant to draw…

It was fairly strange though—the images didn’t seem to come sequentially. There were images from when he was visiting the store to gather ingredients, but also images of him that… Never happened in his memory?

“What…”

White responds by targeting the queen. Knight to F3—mirroring the previous move.

Black succumbs to the pressure—queen pulls back to H6.

White develops its pieces with pawn to D3.

Seeing this, black moves knight to H5, which Soren assumed to be preparation to move it further into G3—causing a check. If White responds with pawn captures knight, then Queen could capture the rook behind it.

White also sees this and moves knight to H4 to block the pin from the Queen.

“Who… The hell are these players?” The more he watched, the more confused he became. This wasn’t a casual game in the slightest—both players seemed to have a very good understanding of chess. He couldn’t tell what the Elo was, but it had to be at least in the 1500 to 2000 range.

“International Master level?” He couldn’t tell—he had to watch more.

At first, he assumed that maybe his Soul Weapon, which was a reflection of himself, was playing a prank on him. But that blunder from black with pawn to B5 wasn’t something he himself would have done. He glanced up at the flickering flame suspiciously, but it too seemed confused—he could feel it. Soren glanced back at the board.

Black moves queen to G5. Knight then moves to F5. Black develops its pieces again, pawn to C6. All decent moves.

“How strange…” Another vision plays within his mind. Images of him continuously enacting the ritual, but there were also suspiciously strange images of others as well… People he had never met before. All of them had one thing in common—they were all using Scribe-of-Worlds…

“Is it trying to tell me that fate developed this as well? The growth of Scribe-of-Worlds was a result of fate too?”

The pieces move again. White pawn to G4 and black knight shifts to F6. White then sets up the board with rook to G1.

By now, Soren was noticing the intricacies of their plays. White and Black seemed to have distinct styles that differ from one another. It was as if Soren was watching an actual game of chess from two different players, rather than reading the movements of fate themselves…

“Who… Is interfering in this divination?” Interfering wasn’t even the right word… Since even with their ‘interference’, Soren was still reading the movements of fate. In fact, the interpretations he was obtaining were far more accurate and distinct than anything most magi experience.

Even Cassia, who showcased unprecedented amounts of talent in Runology would not be able to obtain visions this… clear.

Soren focused his eyes back on the board… With white moving the rook to G1, he would inadvertently have to sacrifice the bishop on C5—something black quickly sees by moving its pawn to capture the piece.

The moment the bishop exited the game, Soren obtained a new vision. This one was stranger than every other one… It showcased Soren simply… Going to college?

“Why would that hold any significance?”

The game continued. White plays pawn to H4. Black responds to the pressure on its queen and moves it back to G6. White continues the pressure with pawn to H5, forcing the queen back to G5, wasting a move.

And then, white’s queen finally comes into play. [Fictionalization] shows it shifting into the F3 position… Another vision plays.

This one seemed to continue the round of images from last time… Soren could be seen studying in the library for an exam.

And then, something finally clicked into place—he was confused as to what the divination was trying to show him, but everything now made sense…

What he was seeing was a scene from a possible future. Soren remembered what exam the scene was showing him studying for… It was an exam he had no care for—an exam that he was supposed to take on the day he enacted his last try of the Secrets of the Records ritual…

The fact that he was studying for it was not something Soren did originally. This was a scene that never happened—a scene from a parallel future or something akin to one.

“Is this… what my original fate looked like?” A fate where Soren continued to be a college student.

The moves continued playing in real time. Black knight moves back to G8, bishop captures on F4, black queen moves to F6… Each move brought with it another scene of a possible future or fate.

A scene of him having a gaming night with Julie over at her place.

A scene of him working a day job.

A scene of him… Revisiting chess out of nostalgia.

All of these futures were broken and only partially related, but the pain they brought remained the same. Soren couldn’t tell if it was simply regret or anger. His vision was blurring—he couldn't tell if that was simply out of exhaustion from the numerous visions he was seeing or if his tears made it hard to see.

The movements continued but a certain change occurred this time. Rather than the divination showing scenes of possible past fates, the board was now honing in on his current possible fates. The formation on the board heavily leaned in white’s favor—most of its pieces were developed and some even have reached the fifth rank.

It decides to continue that advantage, moving the knight to C3 to block the threat from the queen. Black bishop moves to C5 in response and white retaliates with knight to D5—threatening the queen again and removing the threat on his G1 rook.

The black queen was practically pinned from all sides, but black still sees an opportunity and decides to move it to capture a pawn on B2, successfully maneuvering its way into the enemy’s back ranks.

At this point, most players might panic by either shifting the pieces to defend against the threat of the queen, or misplay by reacting to its presence.

White does neither.

Even though both of its rooks were hanging, white continued the attack with bishop to D6, adding pressure on both the black bishop on C5 and the undeveloped knight. If the black bishop responds by taking the bait and capturing the white bishop, white could respond by recapturing the bishop with knight to D6 while also checking the king.

From these variations, Soren foresaw another set of scenes. A scene of him rejecting the invite of Star Fate Guild and finding a job as a cleaner in Celestine.

Another scene of him dying to a Spirit Beast before he could reach Myrin’s camp in the Feylith forest.

There were others that were far stranger as well, like Soren becoming a Yadrian slave taken in by an elven noble family as a servant, as well as one where he had failed to seal his Epoch Fate and died to the corruption from his Abstract Rune…

Although these futures seemed similar, each one was distinct with countless variations… The possibilities were endless but also finite at the same time…

It was then that Soren finally realized something.

The two players… They were playing… With his fate. What he was witnessing on the board were two entities battling over what his fate could look like. Every movement was a possible fate, and each piece taken down was akin to a possible future being no longer accessible…

“Are they… gods?..” The realization left him baffled, but he had no time to contemplate as the pieces moved again.

Black bishop captures the rook on G1… But white brilliantly moves its pawn to E5… Many would see this position and assume it was a blunder, since the black queen now has the freedom to take white’s only other rook for nothing in return… But Soren thought it otherwise.

This position, while it was discrete, heavily favors white. The pawn on E5 essentially blocks the queen from leaving the back ranks to defend the pieces on G7…

Regardless, the black Queen moves to take the free rook. And at the same time, Soren’s mind explodes with information.

Information… About the future…