Ascended Realms
Emperor Shay’tan
Shay’tan
“You're out of pawns!"
The old red dragon moved a black pawn into position; flaring his wings like a predator waiting to pounce. He caught himself showing his ‘tell’ and tucked his leathery wings against his back, forcing his long, toothy snout to assume an expression of purest innocence as he waited for his adversary to make his next move.
The white-haired man who sat across the chess board moved a white rook to immediately overtake Shay'tan's black pawn. “Court pieces are worth more than pawns!" the Eternal Emperor Hashem said. "They can outmaneuver them.”
“Ahhhh…." Shay’tan's smile transformed into a predatory grin. “You don't have enough respect for your pawns." He moved a second black pawn to overtake the white rook he'd just set up for a fall. “No matter how powerful your court pieces, you will never have enough of them, especially if you keep throwing them away on trivial moves.”
“I'm using superior pieces to employ a superior strategy!” Hashem's wild white hair and bushy eyebrows gave him the aura of a mad scientist as he feigned an indignant expression. “Really, Shay'tan. You think too short-term to grasp the subtleties!”
“Winning is all about the numbers!" Shay’tan dropped the unfortunate white rook into his growing pile of conquests. “He who has the most chess pieces, wins."
Hashem's bushy white eyebrows bunched together in concentration as he scrutinized a group of black pawns clustered suspiciously in the uncharted territories. His golden eyes met Shay'tan's equally luminescent ones, for both possessed the mark of ascended beings.
“What are you up to, you old devil?"
Shay’tan gave Hashem his most innocent dragon smirk, his long red tail twitching like a cat stalking a mouse.
Hashem picked up a white knight and considered his next move. Shay'tan's grin disappeared as he recognized just which chess piece his opponent intended to bring into play. His wings jutted outward as Hashem moved the white knight towards the middle of the clustered black pieces.
“White knight to Zulu Sector Three…" Hashem said.
“Oh no you don't!" Shay’tan grabbed a black rook and reached to overtake the white knight before it could upset his game!
The spinning map of the galaxy flickered, and then blinked out of existence, along with the room as She-who-is interrupted the match before either old god could complete their move.
'It is time….'
The neutrinos which allowed them access to the ascended realms dissolved as the two old gods were sent back to the material realm to see how their manipulations played out in the mortal empires which they ruled.
Chapter 1