1. Qb8 Rxb8 2.Ba6+

The board was a smorgasbord of characters, stone pieces that barely showed any character. Worn down by the touches that once had been human and now were animated only by the power they had put into the board. Worn down so much, you could not tell what they were any more. The men moving the pieces could. The shadow rajah could. Soon, another would learn of the history and significance of the board. Soon, another would join the watching party. For now, it was just these three and the shadows that slithered about. The air smelled burnt. Sulfur hung low. The oxygen was repulsed. Lightning cracked in the sky, a whip that signaled the end of times.

One of the men moved a piece. The shadow rajah cackled. His strength was growing. He was almost at full power. He cackled and the laughter echoed across the country like sounds in a valley. It was as if stone were being grinded, chalk screeching across a whiteboard. The earth itself shaking.

The other pondered. It seemed as if the first had made a mistake. There was a light in the eyes of one. A dimness in the eyes of the other. Both men seemed to have aged far beyond their years. As if the past few months had been like years. Yet the past few months had also insulated them from everything else in the world. The elements could not touch the bubble they were in. They were kept alive. Their minds were kept sharp. It seemed as if the board were moving them, but none, not even the shadow rajah knew the board’s little secret: it needed the players. These two had been handpicked, they had been picked at birth and their lives were a series of events that made no sense, yet fit together like pieces of a puzzle made for one another. The three of them. The two men, the board, were intricately linked. They relied on one other.

The other pondered. He took the piece that had been offered, it seemed, by mistake. The shadow rajah cackled louder. His laughter reached another country. One with the ears and the sight heard. She understood that this was not a disaster. She began to locate it. Soon, she would find this site. Soon, she would become a watcher. Periodic. Like the rajah. The rajah hunched over and continued to watch. The other, a gleam in his eye showed his hand. It had been a gambit. Designed to lure and entrap. Very risky. Very rewarding. 

The rajah roared. The roar brought terror into the hearts of those who heard it. And millions did. Some dropped dead from the fear and stress. It was no matter, they were all dropping like flies anyways. It brought terror. It was a boon for her. Without the roar, she might have taken much longer to find him. This helped speed it up. The board gleamed. The board had an agenda. But it was not linked to either side. It appreciated intelligence. And this had been a gambit well played.