rajah

The rajah was nowhere to be seen. The shadows too, were mostly gone. A few flitted here and there, but mostly gone. The thunder still raged above, the fires all around, the water, the lightning ran ragged.

The men still sat, still. Moving pieces but other than that, still. They were husks of the men they had once been. Strong, even when advanced in years, firm, unyielding, unbending. Kind. Kind of. They had been two specimens of the finest genetics. They had friends. Now it seemed, they were forced to wage war against one another, and watch as the moves and countermoves they played were simulated in the world. They only knew what was happening in the world, after they had played their moves. They could see it then. Not with vision, but the eye of the mind. Before, their moves were just moves. And then the piece reached its square, and they saw the tragedies unfolding upon one side or the other. Neither was wholly good. Neither was wholly bad. If it as simple that, all of us would have been on the good side a long time ago, he whispered under his breath. One of them looked from side to side, sneaking furtive glances. The shadows seemed unperturbed. Then he looked straight ahead. Across the board. To his opponent. The man was busy staring at the board, a permanent wrinkle on his forehead. A miracle it could be seen past the other sides of age, and hadn’t been hidden in the crowd. He was busy in thought. As he felt the state, the other looked up slowly, cracks coming from his neck as he stopped to look into those piercing blue eyes. Intelligent eyes. Curious eyes. Eyes that presented him a question. He looked around, glances that were less furtive than those of his partner and opponent and then looked back into those eyes. No hissing, the shadows were silent. It seemed they hadn’t noticed. The board was gleaming. It was giving off a different energy. They both began to look down. Not before a signal was exchanged. A signal that was a simple, slight nod. But the recipient understood as the sender knew he would. They had been friends for countless now. Of course they would.

A shadow slithered off to find the rajah. The others began to get excited. A while after they did, the two men began to feel a tremble in their bellies. This was different from what they had been expecting. This was a different energy.

Back in the clearing, the rajah received news just as the scream had begun. In the four minutes and forty seconds, he would find out that his plans that had been going so well were now suddenly astray. In those same four minutes and forty seconds, he would think quickly and change them. Then he would smile. His red glowing eyes proud and aware that their owner was still among the most powerful beings on the planet, and that few, if any, could change that.