The coiled dusa raised an eyebrow and slowly turned the board, positioning the black pieces in front of her before gently moving the first pawn two spaces and leaning in to rest her chin on her hands. “The other two chose black.”
He grinned back at her, not eting her gaze, and mirroring her own move in order to make way for his queen in the next. “Will you kill if I lose?”
“Perhaps… Perhaps not.”
“Then do you mind answering a couple questions while we play?”
“It depends on what they are, little man…”
He furrowed his brows and crossed his arms thoughtfully. Little? He was by no ans little. Was she being deaning on purpose? He pushed the question aside for a more important one, though, and truly hoped she’d answer it. “Where am I?”
He moved another pawn forward to take one of her own, and a series of uneventful positionings was exchanged.
She let out a long, dark chuckle as a rook moved into position to protect a forward knight. She gestured for him to move next and then leaned back a little to observe him better. “How would I know? I’ve been down here for centuries just waiting for company…banished here by a lich who got the better of .”
“So you’re not part of Elysium, then?”
She teasingly raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure what you an by that.”
Then she placed two fingers on her queen and went in to take Riven’s pawn. As soon as she took the piece off the board, Riven’s right pinkie toe broke off in a grueso and miniature explosion of blood and bone.
He scread, collapsing out of his chair and onto the floor in a state of shock and horror as the serpentine woman began cackling in amusent. He clutched and stared down at his mutilated foot, then back up to the creature ahead of him. “What the hell is this?!”
She didn’t respond but just laughed even louder, and as he reached out to grasp the knife, she abruptly hissed and reared up to her full height.
The clattering of the knife, pieces of the glass table, and the body parts hitting the floor sounded all around him as his chest heaved. Slowly, ever so slowly, he brought the plate farther down and peered from atop the edge…only to choke out a sigh in relief as his eyes t an enraged—yet very stone—dusa. She’d been frozen by her own power, killing herself in the process of trying to turn him into a statue, and the bet had paid off.
In an instant he felt a surge of energy as light gathered around his body, enveloping his flesh in a golden sheen that almost instantaneously repaired his losses. His toes and fingers all ca back, and his wounds closed over as he remained sitting in a chair over a pool of coagulated blood.
He put his head down into his hands and slowly covered his face, shaking from the ntal scar the torturous ga had caused him. It felt a little surreal, and in so ways he counted himself one lucky idiot to pass this obstacle in such a way. It’d been a gamble, based on what he’d known about dusas from ancient lore and the clue on the plate, but it’d paid off. That, and his chess skills had been up to par.
Beyond the stage where he sat and farther along the wall on his left, another narrow passage opened up with the grating of stone and kicking up of dust. The dagger that’d clattered onto the floor vanished in a puff of smoke, and so did the mirror he’d used to backfire the dusa’s gaze. Getting up from where he sat and letting out a snort, he checked the surrounding area for anything valuable. After not finding anything, he stepped around the shattered glass and made his way through the room toward the exposed hallway.
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