|
|
Prologue: First step
Delilah was looking thoughtfully at the chessboard. Darkness had invaded the room, except for the fire burning silently in the fireplace. The red dancing light was enhancing the lithe silhouette seated at the table. She couldn't hear a single sound, not even the cracklings of the fire, and all her world was suddenly contained in this chessboard in front of her. The black and silver squares were slightly shining, the silver gently twinkling, as if calling for her.
On the chessboard were only three pieces. They were coming from the popular game called Archangels and Demons where the army of Archangels was affronting the demon army - twice bigger - for the sake of the few humans standing in between. The rules were simple: the humans had to choose a camp - and not every player chose to be with the Archangels - and help their allies to win. None of the two other players had the right to get rid of them - if it happened, then the player lost five times the same numbers of pawns than he had gotten rid of, chosen to his adversary's discretion.
The three pieces were set in triangle, the human - a girl - facing the two supernatural creatures. Moving one square forward would bring her closer to the Archangel but closer to the Demon also. As if disposed on the board on purpose, the Archangel was on a silver square, while the Demon stood on a black one. The attributes of both creatures were mirrors of their square, the Archangel's sword shining silver and the magic ball of the Demon in all its blackness.
The fire was slowly dying, its flames dancing lower and lower, and Delilah still hadn't moved. Only when the fire was reduced to twinkling embers did she sigh. She moved her hand, the last gleam of light captured by the bracelet of onyx and silver fitting tightly her wrist. She pushed the human-girl pawn one square forward and said very lowly:
"Next step, the Archangel."
This said, she looked again at the chessboard and buried her face in her hands.
|
|
|
