Chakuva's #IAMTSW Backstory Entry

Antida in Games, The Secret World 0 comments 26 APR 2015

I am Chakuva and I hope you enjoy my contribution to the backstory round for #IAMTSW.

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Etienne Convoitise stroked along the long whiskers of his mustache. His friend Chang-Ho sat stoically before him, eyes on the board. The silence between the two men was palpable, tension not limited to the game between them, but a stretching divide across West and East between the two. The array of white and black stones across the network of intersections on the table was anyone’s game so far.

Finally, the Algerian broke the silence, “So you’re saying she’s mad at me. Blames me?”

Stone touched stone as the dance of control of the board continued.

His eastern friend answered, “I’m saying she’s in mourning. It was a tragic occurrence.”

Click-clack went the stones on the board. The cry of a heron sounded out in warning, and if Etienne believed in prophecy without the divine grace of arithmetic to back it up, he would have heeded the warning.

“So she’s sending his chief advisor away? She does realize my models show we are soon to be facing another great release of bees from the hive. There will be much to do, and I don’t simply mean arranging more rooms at the Kumiho.”

The question was first answered by the click of another white stone onto the board, and then a sip of tea that drew out the space between question and answer, and the space between the Dragons. “She is of the opinion that it is time to start fresh.”

Etienne’s head cocked to the side curiously. “Don’t tell me you mean the old ways of dissolving and reforming completely?”

“That is the way we do things.”

Etienne scoffed at that, “We are creatures of chaos, there is no singular ‘way we do things’. Don’t tell me you agree with this decision just because the soul of the Dragon has moved to a new flesh?”

Chang-ho ignored the bait of the scoff, and simply looked up from the board, “It is still your play. Time is running out.”

The Algerian frowned inwardly but did not let it show, much as they might have wanted to. The dodge at the question made Etienne more uneasy than the steps that led to it. He slid a stone onto the table, an appearance to keep the table moving.

“So,” Etienne spoke.

Click, white stone met black stone on the table. Etienne didn’t need to look at the board to know the tide was turning now, and his friend wasn’t caught up in the surf as he was.

“So?” Chang-ho returned the question coolly.

For the first time since the conversation had begun, Etienne’s dark eyes looked down at the board with intent to truly play the game. He wished he had earlier. The tide had already turned. It was just now that it was crashing down upon him. He should have listened to the heron – if only he had taken time from the board for a simple calculation on the back of the napkin. If only that would have gone far enough back to save the game.

“… So the damage is done, Chang-ho?”

“It was done before the first piece touched the board, Etienne.” Chang-ho brought his teacup to his lips and enjoyed a sip before he continued, “You overstepped your bounds in your dance with the Dragon, and he is no longer here to save you. The boy will be kept far from your reach. You will never again be within the same room to spread your radical thoughts.”

This time Etienne’s masked expression could not hide his displeasure and his lips turned to frown. “Never may not be as long as you hope it is, my friend,” was all he managed to reply before he took his leave.

That night, Etienne graphed a new model of flight patterns from the hive seen in his dreams. His hope was based on an outlier at best; highly improbable but still temptingly possible. That night he opened the window at his bedside to a rigorously measured degree and entered his sheets at a precisely calculated time. Still, sleep evaded him as equations and possibilities roamed through his mind. Only once he was certain he had failed did rest silence his thoughts. And yet, the last thing he heard before consciousness faded was the buzz of improbability.

Days later, he was brought to kowtow to the new flesh of the Dragon in person. Chang-ho’s promise of “never” was more short lived than the last who thought he had outplayed the Dragon mathematician.


Source: The Secret World Chakuva’s #IAMTSW Backstory Entry

Antida
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