[center] [h1][b][color=f72f39]Alexander Kherol[/color][/b][/h1] [h1][b][color=f72f39]The Last Ascendancy Commander[/color][/b][/h1] [/center][hr] [center][h3]Once Upon a Time[/h3][/center] [hr] [center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7RRgF5Ve_E[/youtube][/center][hr] 2450 AD Earth The capital of the Ascendancy of Man. The birthplace of humanity. The cradle of the great civilization that prospered on this planet for thousands of years, stretching across the boundaries of the galaxy... Bah! That doesn't concern her one bit. All she knew was that this is her new home. Life on Mars was so boring! A spec of red rocks, cold and barren. There were no big buildings or cool things there, only scary machineries and stuffs. Mining minerals on the planet didn't suit their interest, nor was healthy in the long run, especially for the family's young daughter Sarie, who was barely 9 years of age. She was horribly behind in terms of schools, due to the terrible infrastructure of the planet. And that wouldn't sit. Nope, they have to move to Earth. All their life savings were poured into this endeavour, hoping to bring about a brighter future for their little angel. Genius she need not become, just a happy and long life here. They eventually settled in Alexandria, former Egypt, working in construction, just like back there but with better conditions. Their house was close to those high-rise apartment complexes, completely filled with all sort of commodities close by that one only need to spare 10 minutes of their lives to fill themselves for a week. But in exchange, they would be living close to those spoiled rich kids. Not all of them were bad, but this is the Ascendancy of Man we're talking about. The rich reign supreme, while poor folks couldn't even afford to move across their own planet, let alone a cross-planet trip like this. Looking down on the poor is their pastime. Charity is merely their way of showing off their wealth and fake virtues whenever they like it. They were concerned if Sarie mingled with them. What if they rejected her, casted her aside, bullied her? Thankfully, they need not worry. Sarie was too full of energy to be shy to them. And those kids, let's just say one of them were actually nice. It was quite a character assassination to summarize it like that, but he's certainly unfazed enough to act however he wanted to. The first time Sarie met Alexander was her third time visiting the park close by to their apartment. Schools had just finished for all of them, and now they were all gathering at the park to play. This time, they were playing chess, Alexander's favorite pastime. Despite the boredom usually associated with the sport, for some reasons, the kids were excited. Perhaps they wanted a hopeless shot at beating the chess genius of the neighborhood. Or they were genuinely interested. Regardless of what it was what really captured the girl's attention was not the game, nor that he was the leader of the group, almost naturally, directing and dictating the flow of the mood, but what later could be described as [i]'love at first sight'[/i]. [color=f7941d]"Hey yall! What'cha guys doing?"[/color] With her heavy accent, unabashed and fearless, she approached the group of kids. The ponytailed orange hair, the dark-red plaid shirt, there was no difficulty guessing that she wasn't from there. [color=gray]"Chess!"[/color] One boy declared, in a not necessarily friendly manner. [color=gray]"Do you know how to play?"[/color] [color=f7941d]"Umm, nah. But can I watch you guys?"[/color] Sarie asked. [color=gray]"No."[/color] Another said. [color=gray]"Learn the game first and get in line."[/color] [color=f72f39]"Hey hey hey."[/color] The silver-haired boy in one side of the table said. [color=f72f39]"Didn't I teach you chess when I want to play it?"[/color] [color=gray]"Y-Yeah, but there were only 4 of us, me, you, Anna and Travel."[/color] He said. [color=f72f39]"Well, now we have 8."[/color] Alexander waved for Sarie to come. [color=f72f39]"Come, you want to play?"[/color] She excitedly nodded her head before squeezing her way through the crowd to the chair on the other side of Alexander. [color=f72f39]"What do you know foremost about chess? Like anything?"[/color] Alexander began. [color=f7941d]"Ahh, I only know that you have to kill the king to win."[/color] [color=f72f39]"Kill..."[/color] Alexander couldn't help but laughed. [color=f72f39]"We don't kill kings here, we capture him, so the whole kingdom is without a leader and falls apart. The way you capture a king is to make sure he cannot move anywhere when it is your turn."[/color] [color=f7941d]"...How does that work?"[/color] [color=f72f39]"So...it's a turn-based strategy game, where we each move a piece for every turn. Each pieces have their movements and if an enemy piece lies in the way of another piece, you can proceed to capture the piece by moving your piece to it. If a king lies in the way of an enemy piece instead, then it is a check, and you must move your king away or block the path. If you're are unable to do so, then when the enemy's turn is up, he can capture your king and the game ends. It is called a checkmate then. Each piece's movement goes as follows"[/color] [color=f7941d]"Stop stop stop!"[/color] She yelled, clearly lost halfway through his explanations. [color=f7941d]"I lost you in the middle. Can you go by more slowly?"[/color] [color=gray]"Oh come on, what is this?"[/color] Another kid rudely chimed in, only to be stopped by a stern look from the young Alexander. He looked at her sky-blue eyes again with a finger resting on his chin for a few seconds. [color=f72f39]"Ok, so think of it like this."[/color] This girl was definitely not the brightest, despite Alexander wanting her to fit in the group. He thought a little before continuing [color=f72f39]"...In front of you are white pieces. So you will go first by moving a piece."[/color] Alexander reached for a white pawn on her side and moved it one square. [color=f72f39]"That is a turn. Then I move one of my pieces."[/color] He took his knight and moved it. [color=f72f39]"Then you repeat it. That's how the game progress."[/color] Sarie nodded her head twice. Alexander proceeded by picking up both kings. [color=f72f39]"This is the king, he can only move to squares adjacent to it."[/color] He looked up to see the girl staring at him and tilting her head. [color=f72f39]"Assuming he's here. You can only move to one of these eight squares. That is it."[/color] She nodded again, happy and excited once more. [color=f72f39]"If a piece is in the way like this...horse here."[/color] He placed the knight in a convenient position. [color=f72f39]"If it is your turn, you can captur- I mean kill this horse. You do so by taking the horse away and move your piece to it. It counts as one turn and now it shall be mine. If it is my turn, I would move away the horse to prevent it from being killed." [/color] [color=f72f39]"If your king is in the way instead like this horse before, it is a special kind of killing..."[/color] He stifled his laughter. It sounded so dumb. [color=f72f39]"It's called a check. You have to avoid it by moving him away. If he's checked and you can't move him away, like this position."[/color] He arranged the pieces once again. [color=f72f39]"Then it's checkmate! I win in this case. You win if you do the same to my king. You get it?"[/color] She hummed for long, staring at the board. [color=f7941d]"There's so many rules..."[/color] She groaned. Couldn't say he did not expect this. [color=f72f39]"...Ok, then we shall learn as we play!"[/color] He declared. [color=f72f39]"Go on, you can go first."[/color] [color=f7941d]"Ah...uhhh..."[/color] She was taken a bit aback. [color=f7941d]"...How do I go?"[/color] [color=f72f39]"You can do whatever you want."[/color] [color=f7941d]"Anything?" [/color] [color=f72f39]"Yeah, you remember what I told you earlier?"[/color] She nodded. [color=f72f39]"Just follow that. Otherwise you can do whatever you want. You make your own rules." [/color] [color=f7941d]"Oh cool!"[/color] Sarie exclaimed. [color=f72f39]"But please follow it once you made it. No changing halfway through. That's my only request!"[/color] The white-haired boy gave her an ok finger, and she gladly accepted. After a while figuring out the rules for this weird custom game, to the boredom of the other kids around the table, it was finally time to go. The new pawn rules still move like usual, but captures the square in front instead of diagonal. The rook now cannot be captured, but can only move one square each. It does mean castle after all. The knight then moves like the old rook, but still can vault over pieces. The bishop, also moved like the old rook, but buffed to high heaven, now needing two pieces to capture it. The most saddening choice of them all was the queen. Poor queen, completely nerfed to oblivion, can only be in the vicinity of the king. If the king moves, she moves in to take his place, and she can jump over him if need be. The cited reason for this choice was supposedly from her fairy tales story, that kings and queens never leave each other's side. It's romantic for sure, but the poor queen is then mostly delegated to defensive task. But given how broken the other pieces are, it's not that big of a deal for Alexander. Once the rule was formalized, Alexander didn't wait to start. He already familiarized himself with it and formulated a general idea of what needed to be done. A switch-and-bait tactics to try and cut down the bishops first. The bishops are the queens now, and the sooner they got taken out, the better. And it went perfectly. With a brilliant queen sacrifice, he managed to kill one of the bishops. Another would soon follow with a few moves. Once that was done, Alexander went on the aggressive, and the game ended soon after. Even with the new rules, vaguely heard and explained, he still proved himself a cunning opponent. [color=f72f39]"Good game."[/color] As per chess tradition, he maintained his etiquette an extended a hand to Sarie. [color=f72f39]"I'd say...that's pretty interesting."[/color] He didn't want to annoy her with the fact that he pretty much destroyed her. Regardless, she wasn't taking it too well either. [color=f7941d]"That wasn't fair!"[/color] Sarie said. [color=f7941d]"You killed your own queen..."[/color] [color=f72f39]"It is a good sacrifice."[/color] Alexander replied. [color=f72f39]"I used my queen to kill your bishops. It's the strongest piece on the board."[/color] [color=f7941d]"But why? It's your queen. Your wife! Are you just going to let her die like that?"[/color] For once, Alexander was hit with a hard question. Of course, in a game of power and intellect like this, nothing should be out of the question. But hey, a horrible decision is still a horrible decision. [color=f72f39]"...Ok sorry."[/color] Not something you often see from him throughout his life, Alexander conceded. [color=f72f39]"Maybe I'm a bit too cold on that. You can take the win if you like."[/color] She knocked over the pieces on the board anyway. [color=f7941d]"Nay, it's sooo tiring. Can we play something else instead?" [/color] [color=f72f39]"Sure!"[/color] Alexander happily obliged. [color=f72f39]"What's your name?" [/color] [color=f7941d]"Sarie Ayala!"[/color] She said excitedly. [color=f7941d]"I only go first name."[/color] [color=f72f39]"Love your name Sarie."[/color] He said. [color=f72f39]"Alexander. Call me Alex if you wish."[/color] By now, most of the kids had dispersed, leaving only Alexander and his new friend to clean up the chessboard. But the day was still young. And for young Alexander, he chose to play and associate with whoever he wanted. [color=f72f39]"Come on Sarie. Let's go!"[/color]