The chessboard, a vast battlefield where only the best strategist can claim victory. Every piece has its own value, its own strategic currency, but any one piece can be the one that clinches victory for its player. Which is why, to me the assigned value of a piece is arbitrary and archaic.
It is all about where you position each avatar to manipulate your opponent. Being able to outthink them. Being able to read their tells, and bluffs.
A game of masters, where you control the flow battle, but you have to be intimately acquainted with how each and every token works from Pawn to Queen.
Me, I have had years to play the game here on Deathrow because it is all Deathrow is one giant game of chess where pieces come and go while values are reassigned and reassessed.
Everyone from Tuga to Thorpe, representing every piece from pawn to queen.
But the crux of Deathrow, is everyone can change their value depending on positioning and power.
What once appeared to be a pawn like Redgrave has become a knight just through his relationship with Thorpe.
In other words, they all want to grow, they all want to evolve, no one wants to remain a pawn forever. So, they partner they pair they take people “off the board”.
Everyone struggling to climb to the top, everyone wanting to be what I already know I am. Because for weeks I have been working in the shadows. Moving every piece into place since the moment I threw a chess game to Jasper Redgrave all of Deathrow has been positioned to my benefit and now we move to the end game.
It starts with a former Demon Champion, now a Broken Pawn. I take him then it’s either the Rook who holds the keys to Deathrow’s drawbridge or the undying Knight who’s wedged himself between pillars of life and death.
Then it is just one more move before… checkmate.
However, it’s not like they stood a chance anyway. The best to play the game know they’ve already won before they sit down to the chessboard and on Deathrow, I am the best. I am the brightest, I am the master manipulator, and you are all my tokens, my pawns, my playthings.
It doesn’t matter if you are built like a granite wall or murderous maniac, you are all just a piece to be put in your place to me.
Not one of you will be able to fork me. I will not be pinned in place. I will emerge from the fog of battle with the final discover attack, one not even a queen’s gambit will be able to stop.
It’s three simple moves to the end, three moves, and I will have my crown.
Until then the message is simple for everyone on Deathrow, if you come at the King, you best not miss, because he’ll make sure you are beyond Damned.
So, breathe deep and hail your King as you remember, Life’s a gas.