Chapter 78
The Last Chess Game, Chess City, Kalmykia
“You think you beat me?” The Chessmaster writhed on the ground, gasping for his last few breaths. “I never lose.”
“Don’t fight it,” I tell him. “The world is a better place without you. The world is safe now.”
“And ironically you’ll be the hero?”
“Trust me, no one ever thinks I’m the hero. I’m a nineteen-year-old mad girl at best. Most of my boyfriends die, or I make silent sacrifices for them. I have no friends. Neither do I have idols. Everything around me is a purple haze of madness, but you know what? I save a few people from time to time.”
“You killed my family. You’re not supposed to win.”
“Even if I did, I’m really, really sorry, but that wasn’t me. That was someone else.”
“I still can’t believe I’m dying after all these years of planning to get you and The Pillar,” he coughs and slurs.
I kneel down beside him. “About The Pillar,” I say, “how come the Executioner was one of the Fourteen when I saw The Pillar missing two fingers, like every other child the Executioner enslaved in Mushroomland?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it seems like The Pillar was a man, enslaved by the Executioner as a kid in Colombia at some point,” I say. “Even though the whole timeline is messed up, but it still seems to me the Executioner tortured The Pillar as a kid.”
“You’ve got it all wrong.”
“Maybe it’s you who is lying and made it all up.” I want to believe The Pillar isn’t that bad. I really want to.
“You don’t get it.” The Chessmaster’s eyes flutter. “The Pillar used to meet the Fourteen in a secret place underneath Oxford, in the kitchen. There is a reckless cook called Chopin who accidentally chops off people’s fingers. He’s even chopped his own finger once.”
“So?”
“The Pillar once caught him eavesdropping. They had a fight. Chopin escaped, and chopped off The Pillar’s two fingers on the way out.”
“You expect me to believe this story?”
“I don’t expect anything from you.” The Chessmaster’s eyes fling open with all the power left in him. “It’s you who is blind. It’s you who wants to believe The Pillar is a good man. Can’t you see?”
“No, I can’t,” I say. “I’ve never seen The Pillar want to mass murder people. It’s the monsters like you I come across each week who do this.”
“What if I can prove it to you?” The Chessmaster grips my arm. His need to tell me something far outweighs his weakness to the poison he’s just gulped.
“What is it?” Something tells me I don’t want to hear it.
“Say my name,” he demands.
“Pardon me?”
“Say my name, Alice.”
“Okay, if that’s your last wish. You’re the Chessmaster.”
“Not that name.” His grip tightens. “My real name.”
“Ah, that. Your Russian name,” I try to recall it. “What was it? Yes, your name is Vozchik Stolb. Why?”
“Can’t you see what my name means?”
“I’m not into Russian.”
“Vozchik is a rough Russian translation to the word Carter in English,” he begins, and the world begins to dizzy again. “Stolb means…”
“Pillar,” I finish it for him. “You’re one of the Fourteen.”
“Yes,” the Chessmaster winces. He is determined to tell me though. “That’s why I told you I made sure he dies. I split my soul into two with the Cheshire’s help. He is after the one in London, not knowing I exist.”
Even though I’m shocked I have to bring the Chessmaster the bad news. “I’m sorry, but you really underestimate The Pillar,” I tell him. “Do you really think he didn’t know who you are? The Pillar planned this all along. That’s why he left for London, and paved the way for me to kill you here.”
The Chessmaster’s dying eyes are in flames, shocked to hear about the genius Pillar, who has fooled him, me, and the world. I am as shocked as him, having finally tied the knots of the puzzle. Who is this man called Carter Pillar, and why is he doing this?
“What are you telling me?” the Chessmaster says.
“I’m telling you if there is one man who played Chess with God and won, then it’s not you, but The Pillar,” the words escape me, and I’m not sure what to think of The Pillar. Maybe the premonition about me killing him in the future is real. Hell, it begins to feel like a must.
“Damn you Alice and The Pillar!” The Chessmaster let’s go of me, as I stand up.
I prefer to have him at my back. There is no point into being sentimental. I’m a bad girl who is determined to do good things and save the world from the worst kind of evil. To do so, I have to make choices like killing a man I may have once hurt — if it wasn’t The Pillar, and he just pulled my leg into the story somehow — to save so many lives. In my book it’s not who you were yesterday. It’s who you are today.
And though the tables have turned, the Chessmaster with his pain is the villain today, and I’m trying to save lives.
It’s a grey truth. Colorless, confusing, and borderline unethical. But it’s a truth that saves innocent people’s lives.
“Damn you, Alice!” The Chessmaster won’t give up before he dies, expressing his hatred toward me.
But I have no time for him. I need to find The Pillar, and in case he turns out to be that evil genius, I will have to believe in the future I kill him.
The Red, my guardian angel, stands before me and pats me on the shoulder. In his hands, I see my Tiger Lily.
Note: I knew it means much to you so I kept it safe. You did well, Alice. You did the right thing.
“Why are you sure?” I ask, hugging my Lily pot.
Because I believe in you. And look, the people in the world are awake. You helped them open their eyes. Maybe someday they will see how great you are.
“You think I’m great?” I ask. “Why do you believe in me so much? Who are you?”
I’m the one who will guard you until you grow old, become a mother and grandma with wrinkles on your face, and arthritis climbing on your back like a monkey.
“Not the best choice of words,” I chuckle.
It’s not about the words you hear, it’s about what you feel, Alice.
“Seriously,” I insist. “Who are you? Are you my future husband, trying to lean into my heart?”
The Dude doesn’t answer me.
“Wait. Are you Jack? Please tell me you’re Jack.”
The Dude doesn’t answer again, but pushes a sword into my hand.
It was Fabiola’s Vorpal Sword. It’s yours now.
“Who gave it to you?” I grip the sword with Fabiola’s blood fresh on it.
She is alive. She told me to give it to you. Now go get The Pillar, if he so deserves to die.
The Dude disappears into the crowd, cameras still flashing everywhere, TV spreading the news of the world having been saved, but no one mentions my name.
On my way out to find The Pillar, the Chessmaster insists on cursing me. This time, it’s a bit different. “Damn you Alice. Damn you… and your family.”
This cements my feet to the ground. “I have no family,” I say without turning. “Lorina, Edith, and their mysterious mother aren’t my family.”
The Chessmaster laughs through his coughing and last breaths. “Oh, lord in heaven. She doesn’t know.”
I hurl back and part the people in my space, stooping over his body, now on the ambulance’s stretcher. “What don’t I know?”
“You don’t know who your family is, Alice.” He says. “I thought you were playing me, but you really don’t remember your family.”
I pull him by the neck and near him, disgusted by the breath coming out of his foul mouth. “I have a family? A biological family, you mean?”