chess

*thud*

*thud*

*thud*

footsteps echoed as a young with white hair red eyes and a handsome face but psle face, made his way towards a crystal table where a silute of a man with seemingly no face was sitting.

the young man took a look at his surroundings seeing nothing but the color white no matter where he looked,

he then turned his attention to his steps.

'a seemingly endless white space open in all directions... yet my footsteps echoes as if I was in an empty parking lot'

the young man rised his hand and examined his palm.

'a body that I have had my whole life, yet it feels unfamiliar'

the young man reached the crystal table and his gaze landed on the man sitting at it.

the man skin shone in a golden color and his face was covered in a light that made it impossible to see it features.

"Albus Vivian will you care to join me?" the man voice sounded strange to Albus ears, it sounded young and old, cheerful and saddened, unsure and confident.

Albus gaze returned to the table where which now had a second chair to it side and a chess board on top of it.

without saying a word Albus set in the second chair and regardless of the fact that his pieces were the black one made the first move.

"where am I?"

Albus asked the mysterious man.

"who knows"

the man matched Albus move and placed his pawn opposite of Albus pawn.

"am I dead?"

Albus made his second move by bringing his black horse in position that threatened the white pawn of the man.

in response to Albus question and move the man nodded slightly and moved his white horse to support his pawn.

"what do you want?" Albus moved his black pawn to stand next to the first one.

the man didn't reply right away instead opting to stare at the board for a while.

*snap*

thr man snapped his fingers and the white space they stayed in disappeared instead turning black.

*babam*

Albus heart rate sped up as he looked to his right.

"earth?...no it can't be...the stars don't match and it's to big" Albus narrowed his eyes as he looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar blue sphere in the distance.

*sigh*

"you are truly incredible.

yes this isn't the earth you know. you can think about it as earth twin brother in a way.

only that this one grow up in a slightly different place and circumstances"

the man finally made his next move by moving his pawn to black Albus advancing one.

"slightly?...this 'twin brother of earth ' is at least ten times the size if it's 'brother'" Albus continued staring at earth so called twin brother, completely forgetting about the game he has yet to finish.

"yes this planet once was exactly like your earth only that this one ahead the existence of mana" the man completely ignored the massive plant in the distance and kept looking at the chess board with his hand on his chin.

"mana? what's this?"

Albus returned his gaze to the man sitting opposite of him.

in response to Albus question the man rised his hand and pointed at the chess table.

Albus right eye twitched slightly, clearly displeased with the man infront of him.

after a moment of thought Albus made his move bringing another pawn closer to the center of the board.

"you can think of it as a energy of sort, one that can allow for the plant inhabitants to preform...miracles of sorts" the man said while looking at the board.

"is that so?...than way do you need me when you have excess to those 'miracles'"

the shock in Albus eyes vanished and his a

heart rate returned to normal as he looked at the man with an expressionless face.

"way do you think I need you?" the man tilted his head slightly as he posed his bishop forward.

Albus didn't answer the man question instead returning his gaze to the plant in the distance.

"this world its about to end. maybe in 10 years maybe in a 100 years maybe more but it's definitely going to end"

the man turned his gaze to Albus red eyes.

"I want you to save it" the man said.

"HAHAHHAHAHHA" Albus couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"ME? you want ME? to save this planet?" Albus kept laughing for a while until he finally calmed down.

"tell me. what can little old me can do that the probably trillion residents of this planet with their so called miracles can't do?"

Albus moved another piece on the board while looking at the man with a smirk on his face.

clearly he found the current situation amusing.

"yes...this people... their mindset is not fit to handle the threat that's approaching.

I want you to change their mindset, show them that the stronger doesn't always win" the man made a move of his own going on the offensive by attacking Albus pieces.

"why me?" Albus looked straight at the man completely ignored a the board.

"why you?... well let's see, maybe it's your incredible intelligence...maybe it's your mindset that I fi"

*slam*

Albus slammed his palm on the crystal table causing it to tremble, and misplacing all the chess pieces.

"The point, get to it. I hate when people waste my time" the man sighed and began putting all the pieces back where they were.

"so impatient. I chose you because I know you would do anything to escape your greatest fear" Albus didn't answer the man but his breathing became much faster.

"honestly I'm surprised that someone who spent more then half his life on the edge of death, will be so terrified of it"

even though Albus couldn't see the man face he knew that he was smirking at him..no he was mocking him.

"hu hu you got quite some nerve to mock me. after all you are far more desperate then me"

Albus finally made another move on the board by setting up an attack on the man pieces.

"you know my name, you know my fear and you even know how much I like chess.

which means that you are also aware of my past" a smirk appeared on Albus face as he saw the man hand begin to tremble.

"even though you are fully aware of who I am, you still chose me to save your home. I can't help but wonder why" Albus started to giggle arrogantly and the man hand began to tremble even more.

*crack shack*

the whole space around the two man began to tremble, and the crystal table started to crack.

"you don't like me much do you?" the trembling stopped after the man calmed himself down.

"no I dont" the man moved his piece back getting it to safely and strengthening his defense.

"I accept" the man body shock in surprise.

"your deal I agree. you give me my second chance at life and I will solve your little apocalypse problom" the man froze for a moment not sure how to react.

one moment Albus was mocking him and thr next he suddenly agreed to his deal without even knowing the details.

"aren't you going to tell me the details?" Albus moved his black horse and captured one of the man's pawns.

the man didn't say a word and simply snapped his fingers.

*snap*

a moment later two stacks of cards appeared on the table.

"are we playing poker now?" Albus asked sarcastically and picked up a card from the right stack.

"ahh?"

a gasp escaped Albus mouth as he looked at the card.

the card depicted a massive forest fire and a man standing in the middle of the burning forest as if commending the flames.

however it wasn't the card illustration that shocked Albus, it was the information that appeared in his head the moment he looked at the card.

[fire- the fire element is considered by most to be the most powerful and destructive element.

however such power doesn't come without a price for the fire is both defenseless and blind.]

Albus remained quiet for a moment.

"so that the source of your people 'miracles' mana...what an interesting thing" Albus eyes traced back to the board as the man infront had made another move.

"and soon it will be yours.

every one of thr people of my world is born with an affinity for one element of mana, however unlike them whose affinity is decided when they are born. you get to choose yours...aren't you lucky?" the man then pointed at the second stacks of cards.

"however that's not all. in addition to one element affinity the people here also receive one other thing, an ability of sorts unfortunately most of the abilities people receive are usually pretty...

unimportant like a stronger sense of smell or slightly stronger bones.

however there are some that can be very powerful, life changing"

Albus picked the first card of the top of the second stacks of cards.

the card illustration showed a man surrounded by a group of armed man.

the group continously attacked the man with swords and spears but the man continued to stay still and completely unharmed.

in fact it were the man's weapon that broke when they hit the man skin.

[diamond body - your body become as durable as diamonds causing normal weapons to be unable to pierce your skin]

"I think I understand...so you want me to look at all the cards and pick one affinity and one ability right?" Albus made another move on the board advancing towards the man's king.

"smartest.man.on earth" the man said sarcastically.

Albus rolled his eyes at the man's comment and began to pick the cards one after another memorizing the information on each of them.

as he started reading the information on the cards Albus suddenly froze and a big smile appeared on his face.

"those two" Albus presented the man with the two cards he had chosen.

"that's...unexpected, I thought you would pick something much more complex like an affinity for space or time.

but I think that suits you much better" the man picked up the two cards and threw them at Albus.

"!!!"

the two cards turned into beams of light that entered Albus body, causing him to feel a very weird sensation.

he felt like thier were millions of ants crawling under his skin.

thus weird sensation lasted for a couple of seconds and then disappeared.

when the sensation disappeared Albus closed his eyes trying to understand the changes that occurred in his body.

10 minutes

30 minutes

1 hour

during the time Albus had his eyes closed many strange things started to happen near him.

the board and the pieces on it began to float in the air a couple of centimeters from the table.

what's more a large number of different small animals began to appear out of nowhere.

spider began climbing the crystal table, weaving strings between the pieces.

a green mantis jumped onto Albus shoulder, only to be swollen by a frog that was sitting on Albus other shoulder which was then swallowed as well by a king cobra that had coiled itself around Albus body.

"incredible it has only been 1 hour and he has already this good at the basic application of!!!" the man's body tremble as he witnessed something that sould have been impossible.

a squirrel had made his way onto the top of the crystal table.

the squirrel looked curiously at the pieces floating in the air and reached his hands to grab them.

the squirrel took into his hands one of the white pawns and began nibbling it.

unfortunately the piece was made out of an extremely hard material, therefore the squirrel teeth were unable to pierce it.

the squirrel failure to bite through the pawn didn't stop the man from looking at it with trembling a body.

"impossible...wait is that why he picked that ability?" the man wishper to himself.

suddenly the pieces floating in the air fell back down onto the table, and the many animals that ran all around the space vanished.

"amazing, it feels like there is an extra set of veins running trough my body.

only that there isn't blood flowing trough them but sometimes else...mana?" Albus opened his eyes and marveled at the changes his body had experienced.

"if you are done examining yourself, it's time you examine yourself" the man said with mischief.