Chapter-1

"Which piece would you value more in the game of chess your king, queen or pawn", Joe asked Victor curiously while arranging the coins in chess board.

"Haah are you that dumb of course it's your King", said Victor with a dumbstruck look on his face as he continued.

"All the other piece are replaceable except the King if you can't protect your King you loose the game."

As Joe heard that he chuckled a bit thinking that's more like what Victor would say like it was so obvious.

Victor noticed that and it kind off rubbed him in the wrong way. So in a condescending tone Victor questioned Joe.

"Then what piece do you pick?"

Joe with a smirk on his face without any hesitation he answered.

"The pawn, yes you need to protect the king with all you got but protecting the King alone won't win you the game."

Victor was not expecting this response as he thought he would either say the Queen or Rook even a knight or a bishop which is of more value than the pawn.

"Of course you need to be offensive too but that doesn't justify your reasoning for picking the pawn."

Joe replied, "The Pawn is the only piece which played right could become any other piece a 1 point pawn could become a 9 point queen."

"Heh Still couldn't become the King", said Victor sarcastically.

"You're missing the point here, see the path to becoming another piece is not easy for the pawn you need to risk a lot just like in life I go by bigger the risk bigger the reward." He paused for a second and looked at Joe and continued saying,

"Well you could still go the risk free route by playing safe and not taking any risk if that's what you want that is!"

Victor consciousness slowly returns with the thought of why was he reminded of the past now at the back of his mind as he tried to figure out the situation he was in right now.

The room was white as snow. His thoughts turned dark and obscene as he couldn't remember anything from the previous night. He couldn't figure out whether it's day or night, there wasn't a window.

Where am I? Why am I tied up he whispers to himself. Still in a dreary state he tries to clear himself up, but the first thing he notices is a glass of wine and next to it was a laptop with a video paused in it.

There is a Masked man wearing a dress seemingly well built in the paused video. He couldn't find much more details, the background was white similar to the room in which he's trapped. Yet a thought just passed his mind what if he's being monitored from another room similar to this maybe the guy in the video is the one who's responsible for this. With that in mind he gazed over the room without any sudden moments to check out for hidden cameras. Alas there was not much he could do while being tied up. He tried to break free but he couldn't muster enough strength to break free with no other choice in had he drags himself to the laptop and plays the video. With a few seconds of loading the man in the mask starts talking.

" Hey it's me…. Victor, you might find it difficult to recognize me with the mask and all but trust me I know you well enough of who you are…." he said in a cheeky way.

"Trust him! This guy is full of himself expecting him to trust in this situation is just laughable" Victor thought while trying to figure out who it was even though he clearly knows that guy's voice is also filtered in the video which cut his opinions further.

"Let's say that I'm Mr. X for now, if you have amnesia regarding the incidents of the night after work, well I did a bit of work just in case, point is I drugged you haha…, why go through all that you ask, just so that we could play a small game, have some fun and it's simple too you complete 3 tasks that you're given and you get all the answers for your questions it's a win-win situation and everyone gets what they want, now I guess you already figured out the first task in hand." Victor looks at the cuffs in his hand and back at the laptop.

"I'll give you a clue for the keys it a simple quote understand that and the key is all yours", he said in the video and then follows up with the quote.

" People always portray a facade on the outside but there's always a hidden dark side underneath the surface when the facade dries up the darkness escapes! Now let the game begin."

The video cuts to an end abruptly.

Victor state of mind doesn't seem to be affected by any of it. He maintains his calm demeanor.

" Ahhhh….. someone is trying to pull a hard prank on me but drugging me is taking it too far though is it someone from work and what was that horrible attempt at poetry even I could do better", he thought.

He growls and starts thinking about the what Mr. X tries to convey but alas he couldn't figure out much. With a dejected look on his face he looks at the laptop and sees his own reflection but something caught his eyes on the side. It was a glass of wine.

" The wine looks nice let's first have a glass then clear my mind first " , he said as he drinks it but something hits his mouth. It's a key. He grins at the sight of it as he unlocks the cuffs and unties himself from the chair.

" Hmm now that makes sense, but still bad attempt a poetry ", he thought as he stretches himself trying to relieve all the fatigue and pump up.

A beep sound occurs. " Now what! ", he exclaimed but sighs and moves on to the next video of the playlist.

Mr. X is shown with a party popper. He congratulates Victor and pops it up.

" You cleared your first task…. Just two more simple task like this and everything will be over….Easy peasy", Mr. X said that and laughs off but the video doesn't end there after a short pause his tone changes as he said, " Just kidding there's a bomb in this house."

Victor goes " Say what …!"

" It gets triggered when the cuffs are unlocked. So find the bomb and play the next video… the real fun just begins." Mr.X laughs excitedly and says in a low voice good luck as the video ends.