[ WP ] Two god-like beings , disguised as old men , play a game of chess on a park bench to decide the final fate of humanity . The players , however , are distracted by a couple seated across them ...

It's really long... and I do n't know how good it is. But here's my shot. 
 
 
 *** 
 
 A figure sat alone at the chess board under a mighty oak. Swathed in concealing black robes too hot for the summer day, his face entirely obscured by a smooth, round, red and white ceramic mask devoid of any features. The couple picnicking nearby did not seem to notice the anomaly. If they had seen him, they'd likely have died on the spot. Could they not sense the dread emanating from him? Or were they too absorbed with one another to notice the psychic miasma that hung around him? Perhaps they simply lacked the requisite sense. 
 
 She appeared at the edge of the park, walking toward the table. Blond hair, whimsical, brightly colored clothing. She took a seat across from the masked man. The couple again took no notice. 
 
 `` I'm surprised you came,'' the man said as he withdrew a box and began to place black pieces from it onto the board. 
 
 `` You should n't be,'' she replied as she began to set her own pieces on the board. 
 
 `` I admit it may seem… unorthodox. Perhaps a bit cliché. But in a way, I've raised the stakes, here. If you win, you wo n't just save them… you'll save everyone else in my future. And if I win, I wo n't just win this world, but I'll be rid of your incessant hounding.'' 
 
 The game was set. She took the first move and sat back, arms folded. 
 
 The man chuckled behind his impenetrable mask. `` What, no conversation? That's half the pleasure to this thing.'' 
 
 `` I'm not here for pleasure. I'm here to end this.'' 
 
 He sighed and moved a pawn into the center of the board. An aggressive move. `` You take the joy out of it.'' 
 
 `` There is no joy in this.'' She captured the piece. 
 
 He snapped forward, capturing her pawn with a well-placed bishop. She cringed. She'd made a rash move, and they both knew it. He'd gotten her unhinged. Her face assumed a calm demeanor, betraying no more than his mask. She made another move. More conservative, this time. 
 
 The couple to her left laughed at something one of them had said. She glanced over at them. He followed her gaze. 
 
 `` Oh, do n't be like that.'' He positioned his knight. 
 
 She moved her bishop defensively. 
 
 `` You're supposed to say'Like what?''' He maneuvered a pawn to threaten one of hers. 
 
 She defended with her knight, capturing the pawn. 
 
 `` My response, of course, is'the holy warrior,''' he continued as he captured her knight. Somehow she could tell he was smiling behind the mask. ``'Oh, look at me. I'm protecting these people. Even the least of them is more valuable in my blah blah blah.' Come now, Fateweaver. You and I both know those two are inconsequential. Moreso even than the worst-positioned pawn on this board.'' 
 
 She captured his bishop with her own. 
 
 `` They'll never amount to anything, not on their own,'' he said. `` Sure, they can nudge events one way or the other. Maybe create something more important than they themselves are. But they're expendable. You can do with purpose and precision what they do fumbling in the darkness of fate. Why do you care for them so?'' 
 
 `` You have forgotten.'' She moved her pawn to position for an advance by her queen. 
 
 `` There is much I have forgotten. Much I have relearned. That's not the point. You would n't die for them. I can see it in your eyes. You'd sacrifice them, if you had to. But you tell others that you do what you do for their sake. You're a hypocrite.'' 
 
 The woman on the picnic blanket stood, laughing, as the man stood to chase her. They ran by the players, and the woman reached out her hand, lightly brushing their wrists as they ran by. They did not seem to notice. 
 
 `` You're a sentimental fool at the same time, though,'' the man said. `` They're useless, but still you try to influence them. To improve an inconsequential pair of lives.'' 
 
 They moved several times more, each positioning for a strike. They found themselves in a deadlock. The couple chased one another around the tree, dodging the players by mere inches, weaving in and out between the board and the tree. 
 
 `` So which is it? Utilitarianism or sentimentality? You'll sacrifice these few for the sake of the many. Let me have this world. You have my word I will trouble none others. There, you will win. This world is a small sacrifice in the scale of what I have wrought, what I can wreak in the future, even with you to resist me.'' 
 
 `` You will have no more lives than those who must die to stop you.'' 
 
 `` Bah. As if you could stop me. I could snuff out the lives of those two… with a thought.'' 
 
 Shadows grew around the man. The couple shivered, looking around. Their gazes passed through the players. 
 
 `` Even you would not be able to save them,'' he said, his voice acquiring an unsettling monotone. 
 
 She moved quickly, knocking one of his knights over with her queen. The piece clattered across the board and fell to the grass. 
 
 `` Brash. You know what your problem is? You're impulsive. You should n't have come here. I could kill you where you sit. Only my amusement holds me back from destroying you. Oh, you'd put up a fight, but in the end…'' 
 
 He moved a bishop to capture her queen. 
 
 `` Tsk.'' 
 
 He looked up. Her finger touched a rook that threatened his king without the bishop there to block it. And over her shoulder, there was someone leaning against a tree. Watching them. 
 
 `` You little strumpet. You brought backup. I like you. Let's see this game through, shall we?'' 
 
 He put his bishop back in its place and captured her second knight. 
 
 `` You know, you're not unlike me. We both manipulate. We both sacrifice.'' 
 
 She took his rook. 
 
 `` Only our goals differ,'' he continued. `` Our methods are quite similar. Though you…'' 
 
 He took her rook. 
 
 `` You seem to enjoy sacrificing your more useful tools before they can see their true potential.'' 
 
 `` It's not about potential,'' she said softly as she maneuvered a pawn. `` It's about what's right.'' 
 
 The couple finally settled, flopping on the picnic blanket, laughter like the sweet song of a morning bird. 
 
 The man scoffed. `` Come now, you're far too old to believe in that. All of the worlds you've seen. The ones you've ended. The ones you've started. There is no right or wrong. There is only power.'' 
 
 `` And the one that has the most power determines what's right.'' 
 
 Anger crept into the man's voice. `` Be silent. You know not of what you speak.'' 
 
 `` I know very well,'' she said, her expression blank. `` You know fear. And you fear wisely, though you hide it well.'' 
 
 He took her second rook. `` Power is all that matters here. And you are nearly out of powerful pieces.'' 
 
 Behind her, the man watching them took on a desperate expression as he began to fade. He opened his mouth in a silent shout, then vanished. If she had noticed, she gave no indication. 
 
 They surveyed the board silently. She, with only her queen, her king, a knight and two pawns. He, with both rooks, a bishop and his king, though out of pawns. He was better positioned than she. 
 
 `` This game is over, Fateweaver.'' 
 
 She moved her knight. `` Check.'' 
 
 `` Fool.'' He took her knight using his rook. `` Check.'' 
 
 The couple nearby laughed again. She looked at them for a long moment. 
 
 `` You're stalling. Make your move.'' 
 
 `` Peace, devil. I will move when I am ready.'' 
 
 They were happy. It was written on their faces, on the fine lines and wrinkles around their eyes. The masked man was right, though. Their happiness was inconsequential, in the end. It was not unique. She recognized it because she had seen billions… trillions of people experience the same love. Many stronger than this. He was right. It was not special. They were not unique. Their love was as common as the grains of sand on the beach. It was in every way unremarkable to one who had lived as long as she had. 
 
 But it was sacred nonetheless. 
 
 She struck out with her queen, taking the threatening piece. It was the only option he had left her. He took it with his knight. 
 
 She moved a pawn to the final square. It morphed, the alabaster shaping itself into one of the rooks she had lost. 
 
 She sat back, with her hands folded in her lap. `` The game is over.'' 
 
 The man sat staring for a moment, verifying her claim. It quickly became obvious. She had positioned her remaining pieces in such a way as to cut off his king's escape. And his other pieces were out of position from capturing hers. 
 
 `` You know,'' he said, his voice acquiring that unsettling monotone again, `` I never intended to let you claim your prize if you won. I'm not very good at following rules.'' 
 
 `` I know,'' she said simply, regarding him with a blank expression. 
 
 `` Then you'll die knowing that you beat me.'' 
 
 The shadows began to grow around him again, this time thickening into a cloying miasma. The branches that hung down near them began to wither. The grass blackened around him. 
 
 `` I will,'' she said. `` But not today.'' 
 
 The shadows vanished. 
 
 `` What have you wrought, witch?'' 
 
 `` I'm not very good at following rules, either.'' 
 
 She lifted her hands from her lap. Minute threads appeared, running from her fingers to the couple on the grass. And from them, ran threads that encircled the cloaked man. 
 
 `` You…'' His voice dripped with hatred. 
 
 `` No one is inconsequential. And that is why you have lost this game for the last time.'' 
 
 The man twitched against the threads, but they held him fast. He snarled. 
 
 The woman stood, suddenly looming over him despite her slight build. 
 
 `` Checkmate.'' 
 

