Lord of the Gap

*Clomp clomp*

Our footsteps heavily echoed. Each step brought us across the checkboard land, closer to an actual lord of demons.

My crystal heart was racing. Light pulsed quickly down my mana arteries. If that mysterious dark pressure wasn't bothering me before, it was now. The density was so strong that specks of black fluttered around, threatening to enter our lungs and suffocate us.

We were twenty meters from his throne. He had his head down, eyes closed, and was holding it up with his fist as if he were sleeping.

Big horns stuck out from the side of his head, both stretching outward with a spiral in their texture. Long black hair, clearly unkempt,  draped down to his shoulders. And grey skin like stone. He looked exactly like the guy who was in that vision I had. I figured that was the demon lord we were looking for.

It also confirmed that he'd somehow evolved from when he first sent us into the dream. Unfortunately, gone was the image of the scrawny looking guy. He looked much more muscly and healthy.

“Well, you lead us on quite a journey here.” Uncle was the first to speak to the demon.

The demon lord lazily looked this way, but remained silent. His red eyes were glowing with evil intent.

“Cat got your tongue?” Indena said to him, also pointing a thumb to Mella.

The demon lord closed his eyes again, and leaned back on his throne.

“You've awoken me from my rest,” his voice echoed in our minds. He must have been using telepathy to speak.

“Does the baby need his nap?” Indena teased. “Get over yourself. We're here to kill you and end this nightmare!”

His eyes shot open, harshly judging Indena with their red glow.

Suddenly she slammed against the floor, like someone had tackled her tiny body.

“Indena!”

I scrambled to hold her up. She had a bump on her head and was out cold.

Her face started to twitch like she was in pain, and her body was shaking. Tears flooded down from the thin gap of her eyelids. She was having a night terror.

“The nightmares have only just begun.”

“What did you do to…” I was interrupted by Mella pouncing my face and toppling me down.

“Silence!" Mella ordered, then started whispering. "We are in the presence of a god. Let the fire mage be an example of disrespecting him.”

She wasn’t turning on us, was she? Her eyes showed frustration, but her words spoke fear.

“He's the demon lord,” I reminded her.

“I know…” she whispered. “But while he holds this powerful domain over reality, we have no choice.”

She put a paw to her lips, quietly requesting I stay silent. I put trust in her, but I had a bad feeling…

She turned back to the demon lord. “With such a powerful domain, I regret not knowing your name, mighty divine.” Mella spoke.

“I am the Lord of Peor. Refer to me as Belphegor.”

-Demon Lord identified-

-Demon Lord Belphegor tagged; Foe-

That name made me shiver. This was the first time I’d ever seen a demon of this caliber. I’d seen the Reaper, but he was wild and unwilling to communicate. I’d seen minions of the night, but they weren’t nearly as strong as this one right here.

Belphegor was the real deal. A threat to the safety of humanity. He needed to be stopped, and I was the Exceed for the job.

I wasn’t alone. I had my friends and uncle with me. Together, nothing could stop us.

I needed to speak up. The mission was mine to command, so I had to take charge and announce our intent.

But what should I say to someone so powerful? Stage fright crept up, keeping my mouth from producing any words toward him.

“Uncle…” I whispered. “What should I say?”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” he asked, and I nodded. “Alright. He isn’t trying to kill us right now, so he’s somewhat willing to be reasonable. Be polite to him, but no need to compromise.”

I cleared my throat.

“Mr. Belphegor,” I started, making sure to keep a polite tone, “I’m afraid that my friend, who you just put under, is right. We’re here to take back the town, and send you back to Heck.”

His arms shifted around his throne arm rests, seemingly helping him get more comfortable. A slouching disposition made him appear not to care much for our motives.

“If all of you lay down and rest, I will allow you the most pleasant dreams. Ask me, and I shall grant it to you. All except for the bride. She will be my wife.”

Given that Yamin was in a black wedding dress, he had to have been referring to her with that bride stuff. I wasn't going to let "pleasant dreams" come at her expense. We were all getting out of here together.

“We can’t do that.” I announced. “We've been in this dream long enough, so it's time we got back to reality. All of us.”

“You have never left reality,”  he revealed. “What you see here is how I have changed the world.”

“What?!” I uttered in shock.

I knew demons could change reality, but to such a degree? This was insane. A city was one thing, but this corruption went well beyond that. He'd had several weeks to brew this terror, and that seemed to be enough for his domain to stretch pretty far. If we'd ignored this or took any longer to get here, how much worse would this have gotten?

This is what I was made to fight against. I had to remember that. But it was scary, because I might be all that stands in the way of these demons and humanity.

“Mella, is this true?” I turned to her. "Did he really take over everything?"

“When a divine being creates a domain, they control everything within it. The more powerful they are, the more they can change it to their liking.”

“But we can change it back, right?”

Mella put her head down and a paw to her mouth, clearly deep in thought.

“I don’t know. Normally it never gets to this point.”

Indena was grunting, starting to come back to us. “Some help you are…” she growled. “If this is what the world looks like now, whatever. But I don’t want this guy leading it.”

“Right.” Marek nodded. “He’s not a good leader if he just selfishly takes the role for himself.”

I was worried that their slandering would offend him again, but he just lazily stared at us.

“If all of you believe you can stop me, especially you…” he looked at me and let out a disgusted noise from his real mouth, “...then I accept this challenge. But you are in my world now, and I am god. The rules are mine to make.”

He stood form his throne. Powerful red waves of energy radiated from his hands.

The checkerboard pattern on the ground stretched out far and wide. Each section was 40 by 40 meter squares, all laid out across an 8x8 board.

Belphegor was at the other end, but we could still communicate with him through telepathy.

“We'll play chess. A game I’m quite fond of. Beat me, and this world will be returned to man. Lose, and all your souls are mine.”

Chess is a complicated game. I’m surprised such a lazy demon liked to play it.

“Alright, I’m not smart,” Indena said. “What’s the difference between chess and checkers?”

Uncle explained that the point of chess was to claim the other sides king using a host of pieces, each with their own unique movement mechanics.

Speaking of which, different outfits suddenly materialized over all of us.

Yamin had a glowing tiara on her head, while Marek had a silver crown. She was the queen, and he was the king. Both had really decorative outfits, much like royalty would.

Uncle was clearly the knight, because he still had his armour on.

Indena was the bishop. Her little robe had a cross symbol on it.

“What am I wearing? I look like a josser!”

I guess she didn't like it as much as me. I thought the little robes were cute on her.

I'm not sure what I was supposed to be, but by process of elimination, I must have been the rook. What is a rook, anyways?

My uniform looked like something a gladiator would wear, even complimented with the big crest of purple. According to my inventory, this outfit was called Ancient gladiator armour.

And last, but hopefully not least, a few of the men that Yamin saved appeared as our pawns. They were in slummy looking outfits, tattered and ripped all over. But they each had a basic metal sword and shield.

Any other pieces that didn't have one of us to take them were supplemented with ones that looked like oversized versions of actual chess pieces. So since I was already a rook, the second rook on our side just looked like a statue of the real thing. 

I zoomed in my telescopic vision to see the demon's side of the board. He had a lot of demons mixed into his ranks.

Night hags were the pawns. Ones riding in chariots pulled by giant chickens were rooks apparently.

Nephilim were the knights. They were wearing military jackets and green helmets.

His bishop was…it might have been a Nephilim, but it was wearing white robes and a mask that looked like an old bearded guy. He almost looked like a thin Santa Claus, but the mask made him look especially uncanny. Very weird...was he supposed to be some kind of wizard?

Of course, Belphegor was the king, but he didn’t have a queen.

“Our battle will end once I have either captured the queen, or you have defeated me.” Belphegor said in our minds.

“Any other rules we should know about?” Uncle asked.