Note: Hope you all had a good Christmas! And I also just passed 100 reads when this goes out, so thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy the upcoming chapters :D

Tia's POV

The chess game had been going on for an hour, and the only two casualties had been Nilesy from Ridge's side and Ravs from my side. Ravs had been killed by Minty, who seemed to be satisfied with killing her rival in the competition between the two pubs-the Captive Creeper and the Crooked Caber. Aiming her dark matter sword, it took just a few slices of her sword to slit his neck slowly so that he dropped to the floor by the time she moved onto his body. 

Eyeing the board carefully, I inspected the players and their positions. The only one who was free was Simon, my bishop. But the only place I could put him that would make him safe would be for him to kill Lewis. And that was the last thing I wanted. I could see him in the corner of my eye, looking over at his best friend and partner, the two heros exchanging torn and accepting faces that made me want to curl up in a ball and cry. But there was no where else to go, since if I passed my go, Ridge would move Sips and kill Sjin. There was no way to save Sjin, and he knew that. I was trapped in a corner. Who did I decide to kill off-Sjin or Lewis?

"I'll make you a deal, Tia" Ridgedog says quietly, observing the board with sick glee, sensing my distress at the trap. "You win the game, I let you see your friends on a weekly basis. You lose, and I torture the scientist until he's begging for death in front of you. If you choose not to make the deal, then I torture the dwarf and his spaceman friend, as well as the scientist." Grinding my teeth together, I want to throw my hands in the air in anguish. 

How did he always manage to take an already bad nightmare and make it agonisingly worse.

"Deal" I reply. Now what? I think, looking down at the board. I look over at Simon. I look over at Sjin. Both of them are looking at me. They know I have to move one of them. "Tia" Sjin says gently, ignoring the dirty look Ridgedog gives him. "Just let Sips kill me. Please, I don't want to do this anymore." Nodding, I shut my eyes, a tear sliding through the lid. "Skip" I whisper.

"Sips, I believe you know where to go..." Ridgedog says, and when I open my eyes, I am not suprised to see his sick, evil grin plastered on his face, stretching into his cheeks. The grin widens as Sips slowly strides forward, lifting up his weapon-a spear. He blinks at Sjin, opening his mouth to say something, before shutting it. His bottom lip trembles as he tightens his grip on the spear and painfully slowly slides it into the soft flesh of Sjin's stomach.

The architect is smiling a little, and I know he is relieved that he won't have to witness another death. When the spear digs into him, his smile falters a little, eyelids flickering open before shutting them again. Sips takes it out of him, and I can sense him trying to resist the force Ridgedog is using to make him do this. Ridgedog just sighs impatiently, before making Sips shoot forward, ripping the blunt metal up his chest. 

Finally, Ridgedog gets what he wants. Sjin screams. The scream makes every hair on my body stand on end, and I turn around instantly, blocking my ears. But no one could block out the sound of Sjin's wails and screams, and the slow, tender ripping noise of flesh being torn off the bone. And, even more chillingly, Ridgedog's manic laughter, echoing off the walls. When Sjin finally stops screaming, I see why when I turn round. The spear has entered his neck and his eyes roll into the back of his head as he collapses onto the spearhead, disappearing into pixels. 

Sips is bawling, silent sobs racking his body, and, mouth trembling, he utters the same words over and over again, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I love you, i'm sorry..." Sjin's screams still ring in my ears, and I rub my ears trying to make the haunting noise leave me alone. Most people on the board are crying now, even stern, serious Rythian is trembling, eyes shut. 

When Ridgedog has stopped laughing, he sneers at me. "Your turn" he snickers and I glare at him wordlessly. "You're a monster." I whisper and he just smirks at me. "I hope you rot in hell!" I yell, before making the move I had been planning for a while now. "Zoey, move forward four. Check on Rythian." Ridgedog's grin fades and he frowns uncertainly at the board. He was stuck. The only way he could get out would be...

Oh no.

No.

"Wait! No! I withdraw that move!" I yell. Ridgedog catches on quickly, his evil grin rising onto his face. "No backsies!" he laughs. "NO!" I yell, flying forward to drag Zoey back, but Ridgedog floats forward and pushes me backwards. "Rythian, go kill your apprentice for me" Ridgedog snickers.

Forcing Rythian forward, he shoves him till he is directly in front of his red headed apprentice, who seems to be confused at the whole thing. "You sick twisted B******D!" Rythian roars, muttering spells quickly trying to battle Ridgedog's supernatural force. But it's not enough. He is forced to raise the Kattar in his hand, and slice it sideways, cutting off Zoey's robotic arm just where the metal meets the skin, the same arm that was blown off when the nuke hit the base. She screams, throwing herself on the floor, clutching the stump on her arm desperately. "STOP IT!" his voice thunders, cracking in the middle as he sobs and stabs his apprentice again in the stomach, making her scream turn into a whine, sobbing into the floor, blood flowing in a steady pool around her body. "TIA CALL OFF THE DEAL!" Duncan cries out, watching his crush getting tortured. "CALL IT OFF!" Rythian roars. "NO!" Simon yells, mouth trembling. "DON'T DO IT!" Hannah cries, reaching out to Lewis who has screwed up his eyes, tears slowly sliding down his cheeks.

I look around at everyone quickly, torn. What the hell did I do? If I called off the deal, Simon, Lewis and Duncan would be tortured. If I let the game continue, Zoey would be killed. But I couldn't just float here and watch Rythian torture his lover, the only one who he ever loved. I can already see the insanity clouding his eyes as he watches his beloved bleed to death on the now red quartz.

"The game continues" I decide finally. With one final blow of Rythian's kattar Zoey is no more, and she floats away to join the rest of the dead players. Rythian looks up at me slowly. His eyes are so chilling, his flat, dead expression so menacing, I want to dive behind Ridgedog, and turn him into a demigod shield. But what scares me even more is the fact that I could meet his gaze calmly. What the hell was happening to me? Had I finally become insane? My eyes drop to Duncan's, who is staring at me, his face contorted as if he was being stabbed. In the heart. "Why?" Duncan cries, trembling.

"I would rather Zoey died to live again and heal quickly than watch three of my best friends be tortured for eternity and die to never come back." I say quietly. Duncan's face crumples, and he looks down trembling, but I know he understands. 

Looking down at the board, I bring my focus back to the game. Moving Martyn forward, I brace myself. I couldn't see any casualties coming up with this move. My eyes dart around the board, looking for ways to just win the game and get it over and done with. That's when I notice something. Martyn is blocking Rythian. "Check on Rythian" I mutter and Ridgedog nods, face screwed in concentration. "Rythian, kill Sparklez." "Simon, move forward two.  Check on Rythian." "Rythian, kill Sam." 

That's when I see it. 

My eyes light up excitedly. "Hannah, move forward three. Check on Rythian." The only places he could move was in front of Duncan, which would be checkmate, or to another space, which opened up a gap for Simon to take down the obsidian bishop. This would mean Ridgedog would move in to kill Martyn and check Duncan. But that also meant I could move Hannah up, and it would be checkmate.

Ridgedog look down at the board doubtfully. "Rythian, move up one." I hide the grin behind my hand. "Simon, take out that obsidian guy." He does so obediently with his pickaxe, glad it wasn't a real person he was killing. Ridgedog opens his mouth, looking at Sips, about to tell him to kill Martyn. My heart pounds. This could be it! This could be the end of the game! 

Then he stops.

His face slowly lights up, his eyes twinkle, and his smile slowly rises back onto place. Oh god, I think, my stomach lurching. What did I miss? Swallowing, I watch him, fear rising.

"Lewis, move forward and kill Simon."

P.S. Merry Christmas :D