To Save Your Life

To Save Your Life 7

To Save Your Life: Note VII

Page 31: Every Danger we Meet

As you and L approached the door, the shinigami girl flew after the two of you. Her wings were made of amazing golden feathers with black at the tips and small red spots as if stained with blood, yet they still held vast majestic beauty. Though with a marked touch of gothic darkness and revealing mischief, no one could deny that shinigami was unusually beautiful in a race where what was considered beautiful from a human's point of view was very rare.

In the next room, there was a small hill covered in soft green grass, it was an unusual shade of mint green. On top of the hill there was a small silver table with a chess board on it. The chess pieces were already set up, there were no windows on the diamond covered marble walls and no door except the one you used to enter the room. The ceiling was not of glass this time, it was a bright blue covered in sapphires. L approached the chess board. This was the first challenge. He moved a white piece and a black peace moved in response by itself.

You gasped as a number appeared floating above L's head and wondered if shinigami saw something similar. But this number was rather small, a ten. "L there's a ten above your head, a seven by now."

L looked up and saw the floating number. He moved another piece and the number was reset to ten. "I see, so I only have ten seconds to move." He observed the game. It didn't really frighten him, if anything it calmed him. He remembered playing chess with Mello and Near in the orphanage.

You remained quiet and watched. L was a genius after all, so he should be fine. The shinigami girl stood quietly at the door uninterested by the game. The chess game progressed slowly and you noticed that several pieces belonging to the invisible opponent were dangerously close to L's king, but he didn't seem affected by it. You weren't really an expert at chess, but you knew that it would end if his king was captured.

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It was L's move and he smiled. "I'll win this now." You wondered how he was going to do it. He didn't have any pieces close to the black king, plus the white king was surrounded and would be captured in the next turn unless L won. He moved the white queen and reached the black queen. "Check mate."

Water started to fall covering the opposite wall. When the water stopped, a door was there. The crystalline water flooded the room and the shinigami girl was now flying above it. Everything except the hill with the chess board was underwater. Then the water started to go down, as if the ground was rapidly absorbing it and the path to the door was left open. "How did you...?" You looked at L in confusion. Was this a different type of chess?

"This is the queen's castle. Capturing the opponent's queen with my queen was the most likely goal." Of course, it was a trick to make L think this would be played like the classic version of chess, but L didn't fall for it. Still, you had a feeling that the challenges would only get harder.

When you and L reached the next room, after going through a tunnel of rubies, you found yourselves in an active volcano. There was a path of large amethysts, aligned floating on the lava. Fireballs flew from one side of the room to the other, to and from holes in the walls.

"Looks like we have to jump." L observed the fireballs as you did. There was a certain pattern to them and if you missed one jump you would be trapped.

"I thought Persy was protecting us," you reminded L. "Was she tricked by her father?"

"Possibly, but if he wanted us dead he would have already killed us. He found a way around Persy's threats, he won't kill us, but he will injure us until we back down," L concluded.