Checkmate

Chapter 1: The Game of Life

A raven-haired male was sitting next to his open window, staring at the scenery. The scenery... well, it was quite unique that was for sure.

The blue, pinkish sky above them. The many large chess pieces scattered around the place.

And the different kinds of towns which all were unique in their own ways. Soraru didn't know any of them but even from afar, he could see where one town would start and where one would end.

It had been one day ever since they had been brought here and honestly, Soraru couldn't believe that this was actually true.

"Do you like it?", a familiar childish voice suddenly asked as the raven-haired male flinched slightly upon seeing the red-blue-haired boy floating upside down in front of him.

"Oi... don't appear out of nowhere, Oz.", Soraru scolded him as the child merely giggled before turning himself that he was not sitting upside down anymore. "Alright~ Just because I like Sora-nii then!", Oz chirped as the raven-haired male rolled his eyes.

Now that Soraru got a good look at him, the boy's appearance seemed quite unique. His red hair with blue tips and his eyes which were blue and red stood out, even more with the plain black hoodie and shorts that he wore. His sneakers were in different colors just like his eyes.

(A/N: Thank you, Galaxy-nyan, for drawing beautiful art of Oz and helping me choose an appearance for him!)

"What do you want?", the raven-haired male asked as the boy put a finger on his cheek as if he was thinking of what to answer.

"Well, I was checking up on everyone and saw you just staring at everything like you had nothing better to do so I thought I might give you some company!", Oz exclaimed before he noticed how Soraru was moving to close the window.

"Ah, sorry sorry~ How about I tell you about the different kinds of towns in this world that you were looking at? Take it as an apology!", the younger male exclaimed as Soraru sighed but nodded. "Alright. Shoot."

"Okay~! Hm... what first what first~ Ah! You see that forest over there? That's Emerald Forest! My good friend, little red riding hood lives there! She is always playing around with her friend, Okami-chan!", Oz said as he pointed towards a forest on the right side.

"A lot of witches live there too! But they're all really fun! I love taking their potions and see what they can do together with Cheshire-chan!", Oz told him as Soraru raised his eyebrow.

"Little Red Riding Hood? Okami? Cheshire? Aren't all of those characters of fairytales? Now that I think about it... Oz was also a character from that one tale, right? What was it called again...", Soraru thought to himself.

He wanted to ask the young boy about it but seeing the boy's enthusiasm, it seemed like Soraru would have to wait a while longer.

"Oh, Sora-nii! You see the one right next to it? The one which is dark and looks like it's night even though you can clearly see that it's still day? That's Ghost Town! It's a town where it's always night and actual ghosts live there! Many people like to go there to celebrate with each other and on Halloween, that place is really crowded!

It's really fun! Maybe we should play one of the levels there! Anyways, the next one is— Ugh...", Oz groaned as the older male raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What is it?", Soraru asked as the redhead sighed in response.

"You see those in-the-eye-hurting buildings over there which look like castles? That's Rosenreich. That's where the rich civilians live~ They are all so boring with their dance parties and their crocket games! If that is even the name~