a match in the dark

a ghastly … prospect ... the ground torn open before him a wound in the earth that called to his dark heart pulled on his better judgement like lead ... warm, the darkness - warm and peaceful, if but a plunge away he turned back around to the giant chess board it's alternate squares dancing - monochromatic patchwork of fealty and fate with just seven solid forms left atop it only two were his, King and Pawn hopeless barter for the formidable Whites - King, Knight, Rook, Pawn and yes, the opposing Queen - bound on all sides, with but a last gasp due … he glanced behind him at the crevasse the torn black gape smiling at him whispering, tender: "all is lost, give yourself to the grim dispassion soft and irenic, that which waits - rest ... rest, and deep, deep abiding sleep" ... Death waited on both sides, like cold bookends though the gash in the ground offered painless silence, (and the expunging of all his misdeeds) not so, the black-winged specter he faced in strategy ... THAT end would be assuredly excruciating … he looked once more to the abyssal hole reaching back with one leg as if to dip his toes in a puddle, dark … cold then drew up to the board and made his move ... the sacrifice had worked, you see and in his rush to take the Black Majesty Death had been negligent - one oddly careless act and the man moved his pawn to crown it the final move was not required - "sauce for the goose" … Death put his head back and screamed to the sky a scream that stabbed the marrow as if heaven cared for his pitied displeasure … he looked at the man briefly then wagged his index finger with a wry grin it transformed to a feather as he did so the rest of his digits followed and slowly … torturously, he came to his full form - a raven - so black that it devoured all the light around it … the massive, ragged bird shuffled its talons to the board knocked over its king with disgust and flew into the yawning fissure in the ground swallowed by the black earth that closed in behind it and there, in the dark soil and ash a tiny green sprout ... of life.