Novel Games Novels & Stories

They were bound by a secret past that should never come to light. The most dangerous game had just begun.

“Open it.” Nico reached under the console and withdrew a velvet-lined box. The same one that was on the screen. He set it on the table and flicked the clasp. Inside, a single chess piece lay on its side: a knight, carved from onyx. Beside it was a folded slip of card. He slid the card to Nero. Nero opened it with a thumb, eyes flicking once across the line. “‘Check,’” he read aloud, the word drained of surprise, of anything but cold interest. “Cute,” he added, turning the card around to see if there was anything on the back.

And there was one cut near his eyebrow that looked like it hadn't even healed yet. My stomach twisted painfully. God, I'd done that. Or at least part of it. The memory of our last fight hit me like a sucker punch. Last Friday at the bonfire, both teams went at it again. This time, it was Craig who had slept with one of the Warriors' girlfriends. The guy confronted him, and it all went down from there. It was like a thing now, where the boys just slept with the other's girl or sister just to taunt them. The Warriors did it to us, and we did to them. It was like a sick game that, of course, usually ended in some kind of a fight.

Aria The neon sign of the hourly motel buzzed erratically outside the window, casting a sickly green glow over the peeling wallpaper. I didn't care about the grime. I didn't care about the rain leaking through the window pane. I only cared about the black titanium drive sitting next to my portable terminal. My fingers were flying across the mechanical keyboard, the rapid-fire clicking the only sound cutting through the damp room.

“I don’t want you going anywhere alone.” “I’ll be fine. Please.” Taylah insisted, her hands clenching the flower crown as she walked away. Meanwhile, on the other side, Ivano’s expression turned cold. “Find out why they’re here.” The man beside him nodded and handed over a tablet, explaining the situation in their company. “Phenomenal Games has been promoting their new game, which hasn’t even been released yet. On top of that, it looks very similar to ours and I doubt that they’ve copied our new game—they’ve pirated our theme.”

My heart was failing but it was at those moments, I felt a strange peace within myself. This is what death feels like… it’s very lonely. AUTHOR’S NOTE Hey readers, if you have gotten this far in the chapter, congratulations because you have finished the first book series of A Game of Chess: Queens to King.

Prologue Kitty was nervous. She was sitting on one of the long cushioned benches in front of HR. The random sound of keyboards clacking inharmoniously and mouse clicking added to it. Today was her interview at West Enterprises, a relatively new company headed by Alexander West, the owner of a vast five-star hotel and land corporation chain across the country. Kitty didn't know much about him: other than his money, and recently his good looks.

Truly free. Once upon a time, she stuck to a strict bedtime of 10:00 pm. Now, her schedule had completely flipped. Whether it was late-night gaming or binge-watching dramas—nothing was off-limits. Recently, a new video game based on classic literary works had taken the market by storm, gaining massive popularity both domestically and internationally. Angela, who had never touched a game in her life, decided—out of pure patriotic support for domestic products—to buy and download the game. Then, with a snack cart in tow, she entered the gaming room she had never once stepped foot in.

She didn't have any close friends either and slowly as time passed she became a 27 years old who stayed at home most of the time playing on the computer or reading in her library at home. Like any other day, Su Lan was lying in bed watching her favorite drama until she received a phone call. She picked up her phone and answered only to get hollered at by her mother once again with a bunch of questions like: "when are you going to get a job", "why don't you head out", and etc. After an hour of the same routine everyday she finally managed to get off the phone call. Getting in a grumpy mood she grabbed the bag of chips next to her and saw an ad on her computer. The title of the ad was "the mys