Prompt #67: Board Game

I am the white king. I am part of some game which I do not completely understand, but I can gather some hints from the people who play this. It involves 32 white and black pieces that are slowly moved around the board, and sometimes these humans take quite a long time to move us. If a piece comes in contact with another piece of the opposite colour, then that piece is removed from the game. The objective of this game is for a piece to capture the king of the opposite colour, and after that all of the 32 pieces are reset back to their original places. It does make sense why kidnapping the king ends up winning the game for one player, since kings are the most important people who rule over their territories with either an iron or velvet fist. It’s just that after so many games played involving me, and so many victories and defeats as a result, I have started to ponder on one simple question: what is the meaning of my existence?

I mean I represent a king in this game, but am I really a king? For starters I’m aware that a real king can travel wherever he pleases, whereas I lack the ability to move freely. Occasionally one person will pick me up and place me on another tile next to the tile I was previously on, but that hardly makes up for it. Also an actual king at times of war commands his troops and they obey without question, while if I bark out an order all of my soldiers will remain perfectly still and silent. Only the humans that control us have the skill necessary to direct my men into battle. In one of my fits of blistering rage I shouted at the humans, “What gives you the authority to control my troops over me?” The only response from these humans is absolute silence. It’s almost as if they can’t hear me, or are pretending to be deaf to my complaints.

In the end my only desire is to be free of this infernal, repetitive game and from my human masters who have the gall to control my men and me. I have heard from these humans of a place called “The Moon”, which is very far away and has rarely been visited by anyone. That’s it, if I can find out a way to get to this moon, then I could really enjoy absolute freedom. I’ll be able to build a province to my liking, command soldiers just the same as real kings, and possess infinite power within the borders of my realm. But alas I am unable to move from my current position on this board, so it is only just a dream which probably won’t come true. Maybe I was made to be played by the higher powers above, in their possibly infinite games. In the end of the day and potentially forevermore, I will always be the white king being controlled by greater powers.