Pounding. Blurriness. I rub my temples slowly. Doesn’t help. My head’s all over the place. Like it’s been trampled mercilessly. Like it’s crashed it’s contents. Like it’s been swallowing waves. Waves of darkness.

Pieces of memories haunt me. Shattering glass. A dark chess board. A pacing girl. A wake of darkness. Knees buckling. Unblinking stillness and then… screaming. But more than anything? Fire.

Razing.

Burning.

Consuming.

Lung-destroying.

Huge walls of fire.

I cry out. It sounds like a gasp.

“Finally. Awake.”

Somehow the words register. I blink rapidly, inhale long. But I don’t see anyone. Just darkness.

“How much do you remember?” The voice asks. Clear and sharp, like knives. I open my mouth slowly. Then I quickly close it.

How did she know? That my memories are everywhere? That I can’t remember anything? I can’t trust anybody. I know this at least.

“Who are you? Where am I?” I dodge her questions. But the words are strange. They don’t come out correctly. My tongue can’t move anymore. My throat’s dry as paper.

“I’m to reform you,” she says, tense and quick. “You were turned to stone. As punishment for your crimes. For a thousand years. Do you remember anything?”

The words stumble and tumble. And echo in my brain. Again and again.

But again, only fire. Only heat grabbing me tight. Only burning under my skin. Only screaming pounding my ears.

A thousand years. The words are cold. Strange. Numbing and false. But it explains the stillness. The long stillness.

“I don’t very well see,” I respond, faking calmness. My voice a bit better. I can barely see anything. Except the stillness. Except the chessboard. Except fire in my head. The same nightmare images replaying. Again and again. Again and again. “So tell me more. You can jog my memory. Who am I? What crimes did I commit?”

My goal is knowledge. I won’t cooperate. But I can’t resist. She seems to know everything. Everything I need to know. Still, nothing can prepare me. For the poisonous words. For the hard shock. For the blatant lie.

It must be a lie.

“You are Chess. You are a killer.”