Planet Ignis | Ch. 8 (Patreon)

...most potent force that has shaped Ignian society has been the constant struggle to make do with limited resources. Both miners and monarchs daily use the fourth truth: ‘Melt two ingots with one fire.’

The essence of this principle is to make one think before acting to increase efficiency. Hence, I would suggest rephrasing the truth so that it isn’t so reductive and encourages further thinking. Sometimes it is possible to perform three, four, or even five actions with one move. My suggestion is quite simple. We can reword the fourth truth as follows: ‘Melt two or more ingots with one fire.’ The benefits will be plenty.

Consider...

From “A Proposal for the Review of the Nine Truths” by Trother, the Wise

After a few days of practice, Eli felt he had improved significantly at longevity chess. Trother would change the rules daily, keeping him and his classmates on edge. Sometimes he would make them play without one of the pieces. He would take the rooks away, for example. Other times he gave them more or fewer longevity stones. They already knew what each piece did once it burst and had practiced with each of them. Trother explained the rules for the day:

“We’re going back to fifty stones; today, all pieces can burst.” Children let out little squeals of excitement. Trother had insisted on only unlocking bursts for one piece at a time. Yesterday, it had been the blue king, the piece of the game with the highest roll. Each of its actions consumed at least ten Stones but could potentially flip the game and catch the opponent off guard.

“We'll add something new to the game today. We'll be playing with clocks.” Trother held up a simple device with two clocks, one on each end and a lever on the top. He proceeded to illustrate how to use the lever. He stopped for a second. He looked at the board. He then moved a piece, slid a longevity stone, and tapped the clock indicating it was his opponent’s turn. “You'll have thirty seconds for each move. In time, we want to whittle that number down to three. I'll personally play against each of you today. Shury, would you be so kind as to play with one of the children at a time just to even out the numbers?”

Shury nodded. Eli followed Trother with his eyes as he went to the teacher’s room at the back of the chamber. His first opponent for the day would be Zawa.

Eli's first opponent today was Bryner. He was an opponent who favored bursting earlier in the game to gain an advantage. Eli had the white pieces, so he went first. He tapped the clock, calmly flipped his blue king, and slid twenty stones to the right. “Emission. Your pawns.” This was one of the most powerful moves that could be made in the game. When the blue king emitted, the player who burst it could choose and destroy one of the opponent’s pieces. This meant that the player would lose all their pawns, rooks, bishops, or knights in one swoop. Bryner stared wide-eyed at Eli's opening move. Let him feel the pressure of being on the losing end of the stick, out of his comfort zone, Eli thought.

After removing all the pawns from Bryner’s side, as Bryner tried to think about how to turn the game around during the thirty seconds he had, Eli spared a glance at the other games. Xana and Zion were playing an uneventful game to his left. To his right, he noticed Shury playing against Arthur, one of the better players in his class. Arthur moved one of his pawns on a classic chess opening, slid a Stone, and tapped the clock. In one practiced fast hand swoop, Shury burst a knight and enhanced it, moving it four squares to the front and three to the left, sliding six stones and tapping the clock. Eli gulped. By Brodnir’s beard! Such speed. Such decisiveness. Arthur’s jaw dropped. Shury yawned.

After five minutes, Zawa left the teacher’s room in a daze. Whatever happened in the game had made the usually giddy and cheerful girl turn thoughtful and serious for the rest of that morning. Nevertheless, she came to wait for her turn in a game with another child. When Eli finished his game, he stood up, and Zawa took his place, facing Bryner. It had been an easy game for Eli. Bryner was caught off guard and lost the initiative. The game had been settled on the first move. The psychological blow had dealt more damage than Eli’s blue king’s emission.

Shortly after, Trother left his room, followed by his battery, strolled around the classroom, and checked all the games. He lingered a bit next to one or two games, leaving the players with a truth to think about before moving on. Eli had learned a few days earlier that the Nine Truths was a thought experiment by a queen of old. This wise queen tried to sum up all the wisdom she had obtained on longevity management and good judgment about when and how to burst into nine simple principles or truths. They had been so effective in educating children that soon they were included in curriculums at the collegiums. With time, these truths were refined by the following monarchs, yellows and lits. The Council often debated if any of these truths could be perfected. It had become such an integral part of Ignian culture that the Nine Truths had become amply used in Terminations, Rekindlings, weddings, and other ceremonies.

As Trother passed by Xana and Zion, he looked briefly at the game and then at each of the players’ longevity stones. He turned to Xana and uttered, “A flame spread is never dead.” Eli, who was waiting for his turn, observed with interest. At once, he understood Trother’s words. Xana was relying too much on her bishops instead of making full use of her other pieces. She had to spread her game a bit more. To Zion, Trother said: “Better to burst once true than twice blindly.” Eli didn't get why Trother had used this truth with Zion. Whatever the case was, both players had somber looks and had been moved by the words that Trother had left with them.

Trother had this effect on people. Whenever he spoke to someone, it felt like he could peer into your heart and perform surgery on your mind. Eli often felt dizzy and dazed for a few minutes after talking to his teacher.

Trother passed by the chessboard where Eli had won, which had already been reset, and then moved on to the teacher’s room, gesturing for Eli to follow him. Eli knew that as the only free player at the moment, he would go against his teacher next, and for him, the game had already begun. That’s why he had been in such a hurry to finish the game and reset the board as quickly as possible. He didn’t want Trother to look at his previous match and glean information on his strategy before their encounter.

Eli and his battery went into the teacher’s room. As Eli sat down, he noticed that Trother had already reset his game with Zawa and that Klya sat behind him, holding a cable that entered Trother’s arm. Eli looked at his arm, connected to an umbilical cord, and then at one of his Batteries, Fulia, who also burst for him. As Eli looked at Trother, he could see the smile in Trother’s eyes. You are not the only one who took care to reset the board before the other could see it, Trother’s eyes seemed to say.

By the flames, this old man was not someone you could mess around with. The word on the Burrows was that he was the best chess player of the tribe. According to rumors, only Brodnir stood a chance in a game against him. Trother picked the two kings, shuffled them behind his back, and held two closed fists for Eli to choose one. Eli chose the right hand. Trother opened it, revealing the white-blue king. Eli would go first.

Eli started his game the same way he had started it against Bryner. He flipped his king and slid twenty longevity stones. “Emission. pawns.” Trother grinned, excited. He didn’t even seem to look at the board as he unhurriedly started chatting with Eli.

“Bold move, little one. Burn the warmth for the greater heat, is it?” Eli nodded. “How is the pain today, child?” Eli gulped. His stomach rumbled.

“It’s fine, sir. I think it has stopped worsening. I am trying to get used to it, and I find that playing helps to distract me.”

“I am not talking about the pain of hunger, little one.” Trother smiled compassionately. “I am talking about the pain that hasn’t stopped growing. The pain of guilt.” He knew, Eli realized. Of course. The batteries. They reported to him. How had he not thought of that? Trother had always known of Eli’s lapses and that he had disrespected the suggested portion of food several times. From that, his teacher understood that Eli had been burdened with guilt. Why hadn’t he talked to him sooner, then? Why had he waited so long?

“First, I want to commend you on how well you’ve done this week. I thought longevity chess would help you keep your mind out of pain. It helps me too, you know.” As Trother said this, his hand went up to his heart and stayed there. Eli didn’t understand.

“You know, Eli, you are just a child. You will make mistakes along the way, as we all have. As we all will. It’s part of being human. Like in chess, though, rarely does one move make you win or lose the game. You can always rise and strike back at the problem! Check!”

Trother smiled, looking down. Eli froze. When did the old man play? He hadn’t noticed anything. When had Trother moved his pieces? Trother had flipped both of his rooks and had slid fourteen stones. He had also burst his AI and knight, sliding six stones plus four stones. “Rook enhancement,” whispered Eli.

It took a few seconds for Eli to piece together everything that had happened while he wasn’t looking. The rooks’ special ability was that if you enhanced both of them in response to an opponent’s emission, it would be blocked. What made this move so powerful was that you could do it during the opponent’s turn, not wasting a move. One of the AI’s burst abilities was to give one extra square of movement to other pieces.

Trother combined the AI and the knight’s burst to check Eli’s king on the first move. Eli would lose the game this turn if he didn’t do anything about it. Eli stared at the board, then at his teacher. Then at the board again. Trother had even given thought to letting a little gap between each group of his longevity stones so that Eli could piece together what he had done.

“It’s OK, child. You can turn this around. You haven’t lost the game yet.” Then Trother winked. “Few things waste more energy than excessive guilt.” Eli smiled and felt the pent-up guilt within him give way to relief. Eli felt for the first time the power of the word ‘father.’

“Now, Eli, future lit of the Burrows! Show me! Show me what you can do!”

Ch. 9