Alexei didn't sleep.
Neither did Elena.
The image on the board remained burned into their minds.
A game three years in the future.
Sixteen players.
A hidden opponent.
And the name...
Viktor Markov.
Outside, Vienna slept peacefully.
Inside the hotel room, nothing felt peaceful.
Alexei sat at the table with the wooden bead between his fingers.
The monk had told him something great was coming.
But he had never imagined this.
Three years.
A game that hadn't happened.
An opponent who had disappeared decades ago.
And somehow...
Markov knew his name.
At four in the morning, Elena finally broke the silence.
"Do you believe him?"
Alexei looked at her.
"I don't know."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
He looked down at the bead.
"I don't believe him."
Elena nodded.
"Good."
Alexei looked up.
"Why?"
"Because the moment we start believing everything the board shows us..."
She paused.
"...we stop making our own choices."
Tal appeared near the window.
For once, he smiled.
"She's learning quickly."
Anya stood beside him.
"She always has."
Alexei looked at them.
"You knew Markov."
Tal shook his head.
"I knew of him."
"That's different."
"Very."
Tal walked toward the table.
"Viktor Markov was a brilliant player."
"How brilliant?"
Tal considered the question.
"Imagine someone who could calculate like a machine..."
"...but think like an artist."
Alexei frowned.
"Then why disappear?"
Tal's expression darkened.
"Because he became obsessed with the question of whether a game could be known before it was played."
Elena whispered,
"And?"
"He believed the answer was yes."
Morning arrived too quickly.
The players entered the tournament hall.
Alexei looked normal.
At least from the outside.
Inside, his mind was still trying to understand the impossible.
The tournament director announced the pairings.
Round Nine.
Alexei Volkov vs Wei Jian.
Elena Petrova vs Dmitri Sokolov.
Alexei looked at Elena.
Dmitri was waiting for her.
The defending champion.
The man who had already tested Alexei.
Now he would face Elena.
She smiled.
"Go play."
"So will you."
"Obviously."
Alexei's game was difficult from the beginning.
Wei Jian was one of the most technically precise players in the world.
No unnecessary risks.
No emotional decisions.
No weaknesses.
The game became a battle of patience.
Move twenty.
Equal.
Move thirty.
Equal.
Move forty.
Still equal.
The audience grew restless.
But Alexei wasn't.
He had learned.
Not every game needed to become a masterpiece.
Sometimes...
the masterpiece was surviving the temptation to create one.
Across the hall, Elena and Dmitri were fighting a completely different battle.
Dmitri attacked early.
Elena defended.
Then counterattacked.
The position became complicated.
Alexei occasionally glanced toward their board.
He saw Elena calculating deeply.
No fear.
No hesitation.
She had become stronger.
Not because she had changed her style.
Because she had stopped doubting it.
Move fifty-two.
Wei Jian offered a draw.
Alexei looked at the position.
He had a tiny advantage.
A very tiny advantage.
Months ago, he would have rejected the offer.
Today, he thought carefully.
The position was not winning.
He accepted.
Draw.
He stood.
And for once...
he felt proud of the half-point.
Then he looked toward Elena.
Her game was still going.
Dmitri had sacrificed material.
Elena had accepted.
The entire hall was watching.
Alexei knew that position.
There was something there.
A tactical possibility.
Something dangerous.
Then—
Elena suddenly looked toward Alexei.
Their eyes met.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Elena made her move.
A quiet rook move.
Dmitri's face changed.
Alexei smiled.
She had seen it too.
But she hadn't followed the obvious attack.
She had found something deeper.
Twenty minutes later...
Dmitri resigned.
Elena won.
The hall erupted.
She had defeated the defending champion.
Again.
Still unbeaten.
Alexei walked toward her.
"That rook move."
She smiled.
"I knew you'd notice."
"You saw the attack."
"I did."
"Why didn't you take it?"
Elena looked at him.
"Because it wasn't mine."
Alexei smiled.
The phrase was strangely familiar.
Tal appeared behind them.
His expression showed quiet pride.
That night, the standings were updated.
Magnus.
Elena.
Alexei.
The three were separated by almost nothing.
The tournament had become a three-player race.
But Alexei wasn't thinking about the standings.
He was thinking about Markov.
He returned to the hotel room.
The chessboard was waiting.
This time...
the pieces were arranged normally.
No message.
No mysterious symbols.
Nothing.
Alexei touched the board.
"Are you done?"
Silence.
He laughed quietly.
"Good."
Then he turned away.
Behind him...
one piece moved.
Alexei stopped.
Slowly...
he turned around.
The black pawn had moved one square forward.
He approached it.
Beneath the pawn was a small inscription.
He lifted it.
Three words.
HE CHOSE HER.
Alexei's blood ran cold.
"Elena?"
Tal appeared immediately.
He saw the message.
His face changed.
Anya appeared beside him.
"What does it mean?"
Tal didn't answer.
Alexei looked at him.
"Tal."
The magician finally spoke.
"Markov isn't interested only in you."
Elena stepped closer.
"Then who?"
Tal looked directly at her.
"You."
Silence.
Elena's expression remained calm.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Alexei stared at the board.
"Then we find out."
That night, Alexei couldn't stop thinking.
The monk had seen fire in his eyes.
The board had chosen him.
But now...
it had chosen Elena.
Maybe the future wasn't about one person.
Maybe it was about two.
Two players.
Two paths.
Two flames.
And one unknown destination.
Far away, in a room hidden from the world, an old man sat before a chessboard.
His hair was completely white.
His face carried the weight of decades.
Before him stood the same five pieces.
Four were arranged on the board.
One remained outside it.
He moved the black pawn.
Then looked toward the window.
For the first time in many years...
Viktor Markov smiled.
"She has awakened."
A younger voice spoke from behind him.
"And Alexei?"
Markov didn't turn.
"He is still learning."
"What happens when they both awaken?"
Markov's fingers rested on the white queen.
"Then..."
He moved it.
"...the real game begins."
Back in Vienna...
Alexei stood beside the window.
The wooden bead rested in his hand.
He remembered the monk.
When the moment arrives, your eyes will recognize it before your mind does.
Alexei looked toward the distant mountains.
For some reason...
he suddenly felt that the monk had known much more than he had said.
The tournament wasn't merely leading him toward something.
It was preparing him for it.
And three years from now...
there would be a game.
A game that had not yet been played.
A game that someone already knew.
A game that perhaps...
could change everything.
Alexei closed his eyes.
Then smiled.
"Let it come."
Outside, the lights of Vienna shimmered beneath the night sky.
And somewhere beyond the city...
another chess clock began ticking.