Kinger is crouched on a black square, stacking broken chess pawns into a little tower. He’s humming something that sounds like a lullaby but is mostly off-key and mumbled.

Suddenly, Pomni enters, arms flailing and eyes wide.

POMNI: “Kinger! Have you seen Jax? Or Ragatha? Or—wait, why are you building a pawn tower again?!”

Kinger looks up with a start, his voice rattling like he’s mid-anxiety spiral.

KINGER: “Shhh! Don’t disturb the game. They’ll hear you! The bishops hate interruptions!”

He gestures wildly to the air. Nothing happens. Then, a massive bishop piece topples over in the distance with a crash.

Pomni flinches.

POMNI: “What is wrong with this room?! Everything keeps…resetting. That bishop fell last cycle too.”

Kinger leans in close, whispering conspiratorially.

KINGER: “Of course it did. Everything falls in the same direction here. Even us.”

He pauses.

KINGER (quietly): “I used to be the King, you know. Until I stopped playing.”

A knight piece behind him shudders, then explodes into confetti and teeth. Pomni screams. Kinger just shrugs.

KINGER: “I tried to checkmate myself once. But you can’t win when you’re both sides of the board.”

Pomni blinks, visibly disturbed.

POMNI: “…That doesn’t make any sense.”

Kinger grins, tipping his own cardboard crown askew.

KINGER: “Neither does this place.”

Suddenly, the entire room shifts — like a real chessboard being flipped by an invisible hand. The black tiles fall away. The white ones rise like platforms. Pomni grabs Kinger’s arm, and they cling to the edge of a floating square.

POMNI (panicking): “What’s happening?!”

KINGER (serene): “Ah. Promotion.”

Pomni screams again. Kinger just laughs as the pawn tower he built earlier lights up and morphs into a glitching crown that floats toward him.

⸻

[Scene ends] Text on screen: “Check. Not mate.”