King Arthur Pendragon

Chaturanga - original form of chess back in the 6th century.

Arthur Pendragon - (former) king of Britannia (Britain/England) before throne is taken.

Sir Mordred - Nephew of Arthur, takes throne for himself when Arthur leaves for military campaign.

Camlann - Final battle ground between Arthur and Mordred, where Arthur kills Mordred and Mordred fatally wounds Arthur. (who dies shortly after)

Arthur's sword: Caliburn - Original version of the Excalibur wielded by Arthur, scabbard lost by Morgan Le Fay.

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The sky split as the heavens roared, lightning crashed down upon the earth as the gentle rain accompanied

It depicts a chess match between Arthur, who had just finished his military campaign, and Sir Mordred, his nephew and the person who took the throne to himself whilst Arthur was gone.

Due to the word limit, it would be very difficult to create a short story with deep meaning behind it from scratch, especially when the subject sport is chess, so steps were taken to ensure that the setting, characters, reasons and results were already established by using an existing scenario.

Arthurian Legend was chosen as the historic battle of Camlann and the events leading up to it weren't exactly very complicated, and in fact could be described entirely by a chess board, which was what was done in this story. Mordred, who has the army and nation at his disposal (all chess pieces) and Arthur, who only has remnants of the campaign and his few supporters.

Arthur's Queen in this story is said to have not been moved the entire game, in reference to Morgan Le Fay. A powerful figure (just like the queen) yet did not participate in the final battle, but carried Arthur to his final resting place (Avalon) after the

Just like in the final battle of Camlann between Mordred and Arthur, the two kings face off against each other. Even though Mordred holds all the power (Retains all his pieces in the chess game), He will lose if he dies, which he does at Camlann at the hands of Arthur. Though putting a King in front of another would usually result in a loss or forfeit, in this scenario it creates opportunity, through what Arthur says is the power of hope, courage and 'being the master of his own fate'

The act of having Arthur play the black king is in reference to both the Invictus racist theme of the black people (whilst weak, same as Arthur's remaining board pieces) triumphs over white racism. It is also in reference to Mordred's act of revolting against Arthur 'first' as white moves first in Chess.

The themes present here are Courage, Hope, Leadership and Politics (slightly)

Courage: Linked very closely to Hope, referred to in story a few times. A power that fuels hope.

Hope: Main theme of the story, showing the power of hope, and how it is not simply a meaningless wish.

Leadership: The role of the 'King' which is repeatedly referred to by Arthur and