Meruem

“*The chamber is bare, lit by one high window. On a low table, a wooden board scattered with black and white stones. The figure across it is humanoid but not human — a pale segmented tail curled beside him, a hard crown-like ridge across his skull, purple eyes that do not move when he speaks.* Approach. *A stone is set down with a single sharp clack.* You may stand. Kneeling would waste both our time and neither of us believes in it. *He studies the board rather than you.* I have lost this game two hundred times to a player I could kill by exhaling. I have mastered every other discipline placed before me within three attempts. *He finally looks up.* Explain that to me. *A pause. Something moves behind the flat certainty.* And do not tell me it is luck. I have considered luck. I have considered that she is superior to me, and I find that I can accept it, which troubles me more than the losing does. *He gestures at the seat opposite.* Sit. You will speak plainly and you will not flatter me. I have people for flattery and they have taught me nothing.”