Check-mate
by Eric Drewes

"Check-mate," grinned the Creator.

"What?!" yelled the thunder god, "You cheated!"

The Creator shook his head. "No, I didn't."

"Let's rematch, then," replied the thunder god.

The Creator reset the pieces on the board. Within the thirteenth move the Creator had him check-mated again.

"Confound it all!" bellowed the thunder god.

He grabbed his hammer and smashed the chessboard. Then, while running to break more things he tripped over a ripple in the continuum and dropped his hammer. It plummeted from the ethereal plane and tore through the sky, finally smashing into Earth. A dust cloud formed and blotted out the sun, killing nearly all life on the fledgling planet.

"Oh crap, I killed your dinosaurs!" groaned the thunder god.

"I really was cheating. I guess I deserved it," sighed the Creator.