Devil is a Loser
A/N: Dreadmoon and ma'hil borrowed from Wayward with permission. Morninglord first appears in the story "Planetfall".
Morninglord was losing at ma'hil again. He studied the board intently, looking for an angle of attack that might give him some possibility of victory, but knew there was none such a tactic. How he would have fought a situation like this had no bearing on the game, for his tactics were outside the ruleset. For all his abilities, strategy eluded him, and he played ma'hil with a cunning thoughtlessness - he could draw out a game for impressive lengths of time, but he could never defeat Dreadmoon.
One of his wings flicked as he picked up one of his remaining Sky-Warriors and directed it on a strafing run against Dreadmoon's outer defenses.
The corner of Dreadmoon's quirked, and he glanced up briefly. "Do you want to play this out?"
"I'm going to lose."
"You might win," Dreadmoon said as he picked up one of his pieces.
"All things are possible," agreed Morninglord. He smiled at Dreadmoon's sharp glance and wondered how the other spaceship would react if he could see the etchings on the inner side of Morninglord's mandental plates. "Mortals can outwit the Devil, after all."
Dreadmoon paused with his piece hovering over the board. "Hnh."
"It's a story common to thousands of cultures. I have never been to a world without some basic variation on the tale." Morninglord rested his cheek in the palm of his left hand and smiled. "I know there's even a few such folktales among the Decepticons."
Dreadmoon set his piece down, then rotated the board to bring one of the other planes to the fore. "There are also tales of the Liege Maximo returning in majesty to conquer Cybertron."
"I know. Fascinating, isn't it?"
Dreadmoon looked at him as if he couldn't quite believe the other spaceship. He made no comment for a long moment, then made his last move and signaled the end of his turn. "It's your move."
Morninglord smiled, and it wasn't quite the smile he usually offered to Dreadmoon's face. "So it is."
End