There turns out to be a hatch to the floor below, right behind their respective ominous orbs.
The Demon Lord would find nothing on it, except that it was a machine made out of an extremely exotic metal, and was receiving signals from some outside source located way up in the void.
In case the PCs hadn't noticed yet, the tower/s they were all standing on top of seemed to be the "king" piece of their respective colour.
The PCs then felt a sudden blinding pain in their left wrists. A black mark had been emblazoned there, an impression of flesh roughly in the shape of the letter "P".
And then, just as suddenly as the PCs were dragged into this place, there was a sudden flash of light from the rooftops around them, and the floor a dozen stories below them. After the light had receded, those spaces were now populated (not crowded, though nearly halfway there), by people of all shapes, sizes and features, and wearing all manner of clothing. Peasant farmers draped tunics stood next to men and women wearing office clothes, who stood next to youngsters in street rags and school uniforms.
They were all muttering, chattering, shouting. They seemed to have as much idea of what was going on as the PCs were.
Nearby, the black/white sphere suddenly giggled. It was a high-pitched, but recognisably adolescent male voice. At the very least, it was androgynous.
Alright, you fucking maggots. . . it said, it's voice whiny and grating to the ears. I'm sure you all want to know what the fuck you're all doin' here, am I right?
And then it launched into another fit of jittering laughter. Well, rejoice! Unlike some of the other fuckwits that pull this shit off for fun, I'll actually be rather forthcoming with you. See, I brought you all here, personally. Don't ask how. You'll probably be too stupid to understand it. But you know how there are two sides in chess, black and white? Well, guess who's white/black team! And I'm sure it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there are other fuckwits on the other side of the board. No points to you, Shakespeare geezer.
You're job, you're objective, your goal, the only goddamn thing you should be thinking of if you ever want to see your homes ever again, is to completely eliminate the other side.
Now, just straight-up killing all of them right away, while a totally viable tactic, might not be the soundest way to winning. After all, some of the other team has superpowers and magic! One of the gals here can even come back from the dead! So be thankful that I've also given you a few extra methods to victory.
For instance, the chess pieces, they won't be just for show. You see these guys here? The ones on the top of this king piece here? Yeah, they're the designated main "players" of this game, and all the rest of you are "support". I burned a convenient tattoo on their wrists for easy identification. Great big "P". Don't try and get cocky now, because these guys are way more capable than all you chucklefucks combined. They're also the only ones who can move the chess pieces.
An oversized chess clock appeared, floating in midair.
Alright, then, I've set this up to run at most 12 hours for each side's turn. Each time it's your team's turn, one of your "Players" gets to choose which move to make for that turn, and that chess piece moves accordingly. The Player that decides which way the pieces move will change every turn, round-robin style. This orb here will show you who's up to move a piece this time, as well as a bunch of other useful info, and an interface to control the movement and functions of the building-pieces. It has a very intuitive interface, as you'll see. You won't automatically win if you get a checkmate this way, but if you do get a checkmate, all Supporters on the other side dies on the spot, all supplies disappear from their buildings, and all of their supernatural powers gets turned off, so they're all still pretty fucked.
You can also deny the other side the use of their building by occupying them. If any Player of the opposing side is inside one of your pieces, you can't move 'em. Supporters don't count, though. They just die.
Finally, if you can get all Players of the other side to willingly say "I surrender, you win", then you win. It'll probably never happen, but it's good to have a few extra options, isn't it?
Now, I know what you're all probably thinking: Man, what an asshole. I definitely won't just go and kill a bunch of people just because some kidnapping fuck told me to. Well, that's where you're wrong, buddy. So, fucking, wrong.
All at once, a screen popped up in front of each player, each showing their homes, their friends, families, work places, community, world, hopes and dreams, etc.
There was also a bigger screen, that seemed to be directly projected out from the ominous orbs themselves. This screen showed a world that was recognisably the modern world, cutting in particular to heavily populated cities.
In midair, right next to the giant floating chess clock, floated in a giant emancipated hand, on top of which was a spinning globe, right in it's palm. The hand closes, crushing the world in it.
The effects on the world shown on-screen was instantaneous. Those locales that didn't have the mercy of having the sky suddenly blocked out, and then being immediately crushed by some cosmic hand, were helpless to do anything but watch and feebly run as massive earthquakes struck the land, tsunamis the size of skyscrapers slammed against coasts, and giant ravines appeared in streets and over highways, swallowing vehicles and pedestrians alike into the planet's core.
Finally, the closed hand turns sideways, and out from beneath it falls out a continuous stream of dust and sand.
Ha. That was some random "21st century world" that I just searched for on a whim, just a few minutes ago. Wasn't even that special. Apparently, it's only diverging point from everything else in it's cluster of alternates was that some school pop-idol group formed while those same members stayed nobodies in the other worlds. Not like it matters anymore. After all, they're all dead. Remember, if your side loses, it means game over, not just for you, but for your world too. And if you let one of your timers count down to nothing, then I'll just blow up all of your worlds. So don't get all cheeky now, got it?
The orbs floating in front of them went silent once more, and waited for the inevitable reaction.
It didn't have to wait long. There was a high-pitched scream on each side of the game board, and that led to a chain effect of even more screaming and a general mass hysteria amongst the crowd around them.
