The three mistresses of the Overlord stared down into the lava below. It would be the last time they would see it until a new Overlord was named. Continuing their walk around the throne room's outer ring they watched their children pack up under Rose's watchful eye.

Kelda's gaze went to the children, her eldest and that of the previous Overlord, Fain, a proud woman who dressed in robes much like her grandmother, though her features were Kelda's, the only real things she inherited from her father were her vast magic and the phoenix on her shoulder.

The next born was Slate, a woman who could crush men like eggs beneath her boot, axe or fist. She was as tall as her father and wore full armor that covered her purple skin with the light blue markings of the Overlord, her long mane of red hair was pulled beneath her helm that let her yellow eyes shine through. Though she was Fey's firstborn the girl was almost raised by Kelda as Fain was by Fey, both cases the teacher had much knowledge that the daughter would profit from.

Then there were Juno's twins, both thin of body and slyer than the Greens. They seemed to share the same mind and often spoke at once. Slash and Hack both wore thin armor with skins tied around them and their own club like weapons, their tanned skin, dark markings and black hair blended into the shadows and their own animal fur masks were covered by a thin helm as their father's eyes shone through.

Juno interrupted her musings with an affectionate "Slave girl, where did your son go?"

Indeed he was missing and the gentle slap that hit the former empire lady's arm was more likely a caress "I dunno Empire."

Fey looked almost lost before Juno put a hand on her shoulder, the queen sighed "He's probably looking into the Dark…"

Agreeing with her Kelda watched as Lion, the next candidate put his sword into his pack, his light blue skin held grey markings and he was constantly brushing back his blond hair as he pushed his plate mail into the bag. His glowing eyes made contact with his mother and Fey lifted a hand which he returned.

Welith, a small child with bright blue eyes marched to her mother's side and tugged lightly on Kelda's dress, her red hair shaking "Mommy…Zeen says we won't be coming back…"

Picking up the girl Juno's son walked around the corner, as a male version of his mother the five year old walked up to his best friend. Kelda answered "That's right sweetling. It may be a long time before we can come again."

Welith buried her face in her mother's shoulder "But I don't want to leave daddy alone!"

The three mistresses sighed deeply at that. The Overlord had suffered a fatal stab in his stomach facing a rebellion in the former Empire city. But he took down hundreds with him.

But in the wake of his death the minions scattered and the children slowly seemed almost desperate to stay. Gnarl slowly tottered over "Little one, it shall be alright, one of your siblings will take over and evil will spread across the land" he said comfortingly. Kelda slowly sat the girl down who wobbled over on her own legs before hugging the ancient minion.

In the end it was unavoidable. Lion had found the Blue Hive and taken over the former Angulus Keep to show his dominance. Slash and Hack had repurposed the Spider Temple to their own home and found the Greens deep within. Slate had moved the Brown Hive to Nordberg's sanctuary when it chose her and currently the former mistresses, Fey, Juno, Kelda and Rose spent their time between the three.

But there was one other Candidate and his tower stood above a vast forest that was once the magical wastes.

He traveled East from Nordberg across the vast mountainous region to where his home would stand. The once desolate land had been revived in his father's sixty year reign, the barren ground now housed a magnificent malignant forest, trees with malevolent blue leaves shadowed over head and their twisted trunks and branches would claw at a mind less than his. In the shadows his eyes curled from his smile, he could hear a familiar cackling and the smell of soot and ash stained the air.

His booted feet were heavy against the ground as he continued past the trees, limbs moving away from him as if they themselves feared his corruption. Finally he pushed past all the plants to see something that had his eyes burning with interest.

The Reds.

The little demons were sitting around the ash strewn area dancing before he lifted his left hand and the orange orb flickered and the minions turned to him and let out cries of 'Da Masta!' and 'He comes!' Like a wave of glowing lava they moved before him and bowed with fangs bared in grins.

He lowered a hand to touch one's curled horns and the creature seemed to purr as the crystal across it's stomach started to glow far more intensely. It stood up as he moved forward, the connection formed the Red scampered forward "Master! Command to take Hive to portal, then we build Tower for jou!"

With a flick of his wrist Reds poured out of the Hive and gathered around the organic structure, their bodies locked onto the nearest source of Netherworld energy. They slowly brought the living stone to the remnants of the Dark Tower. The place where the pool had once set now thrummed with power, the nether energies reverberated in the air and the Overlord could feel the strands twist around him when he moved. The Hive was placed within and as it moved down something else came back up.

Gnarl looked around "Ah, this place holds memories…" he smiled at the young Overlord "My Lord, Scorch here shall take care of you for the time, as you are aware I cannot work for any of you candidates though through your own Head Minion you can contact Mort and myself. Good Luck Sire!" was the final thing he said as he stepped back through the portal.

Scorch was a very old Red, he dressed very much like Gnarl save the cloak was replaced with a tailored fireproof blanket and the earrings were silver caps on his horns "Hello Master, I will act as Minion Master for the time being, at least until you can claim your father's throne"

Sitting on a broken pillar around the pool the Overlording candidate asked "Do you think I could claim the throne?"

Scorch gave a vague approximation of a smirk "Milord, I believe you have the greatest chance. The others are far to confident in themselves. You are not rushing in headlong like your sister, nor are you content to wait for something to come to you like your brothers. You are a conqueror that believes in an empire that will withstand the test of time."

A thin crown of twisted wire with three horns in front that all Overlord helms had was lifted off his head and the hood was tossed back. A smirk lit the young face "Come then Scorch. We have a tower to rebuild"

The red looked at his master confused "Is that all sire?"

Turning back the smirk became a grin "Of course not, but one must prepare before an undertaking. First we rebuild, then we gather subjects, then the throne."

Scorch bowed with his own smile "Of course. Shall I contact your sister about the use of the Browns?"

Scythe stopped for a moment to think. "Slate would more than willingly let us use a force of hers…but we will need more power than that. I'll ask the Tower Heart to allow me to rebuild using magic."

Tapping a boney chin with a claw the minion said aloud "Master…are you sure that would be wise? It would be an undertaking of great magnitude, the strain would be enormous"

Scythe patted the minion's head "Yes, but I will remake the Dark Tower. It will stand again but in a world far more afraid than before"

The Red bowed with fangs bared in a smile "As you say sire."

The spell was the most complex he would ever utter. For Overlords a gesture brought almost every spell to bear and far more powerful than any other sorcerer could dream of. This one required four spell catalysts, a veritable army of Blues, three hours of recitation and nine spell circles around the entirety of the tower.

Bricks flew through the air at incredible speeds as the drained blues slowly meandered their way to the minion hole in the dungeon. The lines were burned into the ground and an exhausted Scythe mentally commanded the twelve reds around him to carry him beneath the trees. Scorch brought him a water pouch "Master, are you alright?"

Shaking the Overlord nodded "Yes. Very drained but I'll be okay after a few nights rest"

Scorch took a semi-clean cloth and dabbed at his master's forehead "Well, if nothing else tonight you'll be sleeping with a ceiling over your head and in a few more in a bed."

A long stave of a near black wood was handed to the candidate who used it to stand on shaky legs "As soon as the throne room is fixed and I can stand by myself I'm going to gather all those who live here into a village."

Scorch quickly asked "But why master? The only ones who live here are a few small groups of elves that survived Evernight and didn't bow to Lady Fey."

Scythe jerked his head in the universal 'follow me' gesture and the two started the trip to the tent the minions had erected for him to weather the first stage of the rebuilding in. "First they are the only people to survive within a wide distance, and I can't afford to be that picky yet. Second they are strong enough to survive on their own and smart enough to know that Fey, at the time, was too soft to survive."

The old red nodded as he glanced up at the sky and noted it was close to noon "Master, you should have a meal to revitalize yourself."

Sliding down onto the mat he nodded "Send Waffle with something." bowing the old minion obeyed. Wandering out looking for the cook he could only wonder who named the minion 'Waffle'…

Elon, the elder of the elves in the southern forest watched with apprehension as the Dark Tower knit it's wounds back together, gaps in the walls closing and the Tower growing taller and taller with every passing minute.

The Dark Tower meant Overlords and Overlords meant chaos and tyranny. But Overlords also meant order to the chaos…he was torn and looked at the battered group of survivors around him as they pulled their tents down for the day.

Raylin looked up "What is that?" the younger hadn't been alive when the tower was occupied.

His grandfather sighed "That my boy is the end of our freedom. In the common language it is called 'The Dark Tower' but in ages past it went by many names, The Bleak Throne, Tower of Tyrants and Finger of Hell to name but a few."

"But I thought the Overlords were gone!"

Elon wrapped his cloak about him tighter "I had hoped so."

Scorch stood beside the newly fixed throne holding out a map for Scythe "It's an old map but it will do Sire." he held out the ancient scroll and it spread from one of the massive arms to the other allowing the man to read it without holding it. A finger carefully traced one of the lines "This is the river Whisper-by-night. It flows down from the mountains into Lake Silver before continuing, it splits the forest into North and South, we are settled in the southern section." the old minion fidgeted for a moment "Master…I have some bad news."

Scythe looked up "Okay. What is it?"

"Erm…the portal needs a magic source to work." his master stared at him blankly "For many of the Overlords it used the Tower Heart itself and when your father moved down to the Netherworld he, at first, used a spell catalyst before moving to the Tower Heart after he fixed it again after he conquered the Empire."

"Is there anything we can use?" the man said as he rolled up the map.

Knowing he had his master's full attention the minion twitched a bit "Well…no. We don't."

Rubbing his head Scythe said "Alright, where's the nearest thing we can use? Or can I just make one?"

The Red looked on in shock "Master, it would be impossible for you to make something! The catalysts are the weakest thing that could power the portal but even those are made from the bodies of high master sorcerers and those are in short supply."

Growling at the set back Scythe continued "Okay, where?"

"Roughly? Nordberg."

"Damn. This isn't going as I thought."