[The Gargantuan Overlord Chapter 1]
{Disclaimer: I don't own the Overlord series, so please don't sue me!}
XXX
Gnarl slowly walked into the Dark Tower, feeling jittery at a truly evil idea he had recently had. As a curiosity, on his vacation time, The Minion Master Gnarl had left the Dark Tower, which he did not enjoy, to travel to a new budding civilization calling itself The Empire. It was a stupid name, with no originality to it at all.
Be that as it may what Gnarl found was interesting none the less. The Humans had founded the civilization on bigotry, something that did not surprise Gnarl given human nature. What did surprise him was that although they said that their aim was to destroy all magic, they were actually using magic and experimenting with it as well.
Of course they hunted down and kill as many magical creatures and practitioners of magic as they could, so their ability to use and manipulate magic was lacking to say the least. What was not lacking though were the theories they were coming up with involving augmentation using magic.
They had come up with a plan to use magic to enhance regular soldiers and to use it to turn them into monstrous juggernauts on the battle field. They were all idiots though so what was likely to happen was they would fumble around with experiment after experiment and would only roughly get what they were looking for.
Gnarl, who had always thought of magic as a way to launch powerful fireballs to blast enemies, shoot lighting to electrocute armored clad soldiers, protect the Master with shields of pure energy that none could get past, and other magics to gain similar results, found these new ideas fascination.
Although in retrospect the spells that were used to enhance the minions should have been like a big glowing signs that said Hey, this could be useful for our overlord! Still, it was used on minions, so it would have been seen as unseemly to use it on an Overlord. Well actually when he thought about it there was a spell that could sacrifice the lives of minions to increase a Overlord's health and mana so it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibilities.
Still, the idea was there and ready to use. While those "scientists" fumbled around with a power they were neither able to control nor had any idea how to control, he... Gnarl, who had been learning and mastering magic to aid the Overlord(s) would be able to take this idea and make something... truly evil with it!
As he walked up the black marble steps he thought about some of the obstacles in his way. The minion spell was a good basis for what he was aiming for, but it had its draw backs as well. For starters the spell was only temporary. An Overlord needed something that was permanent, so worthless hero's didn't't attack when his guard was down, reached cowards.
Then of course there was the magic usage. On Overlord needed magic. It was a vital skill that advanced, changed, and empowered all of the Overlords in the past, and so if an ability were made for an Overlord to use, it should not constantly deplete the Overlord's magical power. That just wasn't acceptable. An Overlord needed the most power with the least amount of drawbacks.
One of the green minions ran past him in a hurry. Gnarl knew that minion. His name was Stabby. Wonder what was going on for the Overlord's best assassin and spy to already be back. His mission to the outer lands should have taken him months to even get there, let along get back.
Gnarl shook his head. He was working on a plan of his own and it required his full attention. The Overlord was possibly the best that they had ever seen. A true master of both darkness and magic of the foulest kind. He was a living embodiment of evil and a king of darkness. He didn't need Gnarl there to baby him like a fresh upstart Overlord. This Overlord was a veteran who only needed Gnarls own impute on certain key matters.
That left Gnarl with the idea that a potion would work best, maybe a few magical words, a sprinkle here and there of ingredients that were... difficult to obtain, and then the potion would be ready.
But that also left him with a new issue. Gnarl turned down a random hallway and enjoyed the fine rug that the Overlord had taken as was his right between his toes. A potion that changed the body that much would be detrimental to a fully grown human. Even a man still growing in his teens would easily die from such a potion.
"Gnarl what are you doing in here?"
Gnarl's eyes snapped open as he looked around were he was. He hadn't been paying attention as he wandered around and somehow ended up in the personal chambers of one of the Overlord's mistresses. She was a strong woman, of powerful breeding, and from a wealthy family. The Overlord had corrupted her, and here was the results.
Gnarl didn't reply immediately as his eyes wandered down towards the crib at the woman's side. Sitting nestled inside a crib made of ash wood was the offspring of evil. The son of the current Overlord and his mistress. He had been born with strange runes on his body, but other than that he was a perfectly healthy, magically powerful, baby boy.
Mind racing a million miles a minute, Gnarl cleared his voice and tried to make us some kind of excuse. "Oh, I am sorry my lady. The old mind is not what it used to be, and I sometimes get lost when I walk around these corridors on my own."
"Understandable." There was no pity, no sympathy, and no real compassion in her voice as she looked down at him. Her gaze caused shivers to run down Gnarl's spine. This was why he liked her so much as a mistress of the Overlord. She was cold as ice, a true companion to the Overlord who would help wherever she could to spread the darkness. "Maybe one of the greens will be happy to show you around next time, so you don't get lost."
Bowing his head Gnarl smiled a bit showing off his fanged teeth. "Of course my lady. I shall leave so that you may continue looking after the young lord." With that he opened up the door and left after closing it again. He wandered down the corridors with a massive grin on his face.
This is perfect, thought Gnarl as he made his way down the hallway. With him, there will be no stopping us, should the current Overlord fall! Now, I just need to make the potion.
Before Gnarl could make it back to his own personal chambers a red came running up, glowing like a hot poker and stopped right in front of him. He did a big salute which the minions had picked up after killing a large number of supposed highly trained soldiers, though when they did it, it was almost mockingly.
"Da Masta' wishes to sees thee's minion master" spoke the almost childish tone of the red minion. Gnarl was slightly confused as to why the Overlord wished to speak to him. After teaching him how to be a proper Overlord, the current Overlord had taken to running his domain first hand without much help. "What is it that the Overlord wishes of me?" The red scratched his head like he was having a hard time remembering. "Oh, da Masta was wanting to speeaks with you about some Hewoos!"
"HEROS!" That blasted word always caused problems when spoken. If hero's were on their way here, then that meant that they must have been strong. Hero's were the only reason that darkness didn't rule all lands! That and treachery of course. "What could possibly be going on!"
Gnarl didn't wait for the red to reply. He quickly marched off towards the Overlord's throne room in an attempt to learn as much as he could, not only about the situation, but about the hero's personally. They would need info to counter these morons properly.
XXX
That had been much worse than Gnarl had expected. Oh he knew that Hero's never meant anything good for him or the Overlord, but to make matters worse it seemed the current Overlord was making the same mistake many of predecessor had made. Over confidence.
Gnarl wasn't stupid. He knew that Hero's steadily got stronger the more obstacles you through in their way. No the best way to deal with hero's was to nip them in the bud before they have a chance to fester. You leave them alone for to long and they get stronger, smarter, more cunning, then the next thing you know the tower had been ransacked, the Overlord is dead, the minion hives were scattered, and Evil was on the brink of destruction.
The worst part was the current Overlord didn't care about the past. He gave the same speech so many others had. He said things like he was to powerful to be defeated by such pitiful heroes. That he could strike them down any moment he wanted, though it never was that moment they wished to. And of course how they found it amusing to watch them struggle all the way to the Overlord only so he can finish them off with his own two hands.
Gnarl just shook his head. This would not end well and he knew it. He quickly picked his little legs up and ran as fast as he could to his personal office. Inside was a small bed for him to sleep on, some books on this and that, and what he was looking for, his potion set.
He moved all the other projects off of the desk and began to write down formulas that he hoped would create the potion that would enhance the babylord to beyond human limits so that if things went terribly wrong a new stronger Overlord could come back and take that what was his right.
For three months the Overlord watched as the Heroes conquered his lands, destroyed his operations, and saved the people who he had enslaved so long ago. He watched with joy as they attacked the dark tower, how they cut down minion after minion until they finally made it to his throne room were they could do battle.
Gnarl on the other hand had experimented, went through trial and error, collected ingredients, and done so much more to perfect his Gargantuan Overlord Project. He had to research, understand the true effects of the minion enhancement spells, and so much more to complete this potion. If he hadn't had a base to start with, the minion enhancement spells, then he was sure that this project would have taken years instead of months.
Slipping out of his room Gnarl waved his hand discretely. A moving something shifted from the shadows and crept closer to him. After a moment, the moving stopped, and out of nothing a green minion popped out with a stern look on his face.
He wore a leather outfit with three long claw blades on each hand and an eye patch over one of his eyes. Around his torso was a leather strap that had many shrunken heads tied to it as trophies. They were probably assassin targets that he had gotten while he was out working..
"Me came just as you asked" spoke the green minion, though his breath was horrible to smell, and the fact that it came out as a green mist didn't help at all, but Gnarl ignored that for the good of evil. "What is it you need to make Creep go sneak sneak?"
"I need you to slip this into the babylord's drink" spoke Gnarl as handed the green minion a clear vial filled to the top with a black slug like material. "He must drink it, for the good of the next Overlord."
"Feeding babylord is a no no!" The green was looking at his darkly now. "Mistress feed babylord only. Me can't feed babylord, goes against mistresses orders."
"The babylord will die if he does not drink this." It was a lie of course, but he was speaking in a round about way. A slash from an enemy that the thick skin would have repelled after drinking this would have killed him if he were a normal human who did not. "It is for the good of evil that he drinks this. I am not stealthy enough to pull this off without mistress knowing, so it is up to you."
"If babylord dies, so do you" spoke the green as he grasped the vial and then disappeared. Gnarl didn't appreciate being threatened, but he knew that what he was doing was walking the line between helping and betraying. "Of course, I would accept nothing less."
XXX
Just like Gnarl had predicted the Overlord was defeated by the six heroes and they looted the tower of everything of value. Even the nice rugs that Gnarl had become so accustomed to had been rolled up and taken with the Hero Thieves as Gnarl called them. It was so odd that people who called themselves heroes could just go and loot everything they liberated.
The babylord and the Mistress had gone missing during the attack. Gnarl had no idea were they were, but he knew that he needed to find them. The future master needed the right training and the Mistress needed protection.
Well, both of them would be difficult at the moment. Even he didn't know were the remaining minions and he himself should go. One of the idiotic Heroes had tried to take the Tower Heart, but the magic refused them, and when they tried to force it, it exploded.
Now the lands around the Dark Tower were covered in a strange blue goop that was magically infused which caused very bad effects on the locals it seemed. Thankfully the Overlord had been smart in creating a large distance between his tower and the closest civilizations. Vast plain were twisted by the magical pollution, but many were not lost in it.
He was almost crying though. All the spells, all that lovely gold, the smelters, the fine art pieces, the tower, the Tower Heart, and so much more had been lost in this recent Hero attack. Now they were like fleas without a dog, maggots without a carcass, they were just lost.
XXX
He was not amused. He was the opposite of amused in fact. He had hated these people since he was capable of hating anything. His poor mom that died due to a sickness that had taken her, and these lazy bastards had not even lifted a finger to help him. Ohh, he was going to make them pay. He swore that one day he would make them suffer!
"Look at him!" One of them shouted as they threw a snowball at him, which missed of course, as others gawked and stared. "They say he is only six years only, but he is bigger than my brother, who is fourteen!"
It was true of course, even his own mother had been shocked at his growth, though she said it was a blessing, which he believed. He was stronger than any of the men in the village. No, scratch that, he was stronger then ten men of this worthless village combined. His strength was beyond anything these idiots had ever seen and it frightened them.
On top of that he was tall, he was muscular, he had a fair tan even though they lived in a place were it snowed almost constantly, and had glowing red eyes. On top of all that he was magical. His mother had told him that he was a prodigy in magic because he could use it without even having his capabilities unlocked by a magical object.
"Yea, I heard the freak eats seals while they are still alive." A red headed man spoke. He wore the thick clothes of the village and had a thick red mustache and beard combination along with scraggly red hair. "I don't see why we even let him stay here."
Enough was enough. He wasn't some freak show these morons with nothing better to do with their lives than to stand around and make someone else's life worse. He lifted up his hand and charged his magic up. With a powerful blast of magical lightning the man was nothing but dust upon impact.
The other one tried to shout, but he moved so quickly he didn't even have time to shout. Bringing he large fist down he punched the man so hard that his head went flying through the air and right through the window of a house inside the village.
Soon there was screaming, but the boy didn't care. He had enough of these people. It was time for them to learn that he didn't take crap from anyone. He was the destroyer, they were the followers. What he said goes and there would be no if and or buts about it.
"The Witch boy is attacking!" shouted a woman from one of the houses inside the village. "I knew it! That whore who birthed him should have been killed the moment she stepped foot inside our peaceful village." There was more screaming and shouting as people ran to and fro.
That did it. That woman would be his servant for the rest of her life! She would wear a smile while he forced her to do the most horrendous things and was do unto with the most terrifying treatment he could possibly imagine.
He walked around the village and saw that some of the men were running along the wooden gates shouting and screaming this and that while keeping a close eye on him. He walked past a large pile of firecrackers that had been left out for holiday use, but now they would not be getting them.
When he got to the back of the village gates he saw that they had already bared them and piled up a large amount of crates to try and stop him and his monstrous strength from breaking into their village and killing the lot of them.
"Hey, over here!"
The Witch Boy turned around and saw a girl who was probably around his age, though of course not physically. Nobody aged like he did, for whatever reason that was. He ignored her at first and went to try and rip the metal gate from its hinges when a large firecracker smacked him right in the face. He stumbled backwards and rubbed the black suet from his face, though there was no damage. He had never been actually hurt in his life. His body was so dense and his skin was so tough that damaging it was probably a feat in and of itself.
He tried to get at the gate again, but like last time firecrackers flew at him and made his stumble backwards. He realized that although they couldn't hurt him, they would still cause him to take a step back. It would make getting into the village very difficult.
"Hey, are you listening to me?"
He turned around and eyed the little red headed girl. His mother had taken care of her a bit when they were younger, after her parents had died, but then his mother had gotten sick and some of the people from the village had taken her saying that it was not the proper environment for a child such as her to live in.
She had never insulted him or called him a freak like the other villagers. If anything she seemed to admire him for his strength and his magic. The villagers hated his magic. Said it was unnatural and that nobody should use the devil's power, or so they said.
"What do you want Kelda" questioned the Witch Boy, though his tone may have been a bit harsher than he had wished for it to be. "I am doing something right now!"
"Oh? I can see that" spoke Kelda, though it was with heavy sarcasm. "It doesn't look like it is working though is it?" He turned around and gave the girl the death glare, which didn't seem to faze her. Damn, she had been around him to long and was no longer affected by it. "If I were you I would use those fireworks to your own advantage."
"It would work all the same" replied the Witch Boy as he spoke to her with annoyance. "They would blast me before I got close enough to the gate to plant the fireworks, and even if I got that close I wouldn't have time to light them!"
"Your mother would be very upset with you" announced Kelda. "Didn't she teach you that a leader needs to think outside the box? Besides shouldn't you have soldiers or something? You could probably conquer this town on your own, but others would come to take it from you!"
The Witch Boy knew she was right. He rubbed his chin and looked off into the distance. He saw someone out in the woods. It looked like a hunter. Unlike these idiots in Nordberg the Hunters were large and skilled with a spear. They were very hardy, and would follow whoever could assure them food.
He walked off into the snow covered forest with Kelda hot on his heels. He had a plan, but it might not have been the best of plans. Still, he was confident in his abilities with his fists and magic. He stopped and looked down and grinned. Maybe he wouldn't need his fists for this.
"What you got there" asked Kelda with a raised eyebrow. "Oh come on now you really look like a barbarian!"
The Witch Boy even dignify that with a response as he picked up a large wooden club off of the ground. It was twisted and seemed to have come from a strange tree, because the wood felt hard as a rock, but it was obviously grown from a tree of some kind. Oddly the wood had a shine to its black surface that no other wood was known for. It even had veins running through it a slightly lighter color than the rest of the wood.
"Wait a moment" spoke Kelda as she looked up at him and ran her finger over the club. "That is ironbark!" After seeing the stoke look on his face she sighed. "In the old times Ironbark was known as the forest metal. It was a tree that was as hard as iron, flexible as wood, and was completely rust proof. You may look like a barbarian, but at least your weapon of choice was a good one."
The Witch Boy just nodded his head and then looked down at Kelda. Maybe keeping her around could be useful, but her nagging could do for a rest. Shaking his head he continued to march deeper and deeper into the forest.
XXX
"Hah! I knew we would be able to scare him off" shouted on of the villagers.
"Yea, the big brute thought he was something special when he was nothing more than a freak" spoke another one.
"I do feel bad for the girl" spoke a blonde woman. "She was misguided and believed the boy was actually good."
"She was foolish, plane and simple, but hopefully her suffering will be short" mentioned another woman.
What they didn't see was a few browns running along the wall looking for a possible new overlord, nor did they notice the large legion army moving in on them from the south, ready to conquer their lands.
XXX
Kelda watched as once again the Witch Boy charged a large group of Hunters and started to bash them over the heads with his ironbark club. His strength was phenomenal, his speed was shocking, his resistance to their attacks left her confused, and his prowess with the weapon was surprisingly good.
His plan was simple in her opinion, though that didn't mean it was any less successful. He would charge in, bash a few of the larger and stronger ones of the heads, turning them into brutalized headless corpses, and then threaten the rest. It was either follow him and obey, or disobey and die. Some listened, others didn't. Needless to say the ones who did were alive and the ones who did not were dead.
She would give credit were credit was due. Though having an army had been her idea, she recognized that she had no idea were he would obtain one. Using the Hunters that frequently turned into bandits as a make shift army had been brilliant, and his strong arm tactics worked well against the more primitive hunter people.
Of course after that it was her who started to organize and direct his growing army when he was out bashing heads. He had just wanted to keep on doing the same thing, attack a Hunter encampment, bash a few heads, and force more to serve him. She had come up with a few different ideas.
The fist one was to use the Hunters who had agreed to follow the Witch Boy, because they were all shell shocked at what he could do and frankly scared as hell of him, to act as envoys to the other hunter camps around the forest. Needless to say her idea worked like a charm. Many Hunters were coming from all over the place to rally behind the Witch Boy's banner. Note to self, remind the Witch Boy to come up with a better name. They had come in more frequently and in greater numbers than what the Witch Boy was capable of doing on his own.
Also, while he was out leading attacks on all those in the forest who would not follow him, she was organizing his new army. Using their hunting and trapping skills she lead them to a large lake with glaciers not far off into the water where seals and other sea creatures rested. There was so many of them just in that one spot that she was sure that their rapidly growing army would have plenty enough to eat for at least a year or two, depending on how big the army got and how they rationed the food as well.
Then of course there was the chain of command. She made the commanders wear yellow and blue, the grunts as she called them had to wear gray and white, and the generals got to wear red and black. It took her over a month to get them to move and act in an organized manner, but once she did she was sure that the Witch Boy would be grateful to her.
XXX
The Witch Boy, or as the people had started calling him, the Witch King, had just returned from conquering the last of the Hunters and conscripting them into his army. It had taken ten years to get them all under his black banner, but at last he was the ruler of his own people.
They had erected several large fortresses made of solid ice, with magic from himself and other magical creatures he had conscripted into his army, though they were few and far between as magical creatures were good at hiding from those looking for them.
He now had the army he had always wanted. Kelda had been a big help over the years, but none the less she had been a powerful driving force in his works, seeing things that he didn't see, working on projects he couldn't get to at the moment, and acting as his most loyal second in command.
He hadn't gotten rid of his ironbark club. It was his first weapon, and honestly the tools that the Hunters used were not the highest of quality. On the other hand he had captured an elf, and convinced him to use his nature magic to change the shape and abilities of the ironbark club.
He had learned from the elf that ironbark also had magical qualities. After using it for so many years it had absorbed his powerful magic and taken on qualities of its own that matched the spells and powers he currently used when holding it.
Now he had a massive mace with deadly looking spikes covering it from top to bottom. It was a a slate gray color, as long as a average sized man front head to their toes. Usually a weapon this heavy would not be able to be picked up by the average sized man, but the Overlord over the years had gotten HUGE!
He was beginning to think that his size and abilities were not natural. He has suspected for a long time, due to the strange tribal like symbols and his magical abilities that maybe it was possible that when he was young, or when his mother was still pregnant with him, he had been contaminated by the magical ooze he had heard of. It would explain his mother's sickness and his strengths, but he couldn't be certain.
The guards saluted him as he walked past them. Kelda had trained them well, or one of the ones she had trained had trained them, though by extension it would still be by Kelda's skills and abilities these moronic soldiers who were not capable of doing anything but hunting and trapping like primitives were able to act in accordance with one another like skilled soldiers in a well oiled machine.
He entered his throne room, which Kelda had designed herself, and walked up the center of the large hallway. On the way he admired the massive ice carvings of ferocious wolves, the deadly looking chandeliers with ice icicles hanging from them, and the carvings in the floor to prevent slipping and on the walls depicting his feats as he grew up.
Kelda was there, standing beside his throne, waiting eexcitedly. He nodded his head to her before taking his throne and sitting down. He got a good feel for it and watched as Kelda descended the steps up to his throne and the stood at the base looking up to him.
Kelda curtsied a bit before bowing. "My lord, I have come to you today to ask if my request will be fulfilled or not." She waited a moment before lifting her head, straightening her back, and looking up at the man she respected most. She cracked a smile, holding a devious look in her eyes ash she eyed her childhood friend. "Well?"
The Overlord looked down on the red head and nodded. He stood up, so that all of his subjects could see and hear him. "Yes, Kelda, you have officially been named the First Mistress of the Witch King, and my second in command."
Kelda couldn't help it, she jumped up, so happy that her dark friend, soon to be lover, had accepted her and ran up to him and jumped into his lap. She pushed his hood back and smashed her delicate lips into his large strong ones. He grabbed her and pulled her closer, surrounding her in his scent and powerful aura. His lips captured her, her body, her soul, and all that she was. He then whispered into her ear. "I name you Kelda, mine in all of your being, for now no man may ever have you, as you are mine."
She rubbed her face against his, enjoying the close contact. "For now, and forever." She then got up, spun around, and then looked into his evil eyes with a pair quite evil in their own regard. "My Lord, it is complete!"
The Overlord quickly stood up, towering over her with his massive body, and grinned evilly. "When can we leave?"
"Sir, the army is ready whenever you are."
"Then, it is time to pay back some old friends in that sleepy little village called Nordberg, then the rest of the world shall feel my might!"
Kelda could do nothing but bask in his dark presence. She had grown up idolizing him, now he was hers, he would conquer, and she would do all in her power to make it as grand as she could. She would please him, help him, and anything else that he may need, for she was in love with the greatest conquer to have ever been born.
