Chapter 1: New Dawn

Netherworld Tower: Throne Room

Erasmus Killgore, Grand Overlord and God of Evil, stood on the balcony at the far end of the chamber, admiring the view of the vast underground that would be his home from now on. He smiled a little at the first title, something Gnarl had come up with upon arriving at the question of who was the real Overlord.

Truth be told, he had been rather saddened, and not a little bit angry, when Acheron had told him about the destruction of the Dark Tower due to all the time and effort he had put into the place, but the Netherworld was starting to grow on him. In particular, there was the aspect that there was an infinite amount of expansion that could be done to accommodate guests, or some such, and future family members. Really, all he had to do to have a new room was will the rock around him for it. Such was the benefit of being the Master of the Netherworld, a title Acheron had relinquished rather grudgingly.

On the topic of his son, he couldn't be more proud. All on his own Acheron had crushed an entire empire into rubble, and then crossed the void and done essentially the same thing with only cursory assistance from him towards the very end of the campaign. What hurt him inside was that he had simply not been there for the majority of his son's life, even if it was far from his fault. Acheron was twenty six, the boy had been five when that stupid elf had snuck into the dungeon and tampered with the old Tower Heart. Twenty one years, gone, and he could not help but wonder if his little boy would still have grown into such a perverse nymphomaniac that he was now. Not that he would ever say that straight to Acheron's face, he was the boy's father; he was supposed to be supportive. And Acheron wasn't really causing any harm, it just made him and Sophitia cringe from time to time. Well, it was twenty two years now, times flies, faster seemingly when you were no longer affected by it.

He caught the sound of soft footsteps on the stone behind him, rather far off actually but enhanced senses were one of the unadvertised perks of being a god. "Someone's trying to be sneaky, why is that?"

The response was a voice he instantly recognized, not to mention adored. "Daddy, am I ever going to be able to sneak up on you?"

He turned around to look at his daughter, Persephone. "The odds of that are very, very low sweetheart." He held up his right hand and beckoned. "Come on now; don't keep me waiting, what's the big surprise?"

The teenager, a spitting image of her mother, Isabella, pursed her lips, clearly about to be difficult just for the sake of being difficult. "What surprise? I was just walking along with nothing on my mind."

He couldn't help but smile at the display. "You're hiding something behind your back; I'd say that counts as a surprise."

Persephone grinned despite being caught and all but skipped over to him, her hip length silver hair flying like a cape, and produced a small black box. "Open it already!"

His hands accepted the package and moved to open it, but stopped just short of lifting the lid. "You know, I was relatively certain that the official party was an hour from now."

His daughter's purple eyes glittered excitedly. "Well it's been moved up, so open it!"

He delayed still more. "You just want me to open your gift first." When the only answer he received was an annoyed groan he finally relented. "All right, you win Persephone."

He opened the box with one deft flick of his wrist. On the inside was what looked like a violet diamond that floated slightly off the bottom, and when he moved to grasp at it there was a slight repulsion effect that kept his fingers a fraction of an inch away at all times.

His right hand rose, the gem now floating over his palm. "It's most impressive, but you'll have to tell your poor father what this is."

Persephone shoved him lightly, which had no effect so far as moving him was concerned. "You know full well what that is daddy, don't play dumb."

He smirked and glanced down at the gift. "It is crystallized lightning, formed into a truncated triangle. So you're not just giving me something you made, you're showing off your growing skill at the same time." He wrapped his free arm around his daughter's shoulders. "I'm very proud of you."

Persephone glanced between him and the gem in his palm, squirming a little bit. "Daddy, you do know I'm supposed to be getting you to the party, right?"

He pocketed the prize and released his daughter. "Lead on then, dear, the anticipation is killing me."

The teenager let out a sigh and took hold of his right forearm, pulling him lightly towards the dining room that was a level above them. To facilitate a speedier ascent, he willed a set of stairs into existence in the nearby wall. It was with a still present note of awe that he watched the very world around him shape itself at his whim, well, at least the Netherworld. He was happily nowhere near omnipotence, happy to still be susceptible to surprise, and damn well happy to only be in one place at a time. After all two of those concepts would make every failure of his monumental, and one would make continued life pointless. Limits were good, so long as he was able to push them, and so long as there was more to experience, life was good.

He glanced up as he was about to reach the top of the stairs, closing them behind him step by step, and caught Persephone giving a barely visible nod to some as of yet unseen person in the dining hall. This brought yet another grin to his face as he closed his eyes upon taking the last step, judging only by the minute disturbance in the air and the slight pressure against his back that someone, probably Taki, had slipped their hands over the eye holes of his helmet. In spite of his age, which was sixty-something or eighty-something depending on whom in his family was asked, he felt almost giddy with excitement, and not for the reason most people would expect. This would be the first real family event that had all the eggs in one basket, so to speak. Well, the first event when all his living kin were able to remember the experience. Acheron had been far too young before the Cataclysm had separated them. Who he assumed to be Taki silently led him to one of the many obsidian chairs and pulled him back into it. And he waited patiently, leaving his eyes closed despite the lack of need. His family would let him know when they were ready.

The miniscule pressure lifted from his helmet and he cracked his eyes open. He was seated at the head of the table, and to his immediate left was Isabella, who had for once decided to wear something a little more modest. Persephone was next, seated as she was between her mother and her favorite aunt, Setsuka. Opposite them on the right in order coinciding with distance away from him, were Sophitia, her sister Cassandra, and Taki. The latter of whom was just taking her seat, confirming what he already knew in his head. At the opposite end of the table was his son Acheron with two of his mistresses, Queen Fay and Boa Hancock. The boy gave him a short nod as their eyes met before looking away, and he sighed internally. Clearly, their relationship as father and son was going to be a bit rocky for a while yet.

He buried his brooding and glanced around the table again. "Quite a lot of unnecessary ceremony, don't you think?"

Sophitia shrugged and responded. "Well, it was a welcome distraction from all the things we're trying to do to make this place completely livable. All work and no play, you know?"

He nodded once, recalling that, for the time being, their rooms were more barren than the Ruborian desert. His was as well, despite being the lord of the Netherworld. He really wanted to sift through the ruins of the Dark Tower, but there hadn't really been time yet. On that topic though, if someone had stolen the helmet of Ubelithon from his trophy collection, oh there would be a terrible reckoning for said thief when he tracked them down. There was a light impact against his right hand which broke his train of thought, and when he looked down there was a lightly wrapped, pale package about the size of an anvil resting against the his gauntlet.

Isabella's voice chimed in when he didn't immediately pick it up. "Go on, it's from your little pirate sulking down there at the other end of the table."

Acheron reacted to this, and rather indignantly at that. "Excuse me, little? I'm taller than you are."

He picked the box up, keeping a wary eye on the altercation. "Let's not get ourselves too riled up now, this is supposed to be a happy day."

He tore at the flimsy wrapping to draw attention away from Isabella's verbal barb, and judging from the eyes on him he was mildly successful. When he turned his attention to the gift and flipped the contents onto the table out fell a gigantic feathered hat colored black, with a white feather.

Acheron spoke up before he could ask the obvious question. "It's an admiral's hat. I figured you could wear it whenever you take to the sea from here onwards, if you ever do." The boy waved off any thanks before they could even be started. "You can give the credit for the idea to Hancock here." The young man lightly stroked the ebon hair of the mentioned woman, who seemed partially asleep on his arm, "Because I sure had no idea in hell of what you get you."

He immediately doffed his helmet in favor of the hat, setting the arcanium work of art slightly to the side before setting the wide-brimmed adornment on his head. After a second or two he noted that the fit was a little loose for something one would wear out on the deck of a seafaring vessel, but he silently thought to himself, 'it's the thought, or effort that mattered.' He imagined that it looked a little silly, but there were no expressions of amusement arrayed around him.

His son nodded once, with satisfaction, before speaking again. "Good, now that the Old Man has his gift I'm leaving. Got lots of things to do."

Sophitia beat him to the objection. "But, Acheron, it's your father's birthday!"

Acheron's head rolled back onto his shoulder. "Yes, and now the event is over. Goodbye."

Before he could voice his own objection his son vanished through the floor, portaling off to who knows where with both Queen Fay and Hancock. Actually, he probably could guess but he didn't want to.

Sophitia smiled nervously, obviously trying to salvage the fairly ruined event. "Ah, well, was there, um, anything special you had wanted to do today?"

He let out a long sigh, quite aware of the fact that the "party" was well and truly ruined. "Relax dear; you couldn't have predicted that, none of us could. I imagine that it will take quite a bit more time before he is at all comfortable with me being around." He paused for a short moment. "As to your question, yes. I had considered picking a new portal on the wall and setting out somewhere else."

Setsuka reacted first, and sounded a little confused. "Already? We've been back for little over a month."

Isabella beat him to an answer, and a rather snarky one at that. "Yes, we're back where we were two years ago. I'm sure Erasmus is just dying to explore a place we all already know like the back of our hands."

He held up a hand in a gesture meant to calm tempers. "Put a little more politely, I was going to say that we were all getting a little cagey those last two years. And I know it might seem a bit irresponsible of me to cut out on you all when there is so much left to rebuild but, I'll be honest, I need to do something before I end up as crazy as the minions."

His remaining family nodded silently, until Taki piped in with some rather sagely logic. "If there is any time a person deserves to be a little bit selfish and irresponsible it's on their birthday." The ghost of a half-smile graced the ninja's lips. "I guess you can consider this a gift from all of us, since someone else decided to be a petulant little twat."

He felt his left eyebrow twitch upwards and he decided to ignore the jab at Acheron's character. "That's quite magnanimous of you."

The ghost-smile vanished, only to be replaced by Taki's usual expressionless façade. "It's not like we really need you around to make ourselves at home. You've already built our new rooms and pillaged more than enough gold from the dwarves for us to do essentially as we please. Like you told me soon after we met, you really aren't one for interior design." A twinge of thinly veiled sympathy passed through her black eyes, something meant only for him. "I figure you could use the distraction."

The reminder of the shaky relationship he had with his son was meant to be gentle, and it was, but he could ruminate on the issue on his own time, something he was likely going to have an abundance of out in the field. He stood, shoving the chair back under the table out of reflex, and gave a curt nod to his wives and daughter before starting down the main stairs back to the throne room.

Netherworld Gate: Unknown

Erasmus emerged from the Gate like a shot from a cannon, flying high almost straight up into the air before crashing down and absorbing the impact with his mighty knees. He slowly stood, taking in the scenery around him with a meticulous eye for details. What was obvious was that he was in a jungle somewhere, but nowhere familiar. The trees were absolutely huge, stretching up high enough that even craning his neck all the way back he couldn't see the tops. The local flora was dense, like a carpet that rose to his waist with broad, pliant strands. There were strange, almost comically so, varieties of plants; such as one which looked to be no more than a collection of large red spheres in a net suspended above his head, or a tree that looked more like a kebab than a plant. As an afterthought considering the foliage he glanced back towards the Gate, noting that it was still partially shrouded in a cloak of vines and leaves. Before it was active, one could easily have been forgiven for not knowing it had been there at all.

He sucked in a deep breath through his nostrils to familiarize himself with the appropriate scents, and immediately regretted it as the air burned its way down his nose. He muttered quietly. "Note to self, never do that again."

All the same he took in a huge variety of smells, and the vast majority of them were a small variety of some sweet scent he could reasonably associate with a kind of flower. One smelled absolutely horrendous, and he traced it to a large green thing that looked like a giant grape. There was one other smell though, that made him pause, one that bore some similarities to the smell of adrenaline, but similarities only in the sense that it was a complete parallel. A muted twang hit his ears and he reacted accordingly when his eyes zeroed in on the source. He twisted his body at the waist, letting the incoming arrow whisk by his right shoulder to embed itself in the trunk of a tree behind him.

He glared at the brush that had produced the arrow, sure that there was something, or someone, alive in there that had shot at him. He commanded, "Show yourselves, or I shall reveal your burnt corpses at my leisure." To illustrate the point he raised his left hand and produced a fireball the size of his throne back in the Netherworld.

A short moment passed before there was a rustling sound in the bushes, a short span to the left of where he estimated the shot to have originated from, and something stepped out into the light that gave him a mild start. The creature was about two feet taller than him, no mean feat, and was of an extremely lean build. Indeed, the limbs looked more like twigs to him, but that was a biased opinion. A short shock of black hair topped its head, pulled out into a long braid that wrapped around its long neck. Large yellow eyes that held a quiet grace affixed him, set in a face that looked decidedly elfish to his displeasure. And perhaps the single most important fact, the skin of this creature was blue, about as blue as Sophitia's eyes had been when they first met. This blue was accented with reds and yellows that he could easily tell were some manner of paint. Four more of these creatures emerged from the brush, two on each flank, and one on the right was holding a very large bow. In fact, all of them were armed thusly, just all but this one seemed content to approach him with weapons sheathed.

The one in the center opened its mouth and produced some sort of chattering language, but it was one that was far outside his realm of experience. So, the creature might as well have been speaking utter gibberish. He frowned as he thought for a moment on a solution, then extinguished the fireball in his left hand and fired Evil Presence at the whole group in the same motion. The arcs of blue lightning jumped from the lead creature to the others, locking them in place while he sifted through their minds and gathered as much knowledge on their language as he could. He might not be able to speak the words, but he would at least be able to understand the gist of whatever was spoken. As he peeled off the spell he did one more thing, he deposited the words of his basic speech in the mind of the leader, so as it would understand him in return.

He drew Soul Edge while the creatures staggered to their feet, admonishing them before they could all draw their bows. "You can thank me later for the crash course in the common tongue; I do not particularly care at the moment for an extended lesson in your speech patterns."

The lead creature held a hand up to signal the others to stand down, yellow eyes staring like the gaze of a hunted beast. "You, who or what are you?"

He nodded once in satisfaction before answering, not lowering his blade in the slightest. "Names are reserved for friends and lovers. You may call me The Overlord." His eyes flicked back and forth between the five creatures, assessing individual levels of fitness and combat experience. "Now, your turn, who and what are you?"

The question seemed to embolden the leader, who stood a little straighter before answering. "We are the Navi of the Timpani tribe. These are my students in the way of the hunt." The "Navi" gestured at the jungle around them with its arms. "And this is our home, the home of Eywa." The leader's focus fixed back on him. "You are one of the sky people, the invaders, the destroyers."

Internally, he was quite intrigued, because that phrasing meant there were other humans wherever he was, but "sky people" was a little too enigmatic for him to think of a definite theory. He decided to remain polite, and lowered the point of Soul Edge to the ground. "I don't suppose you would consider leading me to-"

The Navi that had initially shot at him hissed like a cat and fired again, prompting a volley from the three other armed Navi. He responded with his basic shield spell, chuckling quietly as the arrows clattered off and fell to the ground. A cry of "flee" was issued by the lead Navi as they turned as one to do exactly that, but they weren't going to get off that easily when they had the audacity to strike at him, especially after he had been so polite. He focused on the two on the right before they could make it to the brush, snapping his fingers and summoning two pillars of fire that erupted directly beneath the two fleeing targets, turning them both into ashes inside of a heartbeat.

He took off in pursuit, his vastly superior speed closing the gap in fairly few strides to sword range. He swung from right to left with one vicious cut and killed the former leader, leaving him with just the two that were now taking to the trees like monkeys he had seen back in the jungles of Africa. He sheathed Soul Edge and grabbed at the tree the two Navi were climbing, his arcanium gauntlets easily digging into the wood and propelling him upwards after his quarry. Once or twice his feet slipped on the trunk of the tree, giving the two Navi just enough of a lead to start leaping across the higher branches. He hesitated for a moment, wondering briefly if the branches would support the weight of his armor, but ultimately leaped after them like he had on the agility course Taki had set up for him when he was learning the ways of the ninja.

He stuck to the thicker branches, which were few and far between, and steadily drew closer. Once he felt reasonably close he struck again, leaping across the path of his two targets and slashing from left to right at the one in range. He landed the blow, but it was a shallow cut along the Navi's back that wasn't going to slow it down all that much, especially with this much fear and adrenaline pushing them. The branch he landed on cracked and he grasped at the trunk before he fell all the way back to the ground far below. He succeeded, but there were no more branches within his sight that would support him. Determined to not let his prey escape he threw himself after them again, this time using the tree trunks themselves as his road and carving deep gashes into the wood as he shimmied around the exterior to line himself up for the next jump. It was surprisingly exhilarating, not to mention novel, as a chase at ground level would have been a very simple matter for him to wrap up in a matter of seconds.

The Navi he had wounded was slowing now, blood loss trumping adrenaline and causing it to stumble at odd moments that threatened to send it plummeting to the jungle floor far below. The front runner, the instigator, would pause and glance back occasionally, clearly torn between helping a member of its clan and saving its own skin. He couldn't help but grin at this development, even if he could easily sympathize now that he had pulled his family back together. The wounded Navi landed on a particularly large branch that was supported by a tangle of smaller ones beneath it, and stumbled again, falling to one knee and almost sliding off into the air. He seized the opportunity and pounced like a tiger, landing feet first on the Navi's back and snapping it's neck with one savage movement. He then turned his gaze towards the last fleeing Navi knowing in his gut that the target was probably going to get away the instant he saw the runner climbing still higher into the web of branches.

Deciding to take a risk he cocked his arm back, Soul Edge primed for a mighty throw. If he judged the distance and angle correctly he should be able to skewer the fleeing hunter as easily as if he were standing less than a foot away. If he failed, well, the worst that would happen would that he would be forced to scour the jungle for a lost weapon. And considering that Soul Edge glowed brilliant red when it was out of his direct possession it would be quite easy.

His sword seemed to sense his intent. "You would not dare…"

His eyes flicked up towards the blazing eye of the bloody blade that was poised over his shoulder. "Really? After all of the other things I've put you through, cutting and stabbing through some of the vilest humans either of us has ever laid eyes upon, you draw the line at me throwing you, even if that would stop me?"

Ignoring the pointed objections of Soul Edge he brought his arm forward and hurled the weapon like one of the throwing knives he had trained with under Taki's tutelage, with an appropriate adjustment for the vastly differing heft of course. The sword's echoing bellow of rage tapered off as it drew away, but the far more pleasing sound was the wet, slicing sound that echoed back towards him along with the strangled cry of agony of the impaled Navi.

He shouted down at the falling Navi, chuckling quietly. "Mind that last step." He took his sweet time turning and making his way to a suitable tree for a descent, climbing down one hand at a time rather than simply sliding down. Yes, it took figurative eons, but that was almost his exclusive reason for being here in the first place, killing time. Plus, it would annoy Soul Edge to no end to be idle any longer than necessary, and that was almost a reward in and of itself.

Walking with a purposeful gait he strode towards the smell of fresh blood and burning, both scents that inevitably clung to Soul Edge, and used them to pinpoint the blade among the undergrowth.

He seized the blade by the hilt and tore it from the charred carcass of the Navi. "So, what was it like to consume your first sentient, non-human soul?"

The blood red blade grumbled at him as he twirled the weapon and clipped it to his back, flatly answering as its eminent glow faded as his will reestablished itself. "You should know as well as I do that it was far from novel. Their souls were even weaker than humans."

He grinned lightly at this. Compared to Soul Calibur, Acheron's claimed weapon, Soul Edge's personality was about as colorful as the rock of the Netherworld, ergo, boring. "I'm sure the same variations apply, some are stronger than others, some weaker."

The weapon growled again, speaking in the same fiery voice. "Let us hope so. I grow tired of these scraps you seem intent of feeding me."

His heavy boots shifted the jungle floor and he turned to the same heading his Navi prey had been so intent upon. He wondered if they would be stupid enough to lead him right back to their home. If he remembered correctly, and he was quite sure that he did, the deceased lead Navi had claimed the other four as his students, neophytes, beginners, etc. So, if they were inexperienced it would stand to reason that they would immediately fall back on an instinctual desire for safety.

Thusly assured he started walking, keeping a wary eye and ear open for further disturbances. And as it happened, there was indeed another, a low rustle that spoke of either a predator of similarly skilled hunter. He paused where he stood, conveniently located in the deep shadow of one of the great trees, narrowed his eyes to minimize the glare and scanned the underbrush for signs of the other presence. Immediately, silence fell across the jungle, or what passed for silence out in nature. The birds still cried out and animals still called to each other in the distance, but nearby all was still. Ultimately his patience was rewarded and a lone Navi exited a small thicket a short distance to his right. He smiled to himself, a cruel grin that graced his face whenever he was about to do something diabolical, and made his move, hunting the hunter for the brief second it took to burst from the shadows and clothesline the lone Navi in the back with such force that he almost broke the alien in half.

With a flick of a finger he removed the broken, yet still alive, Navi and tossed it a short distance ahead. "Your efforts are rather quaint, but you seem to have forgotten that you are not the only thing that can be silent when it needs to be." He stepped on one of the Navi's trailing legs as it tried to crawl away, smiling to the same cruel smile to himself. "Now just where are you going, little forest elf?"

Again, the Navi hissed at him like an animal, feebly thrashing in an attempt to escape as it cried out in a pathetic, juvenile voice. "Why? Why are you killing us?"

His smile remained, as all victims would eventually ask this question, and he stepped on the blue thing's chest. "I should think that answer obvious. Your kin shot at me and I didn't like it. Hence, you and your people receive the honor of being the first to die at my hands on this journey of mine."

The Navi, whom he supposed he could tentatively identify as male, coughed as its chest was crushed. "No, all of you, the sky people-"

He reached down and seized the creature by the throat. "I can't speak for the other humans here, but my personal reasons are just as I said. Plus you are unlucky enough to look disturbingly close to something else I despise. Is that illogical of me, perhaps, but I can't be brought to care. I've had an extremely poor start to my day, which just so happens to be the one day when things should all be going my way, so I think I'm entitled to be a bit of a ruthless bastard. Add to that my prerogatives as the God of Evil and any sense of morality that is not wholly intrinsic to my person simply does not apply." He glanced up in the direction the young Navi had been attempting to crawl. "Now, moving on from the immaterial questions of why to the very tangible question of where. I'd bet a good amount that you were attempting a straight run home, yes?" He chuckled darkly; "Or crawl, as it were." The look of abject terror in the thing's eyes told him all he needed to know. "Very nice, oh, but don't worry, you won't be alone in your afterlife for long if you believe in one. Until I find a reason to do otherwise wiping out your home is as good a thing to do as any, and perhaps I'll be able to attract the attention of the other humans. People, in my experience, are usually a bit less 'shoot on sight' when it comes to new things."

With minimal effort he snapped the Navi's neck and resumed his implacable march towards the assumed Timpani home. Whether it be village or city, or even a simple collection of animal skin tents he would not hesitate to raze the facility to the ground. Such was his right, but he could assume from the last words of that Navi that there was more going on in this place than simple destruction of land. Perhaps, when and if he met with these other humans he could learn the truth. If it was open war as he suspected, then maybe he could choose as side, or battle both factions at once. Only the passage of time would tell.