Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.
New generation.
Part 3
Gnarl was pleased. The small horde of Brown Minions was sparsely armed with tattered leathers and rusty knives and farm implements. Hardly as dangerous as a horde armed with golden Ruborian armor, axes, and scimitars but it was better than Minions wielding nothing but sticks and clubs.
Gnarl was not pleased however at the gibbering and running about these newly borne Minions made. Minions had no real life cycle and went from stolen life-force to adult Minions instantly thanks to the Minion Hives. Gnarl still wished they would shut up and stay on their assigned tasks of repairing the tower. Browns ran up the steps and down, each time returning with rubble or broken furnishings to be thrown out or burned later to help heat the smelters. Giblet however was down in the forge, hammering out the final touches on a new set of steel armor and polishing a newly crafted axe and helmet for the new Overlord's uses.
Keyon returned at length, appearing in a burst of red light at the pool that served as a portal to and from various points across the land. The young master's face and leathers were sprinkled with fresh red drops of color and his sword was in hand and coated from the tip of the blade to the pommel with warm blood. To Gnarl, it was a wonderful sight.
"Welcome back Sire." Gnarl announced, bowing his hunched frame and dipping his ears in reverence to his young master. "I must say I was impressed at how well you deceived that blabbermouth bard. Now we can begin to search for the locations of these new heroes."
Keyon nodded in agreement. "Evernight is the most seceded, it makes sense to go there first."
Gnarl nodded his grizzled head. It did indeed make sense, killing that bard would have been a bad idea at the time. The villagers were enthralled by Paul's magic harp and would have descended on the young Overlord if he had struck the wretched hero. Even with his sword and leather armor, the odds of getting past fifty angry farmers was not a well advised choice of action. Gnarl said nothing of this matter though, there were more pressing matters and time was something that did not bide well with an Overlord's lust for revenge.
"Giblet should be done with your armor Lord." Gnarl said, gesturing to the stairwell leading downwards to the forge.
Keyon wasted no more words and descended the steps to the forge, where Giblet was busy polishing the final spots on the steel helmet. Keyon however was not interested in his armor looking good, he just wanted it to protect him in battle. Discarding his sword and abandoning his meager leather armor, Keyon wasted no time in donning his new armor. Despite Giblet's bizarre way of measuring, the armor fit its owner perfectly, as did the helmet. The axe fit comfortably in Keyon's hands and was perfectly balanced, the ease of the practice swings he made pleased him greatly.
Giblet, seeing his master was smirking under the helmet hopped up and down. Happily gibbering to himself in great in his satisfaction that he had done a good job. The forge master turned to put his tools away, but as he turned to check on his master and attempt to get a little more praise he had found that Keyon had left without a real word of thanks. Giblet's ears drooped in disappointment as he placed the sword back on the weapons rack.
---
"Master, I suggest a field test of your commanding talents before we get down to business." Gnarl asked, hobbling over to the newly armored Keyon as he rose from the forge chamber.
Keyon frowned, he didn't want to wait at all he wanted the blood of those who wronged him and he wanted it now. "I can handle one hero or a thousand Gnarl. Why should I waste time on a practice target."
"Swearer of revenge! Survivor of massacres! Refuser of tests!" Jester announced as he jangled up behind both student and teacher. His enthusiasm only earned him a steel plated foot to the jaw, Keyon had never liked that creepy Brown not even as a child.
"Trust me lord, even your father required a task such as this." Gnarl said, moving over to the side of the pool as an image of the grassy fields of a farm house appeared just beneath the dark watery surface. "Consider it a chance to gain more life-force, and a chance to kill one of the villagers who lodged the heroes for a day before they attacked this lovely tower."
That changed everything, Keyon took a step towards the pool as he grinned at the thought of blood. "I suppose I could wait for a little while..."
Without much more thought on the matter Keyon stepped into the water of the pool, ready to head to the target farm house to level it.
---
Keyon marched through the grain fields that lead to the farm house, the trek from the portal was not as long as Keyon had expected it to be but it was rather tedious. Behind him were seven sparsely armed Browns, each of them jabbering on about 'cowsies' and 'sheepies' and other tasty creatures there were to eat on farms. The idea of watching the Minions devour an entire, very raw cow made even Keyon wish to think of more pleasant things.
The remote farm they were approaching was ringed on three sides by fields of wheat and corn. A private garden for the family that lived there sported beans, pumpkins, and tomatoes not far from the old wooden barn and the two story farmhouse. Cows, sheep, and goats stood grazing lazily on the very grass they stood on.
Keyon spat on the gold wheat, disgusted that these peons who had prospered under the iron hand of his father would aid his enemies. Keyon would end their lives as violently as possible, his axe would drink the blood of any traitor that aided the heroes. Even the children.
Keyon's approach was heralded by the loud barking of a dog as it sounded warning to its masters that someone unfriendly was approaching. The large canine was so disturbed by Keyon's evil aura and the stench of his Minions that it broke free of the pole that it was leashed to and ran full speed in a straight line towards the young Overlord. Although his Browns cried out for their master to let them attack and protect him Keyon did no such thing. As the beast neared and leapt for his throat it found its head free of its body with one swipe of Keyon's axe. The body of the large dog fell on one of the Brown Minions, causing it to scream for it's comrades to get the fresh corpse off of it. Its compatriots only laughed.
The dog's final and high pitched yelp, released seemingly on reflex had caused some stir on the farm. A young man dressed in simple and very unclean clothes ran around the side of the barn awkwardly holding a pitchfork. By Keyon's guess he was only a few years older than he, but that made no difference. Keyon wanted blood and what little was spilled by the hound's death was too little for his liking.
"Who are you and what do you want?" The young man yelled as he pointed his pointy farm tool at the armored intruder. Only when his eyes fell on what was once his faithful pet did he realize the trespasser's intentions. "Get back you! Or I'll do to you what you did to my dog!"
Keyon would have laughed if he hadn't found that threat so empty. Keyon kept his eyes on the young man as he spoke in a hushed tone to his Minions. "Minions, I want the lives of every man, woman, and child on this farm. You may kill, eat, drink and have anything you want here as long as I can take their lives. Disobey and I will have you all cleaning the Green Minion Hive for a week!"
The Browns shuddered and babbled their promises to obey, the idea of being that close to the Green Hive was enough to make some of the little creatures nearly retch. Still that disgusting thought hindered them only for a moment, the little goblin creatures held the sickles, hatchets, and the small knives that they have found lying discarded around outside the tower and charged screaming their battle cries as they descended en mass upon the young farmer.
The eldest son of the household had little chance against these small creatures but in his panic to defend himself from the seven Minions he unwisely thrusted his pitchfork at the first Minion that charged within range. The little monster ducked under the attack, saving himself from being skewered but screamed in pain as one of the prongs pierced its long ear. A sharp pull upward from the young man and the Brown was on the ground rolling around holding the side of its head where its left ear once was.
While the young man had just finished with the first enemy, the remaining six only stepped over their fallen ally and hitting him with their dull and rusty weapons. The young man screamed in agony, the pain of a blade was something that the farmer's son never had experienced before and all his childhood dreams of joining Castle Spree's forces seemed hallow as his lifeblood leaked from his wounds and onto the formerly green grass.
One last slice to his thighs from a Brown's sickle brought the young man to the ground, he lashed out with his pitchfork in a ditch last attempt to kill his attackers but only knocked a few to the ground. Suddenly the man in armor loomed over him with his axe in his gauntleted hand. With a raise of his other hand a bellowing horn sounded from nowhere, calling the Minions back to his side. The armored man placed a boot on the young man's chest, pressing down with enough force to hear the popping of cartilage from the young man's rib cage.
"Wha... why are you doing this?" The young man asked, barely able to speak from the pain in his chest. "Who are you?"
Keyon snorted, disgusted with the young man to a level that he could not describe and in one downward arc ended the young man's life. Keyon felt a little better knowing that this whelp was no longer among the living, another enemy of his family was not in this world. Turning back to his Minions he noticed one was minus an ear, a Minion that was greatly injured needed to return to the tower to heal. Looking back at the young man Keyon placed his metal hand on what was left of the young man's head and drew out his life-force, transforming it into a brownish ball of light.
"You, one-ear!" Keyon barked, instantly earning a round of chuckling from the other Minions as he tossed the life-force ball to the injured Minion. "Take that back to the Tower and do NOT get lost on the way. I will not come looking for you."
The Brown nodded and gave Keyon a hardy "Yes master!" before running off across the field of wheat holding the young man's life-force as if it were a priceless gem.
Keyon looked at the other Minions, they were all uninjured and looked very excited to see their master 'smash' the 'stinky farmer'. Keyon knew that this young man could not run such a large farm, leaving the corpse and taking his Minions to check the barn next to the house he expected to find the rest of the family. Instead all he found was an old cow and an upturned pail of milk.
"Cowsie!" One of the Minions squawked.
There were times Keyon questioned whether the Minions were good servants. While they never questioned orders or said no to him, yet at the same time they had never shown much in the means of intelligence. Then again that was probably why they were so loyal in the first place.
"There's no one here." Keyon said, turning from the barn and heading back towards the farm house. "The only place that any of these weaklings would hide is in the house."
Circling the farmhouse with his half dozen underlings Keyon came upon what he had hoped to find, an outdoor entrance to the house's cellar. A single swipe of his axe took off the lock and a subsequent kick from his armored boot broke the wooden door open.
"Minions, go down there and bring me any person you find!" The young Overlord bellowed down at his small legion of Browns. "If you find no one, destroy the main supports and return to my side!"
The Browns shouted their enthusiastic approval and raced down the stairs with weapons drawn and shouting unintelligent battle cries. While Keyon waited semi-patiently, the Browns found little of value to their master. There was no one hiding down in the dank cellar and there were only barrels of dried and canned foods. The Minions did find four thick wooden posts that ran from the ceiling to the dirt floor of the cellar. Without any regard for their own safety or well being the Browns began to hack at the support beams and shoulder ram into them periodically, one by one the beams gave way no longer able to support the weight they held.
The Minions wasted no more time in the cellar and ran towards the stairs to return to their master's side, not wanting to be crushed under the house that creaked and groaned over head. All six Browns returned to find their master leaning on his axe. The Minions did not stop until they were at their rightful place behind their Overlord, more out of fear of being crushed by the destruction of the beams than defending their master against an ambush.
Keyon fanged a pleased grin under his helmet, the magic concealing his face and eyes from view kept this from being known by the Minions but just for a moment the light blue lights that were in fact Keyon's eyes blazed a cruel red. He had just heard the terrified scream of a woman as the house gave one final loud creak before the sound of wood breaking under it's own weight. A woman who was clearly getting on in her years with her grey and black hair raced out of the front door before the house collapsed in on itself.
Keyon wasted no time in racing around the corner and grabbed the woman by the neck and slammed her roughly against the outside of the house, the claws on his armored fingertips leaving small but very clean cuts on her neck.
"Tell me how many are in your family woman and you may be spared my wrath!" Keyon shouted, making his seriousness perfectly clear by lifting his axe and pressing the bloodied weapon to the woman's throat.
The woman, now terrified beyond any other time in her life only screamed as her eyes drifted over to the corpse that had once been her son. She opened her mouth to scream but could not find her voice, only her wide eyes and her tears gave any indication that she grieved for her son... and silently did not wish to share his fate.
"Did you hear me wench!?" Keyon bellowed, drawing blood with the sharp edge of his axe. "How many live on this farm?"
"F-four..." The woman shakily said, her eyes now glued to the large axe at her throat.
Keyon thought on this... one would be the young man he had killed, he had the woman by the throat, clearly there was still the matter of the husband and one other. Clenching the woman's throat harder he brought his armored face close to hers. From the woman's point of view she could see only a shadowed silhouette of this murderer's face under the helmet and two cold, glowing points of light that narrowed sharply as griped her tighter.
"Besides you, who else lives here woman?" Keyon demanded, not letting up his malice for even a second.
"My husband, my daughter, and... my son..." The old woman struggled at the mention of her son, trying not to look at the mangled corpse not far from where she was held. "Please... do not harm the rest of my family..."
"You did what I said, that alone would buy you your life." Keyon said, setting the woman down and watching her grasp her throat and greedily take in the air she had been recently been denied. "However by taking in those heroes who assaulted my tower... That will cost you your lives."
The old woman watched in stricken terror as a single swing of Keyon's axe sent her head flying and sent a roar of cheering from the mouths of his Minions. Keyon felt that this kill was far less satisfying than the boy. At least he had put up a fight and had given his Minions a work out. Drawing out the old woman's life-force with his armored hand he handed it off to a Brown.
"Return it to the tower. There is no need to come back, and if you see your one eared companion on the way tell him the same." Keyon ordered, now looking out for the head of the house hold. Surely he would be far more satisfying to kill.
The Minion nodded, shaking its ears in the process and running off at full pace with the ball of yellow-brown light.
Keyon needed to get the farmer's attention, with the remaining five minions he knew of an excellent way to get anyone's attention in the vicinity. Keyon threw the doors of the barn open and gazed inside at the cow and large beams of wood. While the house had supports in the basement the barn was far more simply built.
"Minions! Break down this barn!" Keyon barked pointing his axe ahead into the large red building.
The Minions let loose with their battle cries and charged into the barn. Keyon watched as his henchmen worked fast to bring down the support posts and thus collapse the barn in one thunderous crash. While Keyon felt invigorated at seeing the large building collapse, his Minions who had narrowly avoided being crushed felt sorry that they did not get to eat the 'cowsie.'
Keyon knew that the crash of the barn would bring anyone who heard it to the farm, all he had to do was wait for the farmer to arrive. Keyon leaned against the handle of his axe, allowing his Minions to wander and pick things from the garden and eat what they wanted. No one would be around to eat anything once Keyon was done here. After a half hour of waiting and pacing Keyon saw two people approaching. One was a graying, sun tanned farmer wielding a five pronged pitch fork and a young woman with long red hair and fair skin.
Both of these newcomers were scared of the large armored man that was now walking towards them with an axe and with five little creatures behind him. The farmer's fear turned to blistering rage when he saw the bodies of his son and wife were lying lifelessly.
"Ziva, stand back..." The farmer said to his daughter, pushing her behind him with his calloused hand.
Keyon grinned under the magical darkness of his helmet, if he had any luck this old farmer would have training in the guards or at least know how to chase off rustlers. The young Overlord hoped that this one would put up a decent challenge, the girl would surely be as pathetic a kill as the old woman. Keyon would have to make this fight interesting...
"Minions, stay here and do not interfere unless I call out for you." Keyon said coldly, again not even looking at the creatures he commanded. He knew they would obey him if he gave them eye contact or not.
The Minions grumbled their complaints but stood down. As much as they wanted to protect their master they still obeyed without question. All five Browns either sat down on the grass to watch the show or began to search for yummy looking bugs that were scattered here and there.
Keyon slowly stalked towards the farmer and his daughter, wanting to instill as much fear in his foe as possible. His mother had taught him the importance that psychological warfare in the battlefield and had seen his father utilize it in minor skirmishes with lesser heroes. He was now putting what he was taught into action. If the farmer truly had no experience the old man would make a very rash mistake and the battle would end right there. Keyon did not want to waste time if he was as skilled as the other farmer.
The farmer pushed his daughter back once more as he charged at the armored man with his pitchfork. Keyon sighed mentally, charging was a poor tactic against any armored opponent, Keyon readied his axe and prepared to deflect the crude farm implement then counter attack. The idea worked at first at least, Keyon side stepped the farmer and attempted to grab the pitchfork by the handle and wrest it away from the farmer; it worked, just not as Keyon expected. The farmer let go of the pitchfork and continued his charge, knocking Keyon on his back. The farmer wasted no time as he leapt on Keyon's chest and with the aid of a nearby rock began to pound on Keyon's helmet. If it wasn't for the young Overlord's expertly crafted steel helmet his skull would be jelly by now, Keyon felt his own anger at the farmer's amateur tactics and slide his hand down the shaft of the pitchfork and with one quick movement the five pronged farming tool found it's way in the old man's back.
The farmer let out a pained yell and fell off to the side of the Overlord, followed by a scream from his daughter who was watching nearby. Keyon's helmet was dented here and there but was wholly unharmed save for a bit of a headache. Keyon had had quite enough of this little game and stamped his boot on the old man's side and pulled the pitchfork out before kicking him onto his side. The last thing the old man saw was an axe coming down at him.
"Another talentless peon... I hoped for something more than that." Keyon said, shaking his armored head before looking back at the Minions who were cheering at his victory. "Get over here!"
The Browns jumped to attention and ran to their master, ready to serve in slaying this final enemy, the woman. Even the Browns with their limited intellects knew this would be a very quick fight.
The girl stepped backward, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of the armored man who had just killed her brother, mother and now he had slain her father right in front of her. She attempted to run but tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground, turning on the ground to face her attacker.
Keyon saw no reason continue this farce, he simply walked over and placed his boot on her chest and readied his axe for the kill. "You should know that your father brought this on you."
However, before Keyon could slay the wench a familiar raspy voice boomed inside Keyon's head. "Wait master, do not kill this young lady."
"And why shouldn't I?" The young Overlord asked in his mind, not even attempting to sound polite to his mentor.
"The tower is in great disrepair and there is much that needs cleaning." Gnarl said, having watched everything from the pool in the Tower's throne room. "Why not bring this young lady back to free up some of your Minion's time?"
Keyon smirked, very much liking the idea of making a servant out of this traitorous farmer's daughter. "Very well."
"You two!" Keyon said, pointing to the two closest Browns. "Bring the woman with us. She has much to atone for her family's crimes against my family."
"What do you mean?" The young red haired woman asked, a second before one of the Brown's knocked her out by hitting her in the back of the head with the handle of its pitchfork. She did not have to suffer the trip as two smelly Browns picked her up like a roll of carpet and carried her off as Keyon lead them back to the .
To be continued.
AN: this one took a long time to write... hope you enjoy it, and for those who want to read more I suggest you favorite this fic to keep an eye on it since updates will be slow but continuous.
William- thanks. As for the super powered characters (or uber characters) I've seen far too many of them on FF to make any of them myself. They're just pathetic attempts to make an OC seem cool. As for my new 'hero' characters I'm trying to follow Overlord's pattern of twisting hero stereotypes into workable villains.
Anon- Sweet indeed. Thanks for the review.
Overlordofnobodies- It's continuing, it's just slow because of all the other projects I have.
FTKnight- This fic will update slowly... too many projects... ugh... don't worry though. The bard will get what he deserves...
blackrogue123- Originality is what I shoot for.
Arjuna1356- I've noticed that few people can make a 'sequel' fic without adding a poorly designed OC or not keeping true to the story. They make the characters act, well out of character, they give them powers... this is my truest attempt yet at good writing.