Evil, Evil finds a way, take a little anger add a smidge of hatred and before you know it a beautiful pustule of Evil will burst into a new Overlord.
He ran, glowing eyes piercing the night, the moon reflecting off the snow in a gentle light. He hated it, hated the soft glow that in the morning promised a glare that would bring nothing but headaches, hated the town that despised him. But currently right this minute he would have happily traded his soul to have it that snow never existed. The snowball that slammed into his hood at that moment felt like it justified his hate.
"I got him!" the voice was high pitched, filled with a pathetic glee.
"Not yet we haven't" a deeper voice called, exertion and excitement giving it the mindless viciousness unique to children and psychopaths. "Stop running Witch-Bastard! Too much of a coward to face us?"
You outnumber me-six to-one how in the hells am I the coward? As usual, the thought surfaced unwanted, a sense of humour that all his hate had never been able to suppress completely. Irritating since it was hard to completely submerge yourself in angst when your mind keeps mocking you for it.
He had to slow his "desperate" run, inhuman stamina was great for escaping from the groups that chased him, but it wasn't that good when you wanted them to keep chasing you. And today was a day that he would remember happily, the day that he would have revenge! But first, he had to lead the half dozen children into the Yeti trap.
In my time, I have seen so many become Evil, and I have found that the most genuinely Evil must, most, unfortunately, have…Virtues. Cant be a proper Overlord without effort after all, and while murdering all the peasants is a grand time in the short term it is rather embarrassing to have to clean your Fortress of Doom. So it is the greatest Overlords I have ever served had within them the potential to be the brightest bastions of Good. Disgusting, but at least the irony warms my black heart.
He was almost there, it had taken patience and planning, and the exhaustion he had suffered following the hunters had shown him that his endurance was merely in-child, but it was all worth it. The forest opened into a clearing with a suspiciously flat area near the middle; he had removed the bait the hunters had left. He had done nothing to the pit.
He paused, waiting, hoping that they had not lost him, satisfaction burning in his gut when he heard the snap of broken branches heading towards him. He made his way around the pit before "falling" forward, grabbing his ankle in a facsimile of pain. The group arrived, coming out of the darkness of the forest like wolves, smiles hungry.
Archie, the oldest and leader, grinned "aww little witch-boy fell, why don't you fix it with your witchy powers, huh?"
"An amazing conclusion Archie. Tell me did arriving at it cause a headache? Do you need to sit down due to the headrush of success?" The voice that came out of the hooded child was not particularly distinctive; the air did not reverberate; it wasn't even particularly deep. But it was filled with a loathing that did not belong in one so young. "And if my powers extended to something beyond a light-show do you truly believe that I would not have done something about you?"
Archie began to advance his groupies following, as he had expected they went in a straight line, ignoring the way that his footsteps went around the area they were heading.
Perhaps the greatest thing about Evil, however, is how easy it is to fall. A little compromise here, a thoughtless act there and before you know it the greatest of heroes is slaughtering peasants like it's going out of style. But...
The glowing-eyed child sighed "Would you hurry up with, what will it be today? A beating? Stealing the orphan's clothes? Or have you come up with something original?" It wouldn't take much he knew; Archie's temper was incredibly short. Like clockwork, the boys face reddened, and he began to stomp forward.
"Oh, I have plenty of GRAAAGHH" The threat was destroyed by the massive snowball that suddenly rolled onto the scene slamming into the group and sending them sprawling. Stunned, the boys failed to notice a small figure approaching, wielding a large branch.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM"
Not particularly original but ten out of ten for clarity. This had not been in the plan; sudden defenders did not appear for him. Glowing eyes widened as the new figure, currently enthusiastically whacking another prone child failed to realise the larger Archie had recovered and had picked up the first thing that he could use as a weapon, a rock. Approaching from behind the stick-wielder it was obvious Archie had every intention of braining the impromptu sword wielder.
Good is not without its weapons, a smile here a hug there and suddenly your favourite overlord is sealing the forces of hell instead of raising hell.
He couldn't get there fast enough; the pit was too wide to jump, and he couldn't run around in time. Without thought, his hand raised, and he focused.
Blue light burst from his hand, and a force slammed into Archie's side, blowing him off his feet and away from the figure, who had ducked and spun away from the larger boy stick ready.
Of course, that would be the way it goes. But the witch boy found himself grinning as the group of bullies, bruised and demoralised started to retreat into the forest. Archie turned ready to scream something he thought would be threatening, only to wail as a rock found his face. Finished, he turned and ran, weeping, into the forest.
"And stay away!" the stick-wielding rock thrower yelled, turning towards him did nothing to allow the glowing-eyed child to identify his saviour. Sensible clothes of a thick hooded jacket, goggles and scarf completely concealed the other child's identity and protected them from the cold.
It truly is the problem really; Evil only truly thrives alone and yet its rather hard to be an overlord without people to lord over.
"You alright?" the voice also did little, high-pitched, but at their current age, it could have been male or female. The impromptu saviour began to walk towards the prone boy, he opened his mouth to warn of the trap, but the other child paused and followed his footsteps around the pit.
"Aint this where the yeti pit is?" they asked eyeing the area where the pit was with suspicion, "where the meat go?"
"I removed it as a part of my plan to lure the other children into the pit," He said standing, "I thought a night in the pit would perhaps make them rethink their treatment of me."
The figure stared at him for a long moment; the Witch-boy found himself fighting not to fidget under the stare.
"Uh this here's a kill-pit," they said
Witch-boy blinked "No, I was there when the hunter-group set up the pit; they wanted to capture the Yeti for an Arena fight."
The goggled figure shook their head "Nope, it killed a couple of hunters; the big man decided to "Kill that fuckin thing an put spikes in all the pits."
Using the stick, they hit the area above the pit a few times, the tarp over it collapsed revealing a ten-foot deep hole. Spikes lay poked up from the bottom, some hungrily piercing the tarp.
"Oh," there didn't seem to be anything else to say. He found himself waiting on the screams, the accusations, the old anger and hatred. Instead, a fist hit his shoulder gently.
"Eh, don't beat yourself up too much, none of those idiots got hurt and way I figure no one would have missed them if they did." The figure shrugged "Wasn't a bad plan; you just made assumptions and me dad says those things only make an ass out of ya."
Reaching up they pulled the hood down and took off the goggles, revealing red hair and bright green eyes. They stuck out a hand
"Kelda"
He stared at the hand "what?"
"Kel-da," they said slowly "it's my name, what's yours?"
"Glowy eyed freak," he said still trying to figure out what exactly was going on
"Hey, I thought we agreed those guys where idiots, meaning what they think is stupid and wrong." Kelda grinned "I'm smart though so what I think matters and I think your eyes are cool. So, unless you want me to call you Cool Eyed Boy, what's your name."
"What is happening?" the question came out weaker than he intended, something approaching hope strangling his voice.
"I am asking for your name" Kelda sounded confused
"Why?"
"Well, friends should know each other's names." Genuine confusion coloured the statement.
"Why would you want to be my friend?" The question came out harsher than he meant it too "I'm the Witch-Boy, The Freak Child, The Orphan! You're normal! You could go be with the other boys and be friends with them!" He blinked as he found the stick raised to his face, and the eyes now glaring into his had gone icy.
"First, I decide who I am friends with; I tried to be friends with those guys got bored after the fourth game of let's find the witch-boy. The only thing that was fun was watching them fail at trackin you; you seem intrestin, saw some of those things you built, cool use of firework powder."
He blinked, he only worked with fireworks in his secret layer, no one followed him there, he'd checked.
The green eyes seemed to gain in intensity "Second" The voice had turned icy "I am a girl."
He stared
"Tybald Witchchild"
He wasn't sure what to do with the smile he got back from the admittance.
Kelda stuck her hand out again
"Hi Tybald"
He had never met anyone that seemed that genuinely pleased to meet him.
He hesitantly took the offered hand
"Hi, Kelda" He paused, thinking for a moment "Sorry for thinking you were a boy."
"S'alright," She said with a grin "Just don't do it again, and the next time you want to toss that lot into a pit, let me know, and I'll help." Her grin widened showing gleaming teath "That way you'll get to choose if there are spikes or not"
Tybald just stared.
Evil… Evil finds a way, unfortunately, and most repulsively, so does Good. But you can fight Good, bury it in the yard and feed it to the worms.
The true issue is that most disgusting thing Love, it's a terrifying thing. Pride, Greed, Selfishness, Ownership! Its all those magnificent sins, a mixture potent enough to drown an angel!
But then… then a little bit of Good gets added in and somehow, pathetically. Those things combine and out the other end comes… Love, capital L. If I am honest for once it is the only thing in this plane that truly frightens me.
It cares nothing for Good or Evil for all it combines them; destroying bastions of righteousness as rapidly it redeems the worst of us—breaking the rules of this fine game.
Most terrifying of all is that none of us are immune, a single misstep, an unthinking pat on the head and it can seep in: unseen, unwanted… inevitable.
Like death… Like taxes.
A/N:
Hi all, and welcome to my first ever fanfiction. I have been a lurker on the site for years and finally decided that I should try my hand at it. Decided to pick the Overlord series as I have long been a fan and wanted to explore the world a bit more. I'll admit I am still finding my writing style, but hope you fine people will put up with it as I develop.
Hope you enjoyed and see you next time.