Raven looked around the small village that her tribe has just finished raiding, village that soon enough would be overflowing with Grimm, village that will remain yet another example of failure of living outside the protections of the Great Kingdoms. She felt no shame about her actions, no remorse, no pity. This was the way of life, the strong survived, the weak perished.
She gave an order for her tribe to move back to their camp, but something stayed her from following suit. It wasn't a physical thing, nor any Semblance she had ever encountered. It was a feeling, one that told her something life-changing would be happening. This feeling was not new to her, nor it should be new to any experienced Huntsmen. Aura allowed extrasensory perception to those who trained their abilities enough. She focused on her Aura; she would not let the life-changing thing be her death from an unexpected attack.
She sensed an attack from the east; she spun and extended her arm, sending shockwave of aura that destroyed the approaching fireball. She narrowed her eyes. Maidens were easy to sense if you knew what you were looking for, she developed a technique for that, having a unique constant access to a Maiden willing to use her powers for testing, herself namely, but she could not sense a Maiden nearby.
Her aura screamed at her, and she jumped upwards to avoid becoming a pincushion. She willed the wind to keep her in the air, and looked down below. Where was once nothing but dirt, there were four mound circles, the power she sensed from them unnerved her, surrounding where she just stood. On top of these magical circles there were four brown goblinish creatures, no bigger than half of an adult male, crooked shark-like teeth, yellow glowing eyes, overgrown claws, bat-like ears, and a hunched posture, all of them wielding small daggers, daggers that had almost found themselves inside her.
The attacker from the east had finally made its appearance, a goblinoid like the rest, only much older, and uniquely amongst them, hair consisting of beard and sideburns, and a stick attached to his back from which hung a yellow, dust-like, crystal from a rope. She focused her Aura-enhanced senses on him, she could still not sense a Maiden, but she did sense deep power within him, similar but also very different from those magical circles. Perhaps this is how Magic felt disconnected from Aura?
As she glared at her attacker, he broke out into a satisfied smile, not one for charming ladies, unlike Tai's, and clapped, clearly congratulating her for something.
"I knew I was correct about you." the goblin said, his voice satisfied, but sounding unnatural. "Apologies for the attack, Sire, but in our line of business, we must seek an adequate sovereign."
Raven took the moment to think his words over as she gathered the power of the storms. There shall be no survivors if she wasn't satisfied. The thing's words were interestingly chosen; it implied that they were looking for a Queen to rule over them, a 'sovereign' as he called it. It was easy to test if her theory was correct, and that is what she set out to do.
"Kneel" she commanded with a coldly authoritative voice. The goblin kneeled, as did others. Too easy. She wasn't one to complain about getting a new advantage, but rarely does one come so easily with no strings attached. Still, the goblin possessed rare powers, and the circles, something to do with teleportation she assumed, could prove useful if it could supplement her own powers.
"We are yours to command, great Overlord." the creature spoke respectfully. "You have great power, will to make use of it, and a penchant for Evil, Sire, you are most perfect!"
She let her gathered powers disperse, seeing no need at them at this moment, and willed the wind to set her down.
"And what do you goblin-cultists get out of this deal?" she inquired. While her morals were questionable at best, Evil-worshiping-cultists seemed rather much even for her. Though, maybe these beasts thought differently than humans.
"Goblins?" the creature said offended, face displaying clear signs of outrage. "We are Minions, Lord, Minions, not some lowly goblins! We Minions look for an Overlord to serve, we are born to serve, we die to serve."
Perfect, she thought to herself sarcastically, not only were they cultists, it was a death cult. And what? She was to be their Death God? Summer would have found this hilarious, her brother would have remarked that they fit her foul personality.
"You didn't answer my question, Minion." Raven remarked. "What do you get out of this? No one serves to serve, people serve for something, be it safety, money, or some other desire.
"We are a race of Evil, Master." the thing insisted. "An Overlord is to lead us, committing acts of Great Evil on the way. We love to fight, we love to kill; we love to loot, chaos and destruction is our bread and butter, Sire, we live for it. Evil is never resting, always plotting, always finds a way to disturb the disgusting peace, bring about greatness."
They started to remind her of evolved Grimm, just ones capable of speech. If Grimm had their Queen in Salem, she supposed perhaps it wasn't too absurd that these creatures would need a Queen too. She was still wary, but it was nothing a few tests could not solve. If these creatures proved their loyalty, then she could use them.
"Is there only five of you then?" she asked, her derisive tone making her intent clear. They were hardly going to be of much use to her if there were only five of them. There was a reason that criminal enterprises tended to recruit a large number of ex-huntsmen instead of cheapening out and only hiring a few.
"What use is an Overlord without an Evil Army, Master?" the leader-creature said with a good-natured chuckle. "There are more of us at your Dark Tower, and there are yet more of our kind for you to find, Dark Lady. There are four versions of our kind, each with their own special abilities."
And therein laid the catch, she guessed, the hidden desire they needed her for. She was to reunite their brothers and sisters, and in return they would serve her. Not a bad deal, she thought, and so she relaxed a bit. Nothing is more suspicious than a free gesture not coming from a loved one. Though, oftentimes, even they wanted something.
"Well?" she swung her arm dramatically, if she was to be an Evil Queen, might as well lean into the character, "Lead me to my newfound Tower!"
The creature bowed to her. "Certainly. But first, let me introduce myself. I am Gnarl, the Minion Master, and the one who will advise you on your Evil Reign."
"I don't need an advisor," Raven shot back. She had managed her reign well enough on her own. More people in command held more opportunities for fractures, treason.
"Be as it may, Master, you may still find my advice helpful." he insisted, before relenting slightly. "Though, naturally, as an Overlord you are free to disregard my opinion completely. My job is to merely offer help when needed."
Raven nodded at him. That's a relationship she could work with. And, who knows, maybe the thing's knowledge of his own kind will prove useful in boosting her new army. She gestured again, not bothering to make her intent clear, and the Minion moved towards one of the magical circles.
"These are called Tower Gates, Master." Gnarl informed her unprompted. "They are arcane links between the outside world and your domain. It is how we got here, we had set these up here in advance."
In other words, Raven was correct about the purpose of these 'gates'. If she could pilfer its secrets, she could become nigh-unstoppable. As far as she knew, not even Ozpin or Salem had such powers, though one of them was extremely secretive, and she had only heard about the second from the former.
"I just step on one of these, and they take me wherever I want?" Raven asked for clarification.
"Almost so, Master. The Tower Gate currently has connection only to few locations. Your magnificent presence will be required to awaken the sleeping ones, or to make new ones. For now, Master, will yourself to appear in your Tower."
Casting caution to the wind, she stepped on the gate, and willed herself to appear in her new domain. It was if the entire world had blinked, and when its eyes reopened she was in some barely lit, grandiose hallway, though having clear signs of being decrepit and certainly in need of some repairs. But, as far as free Towers of Evil went, she was certainly impressed, though less so at the wetness at her feet. She wasn't stupid, her boots were waterproof, but being teleported into a pool of water wasn't exactly what she had expected. At the very least, she was assured by the fact that she felt hard stone beneath her feet. There was no danger of her needing to swim for her life.
She stepped forward on old red carpet leading up to her throne. The carpet at its heyday must have been remarkable, but age and usage left it in need of replacing. The throne appeared almost undamaged, surprisingly. It was made of some dark stone; cool to the touch, the height of a full-grown adult male, with a skull at the end of the armrest. The top of the throne seemed to be shaped as if an evil helmet, and the sides of her throne had spikes extruding to the side, then bending to point upwards.
It was impressive, she decided, even if the overplaying of the evil image made it somewhat gauche. She sat on her throne and was surprised at how comfortable it felt, she'd have thought she'd need to bring a cushion. Soon after, she saw Gnarl and his charges appear, like her, spawning in the pool. As he got close, she decided to get to the bottom of the issue.
"Why exactly is there a pool of water at the teleportation exit?"
"If you would follow me, Master, I'd be happy to explain it to you." Gnarl said, and after she stood up, he began leading her down one of the staircases. It lead them to a spacious cavern, in the middle of which was a white glowing orb around which several large rocks were flying.
"This, Dark Lady, is the Tower Heart, and the source of your new powers. It is what makes the Tower Gates' teleportation powers possible." Gnarl explained, and though intrigued by the object, that didn't really answer her question, and she said as much. "If you'll look up, Master, you'll see a hole connecting this section with the upper level. This is for convenience; it would be ever so tiresome to have to go down here every time you wanted to go out to the broader world. This way you need only walk down the throne room."
Raven was still confused. "But why the water?"
The creature had the gall to look at her as if she was stupid. "We can hardly just have a hole laying around, can we? No we cannot, Master! Evil must look Evil, and the only thing holes everywhere does is make the Evil look defeated and besieged!"
Raven was still confused as to why they chose water, or how the water wasn't flooding the lower level. Magic, she decided, and decided to drop the issue. Maybe the idea will grow on her; if not she can always have them clean it all up.
"Anything else here that I should see?" she inquired eager to see what other secrets this cult had hidden away. The Minion lead her to another object closeby. The thing was best described as a lot of intertwined fat larvae forming a massive, in both height and width, almost egg shaped structure with a few brown eggs being nestled in between the larvae. It was disgusting and made her want to gag.
"That, Dark Lady, is the Brown Minion Hive. It is how Minions such as myself are made."
For a moment her head was spinning with all sorts of ideas, plans, implications, all connected to this revelation. "I can make you?" she clarified.
Gnarl nodded. "While we Minions can breed and conceive offspring naturally, is all that wait time not inconvenient to your Dark Designs? What true Master of Evil can allow herself to be burdened with such ridiculous concepts as having to wait for their army?"
If what he said was true, Raven realized that she had hit the biggest goldmine she had ever hit. IF was the key word here, for this seemed far too good to be true.
"And how do I make you? How do I use this disgusting thing?"
"Extend your hand towards it, and make a sharp upwards motion while demanding it to spawn a Minion. As long as you have the Life Force, it shall use it to create a Minion."
"Life Force?" all these new concepts were getting on her nerves.
"Consider it the life energy that flows through us all, animal or human. An Overlord, and his Minions, can see the physical manifestation of said force upon death of a living creature, and store it in the Tower Heart. I believe there should be still some remaining from the last Overlord." at her prompting look he elaborated. "You are, of course, not the first. There have been many Masters before you, and there will be many after. Sooner or later they all die, either heroes defeat them, their own foolishness dooms them, or, in time, death claims them as it does all."
Raven had no desire to die anytime soon, but she supposed neither did her predecessors. She would have to study their deaths, she was not eager to repeat their costly mistakes. Nor, come to think of it, was she particularly eager to perform ritualistic sacrifices, but the dead had no need for their souls, she reckoned.
She made the required motion, and willed the thing to obey. It did, and it spat out a Minion, freshly made. She felt information rushing into her head, the number of Minions at her disposal –ten-, the remaining number of Life Force the Heart had at its disposal –five left- .
"Congratulations on your first spawning, Master." Gnarl congratulated her. "Though, you won't always have to come here to make additional Minions. Up above, you can ask the Heart to spawn you a Minion Gate, a pathway directly connected to the Hive, allowing you to summon the Minions wherever you please."
That was convenient, but there was a more urgent matter.
"The Heart, without my consent, filled my head with information. I like to be in control."
"It is information the Overlord must know at all times, Master." Gnarl insisted. "At the very least if you are determined to insist it doesn't automatically update you, be sure to request an update often manually. How can you carry out your Evil deeds without knowing the logistical side of your army?"
She made sure the Heart understood she would request the information manually. Gnarl made a good point after all, and he was proving to be quite useful indeed.
Raven looked around the room and noticed three other empty spaces, one like the one in which the Brown Hive rested. The implication was clear, but she asked just to be sure.
"I assume this is where the other hives go?"
"Expertly divined, Dark Master." Gnarl said, confirming her guess as true. "There are four kinds of Minions, each one with their own Hive and Life Force requirement. There are Brown Minions, like me, we use this Brown Minion Hive, which uses brown Life Force. It can be found everywhere; it's the most basic of them all. We Browns are good at fighting, using weaponry, or really anything that requires usage of hands or physical labor. Red Minions, they are masters of fire. They can manipulate it, eat it, shoot it, they can do it all. They need their own hive, and Red Life Force. Red Life Force comes out with creatures associated with fire, be it creatures that use primarily fire, or creatures that live in places like volcanoes, places of heat or fire. Greens prefer nature and poison, and can consume poison, though young Greens don't have the ability to spew it. They do however have limited invisibility powers, and useful skillset for any killing that requires stealth. Their life force, Green, can be found in animals that are either primarily poisonous, or live in forests. As before, they need their own hive too. And lastly, the Blues. They are perhaps the most absentminded of all Minion tribes, but their skillset is invaluable. They can revive recently killed Minions, and if they get powerful enough, long dead Minions too. With enough Blues in your army, very few enemies can stand a chance. After all, it is very hard to fight an army that refuses to die. That's not the only thing, Master, they also have a penchant for Magic, and unlike me who had to spend many many years to learn Magic, it comes to them naturally. Finally, they are the only Minions that can swim. Many Overlords have tried to teach the other Minion tribes to swim, all ended in mass drownings. They need Blue Life Force, gathered from aquatic creatures, and their own hive."
Making a large army out of them would prove to be a logistical nightmare, Raven could already see. Still, an army of loyal brutes, fire mages, walking poison detectors and neutralizers, and necromancers, that sounded pretty useful indeed.
Gnarl then proceeded to give her a tour of her new domain, and Raven tried to ignore the more over the top Evil elements. A dungeon for torture? She was Evil, sure, but unlike villains from stories, torturing people was neither a pastime she particularly enjoyed, nor did it get her hot and bothered. Gnarl promised her a full tour later, once they managed to clear out the rubble blocking off certain parts of her tower. Still, the tower had a nice bedroom for her, the room seemingly weirdly out of place, having suffered no damage. Clearly it's a room they had spent most effort into keeping in good condition. She apparently even had a vault-like room for her gold and other valuables. Personally, she thought keeping it in chests was a lot more practical, but Gnarl made a good point as well, it would look nicer this way, wouldn't it? And, really, if she was a Dark Lady, shouldn't she be entitled to some frivolity?
Her next course of action was clear, do a raid using nothing but these Brown Minions. Test their loyalty and usefulness, and if all goes well, use them to make herself stronger. There were a lot more magical secrets to uncover, she was sure, and a lot of things she will have to do. It was good then, that hard work never scared her.