It had been a few years since Brann was adopted into the secret evil community in the Netherworld. The sixteen-year-old got up and did his usual daily routine. Waking up in the boy's barracks and getting clean in the communal baths. The Black Dragon Knights that made up a third of the population had plenty of kids, with another third of the population, mainly the demons. He was told when he was first given a bed in the barracks that they did that to be closer to the Infernal Lord, but even then, he didn't really understand it.

"Think fast, Over-nerd!" Yelled one of the hellspawn as he chucked a bar of sope at the back of Brann's head, giving him quite the lump.

"Fucking hell Will! Can I have one fucking bath without you acting like a five-year-old!?"

"NEVER!" Screamed the young prankster. Will was the closest thing Brann had to a brother, seeing as Jill and her husband Bill had all but adopted him. His stepbrother looked like the rest of the hellspawn. His skin was a much darker pink than standard human pigments, borderline red, and his hair was jet black. Yellow slitted eyes were also quite common, but some of them had dark red, or even entirely black eyes to match their hair. After the bathroom drama, Brann got dressed with the rest of the boys and began sparing. This was also when the girls would also show up. Despite having segregated sleeping arrangements, all of their classes wore together.

"Ready to have your blue ass kicked again? Over-nerd!"

"Ready to finally get a scare on that pretty face of yours, Sindra?" Brann taunted, though they were only allowed to use blunted training weapons. It was said the Sindra had more demon in her than human. Her two little horns on her forehead and pitch-black eyes would seem evidence enough for that. Even though both of them always say they were the ones to win the dual every time they spared, in truth, both Brann and Sindra were evenly matched as warriors. Only after showing adequate skill in the sparing pits were they allowed to eat, a rather brutal stance, but they were evil. Brann took his spot with Will and Sindra, they may give him a hard time, but they are the only ones who didn't suck up to him just because he would be the Overlord when he grew up, so that made them his only friends.

"What's on the menu today Willy?"

"Same as usual, slug and beetle past."

"Oh, come on! Your dad is the cook! Can't you like, bat your eyes at him pathetically and get us something better to eat?"

"There is nothing better to eat. The hunting parties have to avoid the good hunting grounds to keep us safe from the empire. So eat up, Brann!" The future ruler of all things did as Will told him, if only because he was right.

"So, you boys know anything about that special project that Giblet and the high priest have been working on?"

"Sin, how would we know anything about that?" She rolled her black eyes at Brann's response like it was the stupidest thing he had ever said.

"Because you could just ask a minion, and they would tell you right away without hesitation, dude. They worship the ground you walk on even more than the priests do. It's kinda creepy."

"Believe it or not, but they do keep things from me, just like the rest of the adults do." The table grew quiet just then. From the very beginning, the cult had told him that he was the son of the last Overlord, the one they worshiped as a god, and they served before he ascended. But they refused to answer questions about him that were not just scripture, as well as not saying anything about his mother. It was one of the few things that he really hated about living in the Netherworld. After eating came general studies, history, biology, mathematics, you name it, and they had to learn it. After general education, Brann finally got to study something he was actually interested in, magic. All the kids who didn't have strong enough ties to magic were allowed to get free time early, but those who could feel the power coursing through them had to go to magic class. Brann was particularly good at offensive magics, blasts of energy, lightning bolts, that sort of thing. But Will took more after his mother and was better and manipulating the dead, even making a zombie frog jump down a girl's robes, to the amusement of both him and Brann.

"Welp, class was certainly fun! Despite how hard the stuffy old man can hit!" Will said as he rubbed the back of his head, the exact spot where he was struck for the zombie frog prank.

"Well, you had it coming! I'll meet you at your parent's quarters. I have something to do first."

"Sounds good, I'll try not to eat everything before you get there, but you know, evil." Brann simply shook his head as he walked off, looking out at the orange glow and floating rocks of the Netherworld on his way to the temple. When he walked in, the statue of the Infernal Lord was the first thing Brann saw. The giant statue of infernal stone dominated the room and radiated pure evil energy. He spent some time just staring into the eyes of the statue of his supposed father, wondering just who the hell he really was. Not the god, not the Overlord, but the man he was. He glared into the statue's eyes like he was expecting it to tell him everything he wanted to know. He then noticed Giblet exiting the high priest's office, figuring that he might as well try to do Sindra a favor.

"Hey, forge master, mind if I ask you a question?"

"Oh, hello, might be master! Ask Giblet what you want to know."

"What are you and the priest working on that you don't want everyone to know about?" Giblet was visibly nervous when asked that question.

"Me... Not supposed to say..."

"Not even to your future, Overlord?" Giblet looked back and forth before waving Brann to bring his ear down into whispering range.

"We have a weapon from the Infernal Abyss. Like dwarf gun, but shoots evil energy instead. We looking into finding out how it channels power into making wizard armor. You tell no one, ok?"

"My lips are sealed!" Brann said, leaving to go and tell Sindra right away. He found her in her usual spot, close to the brown minion fighting pits. Getting really into the sport early on, her favorite fighter seemed to be losing, given her foul mood.

"Hey, Sin. Your guy losing again?"

"He's totally taking a dive! Scratch would never have lost to Sacb a month ago!"

"I found out what Giblet and Markus are working on. Will that cheer you up?" Sindra then jumped up from where she was sitting and looked much happier.

"Well, tell me then!"

"What will you give me if I do tell you?"

"I won't make you infertile with a knee to your dick." Brann considered that a fair trade, but a much more evil idea as a wicked grin grew on his face.

"Oh, I'll tell you... For a kiss." Sindra glared into Brann's eyes for a solid minute. To anyone else, her twin void eyes looking deep into theirs would be unsettling, but Brann found it kinda cute.

"You wanna say that again? My fist didn't hear you."

"Oh, I think your fist heard me just fine. If you wanna know what's going on in the forge, you gotta pucker up and-" Sindra then punched Brann in the face. He soon found himself on the ground, getting his kissed by her fist.

"You, jerk! Creep! Pervert! How dare you try to buy a kiss from me like some whore! If you wanted to kiss me, just ask to fucking kiss me!" She suddenly stopped punching Brann, both wide-eyed and stunned by what she just said.

"Wha- You would just kiss me if I ask-"

"Well, not now I wouldn't!" Sindra said, shoving Brann to the ground as she got up and stormed off, grumbling something to herself that he couldn't actually hear. He just laid there on the ground for a few moments, thinking over what just happened.

"She would have kissed me if I asked... A girl likes me... Sindra likes me! Or not after what I just did. Maybe I should let her beat me in sparing tomorrow to make it up to her? No, that would just make her hate me more." Brann then got up and started walking his way to his adopted family's home, thinking about dealing with the new development.