Normal speech

Inner thoughts

Overlord speech

Voices in Overlord's head

Chapter 1

Long have I slumbered, trapped in a prison of a long Forgotten God. It all started when stranger gates started to appear throughout my lands after the fall of the Seventh Hero and the Overlord before me, curious I explored them to find they were links to the Abyss and in their depths where the former heroes I had slain. One by one I journeyed through them and scoured them for anything of value and conquered them, till I faces the Forgotten God himself and struck him down. Now I am the Lord of the Infernal Abyss, imprisoned by the very god I had slain. The blighted Jester that started this all thought he could get away, but Gnarl didn't approve him tricking me after I destroyed the Second Overlord and had the jester torn limb from limb, wiped, and slowly dipped in the smelter as revenge. Yet even as the years past I was stuck here, forced to watch as my domain crumbled into ruin by one weak fairy kissing elf, my tower destroyed, my son forced into hiding by some shite stained empire. That was until the day my son reclaimed his birthright as the next Overlord and ruled from his own tower in the Netherworld. My laughter echoed throughout the Abyss as I watched my son not only conquer the 'Glorious Empire' but subjugate and corrupt the populace, and even the remaining magical creatures fell before him. Ah, never could I be more proud of him.

But those days have passed, my son's dominion has fallen like mine, long forgotten and turned to dust as ages past. The people forgetting the rule of the Overlords and the great magics that once existed. It gave me great joy watching the pea brained peasants build their own kingdoms and war with each other over the smallest things, slaughtering each other over land, religion, money, power . . . women. Now though true Evil is as rare as a snowball in the Abyss. So I thought long and hard of how to plot my escape, the Forgotten God used the Jester to begin the gates opening, I couldn't escape to the mortal plain . . . but as Gnarl once said; 'Evil will always find a way!'

(P.O.V. Change, third person)

The Overlord sat on a carved stone throne, similar to his Imperial throne in the Dark Tower, eyes closed as he gathered this Evil Energy and focused on crafting a gate to the Netherworld. In his head he tried to remember the feeling of his oldest minion, Gnarl, using the old connection from his gauntlet gave him to his minions and when Gnarl used the Tower Heart to speak to him. Slowly he felt the magics meant to hold the Forgotten God here try to interfere, but the Overlord wasn't bound here like he was. His Evil Energy slowly grew as his body changed and darkened. Suddenly the Overlord's eyes shot open, glowing yellow and red as he rose from his throne and walked to the center of the room. As he took his last steps, the ground underneath him began to curve runes deep into the ground and glowed the same dark red as his eyes and formed a 'small' circle around him. The glow continued to build as spikes began to protrude from the Overlord's shoulders, elbows, and around his knees. As his armor and tattered cloak blacked, the wards that held the Forgotten God begin to flare as they tried to contain the Overlord's Evil Energy. But as he slain the former Heroes once again, their own Evil Energy was absorbed into the Overlord like lifeforce. Taking every drop of power he could muster, a blinding blue light engulfed the Overlord and burst out away from him, filling the room with the blue light. As the light cleared, it showed the runic circle but no Overlord standing over it.

The Overlord dropped to one knee, panting heavily. His helmet fell from his head, showing long black hair that slowly turned brown as his Evil Energy dissipated and his armor brightened and cloak turned red. The lower half of his face covered by a mask that was hidden by his helmet most of the time, though now his blue eyes and pale skin was exposed to the dim light of the cavern.

"MINIONS! WE HAVE A INTRUDER! TO ARMS, WE . . . won't-" the familiar old voice shouted and stopped. Looking up the Overlord sees Gnarls elderly face, in his usual robes and glowing stone on a stick attached to his back. Around him where dozens of browns, some in leather armor but most in simple loincloths and holding clubs. "S-Sire?"

"Gnarl." The Overlord said as he grabbed his helmet and placed it back on his head, his face coated in shadow and his eyes changed to a glowing red light as he stood once more.

"Master!" Gnarl exclaimed as the browns jumped around and exclaimed in minionese and bashed their clubs on anything, the ground, walls, and even each other as they celebrated the long awaited return of the master. "Oh, it does my black heart wonders to see you, Master. I had hoped it would've been sooner. Oh, well. Now I can only imagine the mass carnage to come." The elder minion said as he rubbed his claws together and let out a chuckle.

The Overlord let out a chuckle of his own, but at hearing the old wrinkled corpse once again. Looking around he sees his son's old throne room, the statues worn and tapestries turned to rags or dust by time, lava harden with only a few touches and the main lava falls giving any light in the darkness.

"As you've noticed, Sire, time hasn't helped us keep your successor's tower as it once was. But now that you're here, we can change that." Gnarl says gesturing towards the throne. The Overlord walks forward and climbs the short steps and sits on the large throne, feeling a warmth as he sits. "It would seem the tower even knows you're right to be here." Gnarl says as he turned to the minions, "ALRIGHT YOU FESTERING DUNG HEAPS, GET TO WORK! WE NEED THIS TOWER OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATELY!"

With that the browns all scattered, going to dig, lift, and rebuild what they could by hand. Gnarl turned back to the Overlord, "Now, Sire. I believe we should get you acquainted with your new tower, and begin planning our conquest of this new land." Gnarl says, "Firstly let us travel to the Minion Burrows, Master."

With a nod the Overlord stood the his new throne and followed Gnarl to the balcony. "Now, Sire, the laws in the Netherworld are a little . . . shall we say flexible. These glowing runes mark the locations of the Nether you can travel to. The left is the Forge and Foundry, the center is the Minion Burrows, and the right is the Mount Breeding Grounds." The Overlord approached the one for the Minion Burrows a rock floated up to the ledge of the balcony. "Step onto the floating rock, Sire, it will transport you to the Burrows. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe."

Without a moment of hesitation the Overlord step onto the rock and was whisked off to the Minion Burrows.

(Minion Burrows)

As soon as the platform reached the Burrows, the Overlord jumped off and onto the solid ground. Looking around he sees huts of various types built throughout the cavern, "As you can see, Lord. Your successor devoted considerable time and resources to upgrading the Minion Hives." Gnarl's voice says through the Overlord's helmet. "Unfortunately, the Reds, Blues, and Greens decided to leave and try to find a suitable filler till you finally returned. We tried to keep an eye on them but they disappeared as soon as they reached the surface with their hives. Though, I did hear the Blues having been near a place called Atlantis, as there was a high magical energy source within. I'll make a note to see if we can get a Tower Portal near the city, once we've found , retrieved and properly armed your minions once again. Can't instill the Fear and Wonder in the populous without having the army and Tower to invoke such terror once again."

The Overlord walks towards each of the hives, starting with the Browns and sees how they and the Greens built off the edge towards the tower, the Blues deeper into a cavern that had many waterfalls pouring from the sides, uniting in one massive river going under the Burrows, the Reds however built into a lava flow that stretched farther than even he could see, and between the Red and Blues at the very back was a darker, almost grey or black blue Minion wearing a robe and wielding a scythe. "This is Minion Mortis, he oversees the life and death of the minions in the Burrows, he also can resurrect any fallen Minions, for a price."

"Indeed, in order to give life back to one minion, the life of another must be given. Life for death, DEATH for life." Mortis says, gesturing towards a shrine like building that looked eerily similar to the old tower portals. "Browns slain may return if Browns are given, Reds to Reds and the same of the Greens and Blues."

"He's right master, to resurrect a fallen minion, minions of the same colour must be sacrificed. The stronger the minion resurrected, the more minions must be sacrificed. We will have to keep that in mind until we can add the Blues back into the fold, then we can revive the minions in the field." Gnarl says as the Overlord nods and walked back to the platform and back to the Tower once again.

(Foundations and Forge)

As the rock stopped at another ledge the Overlord walked off and saw a large bowl like forge with pyramid like stones floating around it and many pipes pointing down into the forge. The opposite side was vacant, but clearly meant for something large, old wooden cranes lay broken and rotten from the years, ropes frayed and little more than knitting thread.

"This is the Forge and Foundry, from here we once crafted your spawn's magnificent Armor and Weapons. As well as sculpted the very Obsidian of the Tower into the Beacon of Evil the world needed. Though, as you can see My Lord, time has not been kind for our equipment. Most will need to be replaced, but we managed to keep a hold of the Forge Stones your Successor found, though we'll need to find the Reds once again to ignite the Forge once again." Gnarl's voice echoed through the Overlord's mind as his eyes trailed over even inch of the Foundry. He had to admit he was almost impressed by the thought of what was once here. Though he intended on surpassing his son and once again bringing this world to its knees and under his boot, as it once was, as it shall always be.

(Three weeks later)

Gnarl was moving quicker than he had in centuries, ordering and even beating minions with his stick as he oversaw the reconstruction and expansion of the tower. While it was slow, any cranes and tools they once had turned to dust over the centuries, the browns till had their claws and were to happy to have an Overlord once again to complain. . . too much. Old tunnels where reopened, rubble removed, and worn stone replaced or carved away. The first room restored as best they could was the private quarters, after all we can't have the Overlord rest his rump in the throne. "No, no, no." Gnarl thought as he walked down the steps and to the Overlord, sitting on his new throne carved into the lava falls behind it and twin shallow trenches allowed lava to flow, once more illuminating the throne room. The throne itself looked like the Imperial Throne, with a basilisk on each side that slithered down from the lava fall and raised their heads to act as armrests for the Overlord. If you look from the throne to the center of the room, there are four slabs of onyx surrounding the portal to and from the Netherworld, each bearing a minion in full gear riding on the backs of uncarven mounts. The closest one to the Overlord's left was a Brown Minion, past that on the left was a Blue Minion, its head fins fully formed with a necklace of skulls, holding onto something uncarved with its feet and one hand holding on. On the Overlord's right was a Green Minion with two rings in each ear, and past that was a Red Minion, horns fully formed and curled around it's head, riding something like the others. Each special made to act as barriers around the portal with special runss from the Infernal Abyss to resist any physical damage and magical influences aside from the Overlord's and his minions.

A few minions at first questioned how the Overlord returned to them if runes such as these held back the Forgotten God, but since the God destroyed his own prison the only reason the Overlord was trapped was that he didn't have a way to escape . . . at the time. But with enough Evil Energy, and the proper skill in magics, one could rip a hole through to other worlds. Gnarl was in fact glad the Third Overlord decided to hone his magical prowess after the battle with the Second Overlord, in truth Gnarl was almost joyful as he was more tactical sound, and not so arrogant as the Second had become.

"Aw, if only that Jester knew his place." Gnarl thought as he cleared his throat, catching the Overlord's attention from the written reports from Grubby, Giblet, Mortis, and the minions tribes leaders. "Sire, we've just received news that one of the gate tunnels has reached the surface. I've already sent a few Greens out to scout the area for anything of value, and possibly subjects." Gnarl says, receiving a simple nod from the Overlord as he rose from his throne. "I would also suggest you be on the lookout for any artifacts from the Dark Tower. The Tower Heart survived once, and it may have once again. Should we recover it, we could locate any other artifacts and power you up to your full strength once more." Walking to the center of the Nether portal, the top opened and the Overlord was sucked through to the new gate.