The Overlord Saga
Vol I. Past, Present, Future
Chapter 18: The Truth Unveiled
The Overlord hid behind the gargoyle statue, watching the Uberlord as he drew Muramasa and pointed it at the young version of the Overlord. Her mind was spinning as she looked around the entrance to the Fortress, trying to figure out how this was all happening. ‘They teleported us back into time’, she thought, ‘But how? Why? What purpose does this serve!?’ In frustration, she blew a twig of spiky brown hair from her eyes and watched as the younger Overlord and the Uberlord began dueling.
Sexist crawled over toward her, looking confused, “They didn’t see me.”
“Shut up,” the Overlord scoffed at him, “I kinda wish they did!”
“What!?” Sexist sounded emotionally wounded, but the Overlord could have cared less.
“You tried to assassinate me. Remember?” the Overlord remarked, “Yeah, not too happy with you right now, buddy!”
“Let’s put that aside for now, okay?” Sexist protested, “We have to figure out what’s going on. Like... Why are there two of you? What’s going on right there?”
“That’s...” the Overlord began, but the doors flung open a second time. She pushed Sexist into the shadows suddenly and pressed herself against the statue, watching as a young blonde teenage boy came running through the halls, katana in hand. The Overlord facepalmed, cringing visibly.
“Emily! Wait!” the boy yelled, “We can take him together!”
“Thomas, no, this jerk is mine!” Emily yelled back.
“That boy...” Sexist began, leaning forward to get a better look. “Is that...?” He gave the Overlord a stunned look, as if he wasn’t believing what he was seeing.
“This is the fight against the Uberlord. All of those years ago,” the Overlord explained, “That boy is... Exactly who you think it is.” She sighed, exasperated, then muttered, “Your leader. Thomas. My friend. My enemy. The Insurgent Leader. Yes. We fought the Uberlord together.”
“Jamie said you fought him single-handedly!” Sexist remarked.
“Yeah, well, that story’s gotten warped so many times that no one really knows the real truth!” the Overlord snapped back.
“But you do!”
“Yeah, I do. And I’d rather not repeat it.”
“Why not? It might be what the Wises sent us back here for.”
“... True.”
The Overlord looked away, arms folded. Sexist gave her a pointed look, as if trying to urge her to talk. She sighed and muttered, “Thomas was there when I fell into the pool. The Jesus Pool, y’know?” She didn’t make eye contact with him. “He pulled me out. Jumped in after me. We were with a colleague and Sensei was there monitoring us. Thomas thought I was drowning so he pulled me out. He got ‘touched’ by some of the Jesus power, too, hence his abilities.”
“That’s why you can’t beat each other. You both have powers that are as powerful as each other’s powers,” Sexist nodded, “Makes sense. I didn’t know you two were close.”
“We were,” the Overlord said grumpily, “But that was a long time ago.”
“A long time ago?” Sexist quirked an eyebrow, “You two are still friends, aren’t you? And that may or may not be why you two haven’t actually killed each other yet...”
“May or may not be the reason, yes...” the Overlord muttered, pulling Sexist out of the shadows as she moved into the hall. Glancing at where the three warriors were fighting in the throne room on the far side of the corridor, she took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. ‘If we’re here... How do we go back? Is there something we’re supposed to see?’ the Overlord thought and took a step forward. She halted as the doors opened, turning to see a younger form of Sensei as she ran into the hall.
“What?” Sensei stopped, staring at the older Overlord and Sexist with wide eyes. She pointed at the Overlord, then at Sexist, asking, “You two..?” She began to push them out of the way, “No, there’s no time. She’ll die!”
“Who’ll die?” Sexist asked in confusion.
“Emily! She’ll die... She’ll... Wait... You’re-” Sensei turned and looked at the Overlord, who grabbed her by the arm.
“Whoa, wait, what? I die?” the Overlord demanded, “What are you talking about? I DON’T DIE. I live. See? Yeah... I live. This is me from right now.” She pointed at herself. “I CAN’T DIE!”
A horrendous scream sounded from the throne room. The Overlord let go of Sensei and raced toward the throne room immediately, Sexist following her, “Wait! You can’t do this!” he hissed, “It’s like in all of the movies with time travel! You don’t mess it up!”
“I know that!” the Overlord yelled over her shoulder, barging into the throne room in time to see her younger self get lifted into the air by her throat. The Uberlord had knocked Thomas against the ground and held Emily with an iron grip, watching as she writhed in his grasp. “NO! Get up... Come on...” the Overlord yelled. ‘This isn’t how it went...’ she thought in dismay, rummaging through her memories to see if she could recall nearly being strangled. Apart from the one time she kept laughing about French boobs in Los Angeles (long story short, the Advisor was not pleased with this conversation and attempted to assassinate the Overlord), she couldn’t recollect ever being strangled...
“Emily! NO!” the Overlord yelled louder, watching her young self, feeling helpless . She wondered what to do for a few moments. Do you help yourself even if it meant screwing up the space and time continuum? What if she did something and it got her little self killed!? ‘No... I’ll get through this!’ she thought confidently. She looked down as Emily gasped for air loudly, watching as the tips of her toes began to disintegrate.
“Who are... YOU!?” the Uberlord howled at the Overlord as he continued choking the life from Emily.
“What’s happening!?” Sexist yelped, staring wide-eyed at the Overlord, “Why are you-!?”
“Oh God. Oh God we did something... I’m FADING FROM EXISTENCE, DO SOMETHING!” the Overlord yelled. Her legs all the way up to her knees began fading away. She briefly wondered how she was still standing... Weren’t feet required for that? Apparently not.
“No... You’re wrong... It’s not something you did... It’s something you didn’t do!” Sexist yelled, looking at the unconscious Thomas and the dying Emily. Sexist grabbed the scythe from the Overlord’s hands suddenly, carrying it in both hands as he turned and leapt at the Uberlord. He tossed the scythe down at the tyrant lord, watching as the Uberlord dropped Emily and was impaled by the scythe. Sexist dropped to the ground, breathing heavily as he stared at the wounded Uberlord, who pulled the scythe from his torso.
“Who...?” Emily asked, staring up at Sexist with a dazed look. Sexist caught the scythe as the Uberlord tossed it at him.
“It’s up to you now,” he glanced at the young version of the Overlord, then handed the scythe to the older Overlord, “If you’ve killed him once, can’t you do it again?” The Overlord hopped a few times as her feet came back into existence, much to her relief.
“You’re...!” Emily yelled, pointing at the Overlord. “How-?!”
“Oh, this is awkward. I’m talking to myself,” the Overlord remarked. “We’ve jacked the past up enough, I think,” the Overlord threw a smoke grenade and dashed toward the hall, dragging Sexist with her, “C’mon, let’s let the past stay the past...”
As the two made it into the entrance corridor, the Overlord released Sexist, scowling moodily, “I should’ve seen this coming,” She muttered. “The Uberlord. He survived the battle, didn’t he?” Sexist nodded and the Overlord sighed, “He’s back, isn’t he? I’m gonna go home and he’ll be there... Waiting.” Sexist nodded again, and the Overlord finished, “I don’t wanna go.”
“You’re running away?”
“No. I just don’t wanna face him.”
“So you’re going to surrender?”
“Of course not.”
“Then you’re running. What about your friends? Your underlings?”
“Can get more.”
“You’re a coward.”
“... So?”
“So...?”
“... Fine. You’re right.”
Sexist’s eyes lit up, “What was that?” He asked, prodding the Overlord in the arm with his finger, “What did you just say?”
“I said you were right,” the Overlord admitted through clenched teeth, “Are you happy now?”
“Yes,” Sexist grinned. “Say it again!”
“You’re pushing it...” the Overlord remarked. She sighed and narrowed her eyes at Sexist, shaking her head, “I thought you looked familiar. Didn’t think you were the guy that saved my sorry butt.”
“You knew that was going to happen,” Sexist pointed over his shoulder.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” the Overlord remarked, “I didn’t know it was going to happen at this very moment... Er... Well, okay. Technically speaking, I didn’t think we would get transported from the present to the past... Or is it the future now, since we’re presently here... But we’re present in the past... So does that makes the present still the present, or does that make the present the future? I mean... I... I’m so effing confused.”
“I am too, don’t worry,” Sexist shook his head. “You never answered my question, though.”
“Okay, I knew someone saved me. But I didn’t think it was you. And I didn’t think it would happen when it did in the present. Meaning... I didn’t think we would get transported here when we did and then you saved me... I still don’t get this whole time travel thing,” the Overlord held up her hands, “It’s kinda funny though. You tried to kill me like... Five minutes ago. And then, you saved me.”
“I figured if I didn’t, something bad would happen. Like... The Uberlord would have succeeded in the past and I would be dead or something,” Sexist shrugged.
“I guess it’s all said and done...” the Overlord held up her scythe, “I wonder if we can attempt time travel again. I mean, I don’t know HOW to time travel, but... Hey, I’ve never sat there and tried to stop time or reverse it.”
“So... What are you going to do when we get back to our time?” Sexist asked.
“I made a mistake, letting the Uberlord live. I wasn’t who I am now. I was a lot... nicer,” the Overlord replied, “The past is gone. Everything you saw back there? It’s gone. The Insurgent Leader and I aren’t the close friends we used to be. We’re enemies now. What happened back then... Or... Right now, I guess...” the Overlord glanced around the corridor, “... Doesn’t matter anymore. It’s just the present. Because that’s the key to the future.”
“Wow... That’s deep,” Sexist nodded, “So... You’re going back?”
“No,” the Overlord said bluntly, “WE’RE going back!”
“We’re-” Sexist began to speak, but there was another flash of light. The Overlord felt a tremor and fell to the ground, holding onto the handle of the scythe to make sure it teleported with them. ‘We’re going back... I hope’, she thought with a frown.
---
Elwell sat in front of the computer with a devilish grin on her face. Something along the lines of ‘What else can I do to torture the characters in this story’ crossed her mind as she clicked a button that said ‘Cretaceous Period’. She snickered sinisterly, then looked up as Gandalf walked over, stroking his beard.
“Elwell?” Gandalf asked, giving her a scolding gaze.
“Yes?” Elwell asked innocently.
“What are you doing with the Time Machine?”
“Nothing.”
“Elwell? Did you just mess with the space and time continuum?”
“....... Of course not.”
Gandalf shook his head in disbelief and walked away, holding his staff in one hand and muttering under his breath. Elwell selected the icons that said ‘The Overlord’ and ‘Underling Sexist’ and strategically punched in ‘Han Dynasty’. Oh, this was going to be fun.
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