The Overlord Saga
Vol II. Versus
Chapter 18: Ending Nightmares
The Overlord stood in her office, back to the door as she stared into the churning flames. She closed her eyes, feeling the heat of the fire against her face. “Who was he?” she heard his voice from behind, deep and rumbling. A faint smile on her lips was replaced by a troubled, distraught expression on her features- but she tried to hide it with a simple shrug.
“He was like the brother I never had,” the Overlord said simply, her green eyes casting their gaze onto the picture above the fire. She swept her gaze quickly to the final person in the portrait- the one she hadn’t seen in years.
“What happened to him?”
“He just left one day...” the Overlord found her voice quivering. “Gone...” She turned and looked at the Theurgist, her green eyes fighting to keep their usual calmness. As the Theurgist opened his mouth to talk, he was cut off by the door swinging open.
“What’s this?” the Overlord yelled, wide-eyed as the Nemesis stepped into the room. With each step closer, the Overlord’s vision swayed, until she blinked and the Nemesis wasn’t standing there at all. No, the heavy armor was replaced with a bright silver armor and cape, a claymore at the knight’s side. But the eyes were still the same- the cold blue. In a mixture of confusion and panic, the Overlord demanded, “Sexist?!”
“False One...” Sexist murmured, drawing his claymore. Silently running the Theurgist through, he didn’t even break his stride as the Theurgist fell before him. He merely stepped over the body, not bothering to avoid the large pool of blood forming around the corpse.
“NO!” the Overlord screamed, her heart thundering in her ears.
As she tried to move away, she found herself paralyzed- unable to even breathe as his blue eyes stared directly into hers- it was as if he was observing her every move, trying to find fear. He didn’t have to look very hard. The Overlord shuddered, but still remained unbudging as Sexist grabbed her by the neck. Lifting her into the air, Sexist looked up, continuing to gaze into her eyes. The Overlord tried to gasp for air, but there was none. Her arms felt heavy as she clasped Sexist’s wrist, attempting to force him to release her. She kicked, she felt her lungs burn, but nothing could break his iron grip.
In fear, the Overlord opened her mouth, but not even a scream could escape her. She sputtered a weak, pathetic, “You traitor!”
“Revenge is sweet, isn’t it?” Sexist asked with a maniacal laugh. The claymore had fallen to the ground, clanging against the stone floor. He reached up and began to pet the side of the Overlord’s head. As she blinked, she saw the faint form of the Nemesis outlining her ex-Underling- but just for a moment. In a low, whisper, the Nemesis’ voice could be heard, “I’m coming for you.”
The Overlord bolted upright, finding herself bundled up in a blanket near the fire. She shuddered, tucking the blanket closer to her and staring at the fire, feeling the warmth against her skin. Realizing that she was shaking, she tucked her knees up to her chin and took a deep breath. Glancing down at the ground, she saw that the hawk had returned to her side, gazing up at her with dark eyes. With a flap of its wings, it changed shapes, transforming into the wispy spirit of the Theurgist.
“Sleep good?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.
“Well, I didn’t wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy,” the Overlord retorted sourly.
“The nightmares aren’t going to stop until you resolve what they’re about,” the Theurgist said knowingly, “They’ll keep coming... What was this one about? Or was it the same as usual?”
“I’d rather not talk about it,” the Overlord responded coolly, standing up with much difficulty. She balanced herself, then glanced out where the Lieutenant had returned from his recruitment with a large number of people in armor. “Theurgist, I have a request for you. You can change shapes, right?”
“Yes...” the Theurgist frowned, clearly not liking where this was going.
“I always wanted a chinchilla spirit guide.”
“.... What.”
“Please?”
“WHAT!?”
“Pleeeeeease?”
“...... Fine.”
As the Theurgist changed into a little chinchilla, the Overlord couldn’t help but giggle. He scurried up her leg and onto her shoulder, still invisible to the other Underlings. The Overlord glanced down at him, grinned, then began toward the new recruits. “Lieutenant, what have you got here?” She asked, exchanging nods with the now healed Captain. She looked at the red armored group of soldiers and then to the blue armored soldiers.
“This is the Red Team, and this is the Blue Team,” the Lieutenant explained, “I made them cease a civil war in order to help us. How epic is that?”
“Pretty epic,” the Captain agreed, then pointed to a rather slender figure in orange body armor, “Overlord, this is Samus. She is a bounty hunter we hired to help us with DIB.”
“A pleasure...” the Overlord frowned, looking the armored soldiers over, “Well, I guess it’s a start... Keep the recruitment up, boys!” She stopped and glanced down at where something had attached itself to her leg. The thing looked to be a human- small with a white cap on. Its skin was blue, a bright as a blueberry, and it was only wearing white pants. “Errrr... Captain? Is this yours?”
As more of the little blue humans began to flock around the Overlord, she began to reach back and pull out her staff. However, the Apprentice and Belarus ran over, waving their arms frantically, “No! No, no, bad smurfs! Bad smurfs!” the Apprentice scolded them, “We mustn’t crowd the Overlord. She’s busy with Overlord-y things...”
“Smurfs?” Jamie piped up, looking at the little blue humans, “Ahhh! They’re BLUE!”
“Duh,” the Witch remarked, “Of course they are.”
“I just... Watchmen... After Watchmen... I can’t look at blue people the same way...” Jamie looked away, shielding her eyes.
“We got the smurfs to help us!” Belarus nodded, “They can help as spies. They’re small and cute like that.”
“Well, at least the army is getting bigger...” the Overlord was fighting to see the positive side of having little blue men running rampant in her camp. For some reason, the thought of midgets only reminded her of the Insurgent Leader. ‘Perhaps our mother was a smurf. Would explain his shortness, at least, but I think all of them are male... How do they reproduce? ... Maybe they’re like mushrooms...’ She frowned, sitting back down near the fire and petting Nard. His head perked up and his ears went back.
“What is it?” the Overlord muttered, grabbing her staff. As Nard leapt up and began barking into the woods, the camp fell silent (except for Willma, who sneezed rather loudly). The Advisor grabbed her machine gun and held it at the ready. The Animal Tamer’s staff altered into a sword, and she clutched it tightly. The Captain and the Lieutenant motioned for the Red Team and the Blue Team to get ready for battle, both holding pistols positioned to fire.
... And then Elwell walked into camp. Holding her hands up, she glanced at the bewildered Underling Army, stifling a laugh, “Hey guys.” She said rather casually. Obstruckshun and Sensei were behind her, each looking as amused as Elwell was.
“The Wises?” the Soul-Keeper asked, “What are they doing here?”
“We came to offer our help against DIB,” Sensei spoke up, “We’ve sat there for too long and have done nothing to help you. We three decided it would be best to depart from the Room of the Wises, especially when the world needed us.”
“We’re here to join your army, Overlord,” Obstruckshun explained shortly, looking up at the Overlord, “Because you need us.”
The Theurgist’s voice whispered into the Overlord’s ear, “If the Wises have left their sanctuary to fight, then this really must be an important fight ahead of us, Overlord. You should heed their warnings and accept their help.” The Overlord nodded, then extended a hand to Elwell, who shook it rather firmly.
“Of course. The ANF would be happy to have you, Obstruckshun, Elwell... Sensei,” She rested her eyes on Sensei for a moment, a brief image of the picture in her office flashing through her mind. But the Overlord forced a smile, attempting to forget how her nightmares always started off by looking at the picture of her and Sensei.
“Animal Tamer, was it?” Elwell addressed the Animal Tamer rather formally, “I have a gift from you that I picked up before I left the Room of the Wises. Gandalf err... Was not too sad to see me leave after I picked this up.” She whistled and a couple of large, strong looking men came walking out of the woods, carrying what appeared to be chains. The Overlord shielded her eyes, staring into the woods. Somewhere, there was a distant roar, matched with thunderous footsteps. As the ground shook, the Animal Tamer’s eyes widened, clutching her sword once more and staring up as a large, scaly head broke through the trees.
“Is that... A T-rex?” the Advisor’s face paled, “Ohhhh no! She does NOT need that!”
“I thought it’d be beneficial to the ANF,” Elwell shrugged, “Do what you like with it, Animal Tamer. You can even name him, if you want.”
“Elwell...... I think I love you,” the Animal Tamer gasped, finally able to breathe. She reached up and petted the T-rex on the nose. “I’ll name him... FLUFFY!” She beamed and hugged Fluffy’s leg.
“But... He’s not... fluffy...” the Evocator frowned, “Oh, whatever.”
“I think I might pee myself,” the Soul-Keeper whispered to the Overlord, “That... That better sleep away from my tent!”
“Wait... I thought you said that you would get a T-rex...” the Advisor pointed at the Overlord, then pointed at Elwell, “How did she...?”
“Great minds think alike,” Elwell said mysteriously.
---
The rest of the day had been uneventful apart from the T-rex taking a dump on the Soul-Keeper’s tent (though, no one felt bad for him). The Overlord had taken the Animal Tamer and the Advisor out of the campsite to scour the lands for more potential campsite locations. Though the Overlord had been initially unnerved by all of the birds chirping, she gradually grew accustomed to the various noises of the woods. She almost had forgotten how the woods by Tamashii was- peaceful and quiet. Glancing down at some ruffled leaves, the Advisor knelt down and touched them gently.
“This must be where Jester’s men were staying. Not so far from our camp,” the Advisor looked at the Animal Tamer.
“They’re not here anymore...” the Overlord frowned, “Wonder why that could be.”
“Who cares?” the Animal Tamer scowled, “He was a jerk anyways.”
“The trees thin out ahead,” the Advisor commented, “I think there’s a road up here.” She took the lead, using a few trees to hoist herself up the slope and onto a dirt road. The Overlord followed her, digging her staff into the dirt and pulling herself up. As she glanced at the clear blue sky, she inhaled deeply, stretching all the while.
“Well, this is nice,” the Animal Tamer remarked, then looked down the road. Frowning, she rested her hand on her sword’s hilt, squinting her eyes at a mass of people walking down the street in the distance. “Hey... Hey guys...”
“We’re south of the Sanctum this way,” the Overlord ignored the Animal Tamer, “Tamashii is up this road. We’re about a mile from the academy. I think we should probably turn around and head back to the camp. Just in case the Ninja-Lord reports back in...”
“Guys...” the Animal Tamer tried.
“I kinda want to take a look around first,” the Advisor protested, clearly sick of being stuck in camp. “It’s a nice day out, and you could use the exercise.”
“Are you calling me fat?” the Overlord’s eyes narrowed.
“GUYS!” the Animal Tamer yelled, then pointed at the platoon of DIB soldiers that were marching down the road towards them. An arrow whizzed by the Animal Tamer’s head, thudding into the ground next to the Overlord’s foot.
“Huh?” the Advisor asked, glancing over her shoulder. The sunlight reflecting off of General Eric’s armor blinded her temporarily and she had to veil her eyes with a hand. The Overlord grabbed the Animal Tamer and shoved her back suddenly, drawing her staff.
“How many do you see?” the Overlord asked in a low voice.
“The Rebel Commander. Eric. A lot of soldiers,” the Advisor whispered back, eyes wide. “Jester didn’t pull away from the forests. He alerted THEM! They’re going to do a two-pronged attack on the camp.”
“And someone needs to warn the camp,” the Overlord turned and ducked as a missile hit the trees behind them. “You two! Go back to camp immediately. You have to warn the army to be ready for battle!”
“What about you?” the Advisor demanded, “What are you going to do?”
“I’m...” the Overlord felt her heart pound in her ears. Her left hand clasped the staff firmly and she finished as adamantly as possible, “I’m going to end my nightmares. Now go! That’s an order!” She closed her eyes and hit both ends of the staff against the ground, causing a green flame to appear at each end. Listening to the footsteps of both the Advisor and the Animal Tamer as they fled into the forest, the Overlord drew in a deep breath, sensing the Theurgist next to her.
“This is one battle you can’t afford to lose,” the Theurgist whispered.
“I know...” the Overlord smirked, “It’s the one I’ll be sure not to lose.”
“Hell hath no fury...” the Theurgist began.
“... Like the Overlord,” the Overlord finished.
---
The Ninja-Lord appeared in the middle of the campsite, rather bewildered by the small smurfs running around her feet. In irritation, she punted one of them, completely careless toward the crying smurf. “I need to see the Overlord! IMMEDIATELY!” She declared loudly. “And I will not tolerate any shenanigans. WE HAVE A PROBLEM!”
“Whoa, whoa... What?” the Captain asked, “What’s going on?”
“Where’s the Overlord?” the Ninja-Lord demanded.
“Went with the Advisor and the Animal Tamer out to scout for land...” the Lieutenant answered slowly, “She’ll be back soon...?”
“Fort Effort is under attack!” the Ninja-Lord yelled, “We don’t have time!”
“WAIT! WHAT!?” the Twin bolted upright, “Who’s attacking my WHAT!?”
And, as if on cue, the Advisor and the Animal Tamer came tearing through the trees. Though the Advisor tripped over herself and fell onto the ground, the Animal Tamer was able to avoid falling on top of her older sister. “The Overlord.... Fighting DIB..... General Eric... Rebel Commander...” the Animal Tamer panted, “That way.” She pointed over her shoulder.
“Whaaaat?” the Soul-Keeper asked, his hand stuck in a jar of cherries. He had given up getting it out of the jar and was simply wearing the jar on his hand. “What’s going on?”
“Fort Effort is under attack!” the Twin exclaimed, “Centurion Ifill! WE HAVE TO GO LIKE NOW!”
“The Overlord is being attacked...” the Advisor added, “And there’s going to be a two-pronged attack-”
A knife thudded into the tree next to the Soul-Keeper. His eyes widened and he turned around, looking up at where Jester was standing on the ridge. Glancing back at the Advisor, the Soul-Keeper commented, “Sometimes, I hate my life.”
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