The Otherlord - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Shocking Discovery

As the sun broke over the horizon, the town of Kator had a new master. The fires were out and the Saipern soldiers either were dead, had ran into the desert and were as good as dead, or had abandoned their military attire and surrendered to the Overlord, just for some to be slain by his word after being informed who was trustworthy and who would most likely act as a spy by his now concubine (to their eyes at least), Anjie Sah-Kator.

The people saw him as a savior, even more so when one of his minions had been kind enough to open up the water lines again. It turned out that Niatwajit, or Nitwit as he would be rememberd in Kator, had been using the water for private baths and other such frivolities while he let the populace of the town suffer.
Currently, Ramtalos stood atop the very building where he had slain Niatwajit, overlooking the town as he awaited the wagons to be loaded up, a hefty sum having been left behind in the vaults of the manor, as well as quite a bit they were able to salvage from his old home. One shipment had already been sent out, led by Stalag, the first shipment having been made up of some gold, artifacts, and the axe that Ramtalos found himself still unable to touch, it burning him every time for some reason.

As it had turned out, Ramtalos learned that the Rock Minions weren't invulnerable, on top of the few younglings that were slain, Stalag had lost a few of his spikes and the use of one limb for the time being when a building on fire partially collapsed on him. Thankfully it was just a few rocks though, so it wasn't permanent as he discovered, just a few hours ago, Stalag couldn't even move, and now he was just partially disabled, the healing of the Minions was simply astounding.

Beside him, sitting on the ledge, was Anjie, she had told him of Peb's quick reflexes, petting the very Minion atop his head, having almost become her personal pet. He was hard to believe it, but she had insisted on attempting to train them when they got back to the fortress, so he finally caved, she would be heading there with the next set of wagons, this one led by Tite, the second in command of the Rock Minions.

A sudden buzzing rang in the Overlord's ear causing him to shake his head a bit, a voice came to him, but unlike before, it was inside his mind. "Master, can you hear me? I rather hope I got it right this time," the last part was mumbled quietly, the voice of Gerald ringing in his mind. Ramtalos glanced at Pebs and Anjie before responding, they didn't seem to have heard it.

So he thought back, "Gerald? Is that you?" not wanting to speak aloud and make the other two on the roof with him think he was crazy.

"Ah, good, I thought for a moment I had gotten that crazy sand nomad again," the elderly minion drawled a bit, "I finally got the blasted thing working right, private communication is key since you seem to prefer stealth over direct combat my lord," He could almost hear the grin in Gerald's voice.

"Well that's good for you, but is there a point you would like to make or are you just bothering me?" Ramtalos thought back in an irritated way.

"Oh, of course, two things in fact, sire. The first thing is a discovery among the items you sent back from Kator, I'm happy to announce a spell stone has been found among the items you claimed, sire!" The minion almost squealed in joy upon saying.

Ramtalos was shocked enough to forget to think to himself, "A spell stone?" he said quietly out loud, rising a look from both Pebs and Anjie, which he ignored.

"Exactly! And it's a good one as well, the Shield spell, it used to reside in the previous Overlord's tower, how it got here I am not entirely sure, but it had laid inactive till it was brought into the presence of the Dark Heart, at which point it sprung to life, the minions are hooking it up now for you to try when you are ready, sire," the advisor spoke, back to sounding like he should be in the roll he is. And almost on cue, a tingling suddenly surged through Ramtalos, causing him to shudder a bit. Though he smiled as he looked at the amber again, wondering how the spell would work, though he pulled out of his ideas of testing it by Gerbil's voice popping up again, "But that's not all, sire, I am excited to inform you I have located another active Minion hive, and it's not very far from your present location!" he said in a joyous tone.

A now wicked grin formed on Ramtalos unmasked face.

===============================

It was a short while later, Ramtalos stood outside a cave on the outskirts of Kator. It used to be a Beetle nest it seemed, but that was before they were all driven out when the town was founded a few decades ago. However, when he was rather young, the cave once again became off limits when sparks of what seemed to be lightening started to fill the cave at random. Ever since then it had been known as the Thundering Cavern.

All he had brought with him was five minions he could spare from guard duty on the city, among them Mite, third in line of the Rock Minions, and Pebs as well. The Overlord to be also now had pieces of actual armor on his being that had been provided by a thankful merchant, coincidentally the very one that he had originally stole the amber from. Parts of it were reminiscent of the original overlord, but the only pieces he had were shoulder pads, arm bands, shin guards and the belt, but it was better than nothing.

Apparently, within the cave was a minion hive which had awoken due to some great magical pulse of unknown origins. The electricity that usually filled the entrance to the cave waned when he approached, making several pairs of sparking eyes seen within the cave, he lifted his hand toward them as if to say something, but they darted away before he could.
"I knew it was them, sire, the Storm Minions, electrical little fiends that are as unstable as they are deadly," Gerald explained excitedly through the mental link.

"Ya ya, calm down, Gerbil," Ramtalos said, partially annoyed with his advisor's over enthusiasm. He admitted to himself that he was excited as well, but the prospect of being electrocuted weighed on his mind as well.

Gerald whined a bit, "Sorry, my lord... I am finding it difficult to contain myself... for this is your final task, to capture a Minion Hive and have its offspring accept you as their lord!... though I admit, with the Storm Minions, that might be harder done then said," the advisor explained, the electricity in the cavern messing with his orb, "You will be on you're own once your inside though, so I wish you the best of luck," he said in what he hoped was a supportive way.

Ramtalos looked through the entrance, and sighed, his Advisor was really getting on his nerves sometimes, before he spoke, "Right, thanks a lot, Gerbil," he said, before entering the cavern.

As they descended into the Thundering Cavern, the electrical arcs seemed to increase, but always around the ceiling or sides, away from the main path. The few ones that did arc the path he was able to circumvent using the Rock Minions to absorb the blows, while he passed through. Strangely enough there were a few puzzle like areas where he had to have his smaller minions move through an area he couldn't access to push a large square stone to form a bridge. It seemed rather tedious, but nothing else could be done about it.

They eventually came to a huge open cavern, lightning arching from the center of the room towards the ceiling continuously, the apparent source of the electricity that was filling the cave. Atop a pedestal in the center was a strange stone and metal structure, the electricity coming out of each of the stone.  Around the room on various ledges were strange creatures. They were similar to normal minions, but a dark red color, with metallic like tips to their claws and teeth, black ridges up their back. Their eyes, claws, and teeth sparked with electricity, and they seemed to shake and twitch randomly, not a sane-looking one among them.

He thought it was fair to assume the metallic and stone structure atop the pillar was their goal. The Hive was atop a pillar in the center, the rest of it was slanted down into an arena-like area, rather strange he thought.  But seeing no danger with the minor obstacle, he slid down the slanted ground with his small number of Rock Minions.
The moment they all touched down, a sudden roar filled the cavern. The Storm Minions retreated rapidly. Ramtalos looked around quickly, adrenaline and concern filling him now. From one of the side paths to the cave, a huge creature leapt and landed in the ring. The Overlord's eyes went wide, standing before him was the largest desert Jackal he had ever seen. But something was off about it, metal pieces sticking out of all parts of it, looking almost painful. He wasn't sure what this thing was, but it was clear that it wasn't going to let them anywhere near the Hive.

===============================

The Ruborian girl sighed, here she was on the large caravan sled being dragged along towards what apparently was the Fortress of the Overlord, the being who in tales was a murderous monster, who ravaged the lands for the hell of it. And yet, it turns out the new one was her childhood crush, and she was willingly heading towards the center of the new dark empire. She would have never in a million years seen himself here, and yet that wasn't the dominant thought on her mind. The main thought on her mind was why on earth she had to leave him behind to find this so-called Hive. I am a warrior, damn it! Why would he not let me help! she grumbled to herself.  She looked up at the morning sky, wondering if he was doing alright.

===============================

Another bolt of lightning stuck the side of the cave, Ramtalos diving to the side to avoid and his Rock Minions scattering in confusion. As if fighting a giant armored jackal wasn't enough, fighting one that could absorb the outgoing energy from the hive and redirect it made things a hell of enough worse.

He looked up, the damn thing hadn't moved any further away from the hive then it had, not giving him any chance to get in behind the beast, he had to think fast if he wanted to survive much longer. He studied the beast, and noticed that it seemed to actually get a high from absorbing the energy, that at least explained why the beast was so desperate to protect it.

A thought came to him, he still had the spell that could help. He dodged another bolt from the hound, needing some sort of distraction so he could figure out how to use the spell. He whistled, the minions looking up, he waved his hand, signaling them to take turns rolling into the creature, which they happily complied.

They took turns rolling into the beast's sides before dashing off. It succeeded, but the beast was catching on, slowly as it may have been. Ramtalos quickly put his hand to his chest, pulled the amulet out and put it to his head, hoping that would improve reception, "Gerbil! I need your help now!" he mentally shouted.

There was a bit of a start on the other end, a noise of surprise, and lots of what he could only describe as sounding like rain masking the voice on the other end, "Master? I can bar-..-ear you, is ever..hing alright?" the voice was broken up still, Ramtalos tried to focus further.

"I'm here! I need you to tell me how to access the spell, I need it now!" he focused as hard as he could to get the message through.

"Oh, That's simple my lord, All you have to do," he boosted the power as much as he could, noticing the static as well, "Is focus on getting your energy... to form a shield, focus on your amber, it should allow you to feel the spell... and form it!" he said back, worried that he would need the shield so soon.

Ramtalos sighed and dropped the medallion, sighed again, it was the only shot he had, he hoped the shield would be enough to protect him from the bolts. So he closed his eyes, and focused.

With his inner eye, he could see the flow of his energy, having practiced some meditation techniques when he was training to be a thief, and more so at the Fortress after they had obtained the heart under the instruction of Gerbil. He could see before him strands of energy, the flows of it around the room, the electricity being the most dominant, but he turned inward and focused on his own. He felt the amber pulse with light, and a new energy was within him. Doing as he was instructed, he found the spell within himself, and attempted to use it.

He paused when the rolling of the minions went silent and the growling of the beast stopped, turning into more of a confused whine. Ramtalos cautiously opened his eyes, shook his head and looked again. He saw the beast by itself, and no longer his minions, but outlines of their forms around the circle, they look confused as well. He quickly glanced down at himself, and the same thing, he saw his own glowing outline, and was mostly transparent to himself, but based on how the Beast was acting, sniffing the ground and looking confused, he guessed he wasn't visible to it, his wicked grin finally returning.

In a matter of moments, he was able to silently instruct his minions using his still sketchy mental commands to move behind the metallic jackal, and all ram it at once. The beast cried in pain as it was knocked forward, the rolling minions opened back up and grabbed the monster, one on each leg and one clinging to its head. Ramtalos rushed forward, and with the end of his blade, dug it into the back of the creature's neck, between its metal plates. It cried out in a death cry, and all the pent up energy in it was released at one, knocking all the Minions away, and nearly electrocuting Ramtalos. He fell to the side of the beast, in pain and drained, but smiling, another job finished.
He looked at his minions one by one. Pebs was fine, Boulder and Rictor were laughing having hit the pillar and not damaged it, Gravs was alright as well, snoring loudly. Ramtalos chuckled and turned to Mite, the one that had been on the head, and instantly went silent. Mite was against the far wall of the arena, indented, and his head was down, his natural armor shattered and cracked all over, and in contrast to the 7 or 8 red life force around the fallen monster, a single brown life force sat before Mite, his days of rolling having come to an end.

===============================

Meanwhile, back in the Underworld, Mortis was about his well as he usually was, when he saw a rather strange spirit pass by, a minion type that almost looked like a brown, but obviously wasn't. If this had been the first, he wouldn't have questioned it, there had been another earlier in the night, but he assumed it had been some deformed brown. He found himself, for the first time since he was a normal minion, very confused.