The eerie overlord strode out of the hallway leading to the stairwell that separated his personal chambers from the rest of the tower, situated in the depths of the netherworld. As he did, dozens of pairs of eyes turned to stare at the otherworldly being. 

The creature who was slowly making his way towards the throne was a tall being, standing perhaps just under seven feet tall, and was “dressed” in what appeared to be an ornate suit of armor the same color as the darkest night. The suit itself resembled the intimidating armors worn by the various knights who made up the elite ranks of the guards of the wealthy city known as “Heaven’s Peak”, but made from what appeared to be darker metal. The actual material that made up the armor was not metal at all. 

The overlord who’d come to be known as “The Dark One” in the future was actually wearing a “suit of armor” made from his own biomass, created in the wake of him beginning to understand some of the aspects of his truer, more frightening nature. The entity was a sapient disease, known in other universes as “The Blacklight Virus”. Underneath the “Armor”, the skin of the “The Dark One” was almost skeletally thin, though fortunately for him, even his bones were as hard as any sort of magical metal. And the armor of his suit was also impossibly durable and resilient to all sorts of damages. 

As he silently and regally walked over to the grand throne which stood at the center of the throne room, itself an enormous chamber, his minions gazed at him, awestruck. They did not notice the incredibly tiny spores that seeped out of the entity’s mouth, nose, pores, and other openings on his body. He was almost sweating the eerie reproductive units, and they floated in the air around where he stood, almost as if waiting for his commands. 

Trillions of the things floated out of him, surrounding him and beginning a lazy collision course with the assorted, high-powered, and high-skilled minions who kept the throne room safe. The spores were filled with a quiet determination to infect every living being they could, and the will that animated them drove them to silently float towards the minions who couldn’t even detect them, as the spores were too small, and the minions were too distracted.

The Dark One silently approached the grand, opulent throne. As he did, he felt the spores he had extruded beginning to reach the minions, and in a few cases even settle inside of them. The spores possessed an exceedingly minor form of self-awareness and could be commanded by the potent overlord himself, and at the moment he opted not to command them to do anything to the minions. The creature held total power over the virus, and was, at the moment, unaware of the incredible potency of the deadly virus. That was destined to change soon. 

The overlord sat down on the throne, and for a moment paused as his mind received a flood of information about possible destinations. Behind the potent armor he “wore” the vicious entity began to smile and he mentally selected the first destination he was going to be visiting. And then he waited. 

Gnarl, and a number of other minions, a small group of twenty four of the creatures, six of each of the “tribes” of minion society, all approached the throne and stepped onto the dais. When every person who was going to go to the recently rebuilt community of Spree was on the dais, the overlord gazed out at the chamber before him. And then he began to “speak”, revealing a surprising talent: telepathy.

“Minions… Today begins the reign of a new overlord! We shall go to Spree, take over the place, and begin our dark reign anew!” The overlord mentally proclaimed. The minions all rose up their arms in jubilation and audibly cheered, exclaiming praises to their new lord, and allowing the spores that he was idly radiating to infect each and every one of them, since he chose that moment to practice controlling the wind and thus spread his spores with ease.

The deadly overlord smiled behind his inhuman helmet, but ordered the spores to do nothing for the moment. The spores, eager to spread the infection further, were still under the control of their creator and so restrained themselves. The overlord then proceeded to vanish, along with the minions that had joined him on the dais, including Gnarl.

I felt the potency of magic wash over me as the tower’s infernal throne teleported me from the depths of the netherworld to a hill containing an incredibly beautiful and seemingly idyllic meadow. I found myself standing in in front of a strange set of pillars covered in images of minions, upholding a strange, loose remainant of a roof. On the ground besides me I could see a number of stone wells that were obviously linked to the netherworld. Each of them possessed a portal in the middle of themselves that was a color that matched one of the types of minions in existence. 

A second after I appeared, so too did the minions who had surrounded the throne in the netherworld. The highly armored and well-trained minions all appeared beside me, and spread out around me in a tight formation, showcasing the results of years of training in the wake of the demise of the fourth overlord. As soon as they were in formation I realized that they were waiting for me to issue orders. 

I closed my eyes and listened to my surroundings. Off in the distance, below us, I could hear the bleating of countless sheep and goats. That brought a smile to my face, as I knew about sheep through the knowledge that Gnarl possessed. 

“Minions! Let us begin our reign by meeting some of the local wildlife.” I growled, smiling viciously as I imagined using a sheep as a test subject for the potency of my powers. My minions all cheered and they began to scamper down the hill. 

I watched as the minions surged down the hill, dashing towards a portion of the meadow where grass was less controlled and contained than it was where I stood, and towards some of the distant sheep and goats. 

“Leave most of the herd down there alive.” I commanded, mentally, causing some of the minions to groan internally, but also causing them to sprint faster than they had been before, eager to partake in the limited carnage they could now enact. Gnarl and I also began to trail after them, walking slowly down the hill towards where the minions were about to demonstrate remarkable violence. 

“Master… This place is where the third overlord’s reign began. He conquered the town near here in just a day. A town that, long ago, was destroyed in the wake of a massive catastrophe.” The head-minion explained as we made our way closer and closer to the base of the hill. 

“It was only a few years ago that a method was discovered to purge the radiation infecting this area, thus allowing life to return here. In the time since then a number of factions have arrived here and attempted to reclaim this region. Factions you shall undoubtedly make short work of.” The minion proclaimed, excitedly. There was a smug, satisfied grin on his face as he imagined me dominating not only Spree but also mankind generally. I had a... different vision in mind for the future of life and civilization than he did, but he didn’t need to know that yet.  

Down below us, minions reached the most distant of the sheep and started charging at the things, spears and swords pointed out at the wild creatures. The sheep began to mournfully, fearfully bleat at the minions, and run away from them, helplessly. The sheep were fast but a charging minion was faster. Some of the creatures would leap on the wildlife and begin to stab them, either with claws in the cases of the greens, or with potent swords in the cases of the browns. Before I knew it some of the ground of the hill’s base was covered in blood and in a handful of sheep corpses, while the remaining sheep fled to another portion of the base of the hill. And strange, amber-colored orbs rose off of the corpses. 

“Look master! Life force!” Gnarl exclaimed, excitedly. I had a vague awareness of life force, knowing that every orb absorbed created one new minion of the corresponding type, in the strange dimension known as the Netherworld. I also knew that life force was a potent resource for any and all overlords. When we finished reaching the side of the blood-covered corpse, Gnarl continued to talk.

“Ahh life force… Such a beautiful sight.” Gnarl exclaimed, dreamily. I walked up to one of the orbs and reached out towards it with my gauntlet. When I did I was surprised to see it dash towards me, causing even Gnarl’s eyes to widen in shock. 

“Master… Seeing the life force react to you so intensely… How odd.” Gnarl uttered, awe filling his voice. The orb hurled itself into my palm and then vanished and I watched as the number next to the brown minions’ in my mind’s eye increased by one. I knelt down next to the corpse of the sheep and felt a strange urge. 

I reached out one of my gloved fingers and placed it on the head of the sheep. Some of my minions, especially my blue ones, turned and watched me curiously when they realized that Gnarl and I had made it to the bottom of the hill. They were watching when I began to emanate a strange, pale light, and their eyes began to widen when they sensed potent, divine magic surge out of me and into the sheep. 

I watched, and listened, as my magic infused the sheep. As it did, tiny orbs of light began to surround the creature and seemed to dive into its wounds, seemingly ending their own limited existences so as to heal the creature that had passed away before me. I watched in slight awe as the power surging out of me restored the creature, and when its eyes snapped open I almost staggered back in sheer shock. 

“Master… Can resurrect non-minions!” One of the blues shouted, in as much surprise as I was. As the minion uttered that, the other minions turned in sheer surprise and gazed at me and the sheep.

“Is it… a zombie?” One asked, curious if I was merely practicing necromancy instead of performing a true resurrection. “No, look it’s not moving! It’s just… sitting there.” Another replied, having nearly instantly deduced that the thing was alive from that simple fact. The sheep was in fact, “Just sitting there”, gazing at me. I looked at the thing, and whispered a single word; “Rise”.

The sheep immediately obeyed me, quickly staggering up and looking up at me with vibrant, intelligent eyes, eyes that it had not possessed earlier. The sheep then bleated, happily, at me. I chuckled and placed a single hand on the creature’s head, all while allowing the spores I radiated out of me and into the beast. 

“Infect the creature…” I mentally commanded the spores, which did as I asked and began to surge towards the beast’s vital organs, effortlessly reaching the brain and heart of the beast and infecting it with the Blacklight virus. Before my very eyes, the creature visibly gained enhanced intelligence and a litany of dangerous new abilities, and I was pleasantly surprised when the creature began to mutter, telepathically, into my mind.

“Creator…” It mentally whispered, weakly. Despite how weak it’s mind had been before, now it seemed to possess both a hint of sapience and also a psionic link to myself. Upon seeing that I chuckled and turned to the rest of the minions with a smile on my face. 

“Kill the rest of the sheep. I have an idea.” I uttered, wickedly. My minions cheered, and began to race towards the sheep they had left alone, all while I began the slow process of wandering from corpse to corpse to resurrect and infect the sheep that my minions had already slaughtered, all while grabbing orb after orb of life force. With each passing second, the depleted pools of arcane energy I possessed were speedily regenerating, and the more I utilized my potent abilities the faster it began to regenerate, bouncing back from each usage with increased efficiency.

My virus was among my greatest of abilities, and I fully intended to use it. But if I could kill creatures, harvest their life force, and then resurrect and revive them then that meant that I could possess truly incredible resources. Especially since I was more than willing to spread pain to these not even innately sapient life forms. And as I began the process of practicing both my virus-based abilities and my resurrection power I felt a potent power begin to manifest within the depths of my soul. 

All the while it was becoming easier and easier for me to resurrect the dead, as I steadily made my way through the scattered handful of livestock corpses I was resurrecting.

Gnarl watched me, and even he seemed to feel a bit anxious about the dark power I possessed. That fact brought a wicked smile to my face. 

“Master… Do you know what are all of the powers you possess?” The head-minion asked, curiously, and frightenedly. I silently shook my head, even as I resurrected the seventh sheep that the minions had slain, all while mentally ordering my spores to go ahead and infect the thing. 

“I see… In that case, why don’t you take a second and turn inward? It is important that before we proceed forward you gain an intimate knowledge of your own capabilities. Given your power to resurrect even non-minions, and with that, the level of apparent ease that you can do it with, it is clear that you possess powers that far outweigh the personal powers of other overlords, especially at the beginning of your dark reign.” The creature advised. I paused, and then nodded, silently sitting on the grassy floor of the hill’s base, even while my servants slaughtered the sheep. I closed my eyes and began to focus on myself, and to my surprise, something almost immediately occurred: a gigantic mental list appeared in my mind’s eye, filled with a litany of entries, each of which was no less than a power that I possessed. 

“Master? Are you able to see… Anything?” The minion asked, curiously. I chuckled, and then began to inhumanely laugh as my understanding of myself began to truly peak. 

“Oh, Gnarl… I can see everything.” I replied as I began to finally and truly understand myself and my explosive, terrifying potential. And then I began to glow, a sickly shade of light that surely infected everything it touched, including Gnarl. The head-minion gasped in shock and awe as our minds were suddenly linked and as he became the very first of the minions to actually become actively infected by the Blacklight Virus, his large amber eyes filling with scarlet fluid and him beginning to violently collapse and convulse on the floor.

The minion began to quietly foam at the mouth, and spit began to seep onto the ground next to me. From behind closed eyelids I turned my head in his direction and issued a single command.

“Stop.” I ordered, my voice filled with the eerie, world-shaping power of the virus. The minion suddenly froze, not even breathing but also no longer convulsing. 

“Evolve.” I whispered, following up on the first order I had given him. And the minion immediately obeyed me, his fallen form taking on new qualities and becoming larger than it had previously been, as he went from resembling a tall goblin to resembling a rather lanky, brown-skinned orc. And as his body improved, so too did his mind.