The Overlord: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (21 page)

I fearfully inquired, "What does he mean? You have to eject now, Sentria. You are going to crash in seconds!"

"There was only one escape chute and the Overlord has just taken it," she clarified without regret. "I'm sorry, Father. I knew you wouldn't have ejected if you had known."

He responded, "Never would I have wanted it like this, your life for mine!"

"Not just for you, Father, for the world," she coughed back as black smoke engulfed her ship. "We both know this world has fallen from its own height, but you can still catch it on its way down. Raise it back up, better than you found it. I just gave you the chance."

Deadstock cried desperately, "Just hold on!"

"Goodbye, Father," she ended.

"Wait, I want you to know something," he whispered as he beheld the final moments. "I want you to know that I would've wished to catch you right now, than catch the whole world forever. I love you, my daughter."

"I love you too," she radioed with a murmur.

The "Tomahawk" then plowed through the tall trunks of the surrounding rainforest. Pieces went everywhere as the axe headed ship collided with the earth, crashing into the dew covered Lair in a blast of mist and fire. It was over and all I could do was restrain a mother's horror inside of me. I had to remain emotionless until a later time. For now, she was just another face among the battle's unavoidable death toll.

My streaming eyes knew it all too differently. I could not hide the truth from my instincts. I could only hold it back, shaking with fury.

Meanwhile, with his silvery chute, the Overlord floated down into the central courtyard of the Lair. The challenge altar was near, unguarded and right there beside him. I could tell it was the last thing on his mind. He practically paid it no attention as he turned to veer his gaze elsewhere. Detaching his parachute, Deadstock headed toward the outlying forest where a wreckage billowed through the trees. Thrall ground troops were swarming everywhere between him and the crash site. He would not make it very far before he was completely overrun. I had no choice. I had to intervene. Sentria would have wanted me to.

I radioed out to him with every ounce of compassion and understanding within me, for I knew his pain and was matching it tenfold. "Doctor, the area is too hot. You will never reach her. You have got to get to the altar and activate that challenge pillar. Otherwise, Sentria's sacrifice will mean nothing. Your call."

Silent, he persisted onward without relent. There was no pause in his step when I spoke to him, no acknowledgement. His pace was unwavering. Ground troops began confronting him from here and there. He sliced many and shot most of them without so much of a break in his stare ahead.

I turned to my officers aboard my ship, "Light up the perimeter!"

In an instant, our cannons propelled a volley around him, blasting the approaching Thralls and igniting the courtyard perimeter into a wall of fire. Deadstock was locked in with nowhere else to go. It broke his heartache trance. Taking in the blaze around him, he finally returned to the mission at hand with a remorseful step.

The path to the altar was free. Over its mysterious plain face, the Overlord loomed up. He slipped off his glove and pulled out his milky bone blade of renown. With the edge of his Dragon's Tooth, he drew a few drops of blood from his hand and sprinkled them upon the altar. Replacing the glove, he waited. It wasn't long until the triangular altar came to life. Pathways of violet light ran across the surface, culminating at the middle. The center glowed in a haze before bursting forth into a pillar of light that stretched up into the dark clouds above.

The battle was over. It was done. The challenge pillar had been lit. Its light could be seen from anywhere among the neighboring skies, signifying a ceasefire to all immediate scuffles. In ritual, every Thrall was obligated to respond to its activation.

The aerial dogfights had abruptly ended in that moment, allowing me the opportunity to call my fleet back, out of the way. The Overlord's challenge had been successfully made and we of the United Corps were to become spectators to an endgame. All that was needed was for the final participant to reveal himself.

17

THE RIGHT TO RULE

The light of the challenge pillar gleamed across the glassy panels of the pyramid. Eerily, Zero's interested eyes reflected the light as well. He was leaning forward with an arm against the glass where the levitating structure hovered over the burning gardens below. The attack on the Lair was over, but I, Solomon Boone, cared not for pillars, altars, or challenges. I had just witnessed my love as she crashed her ship into oblivion's shadow.

Time had frozen still and had yet to reawaken. It was all moving so slowly around me that I couldn’t hear myself yelling for her. I couldn't even feel the agony of my knees when they hit the floor. Everything had become numb.

Zero motioned my gaze toward the Overlord and the altar, "Looks like I won't be needing your blood after all, mate. Somebody else just offered their own."

The next thing I remember, I was standing among many, all packed around the altar. My senses finally returned as I took in the legions upon legions, the rows upon rows. The whole Lair had become one massive arena and at its center was the challenge pillar.

The Commander was slowly circling the beam of light, inspecting it while the Overlord stood off to the side with a complacent glare. Nobody had seen the pillar since the Last Day of the Last War. That was twenty years ago, before I was even born. The bright pillar was a privilege to marvel.

"Challenge accepted," said Zero with satisfaction. The pillar then vanished, leaving an open faced altar that held ample surface space for a duel. "Tell me, Doctor, does this feel familiar? This is where it all began. The place where you first became a ghost."

"I was a ghost long before," said the Overlord as he caressed his side where the old scar lay. "I became a ghost the moment I first tried to play God."

"It still hurts, doesn't it?" Zero asked. "The wound on your side. I'll have you know that my brother's never forgiven himself for sticking that blade in your belly all those years ago."

Why would Zero bring that up? Fossil was standing beside me and I could almost feel his regret. He sighed heavily, likely remembering the Last Day. Was the Commander truly so cruel and evil, even to his own brother?

The Overlord picked out Fossil's remorseful face in the ranks, "Your brother should learn to forgive himself, because I have already forgiven him."

"What about me?" Zero taunted. "Would you forgive me?"

"Of course," chuckled Deadstock before switching to a more serious tone. "Forgiveness doesn't excuse justice, though, so I'll get straight to the point. What have you done with the Wandering Star?"

Zero became grave, "You're going to have to kill me to find that out, which I'm beginning to believe that's more than you're capable of at the moment. You're nothing but a pile of half beaten flesh and bones. It won't be that hard to take you down. The work's already mostly done. All I have to do is put you out of your misery like the stray dog that you are."

The Overlord spat at the Commander's feet, "It's you who's the stray, Zero, not me."

Zero spat back, "I am the fearless watchdog of the Thralldom. What's funny is that it's you who placed me here too. You set a watchdog over our sacred destiny to guard this planet. I have been protecting it ever since. What have you been doing? Let me make something very clear for you, Doctor. When you ask a fearless watchdog to stand guard, don't act surprised if your heel gets bit when you come back like a thief in the night!"

The Overlord came up to him, eye to eye. "So it's the stray against the watchdog then. We'll just have to see whose fangs bite the deepest. Unleash the Thunder Blades!"

From the bottommost corners of the triangular altar, two pedestals arose at either side. Embedded in each one was an odd looking sword, clear like a sharp crystal spike. The two rivals then grabbed ahold of the respective blades and both pedestals subsequently leveled back down.

Among the ranks, we were all advised to shove our helmets back on to protect our eyes from what was about to happen. I had no idea what to expect from the duel, but the dark visor inside my helmet was supposedly going to prevent me from going blind. The Overlord slapped on his usual signature pair of shades while Zero strangely inserted a pair of special contact lenses. It made his eyes appear as black and sinister as a winter night.

"For the Thralldom," vowed Zero, raising his Thunder Blade up high.

"For the world," declared Deadstock, lifting his own sword to the sky.

As if on cue, dark clouds began swirling overhead. Thunder boomed and crashed while flicks of lightning began to snap. There was some kind of weather manipulation going on up there, but I couldn’t tell who was doing it or how. I looked around, only the Bottom Bunks, like me, seemed mesmerized by the strange tempest above. The senior operatives, the Top Bunks, displayed no surprise. Apparently, it was all just a customary part of the duel. The storm was artificial.

With their swords still outstretched, strokes of lightning hit down and enveloped each of the special weapons. In a whirlwind of white light, the Thunder Blades became energized by the electric streams. Having harnessed the very power of the sky, the glassy shards gave off a pale glow that was both deadly and beautiful.

Zero swirled his sword to and fro, agitating the lightning weaponized in his blade. "Is this really how you wish to be remembered, Doctor? To go down in the songs of woe?"

"This isn't about me anymore," professed the Overlord as he held his Thunder Blade, unmoving and static.

"Yet, you choose to offer yourself up into so much pain for something that's not really about you," disputed Zero.

Deadstock sustained, "My part in all this is now to end all this and I do so without fear of pain, in any of its forms. You're not the only one without fear, Zero. I have known many pains. I don't fear them anymore."

"Then come, Doctor, and I'll show you a new pain," called out the Commander. "Pain unlike anything that you've ever felt before."

With great ferocity, Zero jolted his electrified sword toward the Overlord. A violent streak of lightning shot straight for him, but Deadstock quickly deflected the voltage as he ignited his own blade. His sword absorbed the energy and both electric bolts went twisting away into the black clouds above.

The Overlord then pointed his Thunder blade forward. "I would tell you to go to hell, Commander, but today, I'm going to take you there myself!"

"I think you're already there," scoffed Zero.

Like cracking a whip, Deadstock then slashed out a bolt from his Thunder Blade. The lightning swiped across the altar in a wave of terror. Zero quickly dodged and rolled, letting the incoming surge fly past him. The bolt then dissipated into the near distance.

The Commander, now full of fury, struck back. A brutal duel of thunder and flash then began. The more they fought, the closer they came. The closer they stepped to each other, the more potent became the wild electricity between them. The deadly display neared the center of the altar. Their weapons hissed and crackled. Toe to toe, the opponents swung out their swords before blocking the other's inbounding current.

In all directions, lightning was discharging from their midst. Thunder Blades snapped their flashing waves into the sky and across the arena. It was the defining battle of our time.

Ultimately, the two opposing forces hacked their swords at the same instant. The Thunder Blades met. Crystal cracked against crystal. Hilt smashed into hilt. A luminous energy began forming at the center of the interlocked weapons. It was a stalemate where both would soon know defeat. Too powerful, they were losing control of the energy they had just created.

I then recalled the omen I'd seen in the forest, the two bucks and their locked horns. The charging muscles. The frothing jaws. The smashing skulls. The beating hearts. The steam rising from the hide of their backs and the hot exhales blowing from each of their nostrils. In the clash of the pitiless contest, the antlers turned brittle and cracked. The boney barbs shattered, thrusting the split remains into the softness of a neck and a head. Both alphas fell, defeated by the other.

The duel upon the altar was no different. The electric presence between the Commander and the Overlord soon erupted in a thunderous bang of crystal and lightning. The Thunder Blades had overloaded, fracturing into a thousand pieces as the two men were aggressively pushed back to either side. The destructive power brilliantly plumed into the far reaches of the atmosphere, leaving the whole face of the altar coated in broken glass.

The arena stood silent. The fate of the two forces was revealed as each man got back up to his feet. Boots crunched over the scattered shards as they loomed back to the center, discarding the empty hilts in their hands.

Deadstock growled, "Is it really worth dying for, Zero? Renewable energy or not, the Blood Tech should've never been made. Human life is too high of price for control of the world."

The Commander rolled his blackened eyes, "The world was ending anyway, Doctor. Remember? Or have you forgotten what it was like when the oil fields ran dry? The riots, the wars. The Blood Tech brought peace to the turmoil. No one here would be alive today if it was not for our actions in the Last War. Are we truly to blame when fools started killing each other for a piece of our solution? We had the perfect answer, but it was corrupted by the weak, the filth from the dirt. Their casualty was our progress."

"We are all from the dirt," put forth Deadstock.

"Then allow me to return your flesh to the dust," said Zero as he reached a hand behind his back, slowly unveiling his retractable machete from over his shoulder. With a flick of a switch, the full length of the blade unfolded. "Looks like we'll just have to finish this the old fashioned way."

The Overlord attempted to plead further, "Zero, if we continue to draw lines between right and wrong, eventually no right will remain, only evil."

"I no longer put my trust in right and wrong," returned the Commander. "Right and wrong are mere points of view, Doctor. Preferences that can be rewritten by the constantly changing laws of human beings. I believe in good and evil, though. You and I, we were a different kind of evil. We were a necessary evil. We did what we had to do as we both do even now."

"Then let's finish the job, once and for all," strongly suggested Deadstock as he unsheathed his famous knife. The Dragon's Tooth glimmered as he positioned to attack.

"With pleasure," maliciously smiled Zero.

Upon that grave altar, the two muscular titans launched in a bloodthirsty leap for the other. Hand to hand and steel to steel was their combat. Flesh was cut. Elbows knocked into faces and knees shoved into guts. It was the unleashing of pure brute strength. It was awe.

Unexpectedly, the Overlord cried out in pain. With a punch to the old wound on his side, Zero had claimed advantage over him. The Commander then locked his limbs from behind, entangled with the retractable machete scraping closely against his neck. Struggling with the Dragon's Tooth, Zero began forcing the Overlord's grip toward his own heart. The tip was nearly at his chest. Zero was going to force the Overlord to kill himself.

The Commander jeered as he pressed the blade closer, drawing blood, "Why are you fighting so hard to stay alive? Just let go. Unless, you've lied to me and you truly are afraid of pain."

"Have you already forgotten, Zero?" Deadstock grunted, "I've felt the cold steel of a knife pushing through my flesh before. But have you?"

Then, the Overlord did the unthinkable. Slightly lowering himself in Zero's grip, he allowed the Dragon's Tooth to puncture into him. The long and narrow blade pierced all the way through, below his shoulder and above his heart for a survivable wound. Right behind, however, Zero was not as fortunate. He lost his breath, gulping for air as the tip of the knife shoved directly into his heart. Immediately, the entanglement broke free as Zero fell limp. The Overlord then lifted his defeated nemesis up into the air. Miraculously holding the mammoth of a man high above his head, he threw him down hard upon the face of the altar. The Commander crashed ruinously onto the old shrine as his blood poured out.

If happiness and sorrow could ever coexist at the same time, it would best describe Fossil in that moment. A brother's duty had come to an end. Though he mourned, Fossil was free.

Withstanding the suffering, Deadstock tortuously slid out the Dragon's Tooth from its place of impalement. The wound gushed out from either end and he quickly pressed a hand over the front opening. Standing above the vanquished Commander, the challenge was measured complete. It was over and Zero was fading fast.

Fossil took a knee and reverently bowed in the Thrall manner, a fist over his heart. "All hail the rightful Overlord!"

The surrounding legions of the Thralldom, myself included, followed his lead. The whole arena then bowed in tribute. Deadstock soaked it all in, observing the reverent ritual being done in his honor around him.

We chanted, "Hail, Overlord! Hail, Overlord!"

Zero, himself, wasn't completely gone, but he would be dead soon enough. "The world is yours again, Doctor. I was mad to think I could take it from you."

"I don't want this world," lamented the Overlord as he bent down to the level of his old friend and enemy. "I never wanted to rule it. All I wanted to do was make sure that no one ever did."