MEMORIES OF AN OVERLORD
by Victar (vctr113062 [at] aol [dot] com)
Victar's Archive: https://www.vicfanfic.com
"I've never had a high opinion of myself, but after that day, I couldn't see how I was worth anything at all. In a way, that made my life easier. If I'm not worth anything, then I don't have to care, right?"
Chapter Five
Memories of a Savior: Doubts of a Savior
On the last night in the life of Kreisia's most unlikely Savior, he reflected on how he had failed.
I promised them this wouldn't be a suicide pact, Yusis thought, restlessly pacing outside of the humble traveler's stop where he and his companions had chosen to make camp for the final time. I promised them we'd find a way to break the cycle.
An undead monster emerged from the shadows.
Yusis drew a golden sword from the sheath on his hip. It flared in his hands, illuminating the darkness. Three sparkling pommel stones adorned its hilt, adding splashes of color to its radiance. This was the Holy Brand Aldea, the legendary, sentient weapon wielded only by Kreisia's Saviors.
Yusis knew the monster couldn't approach the traveler's stop any closer due to Aldea's ward, yet he regarded the undead beast with wary trepidation. This particular monster appeared like a jet-black wolf, with sickly yellow eyes and slitted vertical pupils.
The wolf hunched in place. Its jaws worked.
%IF THE SAVIOR DOES NOT CONFRONT ORZAND TOMORROW, A CITY WILL DIE THAT NIGHT. EVERY NIGHT THEREAFTER, ANOTHER CITY WILL DIE.% Yusis wasn't sure if the malignant, simmering proclamation were truly sound, or an oppressive message burned into his mind.
"We know already!" he shot back, straining to keep his fear out of his voice.
%IF THE SAVIOR DOES NOT CONFRONT ORZAND TOMORROW, A CITY WILL DIE THAT NIGHT. EVERY NIGHT THEREAFTER, ANOTHER CITY WILL DIE.%
"We'll be there. Shut up and go away!"
%IF THE SAVIOR DOES NOT CONFRONT ORZAND TOMORROW, A CITY WILL DIE THAT NIGHT. EVERY NIGHT THEREAFTER, ANOTHER CITY WILL DIE.%
The shining sword in Yusis' hands erupted, not entirely of his own volition. Pure holy power streaked through the night air, enveloping the wolf and reducing it to miasma plumes.
"Yusis. I suspect the Overlord Orzand is not listening through any of these monsters. I believe he commanded them all to mindlessly repeat the same message." The statement came in a sympathetic, nonjudgmental tone of voice. It was a tone that Yusis rarely heard the speaker use.
Yusis turned to regard Laminah Thor, the proud Varg warrior, absolutely loyal to King Cedric Welkin of Kreisia. She had once been the captain of the Royal Guards, before resigning from that position to aid Kreisia's most unlikely Savior in his quest to vanquish the Overlord.
She was not dressed for sleep. She wore her battle armor, and carried her halberd on her back. "You desired to speak with me alone, while the others rested?"
Yusis nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."
"Why do you not wish to speak with Cynthia and Anemos?"
Yusis sheathed the Holy Brand in an awkward motion. "It's the opposite, really. I wish I could talk to them more. I wish we could all spend more time together."
"Time is something we no longer have."
Yusis sighed, deeply. "The three of you are the best friends I've ever had."
She patiently waited for him to continue.
"I need you to help me think some things through, Laminah. It has to be you, because you don't look up to me as the Savior. Not like they do."
"That is untrue," she denied.
"What?"
"I have far more faith in the Savior than you seem to think."
"Uhh..."
"My faith has been earned. You are no longer the irrational sleepwalker that you were when we first met."
"I'm not so sure."
"You retain a degree of irrationality, and you can be hopelessly muddleheaded at times, but you have also become worthy of faith."
"You really are sounding like Cynthia and Anemos, now. Especially Cynthia."
"It is another who lacks faith in the Savior."
"Do you mean Aldea?" Yusis glanced down at the sheathed holy sword. "It's hardly talked to me, after the night I almost abandoned all of you."
"Perhaps I could have meant the Holy Brand, but I did not."
"Then who-?" Yusis' eyes darted to one side, then to the other. "Oh."
"Yes. You have been doubting yourself ever since the day you realized that Kreisia is not a dream."
"Yeah."
"When you demanded to be sent back to your world, I believe it was out of self-doubt."
"Yeah, okay."
"What doubts trouble you now?"
"I promised all of you that we'd find a way to break the cycle."
"No. 'You' did not promise 'us'. We all promised one another. We all knew that it was a promise we might not be able to keep."
Yusis swallowed back an uneasy tremor. "I have no doubt we can defeat Orzand. None at all. I think the three of you could steamroll him without my help, if not for his miasma vapors. As long as I use Aldea to protect you from his poison, I think I don't even have to take a swing at him."
Laminah raised a single white eyebrow.
"I've been a slacker for nearly all my life," Yusis said with a shrug.
"I expect you will not 'slack' during the destined battle."
"No, I won't. I'll take it seriously."
"Yet defeating Orzand is not what concerns you."
"No. It's what comes after. It's not even that we're going to die, going to become Lesser Seals and the Greater Seal to contain Kreisia's miasma. That scares me, it scares me so much I can barely hold off another breakdown, but it's not the worst part. The worst is what comes after that."
In a hushed, anguished voice, Yusis whispered, "I've been thinking about becoming the next Overlord."
Laminah nodded, somberly. "The rest of us will also become undead monsters, bound as servants to your will. After ten years pass, we will all arise to terrorize Kreisia, if another Savior is not summoned in time to prevent us. My king will rally his people to vanquish the Lesser Seals, but only an off-world Savior can stop the Overlord from destroying all life... at the price of becoming the next Overlord."
"This is madness." Yusis tightly clenched his hands. "I really do want to save Kreisia. All of us do. So we're just going to rise up ten years from now, and start murdering the people we died to protect?"
"If we do not become Seals, then all of Kreisia will drown in miasma."
"That doesn't make it fine!" Yusis snapped, hotly. "This is not fine!"
Laminah remained stoic.
Yusis drew a ragged breath. "I've been trying to think of a way to keep my own mind, as the Overlord. What if I could use the Overlord's power to break the cycle?"
"Is such a thing possible?"
"I don't know, but Anemos once said that the greatest limits on what magic can do are power and imagination. The Overlord's magic is super-powerful..."
An intense look of cogitation appeared on Yusis' features. "Can Orzand actually carry out his threat to destroy cities?"
"Orzand is not bluffing, Yusis. You surely remember that, one day before Cynthia summoned you to be our Savior, Orzand's monsters slaughtered the city of Vatoren. There were no survivors."
No trace of emotion affected her as she continued, "I was overseeing Melusine's defenses when I received word of Vatoren's fall. My king later told me that Vatoren's last remaining Royal Mages contacted him with mind-related magic, moments before the end. They said that Vatoren was overrun, and retreat was impossible. My king knew of only one countermeasure for such a dire state - a tactic devised by the Savior of three cycles ago. Vatoren's Royal Mages combined their power and detonated a firestorm great enough to incinerate everything, including themselves."
"That... that 'tactic' was devised by..."
"Three cycles ago, there were only six years of peace instead of ten. The Overlord's reign of terror lasted for so long that our population was cut in half. Only the guidance of an off-world Savior kept the Overlord from slaughtering all of Kreisia, before the Holy Brand could rekindle its fire and continue the cycle."
"I heard about that. No one said the Savior's name, though."
"If he ever gave one, it was not recorded. Even his visage is unknown; he was always cloaked in shadows. That Savior was a mastermind of strategies unthinkable to our greatest military geniuses. When there was no other choice, he commanded loyal defenders to sacrifice their own lives, in order to preserve as many other lives as possible."
"And... only an off-world Savior could give a command like that. It's 'unthinkable' to Kreisians."
"My king could not bring himself to issue such a command to Vatoren's Royal Mages. I do not believe any of his military strategists could have, including myself. All my king could do - all any of us could have done - was remind Vatoren's last protectors that the countermeasure was an option. They had to choose their own fate."
Yusis looked away, uncomfortably. "Sometimes I forget... how innocent almost everyone born to this world is." It's like nearly all the evil in the world is concentrated inside of each cycle's Overlord.
And I'm going to be the next one...
Laminah evenly stated, "Vatoren was the largest Varg city in Kreisia. I lost several distant relatives."
"I'm sorry."
"There is no need to apologize. Orzand also suffered a loss that day. When the Royal Mages reduced the city and its surroundings to ash, they deprived Orzand not only of his strongest monsters, but also the opportunity to turn slain victims into additional monsters."
Yusis returned his gaze to the warrior. "Laminah, if Orzand could destroy cities anytime he wants, then why hasn't he done so already? Why hasn't he drowned Kreisia in miasma by now? What's stopping him?"
"I do not know, but the Holy Brand might."
"What?" In a sloppy motion, Yusis drew the Holy Brand Aldea from its sheath. Aldea did not flare in the darkness this time.
"The Holy Brand has overseen Kreisia's cycle for a great many generations," Laminah contemplated. "It concealed the cycle's requirements from you, because it thought you were not ready to learn them."
Then she added, "I should acknowledge that my king and I concealed the same truths, for the same reason."
Yusis' eyes narrowed, as he scrutinized the Holy Brand. "We've been searching for a way to break the cycle, and I didn't even think to question you."
*My function is to protect Kreisia. If I knew of a way to permanently end the miasma's threat, then I would pursue it.* Aldea's soundless communication resonated in both of their minds, like the lingering memory of a chime after its ring has faded.
"Maybe you know more than you think you know," Yusis suggested.
*My knowledge could induce you to run away again.*
"No. Absolutely not. I won't abandon this innocent world."
*I will take no chances with the likes of you.*
"Aldea!"
*Since you have fully committed yourself to your duty, you cannot threaten dereliction.*
"Aldea!"
The Holy Brand remained dull and silent.
"Aldea..." Yusis growled, in a guttural tone. His grip on the Holy Brand's hilt tightened, and the look of concentration returned to his face.
Yusis spoke in a carefully controlled manner. "I can't use magic. I've never felt anything from any type of magic except dark magic, and miasma doesn't let the living wield it. But the Overlord is the 'wielder of miasma', so I should be able to use dark magic when I become the next Overlord. And... maybe I'll be able to use more types of magic? I've been searching books about the cycle's history for information about the power of the Overlord. Some Overlords knew so much magic that they were called Wizard Overlords."
"Indeed," Laminah affirmed. "The previous cycle's Wizard Overlord wielded elemental magic; the Jongleur Overlord of four cycles ago wielded bardic magic; and Overlords throughout history have used minor magic divinations to locate assassination targets. Given your natural inclinations, I would not expect you to wield more than dark magic and minor magic, yet the possibility cannot be completely discounted. Only holy magic refuses to let the undead wield it."
Yusis nodded. "Aldea must use some kind of magic to create the Greater Seal, right? Turning into the Overlord has to involve more than just miasma poisoning."
"Our transformations into the Seals will surely involve the Holy Brand's magic," Laminah reasoned. "That magic is also responsible for the shrines imprisoning each cycle's Lesser Seals, as well as the sorcerous castle that imprisons the Greater Seal."
"When Anemos and Cynthia taught me about magic, most of it went over my head, but I remember some things. Cynthia said that the strength of magic is strongly affected by the true feelings of both the spell's caster and the spell's target. A lot depends on whether the target resists the spell, allows the spell, or accepts the spell with their whole heart. This must be why only willing people can become Seals."
Yusis held the Holy Brand horizontally, on a parallel level to his own eyes. "I need your knowledge to steady my heart, so I can completely accept the spell to become the Overlord. If you don't tell me, then your magic could fail."
*You are not serious.*
"Ask Laminah how much I doubt myself. Go ahead, ask her."
*You are not serious. Do you think I cannot discern the state of your mind and soul? You have resolved to become the Greater Seal.*
"You can't take the chance that my resolve will break. That the cycle will falter and all of Kreisia will die. You can't take the smallest chance of that, can you?"
*You would use your own weakness to make demands of me?*
"You say your function is to protect Kreisia? Then do it, Aldea! Tell me right here, right now, why Orzand hasn't already wiped out more cities!"
*Why did the Priestess of Salvation summon YOU to be Kreisia's Savior!?*
"I've wondered that myself. A lot."
The Holy Brand flared brightly in the darkness, then settled into a steady glow. Yusis felt something methodical and indifferent from that glow, emotionlessly peering into his innermost depths. He recoiled slightly, lowered his arm, and held the holy sword in both hands.
"Aldea, what are you doing?"
*I am studying your soul.*
"Yeah, you're definitely not respecting my personal space. Quit it. It feels weird."
*As you will, for now.* Aldea's steady glow became slightly dimmer.
"You've 'studied my soul' before, haven't you?" Yusis questioned, warily.
*Nightly, during your slumber.*
"Aldea, that's weird and creepy."
*I do not intrude upon mortal privacy unless doing so is necessary to protect life. You know this.*
"Whatever."
*Tomorrow, I will do more to your soul than study it.*
"What do you mean?"
*The one thing that prevents the Overlord Orzand from drowning this world in miasma is a directive that I implanted, within the Savior he once was.
*In each turn of the cycle, at the time of the Savior's sacrifice to become the Greater Seal, I write a command on the Savior's soul to prepare for a battle to the death with Kreisia's next Savior. When the former Savior arises as the Overlord, this directive supersedes every other imperative, including the miasma's drive to eradicate all life.*
"It doesn't stop the Overlord from murdering people, or whole cities."
*It does not, but it does force the Overlord to restrain himself. The Overlord must conserve his power and put effort into preparing for the next Savior. As long as the next Savior is not destroyed or derelict, the Overlord cannot drown all of Kreisia in a torrential miasma flood.*
"What if no one summons a Savior?"
*If the summon spell could no longer be cast, then the cycle would break and Orzand would be free to drown the world. Orzand is aware of this. Every cycle, Orzand strives to depopulate Kreisia below a certain threshold, and therefore render the survivors too few in number to enable the summon spell.*
Laminah observed, "We are drawing ever closer to that threshold."
*I will not abandon my function to protect Kreisia.*
"I did not say that you should," she returned.
"Okay, look," Yusis carefully interjected. "How about this, Aldea. Tomorrow, instead of a command to prepare for a battle to the death, try writing 'don't kill anyone'."
Lights flickered up and down the length of the Holy Brand.
*Do you truly believe you can invent a superior command?*
Yusis glared at the sentient weapon. "I just did."
*Really. You think so.*
"What part of 'don't kill anyone' don't you understand?"
Aldea's flickering lights increased in speed and intensity. A wave of intangible, invisible scorn washed through the night air.
*'Do not kill anyone' would directly contradict the miasma's hatred of life. The Greater Seal would be unable to attract or contain miasma at all. Kreisia would drown in a miasma flood, as surely as if there were no Greater Seal.*
"Huh. Okay, so if we can't directly contradict the miasma, then how about indirectly?"
*That is exactly what I do. That is why I write the command my creator instructed me to use.*
"Yeah, well, let's improve on it this time around."
*If a better command existed, then my creator would have instructed me to use it.*
"The cycle's been turning for ages, and each time, the Savior always defeats the Overlord. The odds of winning that battle must be stacked really high in the Savior's favor. Maybe even flat-out guaranteed."
*The Savior's victory is not guaranteed.*
"Okay, then it's is the next best thing to guaranteed. You're just that powerful, Aldea. I know you are because even though you think I'm weak - and you're right, I am - you never worried that I might lose to Orzand. All you ever worried about was whether my soul could handle what happens after."
*Do not use my power as an excuse to neglect your vigilance in battle.*
"I won't. None of us will. My idea is, you could write a command that only temporarily blocks the Overlord from murdering people, until after the battle with the next Savior. A command like that wouldn't directly contradict the miasma; it would just make the Overlord conserve more of his power for a limited time. The Savior should still win every cycle, and the cycle wouldn't destroy as many lives."
*You are voicing useless drivel that borders on mad ranting.*
"You could write something like, 'prepare for the battle to the death, and don't kill anyone in the meantime'."
*That is functionally two commands.*
"So?"
*It is not possible. After the battle against Orzand, I can write only one command. My pommel stones separate from me, taking a preponderance of my power with them. I must spend the remainder of my strength to unleash the spell that will create and imprison the new Greater Seal, while my pommel stones create and imprison the Lesser Seals. Then I must return to my shrine and sleep for nearly ten years.*
"Maybe you could spend less power imprisoning the Seals. You could reuse the castle and the shrines from this cycle, instead of making new ones."
*I do reuse the castle and the shrines. They implode and revert to formless holy power; I transport and reshape that power. The castle and shrines must be completely rebuilt; the Seals wear away too much potency from their prisons, over the course of ten years.*
"Okay, so you won't have the stamina to write two commands tomorrow. What about right now? Write 'prepare for the battle to the death with the next Savior' on my soul, take the night to rest up, then add 'and don't kill anyone in the meantime' after we defeat the Overlord."
*It is not possible. Writing my command costs far more power than your demented mind seems to grasp. Furthermore, I can only inscribe my will when it is the Savior's time to die and become the Greater Seal.*
"There has to be something...!"
*There is not. This idea is worthless. I must use the command my creator adjured me to use.*
Yusis gritted his teeth in frustration.
Aldea's flickering lights momentarily froze in a checkered pattern.
*I will have to be especially meticulous when I write my directive on your corrupt soul. I dare not risk the slightest mistake on the likes of you.*
"Fine, whatever. What about Anemos' ability to use chants? He's way better at them than most Alteans, isn't he?"
*Altean chants only affect the body or mind, not the soul. The undead body of the Overlord is the Greater Seal. Even when the Greater Seal is newly created, it is so powerful that no chant could influence it.*
"The Overlord does have a mind, though? I remember, now. Begiad planned to control me with a domination chant, so I'd be his slave after turning into the Overlord." That disgusting murderer volunteered a lot more information than YOU.
*That plan was doomed to fail.*
"Oh, yeah?"
*If the Savior's mind exists within the Greater Seal at all, it is an undead monster's mind. It is not formed by the activity of a living brain. It is formed by a replica of that brain's activity impressed into dark magic, even as a newly risen monster's body consists of dark magic molded into a shape resembling the living body it once had. The Greater Seal is so powerful that no chant could control or remain attached to a mind impressed within it.*
"Oh. Huh. So... it won't even be me inside the Overlord? It will just be a copy of me?"
*Your soul will be imprisoned within the Overlord. Souls cannot be duplicated or destroyed. Beyond that, I cannot say.*
Yusis uneasily continued, "I've read about how the Overlord always knows what the Savior used to know. So, whatever's left of 'Yusis' will have my memories, right?"
Laminah observed, "It is well-known that the Overlord has access to the former Savior's knowledge. Although, a great deal of that knowledge does not seem to transfer from one Overlord to the next. I am certain that this cycle's Overlord does not know the deadly elemental magic of the last cycle's Wizard Overlord; if he did, then he would have used it by now."
*No risen Overlord has ever retained the mind of a Savior. Any echoes of the former Savior's mind only affect how the Overlord spreads death, terror, and suffering. Strategist Saviors become Master Tactician Overlords, who coordinate supremely powerful monsters. Saviors skilled in physical combat become Warrior Overlords like the current Orzand, who attack with brute force. Magically talented Saviors become Wizard Overlords, who devastate Kreisia with apocalyptic spells.
*As for you, Savior...*
Yusis raised an eyebrow.
*...I expect you will become the least terrifying Overlord ever.*
Yusis flattened both eyebrows. "I can't tell if you're trying to comfort me or insult me."
*Would you seek comfort? Then know that the Savior's soul is freed when the Overlord is destroyed. As a side effect of being immersed within the Greater Seal, this soul lingers for a short time, during which mortals can see and hear it.
*Thus, you will have a brief opportunity to speak with the soul of the previous Savior, after you vanquish Orzand. Since you seem intent on learning useless information, for the alleged need to 'steady your heart'.*
"The too-long-didn't-read version is, Anemos can't use a chant to control what I do as the Overlord," Yusis summarized, with an ill-tempered sigh. Then, "Laminah, why are you looking at me like that?"
The warrior's eyes twinkled spryly in the darkness, and the slightest touch of an amused smile affected her lips. "Did you truly just contemplate becoming Anemos' slave?"
Yusis froze for an instant. His eyes darted back and forth. Then he pointed to Laminah and demanded, "Don't ever tell him about that. Him or anyone else."
"As you wish."
"That goes for you too, Aldea."
*First you insist that I share information; now you insist that I withhold it.*
"I hate you, Aldea."
*Your emotions are meaningless to me.*
Laminah suggested, "Perhaps your doubts are causing you to approach this from the wrong direction, Yusis."
"What do you mean?"
"You are searching for an outside force to control you as the Overlord. Perhaps it is you who must control yourself, and keep your own mind from the inside."
"Yeah, well, every Savior before me has tried that, right? And they all failed."
"That does not mean it is worthless for you to try."
"Then how would you go about it?"
"I?"
*What madness is this? Only an off-world Savior can become the Greater Seal.*
Yusis glowered at the Holy Brand. Turning back to Laminah, he said, "Let's put it this way. You're going to become a Lesser Seal. How will you try to keep your own mind?"
Laminah's serene visage did not change as she stated, "I have considered this."
"Okay."
"I will think of my king."
"That's it?"
"Yes. That is it." The warrior drew herself tall, statuesque and resolute; moonlight gleamed upon her flowing white hair. "I will think of my king, who has devoted his reign to healing the rifts between Kreisia's three races. My king, who loves all the people of Kreisia as a father loves his children. My king, whose honorable ideals gave my life renewed purpose after monsters slew my father and reduced my mother to an incapacitated mental state. I will think of my king."
"Laminah, do you really believe that refusing to say Cedric's name will change what you do as a Lesser Seal?"
"Yusis, your doubts are truly endless."
"Yeah, okay."
"I do not know Anemos well enough to surmise who or what he intends to contemplate when he becomes a Lesser Seal, although he does seem to regard you fondly."
He won't think of me. I know who he'll think of, but I don't have any right to tell you. 'Personal space' is more than just physical distance.
"As for Cynthia..." Laminah continued. "I have spoken with her, about the hardship of losing one's kindred. Coming to terms with the repressed memory of her birth parents' demise was very difficult, for her. She loved them dearly, even as she loves her adoptive parents. Perhaps the bonds she shares with them all are what motivated her to become the Priestess of Salvation, knowing full well where that path would lead her. Perhaps-"
"I don't want to think about this anymore," Yusis hoarsely interrupted.
A furtive, wild tremor of fear crept through him. He paced back and forth on the verge of panicked frenzy, unable to hide the icy shudders that wracked his shoulders. "I don't want to think about this. I really don't. Cynthia - she's going to die and become a monster, too? Her soul will be trapped inside an undead, miasma-filled thing. She might be - she might be forced to murder another child's parents, or everyone in her home village - at my command - I don't want to think about this - I don't want to think about this!"
"On the contrary," Laminah calmly stated. "We have determined precisely what you must think about."
Yusis halted his pacing. His heart pounded, and thickness built in his throat.
Laminah said, "My king gave you a crystal with the power to store and repeat sounds, did he not?"
"Yeah." Yusis retrieved the small object out of his pocket.
"Tomorrow morning, let us ask Cynthia to record a message upon it. Something that will help you remember her, after you become the Greater Seal."
"Yeah. Let's do that. Not just her, though. All three of you."
Yusis held the crystal a short distance from his heart, and regarded its glinting facets in the moonlight. "Maybe... if I hear your voices in the darkness... maybe I can keep my own mind. Even when I become 'the least terrifying Overlord ever'."
End of Chapter Five: Doubts of a Savior