Beyond the borders of Equestria – Griffon Kingdom; 9:00am

Somewhere on the snowy mountaintops of the Griffon Kingdom, were the ancient ruins of a Griffon fort, deep into the old musty stonework of the castle, in a rusted dungeon cell laid anarmored being who wore fur clothing. His skin was an unnatural blue and was an average muscled build, he wore a helmet with three sharp pronged points that pointed upward, beside him was an axe that had a symbol of the face of a creature on the axe-head.

The armored being shook before his two eyes open to revealed two yellow narrowed orbs and while his face was hidden by his helmet, two emotions appeared within his eyes – annoyance and slight confusion. “Where in the hell am I?”

Kaiden stood up and took a careful look around his surroundings until he saw himself, silence reigned until a loud groan came from him. “No no no no… this can’t be happening… I swear if I find that freaking merchant I’m going to strangle the ever loving fuck outta him.” Looking at the floor, he grabbed the axe before exiting the open cell; the cell led to a long stone hallway and at first Kaiden wasn’t sure where to go but felt a cold breeze coming from his left, deciding to go down that path.

Okay, let’s think about this clearly; I’m… the Fourth Overlord of the Overlord game series and since I completed the game I know what I can do… the question is where am I? I know for certain I’m not in the Overlord-world… I swear if this is just like those stupid displaced stories that Seth and…

Kaiden paused before shaking his head from the thought. No… I shouldn’t blame them… but at least I’m someone I know and familiar with and not some damn random character that I lack knowledge about… though I wonder now. If I’m the Overlord does that mean that they’re he-

His thoughts were interrupted by some nearby scuttling and voices coming from a set of spiral stairs that were leading up. The voices weren’t clear to tell how many voices were speaking but… the voices were familiar to Kaiden, one in particular was definitely familiar as it had a certain scratchiness to it. “Wherever we’re at we need to find the Overlord stat; Giblet, who do we have accounted for right now?”

“Uhhhh, we got; Gubbin, Mouldy, Quaver, Gash, Gloob, Grubby, Mortis, Blaze, Stench, Zap, Grub… oh and my assistant Ricket too and twenty-five minions of all four minion tribes,” said Giblet.

“Don’t forget about the beasties, we got some wolves, spiders, and those fire lizard things that came with us to… well, wherever we are at.”

Kaiden recognized some of the names listed off, but a few were unfamiliar or never heard of before, quickly climbing up the steps, he found himself before a short hallway that led to a wooden door that barely held on its own hinges. Approaching the door, Kaiden was going to open the door but found it wouldn’t budge, not wanting to find another way out, he hefted his axe and slammed it into the door, sending wooden shrapnel and the doorknob to go flying outward.

Stepping out, he heard the crinkling of snow as he found himself at what he assumed was the courtyard of some kind. Gazing forward, he saw several Minions haphazardly wandering the castle grounds before all of them were now staring at the source that created the noise earlier; both Kaiden and the Minions stared at one another before he spoke first. “What the heck are all of you staring at?”

In a quick flurry, all the Minions rushed toward their Overlord in a mix of happiness and worry, once they all stood before him, Kaiden recognized a familiar face from the game series. “Ah master, I was worried something terrible happened to you but it appears you teleported somewhere else in this abandoned fort… strange… you appear… different than usual… did you always speak?”

Seeing the confusion that was going to happen Kaiden decided to make sure things were straight forward for all parties. “Okay first off, yes I’m speaking and two, I’m not the Overlord you know… hard to explain,” said Kaiden.

“Oh I know, the moment I saw you I noticed your mental state is far different from the previous Overlord… or any Overlord, but the fact you aren’t freaking out means you either done this before or are familiar with us and the form you are in.”

Kaiden paused at this but shook his head at not trying to understand how Gnarl put together that he wasn’t the Fourth Overlord. “Ooookay… let’s go with the second one.”

“Well then, it won’t matter, you are the Overlord and we serve you loyally; I must ask but do you know where we are my lord?”

“Nah, and the name’s Kaiden and I know as much as you of where we’re at, but I do know what we should do. I want some Minions that know how to build to make this place more livable, and send some minions to scout around the area to see what the nearby lands are like.”

“Ohhh, somebody with some backbone to him, it has been awhile since I met an Overlord I can talk to, the last few have been somewhat of the silent types. Now I would introduce the Minion elite but I believe you know them from your knowledge of handling the Minions?”

“You could say that, but I’d like to be introduced just in case.”

Gnarl nodded before calling upon several Minions forward, one wearing a welding mask, another in grim reaper outfit, another wearing an executors mask and another wearing a tailor’s outfit. “Here are the Minion elite and Minions who play an integral part in your new dark rule my lord. Our Forge Master and leader of the Minion Special Forces Team, Giblet and his assistant Ricket; Gash, who was responsible of the dungeon back at the Dark Tower and the Battle Rock Arena at the Netherworld, he also used to be an ex-Minion Guard; Grubby is one of our Minion Diggers and is responsible with creating tunnels to transport your lordship to other parts of this world; Mortis here can resurrect dead minions and is responsible with the birth of new minions; these three are part of the Special Forces Team that Giblet leads, here are Blaze, Stench and Zap; Grub is the Minion Tailor, so if you wish to wear something fashionable for yourself or have something made for your minions, he is the one you’d speak to… oh, and then there’s… Quaver, the Minion Jester… he also makes the meals for the minions occasionally. There are also some older minions that I thought you should know as they’ll be your elite guard and be by your side constantly, while I do not think you can’t handle yourself, we must be careful as we are in unfamiliar territory, we may be evil but we mustn’t rush head first to things.”

Kaiden stood to see who’d be his elite guard for his time in this new world, as he was curious who they were. “They’re all Browns but I’ll add other Minions from the other minion tribes into this elite guard; we have Gubbin, Mouldy and Gloob; Gubbin and Mouldy lived back around the Second Overlord’s time while Gloob here was from the Third Overlord’s time.”

Kaiden gazed at three armored Browns who were busy fighting one another before paying attention and saluting, with Mouldy saluting with the wrong hand… before going back to fighting. Gnarl face-palmed while Kaiden was a little amused from their simpleness, but you know what they say, the more simple it is, the less complicated it is to use… especially if your an evil-doer trying to command an army of creatures that can cause devastation in seconds.

“Good good, and my requests earlier?” asked Kaiden.

“Ah yes, we actually did a head start on things and are scrounging on what we can find in this abandoned fort, as for scouting the surrounding area, I suggest sending some Browns on the wolves as they will move more efficiently in this snowy climate we’re at.” Nodding in agreement, Gnarl turned to some Browns who stood near some wolves and ordered them to scout the perimeter around the fort and see where they were exactly.

Kaiden decided to go up some steps to the fort’s ramparts which he was followed by Gnarl and his elite guard, once up he gazed at the snow-covered ground around the fort but one thing did catch his attention, the clouds were closer to him than they usually would be. Looks like we’re on a mountain, but that only leaves one question, where are the ones who built this fort are now?

“My lord, is there anything else you wish us to do?”

“...Do you have the Minion hives somewhere safe?”

“Of course, before we could look for you, we placed the hives somewhere deep in this fort, we discovered some abandoned tunnel systems that were luckily empty.”

“Good good… I want some Reds and Browns stationed around the fort ramparts and any still standing towers, also see if there are any supplies that we can use and if I’m correct, there’s hopefully a forge of some kind, get it started up and make some equipment for the minions. I also want some living conditions made for myself, I may not feel tired yet but I ain’t going sleep somewhere cold and hard.”

Gnarl nodded, but before he left to do anything, Kaiden stopped him for one more thing. “Another thing; bring Grubby and Grub here, I have some personal plans I wish to tell them,” said Kaiden, giving a sinister chuckle.

Gnarl grinned mischievously before bowing to his new Overlord. “Of course, I shall bring them straight to you, pronto,” said Gnarl. Soon, Kaiden was left alone standing on the ramparts with his elite guard who busied themselves by tossing stones at Quaver with one stone clonking him on the head.

This new Overlord… may be promising…

Elsewhere – Griffon Kingdom, Griffonstone; 10:30am

It was not a good day for the king of Griffonstone, he just received an urgent report from First Lieutenant Sharphook that a coup has occurred in the Minos Empire as the General of the Minos Army has betrayed the king, and that he managed to escape with the princess and another griffon soldier were on the run and were hiding in a town in Equestria.

King Goldus would send his troops to rescue his daughter and close friend… but sadly the minotaurs weren’t the only ones having a coup; because of Soft Beak’s birth and that she wasn’t a he, many of the noble loyalists think she is unworthy of the crown, especially the more militaristic ones and have started a rebellion with some of the more mistreated populace. The Griffon Kingdom weren’t in dire straits when it came to there living conditions, but because Griffonstone is the only city in the Griffon Kingdom, many believe they should expand but due to already internal problems – financially mostly – the surrounding lands were near inhabitable or were infested with deadly beasts.

It also didn’t help that nature in the Griffon Kingdom was much wilder with the snow storms and powerful gales that swept through the land and sky, making the living conditions beyond Griffonstone difficult. Many suggest invading Equestria, but this was denied as Equestria was close friends with the griffons, even though their past transgressions with the pegasi, this was further proven from the fact that griffons and ponies live peacefully at an island in the Celestial Sea called the Griffish Isles where both races live together in a town called Trottingham which has become the source trading spot for both kingdoms.

Still, both the noble royalists and loyalists are at each others necks and sending forces to Equestria while at their current predicament may cause future problems, so sadly King Goldus was unable to send help… which was why this meeting was called for by some royalists, the king’s advisers, and a few loyalists who were staying neutral from the infighting.

“We’re here because the Minos Empire has been taken from a coup by the nation’s general, the status of Princess Soft Beak and her guardians are alright as they managed to run away and hid themselves in an Equestrian settlement… but not for long. I know for certain that this won’t stop the minotaurs and sooner or later they’ll send an invasion force to attack Equestria… which is why we must warn the Equestrians and make an alliance to defeat the minotaurs, say aye if you agree with this plan,” said one of the royalists.

The other royalists and loyalists look at one another until claws were raised except for Adviser Shadow Claw, the king’s spymaster. “Adviser Shadow Claw, do you have some disagreements with this plan?”

“Not at all, but the method of how we’re to contact the Equestrians, we shouldn’t tell them just yet with our own problems, we can’t be of much help if we’re too focus on the infighting in our own nation,” said Shadow.

“Shadow Claw has a point,” said Hawkeyes, military adviser of the king. “We need to deal with the traitorous loyalists that have caused this rebellion!”

“Now now Hawkeyes, let’s not do anything rash,” said Birdsong, diplomatic adviser. “What do you suggest, Rich Flight?”

Rich Flight the financial adviser was busy counting some gold coins before sliding them into a pouch. “Well, I would suggest doing the option that would do less of a financial rut to us, but taking care of the rebellion is important in order for us to be at full strength.”

King Goldus listened to the various griffons talk amongst one another before a young griffon guard came bursting in with a worried look. Many griffons glared at this sudden outburst, but both Hawkeyes and Shadow Claw noticed the fear in the griffons eyes… and knew something was wrong. The young griffon guard approached the king doing a failed attempt of a bow before quickly standing tall, rigid.

“My king, report from the southern border patrol!”

“Speak, what have they to report?”

“My king; the southern border patrol has spotted several flying silhouettes in the distance just an hour ago! They aren’t sure where they went but they should be in the nearby vicinity!”

Dragons. “Hawkeyes, get a contingency of griffons guards and some of the Blackwings to the southern border, we may have dragons coming to raid us again; make sure the coffers and some of the nearby farmland is safe from the foul lizards, we can’t allow them to dwindle our already meager supplies and gold!”

“As you wish my king, to me!” With that, several black armored griffons followed Hawkeyes who wore her signature helmet and left, leaving behind the other griffons to talk about this new recent news.

Things aren’t looking good for us…

Griffon Kingdom, Abandoned Fort; 11:00am

After Gnarl called Grubby and Grub to go see the Overlord, he told what the other minions to do with Giblet and Ricket finding a forge and getting it set up and ready for forging. The other elite minions like Gash, Mortis, Blaze, Stench and Zap decided to see what they could do; Blaze, Stench and Zap organized their respective minion tribe groups and trained them of their respective skills, making those three the minion generals of the Reds, Greens and Blues, while the Browns were all led by Gash who was an ex-Minion Guard as he had nothing else to do. Mortis wandered about until he found the dungeons and converted it into his own dank little hovel… and into the minions’ living quarters.

As for Overlord Kaiden – that is what he wished to be called – his living quarters were prepared as they found a big room that had its own balcony and king-sized bed. He was currently having some stables built for the wolves, spiders, and salamanders; some other things he wanted built from Grubby was to use the series of tunnel systems for two things, as Kaiden told him to build a tunnel to the foot of the mountain for easy access and to build several chambers within the mountain for the minion elite to use.

Each minion elite had their own personal room to work and live in and would have expand it further to make more living space for future minions and other areas for different sort of things. Grub was told to make something for the Overlord, a flag and while he was the Minion Tailor, he was happy to make a symbol for the Overlord, specifically from his exact orders.

With that now done, Kaiden checked on some things while followed by his three elite guards who now had weapons to wield with Gubbin wielding an axe, Mouldy wielding a spear and short sword, and Gloob wielding a mace.

Kaiden gazed at the various minions working or training at the courtyard, while various sounds of construction was heard within the fort and deep underground. When he spoke to Gnarl, he was told that Kaiden has access to all his spells – the ones that the Fourth Overlord had access to – all the health and mana upgrades and even the Minion upgrades. The only problems was that they were missing a smelter to use as the forge was barely in standing condition, with some weapons and armor rusted or broken, there was one clue of what happened to the smelter as a part of the forge wall was open to the mountainside, the armor was also peculiar as it was shaped for a creature that stood on fours and had wings.

Whoever were the previous denizens of this place must of broke the wall and flew the smelter away and seeing the condition of this place, it must have been a while since that was done.

Kaiden wore basic Overlord garment that the Fourth Overlord wore, meaning he was starting from beginning when it came to armor or weaponry, but he was good on the health and magic compartment as all his spells were fully upgraded. He had all upgrades for the Minions too other than their armor and weaponry, so he could bring with him a total of thirty-five Minions, he was told by Gnarl he could bring more than the required amount but it would be harder to control as it would feel like trying to tell a score of piranha to do something.

Kaiden asked Gnarl if the total amount of Minions he could bring was fifty and after that question Gnarl was surprised and responded with a yes. Gnarl now learned that this Overlord might know more about the Minions and the lineage of Overlords than he originally thought… all the more reason why he’s worthy of controlling them.

“If that is the case, then I want to make a to-do list,” said Kaiden.

“An evil to-do list?” asked Gnarl.

“More like a ‘Preparations before the evil deeds’ kind of list; we need a smelter, some resources and supplies, a crane would also help to move the heavier stuff… I also want to know what kind of creatures made this fort… and if I can possibly get them under my heel.” Kaiden rubbed his gauntlets together, chuckling evilly to himself, he was always told by the others he had an evil side to him, especially whenever he caused a numerous amount of mayhem and chaos whenever they played D&D together.

“HA! Even before you’re doing anything evil, you already plan on subjugating this world’s denizens! I will tell the Minions to prepare themselves; the tunnel that Grubby made to the foot of the mountain is done, we prepared a Warp Gate to the foot of the mountain back to the fort, we only have enough for this one trip so once you get down there, do find something of magical interest that we can use to create more Warp Gates for new locations. Walking from place to place can be a tiring thing to do.”

Nodding, Kaiden selected fifteen Browns, ten Reds, five Greens and five Blues, he took only five wolves with him and three of the Browns were his elite guard, those Minions being, Gubbin, Mouldy, Gloob.

The second he stepped onto the Warp Gate, Kaiden felt a pulling sensation before he found himself in what could best be described as a forest with the mountain to his back. The trees were covered in ice and snow the ground littered with snow… everything was snow, snow, oh and look more snow.

“This is a freaking winter fucking wonderland ain’t it.”

“Indeed my lord, though it best we keep our guard up, no matter how simple things look.”

Hearing Gnarl’s voice was at first a surprise but Kaiden shrugged it off, continuing further through the forest, he came upon something interesting. It looked like a gravel pathway and was recently used, but instead of using it he took an alternate path; wanting to know where this path led, Kaiden sent five of the Minions that rode the wolves ahead of them.

Moving parallel from the gravel path, he came upon the edge of the forest to a field of snow, but further ahead he spotted a walled settlement. The wolves he sent ahead came running back with their riders to report what they found. “Master, bird-thingies up ahead.”

“‘Bird-thingies’?” Looking where the Minion was pointing, Kaiden saw several flying figures; what he saw looked like griffons but they appeared smaller than he imagined they would be… and they wore armor, nothing to heavy like leather or something similar. They also had bows and swords with them, and instead of flying into the town flew to the main gate which after awhile didn’t open but did after a griffon in the front of the group spoke to a griffon on the wooden wall.

So the denizens of this place are mythological creatures and considering their low-tech stuff, they’re not that advanced… medieval maybe at best.

“Griffons you say my lord, hmmmm, from the looks of it they’re not bird-brains… well, not as bird-brained as you think a bird might think. It best we avoid them for now, there’s something of interest that the scouts found just further south, past this settlement.”

Following Gnarl’s directions, Kaiden led his Minions around the settlement, but decided to keep one of the Greens to watch the settlement and stay hidden.

After traveling further south, Kaiden and his Minions came upon some sort of military camp, not a big one but plenty of griffon-like creatures; they appeared to be either patrolling or simply mingling with one another, either laughing or talking with one another about something. The one thing however that caught his attention was the pillar of smoke coming from the other side of the camp, traveling around the camp carefully, Kaiden spotted a smelter, a very grand one at that.

“That smelter, we need it; since we’re not at full strength, we need to stealth the shit out of that camp…” said Kaiden. Looking around Kaiden tried to think of something but when he spotted some of his Reds playing with their fireballs, he grinned to himself. “And I have an idea.”

Sometime later – Griffon Kingdom, Military Griffon Camp; 11:30am

A young griffon guard yawned to himself as he gazed lazily at the far distance of the forest treeline, but after scanning the forest, he spotted something alarming. Squinting his eyes, what he saw brought him to full attention as there was black smoke just further deep within the forest; with a deep inhale he unleashed a loud squawk for the whole camp to hear. “FIRE! FIRE; THE FOREST IS ON FIRE!”

This caught the attention of all the griffons, after doing nothing for nearly two weeks, it was good they finally got some action so nearly all the griffons, especially the youthful ones armed themselves and ran or flew to the where the fire is happening. Some of the more experienced ones stays behind, but the distraction was enough to get Kaiden’s plan moving; with a good portion of the camp now empty, Kaiden had some Greens switch places with some of his Browns. The Greens stealthily ran through the snowy field toward their prize, the sound of crunching snow was overshadowed by the commotion the griffons were making.

Nearing the smelter, they doused the flames and quickly readied to carry the smelter off, but as they were just halfway out of the field to the forest… they heard a loud clatter. All the Greens slowly swiveled their heads to the source of this new sound, and spotted a griffon; this griffon didn’t wear any heavy armor but a simple tunic, another interesting thing was that this griffon was less stocky and had more feather fluff around the mid-section… it also had eyelashes.

The griffon gazed wide-eyed at the small green creatures that were currently tried to swipe away their smelter, having just woken from all the commotion, this griffon stepped out with sword in claw but dropped it out of shock from sighting the strange creatures. It lasted for ten seconds before the griffon was ready to scream before a swift motion to the head and audible clonk later, the griffon fell as standing on box with a wooden club was a grinning Brown who was apparently sent with the Greens as a backup precaution.

“Heh heh, birdy go nap nap.”

Now having two things to carry, the Greens carried the smelter while the single Brown hefted the griffon with zero problems back to the Warp Gate and the fort.

Sometime later – Griffon Kingdom, Abandoned Fort; 12:00pm

Silver Beak was just a simple squire of Knight Holy Wing, who was stationed at one of the military camps near the settlement of Beakerton. She didn’t expect to be woken by loud shouting of a fire, only to come face to face with small green gremlins and get herself knocked out by possibly one of them.

Now waking up, she found herself in some dank dungeon cell and was strapped to a chair by ropes bound to her wrists to the armchairs and around her mid-section. Looking around she saw the cell door, but as she glanced outside the cell, several figures rammed against the cell door, those figures being several of the small creatures she remembering seeing but of different coloration and a few wearing pieces of clothing and other junk.

For a time they tried biting through the cell door before the backed away and into the darkness, now alone, Silver sighed to herself until a voice was heard behind her. “So, who exactly are you?”

Silver was unable to turn her head, but the voice was very close, when a new figure came around her vision; standing before her was an armored biped, it wasn’t a minotaur that was for certain but whatever it was it looked terrifying with its two glowing and wielded a hefty axe over it’s shoulder.

“I said, who exactly are you?” asked Kaiden.

“M-M-My name is, Silver B-B-Beak, I’m a squire to-to Knight Holy W-Wi-Wing. I was supposed to be training under him for a month or longer and so far been with him for a week,” said Silver.

“I see… you appear to be a woman, or is it chick in this case?”

“Um I’m not sure what a woman is but if you are referring to my gender then I am indeed a female...”

Rubbing his chin, Kaiden faced Silver Beak once more which caused her to flinch; snapping his finger to armored Browns that wielded some spears removed the restraints on Silver Beak, before pointing their spears at her. Unsure what they wanted from her, Kaiden began to exit from the dungeon cell before facing her. “Well, don’t just stand there, follow.”

Having nowhere or any other choice, Silver Beak followed behind this strange being that was apparently the leader of these creatures. After following him up some spiral stairs, they reached a long hallway until they came outside to a courtyard filled with the creatures, each doing something – some were patrolling the walls, others were rebuilding destroyed parts of this fort and others were ordering said creatures like officers in an army.

“These creatures you see before you are called Minions, there are four types which are referred to as Browns, Red, Greens, and Blues; I’d go to further detail but that’s all I’ll say… but you my friend will tell me everything you know about this world,” said Kaiden, gazing alarmingly close to Silver. “Every, thing.”

Gulping loudly, Silver Beak had only one thing to say to this stranger… and possibly the only one to stop these Minion creatures from eating her alive. “I… read a little and know a couple things beyond my home’s borders but, I still don’t know who you are?”

Some silence befell the courtyard as all were quiet, suddenly the clouds darkened as a distant roar of some bestial creature could be heard, a storm was coming but that didn’t faze anyone but Silver Beak, but as she continued to gaze at this unknown figure. He swiftly turned to face her and while she couldn’t see his face, she felt his unwavering hidden smile… and the hidden darkness that was within.

“Oh me? I’m Kaiden – The Overlord.”

Author's Note

(Oops, this was supposed to be published on the sixth but I forgot to press the button, well here you go another new chapter)

Kaiden - Overlord of the Minions - has begun his plans of world domination, starting with the capture of the Griffons smelter and a female griffon squire; what does he plan to do with both things?

The Griffon Leadership are dealing with their own internal problems and now a possible invasion from the south by dragons, is there a way to defeat this new foe?

Some addition tidbit information, Kaiden can understand other languages similar to how Nightmare/Seth can understand them through the helmet he wears. The others will also have a way as to how they'll understand the language of other races later too.

Next time: Griffons, Dragons, Minions, a power-hungry Overlord, a grouchy Gnarl and one very terrified Griffon chick; things are about to get medieval here!