Chapter 9   Return of the Overlord   author: Overlord - red , Veyanne - yellow  
"I feel only emptiness, desperation, lust and anger in your words.", the sorceress spoke softly "It reveals only the depths of the emptiness inside you."

Deep in the darkness of a cold cell a man lay curled into a ball in the corner. His hands wrapped around his head covering his eyes and ears. He tried to block out the outside world. It was too much to bear. The madness haunted him always. It never relented. Slowly he rocked back and forth. He had no more tears left. There was only the need inside him. A need that could never be filled.

"Leave me.", his feeble plea broke the silence.

The sorceress hesitiated, then conceded. "Very well then. I will leave you."

The door closed. The man was left in total darkness. All was quiet. Still there was no peace inside him, only the awful burning.

The sorceress finished her rounds in the room of her favorite. She found the man asleep, still fastened tightly to the cold stone table. She leaned over him and blew gently upon his face and through his hair. The man slowly opened his eyes.

For a moment the man thought he was in a field in the summertime. The breeze gently blowing across him. He imagined the cries of children playing nearby. He felt the warmth of his true love at his side.

Then the moment was gone.

He stared up at the sorceress. She smiled at him. He felt only hatred as the last pieces of the summer scene fled from his mind. He remembered where he was.

"More torture for your pleasure?", he spoke through clenched teeth.

"Don't you remember how it used to be?", the sorceress began wistfully. "The love, the laughter, the good times..."

"You never had love for me.", the man interupted.

"I did. I did not choose to show it. You know why.", there was a long pause after the sorceress' words. The man stared blankly up at her.

The sorceress stood up and walked around the table. She was deep in thought. She was trying desperately to think of something to say. She couldn't. It was no use. She had tried and she had failed.

"It's time that you must go. The demon wants you back.", the sorceress' words revealed the dissappointment inside her.

"I'd rather be there than here.", the man said sharply. He said the words "there" and "here" in a way to cause the sorceress pain. The was more silence as the words sank in.

"Your children...", the sorceress started and stopped.

"What of them?", the man finally showed emotion, "Tell me woman!"

The sorceress left a long pause, then she turned suddenly, "...they need you. Please try to help them."

The sorceress waved her hand outward. Magic dust flew forth and scattered over the man on the table. He disappeared.

Click

Whirrrrrrr

Bzzzzzzz

"Status: dorment"

<A monitor flashes on, showing shadowy figures, garbled text, lights flicking on and off>

"Awaking is imminent"

<More whirring sounds as gears come into action. Mechanical arms move about. Flesh is injected with liquids. There is a sigh and a moaning sound. A lens flares up red.>

'oowwww.... my head hurts.....'

"Status: awake"

'what happened? ah......... where am I?'

<more mechanical sounds and the monitors now show a stable picture. Numbers are streaming across. A holographic head appears in midair. It's a woman's face in green vectors, rotating slowly. The red glowing lens adjusts itself and aims at the head>

'ah...I remember now....'

"Hypatia....."

"Yes my Lord?"

"How long have I been asleep?"

"For three weeks, my Lord."

<Mechanical sounds.... the lid opens up and very slowly a man-like form crawls up on a steel elbow. Wires and tubes everywhere. Mechanical arms and legs. Only a few pieces of human tissue are visible.>

"How am I doing?"

"The implantations have been accepted. Alteration is successful."

"How .......much?"

"88% cybertronic induction. Status is stable."

'88%......that means there's only 12% human left of me.....'

<The man lifts his metal legs off the table and sits up. The red lens of his right eye looks at himself. He moves his mechanical fingers, amazed at the flexibility of his artificial muscles. This was even better than expected.>

"Looks like you did a great job, Hypatia."

"Thank you. You did a good job with me as well, my Lord."

The Overlord grins...........