The Overlord: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel Read Online Free PDF

appetite," I recoiled.
    "It's really you, isn't it? You've finally come back after all this time." The operative then shook her head, thinking she had been rude. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to be so informal."
    She then struck her heart with her fist before bending her arm out at a right angle. Her fingers then opened from her clamped knuckles like flower pedals in the morning. The other two followed her lead. It was the official greeting of the Thralldom, a gesture that signified the Wandering Star.
    "Hail, Overlord," she addressed as she took a knee to bow.
    I found her adoration completely absurd. Here I was in a ruggedly aging flight suit with an unrelenting beard. Topped with the hair of a wild dog, I probably smelled like one too. This girl probably wasn't even alive when I had ruled the world. Yet, there she was at my feet as if I had led her by the hand her whole life. 
    "Get up," I ordered harshly.
    She obeyed and switched to a less formal and more matter of fact way of welcoming me. "I'm Sentria," the young woman introduced. "I serve the Thralldom. We are the reception of your return."
    I thought to myself as to what sort of reception this was exactly. Were their intentions malicious? Even if they were, I didn't consider these three youths to be menacing opponents for someone like me anyway. I didn't feel the need for playing defensive mind games, though, so I went straight to the point.
    "Have you come to kill me?" I probed.
    "You're not the threat," the young squad leader replied.
    "Then who is?" I asked in return.
    The girl detached her helmet and revealed a grim visage beneath her fluid hair. "Everyone else," she coldly answered.
    As she guided hair strands out of her face, I noticed a peculiar garment sticking out of the neck of her armor. It looked like some sort of scarf, blue with white stars. Just as I caught a glimpse of it, Sentria tucked it away, out of my sight. She must've had some reason to hide the cloth and probably thought I didn't see it. She wouldn't be able to tell if I had, being how my eyes were hiding behind a pair of mirrored shades. 
    I knew she couldn't see my eyes, but it felt like she was staring straight into them regardless. She was searching for any kind of meaning in my facial language. Whether or not she deciphered anything from my inflections, one thing would be for certain. If she did happen to look at me straight in the eyes, she wouldn't be able to handle what was swelling within them.
    It was during this moment that I suddenly felt like I was looking upon someone familiar. I couldn't quite figure it out. Sentria reminded me of someone with the way she talked and the way she stood. Maybe it was the look on her face. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't toting standard armaments. 
    The other two Thralls were packing all manners of clear plastic firepower, but Sentria was simply holding a palm over the hilt of a holstered pistol. It was a genuine sidearm made from metal, semiautomatic from way before her time. I carried a similar weapon on my person as well. I then realized what it was about her that had struck familiarity. The girl reminded me of myself.
    All the same, it mattered not. She had just revealed her belief that the greatest threat to humanity was humanity itself. I couldn't agree more, but I didn't know what lengths these Thralls were willing to go to counteract that presumed threat. I couldn't risk becoming another accidental advocate for another potentially genocidal war.
    "I want no part in the latest scheme to take over the world, Thrall," I sternly stated.
    "How fortunate," Sentria attested. "For I'm here to propose a more peaceful solution."
    I questioned, "What exactly would that be?"
    "You." Her simple, one-word answer threw a hefty blow.
    Out of my conscious control, a flood of horrible memories came upon me. I remembered the Last War, how I saw humanity fall from its own destructive greed. My eyes had seen many die, many disappear, and many good people