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

turn into the lowest of life forms.
    Worst of all, I recalled the one I loved, my beloved wife. I recalled the look on her face the day I left for deep space, choosing my mission over her. We were both so young then. The memory consumed me. All I ever wanted was to better humanity, but somehow I lost my own along the way.
    "I tried to save mankind once," I muttered, sad and troubled. "All I ended up doing was enslaving it."
    "Is that why you left?" Sentria asked.
    Her question was not based in her own simple curiosity. There was an agenda there. There were other motives at work. Since such a complex answer could only be answered with complexity, I chose a path of mystery instead.
    "My story is not one of black and white, right or wrong," I said. "It's a story about evil. The book is closed now, so don't try to reopen the pages. They've all worn out."
    "Yet, it would seem a new chapter has just begun," she skillfully countered. This girl was quicker and sharper than the steel knife latched in a sheath on my thigh, and I could cut through anything with that blade.
    Despite my admiration for her skill, I had to stand my ground. I harshly advanced up to her so that I might make my point even clearer. As I did, I could feel the pulse quicken in the other two operatives at either side of me. Sentria raised a hand for them to keep calm and stand down. I then approached her, face to face. She didn't falter in a confident stance. Not even a blink. Why was she so sure I wasn't dangerous?
    "I don't know what you want, but whatever it is, it's not what you'll get, one way or the other," I declared as we nearly exchanged each other's exhales.
    In reply, Sentria brought forth an intolerable thought, "You ruled this world once with the greatest power mankind had ever seen, a power that exists only in you for you alone to wield. Why not retake this planet for yourself?"
    I exclaimed in interruption, "Enough!" I could barely stomach it anymore.
    "You were the rise of the first of your kind," persisted the young warrior.
    "And now I'm nothing more than the fall of the last!" I angrily contravened. A moment of necessary silence followed as I turned from her line of sight to catch my escaped breath. In my heaving, I softly murmured, "I've made my choice. I'll never be who I once was."
    "I see," she said with finality.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Sentria signaling with her hands some kind of order to the other two Thralls. She was planning a course of action. I turned my head back round to examine what was going on. There, I found her gaze already fixed back onto me, remorseful.
    She let out a deep sigh. "I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this."
    "Come to what?" I asked, though I was sure I already knew the answer.
    I then heard the disquieting noise of ammunition being charged up in the hefty battle rifles to my left and right. The two operatives enclosed in, promptly raising their readied weapons. As they did, Sentria quickly swung out her pistol toward me. Aimed for my heart, she steadied the barrel on a raised forearm.
    "My Overlord," she proclaimed, unyieldingly. "By order of the Thralldom, you're under arrest for desertion."
    Seemingly trapped from their point of view, I took the opportunity to show off just who exactly they were dealing with. I swiftly took hold of Sentria's arm and came up behind her with great speed. From that position, I directed to puppeteer her arm to point her pistol to her very own head. It was just a scare tactic, I had no reason or desire to actually kill her.
    "Fools," I arrogantly ridiculed. "I'm not so easily taken. None one of you are capable of defeating me in combat."
    "Wait!" Sentria pleaded, "There is something that haunts you. I can see it plain as day. Whatever it is, is it worth killing us to get away?"
    "No. For it’s the act of killing that haunts me." I then freed her from my grasp as I raised up my hands in compliant surrender. The other two Thralls wasted no time in clenching my arms. "Just