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Chapter 5

Harry's Decision

Harry stared at the elderly minion in disbelief. "You... You do realize who I am, right?"

Gnarl nodded his head. "Of course, Master. You are Harry Potter, otherwise known as The-Boy-Who-Lived or The Chosen One. Your new moniker, however, will be the Overlord."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "If you know who I am, then you must know about my history. My entire life was ruined because of Lord Voldemort, arguably the most evil wizard of our day. What makes you think I would even be interested in being evil myself when evil destroyed everything I ever had?"

"Pah! You think that pansy Voldemort is Evil?" scoffed Gnarl. "Please, he is nothing more than a disease-infested flea hitching a ride on the rotting corpse of a dog. The evil that men do is nothing compared to the Evil that we do."

Harry shook his head again. It was hard to believe that this minion could dismiss Voldemort's powers so easily when he hardly measured up to Harry's waist. "Could you at least tell me where we are?" Harry wanted to get as far away from this place as possible, as soon as possible.

"We are currently located in the Netherworld, Sire. More specifically, we are in your Private Chambers. You'll have to excuse the mess, we haven't had an Overlord in quite some time, and the Minions here can be quite violent." When Harry didn't say anything, – he thought Netherworld meant Hell, and was freaking out a little more – Gnarl continued. "Now then, My Lord, we should get you geared up and out into the field. There are certain things that must be done before the Netherworld will truly acknowledge you as its master and the heir to the title of Overlord."

Gnarl turned around and began yelling at the other Minions, while Harry sat with his head in his hands, trying to figure out how to get out of this predicament. While he was certainly stronger than these creatures, they outnumbered him ten to one and would quickly subdue him if he tried to make a break for it. Even if he did somehow manage to get past them all, he had no idea where he was or how to get back to little Whinging. For now, he thought, I suppose I'll just have to go along with their plans and hope they don't have a change of heart and decide to kill me. Looking up, he heard Gnarl yell from nearby to follow him, and – rather reluctantly – Harry stood up and followed his voice through a room which looked like a lounge area and down a flight of stairs. When he reached the bottom, he froze, staring at the immense room in amazement.

In response to Harry's dazed look, Gnarl announced, "This, Sire, is your Throne Room. It's a little on the cavernous side at the moment, but now that you're here, we can begin to refurbish and expand our tunnel system so that you can expand your Dark Domain." Gnarl made his way over to a large throne that seemed crudely cut from the surrounding stone and was decorated rather blandly with a few red rugs. Despite its simplicity, Harry swore he could almost feel power radiating from the throne; whether the power was its own or merely the remnants of one of its previous inhabitants "This is your throne, Sire, and it's not just a place to rest your evil posterior. You can teleport around your domain from here, and it will also alert you of any recent events or quests occurring in your lands. Unfortunately, until the Netherworld accepts you as its Master, I believe you would find sitting in it to be... shall we say, unpleasant."

Harry merely nodded, trying to take in as much of the scenery as possible. Looking at the vast chamber, Harry had to at least admit one thing, if nothing else; Evil had style. As with the bedroom in which he had woken up, he could tell that this place obviously held a sense of grandeur even under its semi-ruined state. Tiny streams of lava flew through cracks in the stone and behind the throne flowed more lava, obviously meant to intimidate any visitors. The floor in front of the throne was mostly overtaken by a giant circle cut into the ground, over which hung a menacing clawed protrusion of rock, and around the circle were cut runes that glowed a pale blue aura. Following Gnarl to the far side of the chamber, they walked through a large archway and out of the Throne Room.

Again, Harry was astounded.

They appeared to be in what seemed like a giant underground cavern. Giant obsidian boulders floated past him, ranging from the size of the diminutive Minions in front of him to the size of houses. Lava flowed in rivers down the sides of the walls and collected at the bottom of the cavern. Harry noted that it was a long way to the bottom and resolved to stay as far away from the edge of the precipice as possible. "As you can see, the natural laws are a little bit flexible here in the Netherworld," said Gnarl.

"This is amazing, Gnarl," replied Harry. "How does everything float?"

"Put simply, magic, but we have no time, Master." One of the rocks floated down next to where they stood, and waited. "Step onto the rock, Sire. It's probably safe, I mean, perfectly safe." He flashed Harry a grin filled with pointy teeth. Needless to say, Harry was less than convinced of the safety of stepping onto the rock. It was flat on top, but it was small enough that he felt sure that his weight would destabilize it. After a moment, in which Harry continued to stare at the rock, weighing his options, Gnarl decided to give the lad a helping hand – specifically, by pushing him onto the rock. Before Harry could recover, the rock began moving by itself, rushing up towards the roof of the cave. Calm down, Harry, you're not gonna die. You may barf, but you will not die.

Thankfully, the boulder soon stopped and Harry scrambled off of it as quickly as his limbs could muster, then collapsed on his back once he was completely on solid ground.

"Greetings, Sire. Welcome to Foundations." The head of yet another Minion, covered in a helmet, entered Harry's field of vision, along with that of Gnarl. "This is Giblet," said Gnarl. "He's a particularly robust Minion, Sire. Been around almost as long as I have."

"He doesn't look nearly as old as you do." Giblet cackled evilly, running down a short flight of stairs as Harry stood up. Gnarl sniffed at Harry's insult, and replied as if he had said nothing. "As Giblet mentioned, these are the foundations. In here, you will find numerous ways to upgrade your horde and yourself." Harry followed Gnarl down the flight of stairs and to the left, where he could see Giblet busy at work sifting through large pieces of metal. "This is the Armoury, Sire," said Gnarl. "Giblet has been busy reworking your armour so that it does not have any dents or holes in it anymore. Our last Master met a rather gruesome end, unfortunately, but Giblet should have fixed it by now. Right, Giblet?" Giblet crowed affirmatively; Harry was too busy trying not to contemplate how the last Overlord might have died to really notice, though. "Good," replied Gnarl.

He turned back to Harry, and ran a disapproving eye up and down him. "Now, Master, you happen to be significantly smaller than most of our Overlords. Luckily, this armour is enchanted to fit its wearer perfectly, but I highly doubt that the sight of a short Overlord is likely to inspire fear in the eyes of your subjects, regardless of the menacing aura. We'll have to do something about that soon, but I suppose it can't be helped for now."

Harry had to agree with Gnarl about his physique, but still felt the need to defend himself. "It's not my fault that I was malnourished by the Dursleys for 10 years of my life. You try living off table scraps that long and see how good you look." Memories of his treatment at the hand of the Dursleys entered Harry's mind, but he pushed those memories and the dark feelings he felt away and refocused on the ancient Minion in front of him.

"Oh quite, quite, Master. I understand perfectly. Now, then." Giblet walked toward the duo, holding a piece of armour. To Harry, it looked like some kind of gauntlet, consisting of a metal glove and a solid metal plate to cover his left forearm, but the most interesting aspect of the gauntlet was a round protrusion that sat in the middle of the metal plate. "This is by far the most important part of your evil persona, M'Lord. This gauntlet will allow you to control the Minions in a more sophisticated way than merely shouting at them. It will transfer your thoughts into commands that will then be broadcast to your Minion horde, who will then do as you say. Now let's put it on you."

At this, however, Harry managed to find his voice. "Look, I'm sure you mean well, Gnarl, but this just is not going to work. I'm not evil! It's just not possible."

Gnarl shook his head exasperatedly. He could see that the boy in front of him was quite set in his Good ways, and it would take some serious work to craft him into the Overlord that the Minions needed. Part of him did sincerely doubt that Harry Potter could or would ever become Evil, but he always stood by his mantra: Evil always finds a way. And Evil had brought him to the 17-year old wizard who now stood in front of him, firmly denying Evil. This will require some serious planning, thought the old Minion. For now, however, he knew that he needed to at least get the boy to play along until he could be convinced of his Evil-ness. Evil was more than brute strength, after all. Deception was also necessary to be properly Evil. "Very well, Master. If you truly believe that you are not Evil, we will not keep you here."

Harry sighed in relief at the aged Minion's response. "However," he continued "I would like you to at least consider using our services. Deny it as much as you like, the Netherworld has selected you as a possible candidate for Overlordship, and as such, we Minions are bound to your will, regardless of whether you use us for Good or Evil." Gnarl smiled craftily. "You may yet find a use for us in your fight against that upstart Voldemort."

Harry surveyed Gnarl with suspicion. The offer sounded too good to be true from an Evil creature, but it was tempting. He still had no clue as to how he would be able to defeat Voldemort; these creatures could be powerful allies to him, and he could use all the help he could get, regardless of the source. The aged Minion looked on as Harry pondered the dilemma in his mind, as Giblet stood nearby with his ears flat against his head, still holding the Overlord gauntlet.

At last, Harry reached a decision. He knelt down in front of the two Minions, took a deep breath, and said "Armour is bound to attract a lot of attention. I don't know how long it has been since you've gone through the world, but it won't be easy to go anywhere if I stick out like a sore thumb." He then stuck his left arm out to Giblet.

Gnarl grinned in satisfaction as Giblet happily began attaching the gauntlet to Harry's left arm. "I assure you, M'Lord, we are well aware of the changes that take place in the world. For the moment, however, you will be travelling to an area mostly uninhabited by men. We can worry about wardrobe issues later." As the gauntlet clicked into place, the circle began to glow a dusky yellow, and Harry felt a surge of power course through his body. Even he could not help but crack a smile as he considered using this newfound power to use against his dark foe, as he allowed Giblet to begin placing the rest of the armour on his body. "Master, Evilness truly suits you. Let us go forth! There are nefarious deeds to be done." Giblet placed the last piece of armour, a helmet, on Harry's head. "I can feel the land quaking in fear already."
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I'd like to thank everyone for your submissions about a 5th Minion hive, and I have finally reached a decision: A black Minion hive. The powers of these Minions vary based on the corruption factor of the Overlord in control of them. For the Dominating Overlord, these Minions will attempt to possess an enemy and use them to attack their allies. For the Overlord who prefers a little Destruction, these Minions will attempt to possess an enemy, but will instead destroy them from the inside out, turning them into a makeshift explosive. Which brings me to my next question: Should these black Minions be given mounts? If so, what should they be? Same question goes for the Blue Minions as well.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your replies!