The Overlord

"Can I add my guitar to the pouch?"

«Guitar: Bass, Ovation. Already in weapons cache.»

Blake gasped. His guitar was no longer on the stand that he normally left it. On the top right of his field of vision, he could see the image of a sword. Under the sword was the number 1/10.

"Hey, does that mean I can have ten weapons?"

«Currently, you are allowed to store 10 weapons within the weapons cache. To increase the number of weapons able to be placed into weapons cache, use gold coins.»

"Where can I get gold coins."

«Gold coins can be purchased using System Credits.»

'Stop, stop!!!' Marvin shouted into his brain. 'Do not get sucked into that System Credits madness because once you do, you owe that shit forever and you have to keep paying the interest on that shit until you rot. And even then, your rotting carcass still gotta pay up!'

Blake sighed. "Marvin, how am I gonna survive in this hell hole without any money?"

'You earn it, doofus. Fair and square.'

"How???"

'Look, Blakey old boy, you're actually in a much better position than a lot of people. You learned early how to use your poltergeist abilities and picked up a super bad weapon.'

"You mean my bass guitar?"

'Yep. That there's your ticket to improve yourself here in this hell hole. And as long as you know how to control that poltergeist ability, you can do things most people here cannot.'

"My…poltergeist ability? I don't know how—"

'My man! How did you pick up that guitar to whack me with?'

"I just…"

Blake blinked and scanned his memory. How did he pick it up initially?

'Well you just think about that. Meanwhile, the Overlord just called me. I have to go 'cause he summoned me, but I can't move 'cause my body's all busted, so you are gonna have to get me there.'

"No."

'We ain't got no choice, man. If you don't move them pretty little legs, he's gonna send a band of demons to come look for me. It ain't gonna be pretty.'

"I could also just dump you back out on the floor and let the band of demons at you!"

'And they are gonna know you escaped and they are gonna go after you! Fool. Take me to him so I can tell him everything is hunky dory!'

"And then what happens?"

'Then he'll be able to tell his client you've been handled and he can move onto something else. Otherwise, you are gonna get hunted down!'

Blake growled a deep and guttural growl of frustration and exasperation.

"Fine. Tell me where to go."

Marvin mumbled a curse under his breath. 'Open up your map and I'll draw you directions.'

"My map?"

«Would you like map of local area or map of the world?» The system's voice chimed in.

'Tell your system we need a local map.'

"Local." Blake responded to the system.

Instantly a colorful map appeared in front of his vision. It was instantly recognizable to Blake as the map of the city he had lived in all his life. LA.

Without hesitation, Marvin began drawing an unsteady line with something that resembled a red marker.

'Here we are. Here's where we gotta go. Flying's easiest but if you're not familiar with how to fly, I can walk you there. It's not that far.'

"I know how to fly."

'Then get going!'

It didn't take long for Blake to get to the destination point that Marvin had drawn on the map in front of his face.

Since Blake told Marvin he could fly, the line was drawn in an 'as the crow flies' sort of manner. It was direct and to the point, with the end point circled in no uncertain red-marker line.

From the air, Blake could see the dark green rooftop of the structure that Marvin wanted to enter. It looked like an ancient Asian temple.

"Are you serious? The Overlord lives in a temple?"

'Why would I kid you? This used to be a legit Buddhist temple, but then something happened.' Marvin paused.

"What happened?" Blake prompted when the silence lengthened.

Marvin sucked in his breath. 'Something really bad happened. All the monks died in one night. The Overlord bought out the temple with his ill-gotten money and now he runs his bad business out of there.'

"What kind of business?"

Marvin harrumphed. 'He's a hit man. The worst possible kind since he doesn't hit with weapons from his world. He uses demons like us to do his dirty work. In return, he gets plenty of Earth money which allows him to live like a king while he's still alive.'

"And what do you get in return?"

'We get protection, so that the big demons don't mess with us.'

Blake landed on the green roof and stared out into the twinkling lights of the city he had physically left behind.

From the time he had died until the time he had pocketed Marvin and taken off into the sky, it had turned dark. Time ran a bit strangely in this hell hole he'd found himself.

As Blake mulled over what Marvin had told him, he heaved a big sigh.

So this Overlord was basically a mafia-type Big Brother who made a living out of killing people for hire.

It was brilliant, actually.

Since demons were used, there would be no way to trace the kills back to him. There was no way he could be caught because he would never be at the crime scene when it happened.

It was always going to look as if it was a self-inflicted mortal wound. A suicide.

The more Blake thought about the Overlord's methods, the angrier he became. The angrier he got, the more he wanted to know who exactly ordered his death.

"Who wanted me dead, Marvin?"

'I dunno.'

"Tell me!"

'I told ya. I dunno!!! You think the Overlord tells us anything? He just says, kill this person, or kill that person. That's all we get! We don't ask for details 'cause we don't need the details.'

"Then how can I find out who wanted me dead?"

'If you wanna know who tried to kill you, wait till I report to him that you are dead. Then you spy on him till he gets final payment from whoever wanted you dead.'

Blake nodded. That seemed pretty straightforward.

'But then what are you gonna do once you find out? You can't do anything to living people.'

"I can do what you did to me. Scare them to death."

'What's that gonna solve? You're still gonna be dead. Dead is dead, man.'

Blake's amber eyes glittered with rage.

"Revenge."