//------------------------------// // Conflicting Interests // Story: The Crystal Vizier // by Lich-Lord Krosis //------------------------------// Kel'Thuzad watched the two stallions from his corner of the small bar, his magically constructed eyes blinking once or twice to clear their imperfections. The two delinquents were busy heckling a smaller crystal mare, who was just trying to enjoy a drink at the bar, along with a few of her friends from the looks of it. Typical bar scenery. The grey elderly earth pony cracked his neck, growling in annoyance at the jeering mocks of the two stallions across the room. From what he'd heard, the mares were exotic dancers at a club nearby, and were followed by these two wastes of oxygen after their shift had ended. While the archmage was... Not exactly a fan of their careers, the mares didn't deserve this treatment. Besides, a centuries old lich whom was tricked into murdering his entire home continent didn't have much wiggle room to judge other's life choices... Regardless, had he not been in some seriously hot water with his monarchs, he might have intervened, but he was strictly told by his prince to await him at the bar near the fountain in the main square. But his rather small amount of patience was rapidly wearing thin at the young and brash colts who were disturbing the relative peace of the small inn. Kel'Thuzad thought back to the events of the past few hours, his mind racing through the memories of having to explain... well, that he had technically purchased the flesh and skin legally. As the vizier and archmage of the Crystal Court, he was rightfully entitled to a substantial sum of bits at the end of every week, nearly three fourths of which he did not accept, for a multitude of reasons. One, he didn't need to eat. He didn't need to drink. He didn't need to bathe. He didn't need to sleep. He didn't need much of anything, in fact, seeing as his thirst for knowledge was sated for the moment by the vast library within the keep, of which he had unrestricted access to. Two, he felt that the amount was ludicrous for what little he did. His activities and their total expenditures while on Equus had come to grand financial total of seven hundred and fifty bits, almost all of which was used to buy enchanting supplies from the bazaar near where he currently sat. Three. He felt as if he was... obligated to donate what could not bring him any comfort to those less fortunate. In fact, the lich spent the better part of two nights a week choosing which families in the Crystal Empire would receive how much of his salary. After all the lives he helped to ruin, all the families he literally tore apart, it seemed like it was the least he could do to help start... making amends. Even if it was on another planet entirely... Anyway, Kel'Thuzad had to tell them that he had purchased the small patch of skin, along with a new jar of embalming fluid and some linen at the local medical school. The place was of recent construction, and he had only learned of it's existence when he had recently heard reports from Titus that the guards were seeing... things, near the new building. Apparitions. Presences. Ghosts, for the more necromantically impaired. The lich was more than a little surprised that the entirety of the building itself was constructed on top of some sort of primitive mass burial ground, the frozen earth several dozen yards below the surface of the school filled with bones, most of which were easily several thousand years old. Yet... no one except him seemed to know this. While the staff and doctors were quite aware of the hauntings occurring, they were clueless of their origins! How several hundred bodies (a rough calculation, mind you) had gone undiscovered for so long was beyond him. While Kel'Thuzad didn't mention that part to his king and queen, he did set up a few magical suppression runes around the school, nullifying and trapping the alarming amount of surprisingly docile specters around the property until they could be... dealt with... I will have to do some... digging in the area. See if I can set them at peace if anything is binding them here... Or perhaps learn of their allegiances... As for his reasons to own the skin, he had reluctantly told his rulers that he was in fact... well... creating a body for his brother. Magical flesh and bone were only temporary, so simply conjuring up a body would not do. No. He owed his brother a somewhat normal life after all he had been through, and while he cared little to none for his choice of a lover, he respected his brother, and had learned that making an enemy of Celestia... Means making an enemy of her entire extended family. Besides, they had eternity to repair their... faulted relationship. Giving her something to cuddle that at least acted and looked alive would hopefully help repair the sizable cracks in their past. Hopefully they only cuddle until I get this done... That also reminds me of the complications and awkward conversations I will need to have, in order to properly... equip him... "What, you got something to say, jackass?" hoofsteps approached the wizard, his thoughts cut short as a single hoof smashed onto his small table, shaking the small glass of rum he had ordered to seem normal. Kel'Thuzad said nothing, a light growl masked with a shrill cough his only response. Damn, I've been staring at him this entire time, then? I really must remember to blink every now and again... This form, while flawed and exceedingly misleading, was primarily his Queen's idea. She had mentioned the idea before, but the lich was only using it just this night to assume the rather simple disguise in the midst of his 'crimes'. "Hey, I'm talking to you, man!" the quite obviously drunken stallion roared, his other hoof violently pushing the wizard. Kel'Thuzad's eyes darted upwards, an incantation barely whispered under his breath. With his assailant foolishly close to him, he was unable to see the rest of the bar, but could see that the mare's sitting at the bar were now arguing with the stallion's comrade, his smaller form rearing back to hit one of them in the muzzle with his right foreleg, a sickening snap and yelp accompanying it. That did it. In an instant, the stallion all but hugging the now very morally infuriated archlich was gasping for air through choked breaths as his body was lifted from the table, his windpipe being slowly and methodically crushed by Kel'Thuzad's potent necromantic magics. Unaware of his friend's predicament, the other stallion had proceeded to grab another of the mares, and was slowly making his way towards the restrooms behind them, her form desperately trying to leave his grip. In a single move, the lich threw up a small ward around the remaining mares, and snarled as he launched a single frostbolt at the fiend's right shoulder, the icicle connecting and carrying the now heavily bleeding stallion towards the wall, were it nailed him to the wooden surface with ease. For the second time in an alarmingly short period, he felt his natural, charismatic nature melt away, and it revealed the frigid, blistering cold of the madman he once was... The archlich, still in his diminutive and humble stature, levitated slowly into the air, two ropes of his soul chains connecting together in front of him, ribbons of potent arcane and necromantic magics sizzling and warping the air around them as they lashed out, swiping the choking unicorn twice, breaking a fair amount of his ribs as a result. The stallion yelped once with what little breath he could muster, his gurgling cry drawing the attention of the rest of the bar's patrons. For a moment, the mare's whimpers of fear and the stallion's groans of pain were the only sound in the small room. With a low snarl, Kel'Thuzad realized that he recognized the both of them. The brawny, pigheaded unicorn assaulting his table was none other than the mercenary that less than a week ago attempted to slice him in half with a halberd. His friend, the smaller unicorn, was the archer. How appropriate... Fire Fight's 'lackies'... A quick, imperceptible flick of his right forehoof, and it was confirmed that they were both quite alive, and not changelings. Shame... I was hoping to dish out some proper justice tonight... "You should know better than to insult your elders, boy." Kel'Thuzad spoke, his eyes starting to echo waves of cold as his illusion threatened to collapse under the magical stress of his arcane power. "B-buck you..." Kel'Thuzad smirked evilly. "Tsk, tsk, tsk..." The archlich grabbed the unicorn before him with one of his frosted chains, and wrenched him closer, a shriek of pain leaving the stallion's muzzle as his shattered ribs grinded together from the tightening of the frigid snake. "You don't remember me, do you?" The stallion, rather admirably, shook his head, his face a grimace of rage and pain. "Hehehe... Fire Fight definitely didn't pay you NEARLY well enough to fight me, did he?" ......... The stallion's muzzle went pale. "N-no... please... not... not again!" The stallion broke down, his cries of terror at the thought of being controlled once more shattering his bulwark of spirit. "Cease your sniveling, worm! You brought this judgement upon yourself!" Kel'Thuzad snarled, flinging the unicorn over near the bathrooms, his shattered body landing before his friends writhing form. Kel'Thuzad lowered himself to the floor, his hooves gently hitting the stone as he trotted slowly forward, the air around his warping and now sizzling form growing several dozen degrees colder as a result. The archmage stopped before them, his rage leaving him quickly as he realized what he had done. I... what am I doing? With a wave of his hoof, the stallion that was pinned to the wall clattered to the floor alongside his accomplice, his shoulder's puncture wound still frozen shut. "Please... we... we didn't know he was... was..." "A monster..." his accomplice choked, his breaths slow and labored. "Like that... demon that attacked Canterlot..." Kel'Thuzad snorted. What to do with these... these... Mortal wretches... Kel'Thuzad shook his head lightly, his murderous intent silenced. "Demons, are we?!" The stallions and lich turned to the door to see Shining, Titus, and a very angry Anub'arak. Kel'Thuzad bowed, and his king spoke. "Kel'Thuzad, what's going on here?" Shining asked, his tone more... confused than angry. Kel'Thuzad rose. "My king, I... they..." his words stumbled. Anub'arak snorted, marching past the prince, his gaze fixed on the two stallions lying in a heap near the restrooms. "If you think I'M a demon, mortal... you really don't want to see me when I'm angry..." Anub'arak chuckled darkly, his insectoid eyes staring unblinking into his prey's... With a roar, the changeling was engulfed in flames of green, his chitinous, gravelly laughter growing deeper as he revealed his true form. Kel'Thuzad attempted a silence, but his magic fell short. The transformation was too far along. With an ear-piercing screech, the underlord let out a war cry, one that was all too familiar to Kel'Thuzad and Titus, but new to the prince. With a grinding sound of chitin on chitin, his claws unfolded. His maw, alight with blue magic and stinking of rot and decay, Anub'arak chuckled. Kel'Thuzad shook his head. He had heard the screech many times, of course, by both the mouth of Anub'arak and his underlings, yet he couldn't fathom why he would use it now. Then he remembered what the screech meant. It was a death screech. An executioner's call. The last thing an enemy combatant supposedly heard at the claws of a nerubian... ......... He was going to kill them. Why, he couldn't know. But he was going to kill them both. ......... With a snarl, both scythes lurched forward.