The arrow had pierced Sombra straight through the chest. He gulped in air as he lay against the banister of the Crystal Palace, blood flowing from his wound mixed with the telltale flamboyant colours of poison. He had been on his way to warn her Majesty of the horrid entity that had breached their domain, but had not expected himself to be the target.
“Such is life,” Sombra remarked loudly. He winced in pain. “You serve faithfully in service to the crown, only to be struck down by an arrow to the chest.”
A moment of silence.
“Come now.” Sombra grinned, a chiding tone to his voice. “You killed the Empress’s pet. It's your big moment. Do you not want to revel in it?”
Notes. A byproduct of hooves on crystals. Sombra recognized the ensuing melody of a warped minor key. It served as a warning for the being to emerge from the shadows.
A skeleton of bone and sinewy muscle wearing armour crafted from raw arcane magic. A tall pointed hat, a beard made of stardust, and two eyes filled with the glittering shattered remains of stars. He had a bow of hewn bone levitated nearby, with a quiver of ghastly arrows strapped over a star-patterned cloak.
Morbidly, Sombra could also make out the light tinkling of bells from the internal confines of the lich’s cloak. It sounded like a funeral dirge.
“We are both aware that you will revive after a few days,” the lich intoned. Its voice was dull, devoid of emotion. “So long as the Empress lives, you will never fully die.”
A sharp bark of laughter. “That is indeed true, so celebrate while you can, as I will be sure to come after you as soon as I am able.”
The lich approached him.
“You wish to quicken my death?” Sombra asked.
Closer. The bells were louder. Sombra felt unease at their sound.
“You don’t need to,” Sombra said. He tried to keep the quiver out of his voice. This lich unnerved him, despite the safety of his immortality. His wound throbbed. “It's honestly more painful, and I’d rather you didn’t.”
The lich stopped. He towered over him, his eyes boring down. There was no sound. Just the swirling of the night sky in the lich’s eyes.
“...What do you want?” Sombra said quietly.
“A unicorn will come here in the far future,” the lich answered.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“An annoyance will make me incapable of meeting her right away.” His eyes intensified. Sombra squinted at them. “However, I would like to leave her a… surprise. Something to give the peasant pause.”
“And what would that be?” Sombra asked.
“An inevitability of fate will cause you to turn on the Empress.” Sombra inhaled sharply. “I intend to speed the process up and make you a bigger threat to that pathetic mare. Two pegasi, one ballista as it were.”
“What are you—”
Pain. It was like a million knives being stabbed into his body. He could feel the lich’s magic crawling underneath his skin. Changing him.
Bones cracked. Skin peeled. Blood boiled.
As he became a monster of who he was, Sombra screamed. It was last of his equinity before he was drowned out by his own monstrous roar.