The lich growled quietly in anger, his mad delusions passing as he approached Twilight's door. He sighed, floating up to the oak door, the small wrought-iron handle on the door frosting over from the chill of his presence as he raised his claw. At the moment his claw was poised to knock, he broke.
All at once, reality came crashing through his skull.
This... is ridiculous. Twilight can't... she... she isn't Jaina.
She can't be...
She's gone...
A sob exited the lich's mouth, catching the foals behind him off-guard.
She's gone... why did I ever...
"Mister Kel'Thuzad?"
A small hoof tugged on his kilt.
Kel'Thuzad looked down sadly, Pipsqueak's miniscule form meeting his gaze.
"Are you okay?"
The archlich's gaze softened at the colt's curious gaze.
"No. No I'm not, little one." Kel'Thuzad gently patted the small colt on the head, Pipsqueak pushing into his hand gently. "I'm... I'm rather sad, actually."
"Why, mister? You were so jolly on the way here!" he laughed as Kel'Thuzad scratched behind his ears. The lich thought to himself for a moment.
They... they wouldn't understand. I... I should leave.
I need to think...
"I... goodnight, children. I have to go now." Kel'Thuzad declared sadly. The lich turned to Spike, and lowered his torso to the ground, coming down to the whelp's level. "Master Spike, I have a favor to ask."
Spike cocked his head, as if to ask what it was.
"I need you to give this to Twilight. Its... its her Hearth's Warming gift." the lich explained, handing the small dragon the leather-bound tome, his hands trembling slightly.
"But... are you staying for the party?" Spike asked, his eyes questioning the lich's actions.
Damnit. He's right... I... I have to stay. At least until tomorrow evening...
"I... yes, I am." Kel'Thuzad crossed his arm behind himself, coughing once to clear his metaphorical throat. "I... I just need time to think, is all."
"Oh. Okay, well... I'll see you at the party, then!" he laughed, holding a small claw out to him. "It was nice to meet you, Lord Kel'Thuzad."
"Likewise, Master Spike. Likewise..." the lich trailed off, shaking the whelp's hand.
He's quite... mature for his age. Almost as if he isn't a child at all...
Maybe I need to read up on dragon biology...
"Goodnight, children. I will see you tomorrow night." the lich smiled sadly. A thought raced through his head.
"Oh yes, and I'd rather you not tell your parents of my being here. While it is legal, I do not think they would be very... accepting of me." he laughed, the foals joining him for a chuckle.
With that, he floated off, towards the large forest in the distance.
Towards peace and quiet.
"Mister!"
Kel'Thuzad whirled around, the small form of Pipsqueak scrambling after him through the snow.
"Yes, little one?" Kel'Thuzad lowered his torso somewhat, to talk to the foal on his level.
"Don't go into the Everfree! It's dangerous! There are Timberwolves, Cragadiles, and Hydras in there! They'll kill you!" Pipsqueak cried, his small form hugging to his ribcage, catching the lich off-guard. He chuckled, wrapping a singe arm around him.
"Don't worry, Pip. I'll be fine. I AM an archmage, after all..." he smirked, releasing the colt and turning to continue his journey into the dark woods of the Everfree, desperate for some thinking time.
I still have to think of gifts for several ponies, too...
"He'll be okay, right?" Pipsqueak asked, running back to his friends, and Pinkie, whom had returned with a box of fresh cookies from Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie laughed loudly at the thought, before confirming the colt's wishful thinking.
"Oh, silly! He'll be fine! He's a level skull!"
"The creepy crawlies in there are level forty, tops!"
.........
With a grunt of annoyance, the archlich fired another flaming blue projectile at the last of the timber wolves that were bold enough to attack him, the small pack having jumped him as he entered the forest. With a whine, and a sound of shattering wood, the beast collapsed, falling to pieces from the ferocity of the spell.
"Good riddance." Kel'Thuzad clapped his hands, floating over to the charred remains of one of the beasts, it's bright green heart snagging his gaze almost immediately.
"Hello... what have we here..."
The archlich bent down, grasping the still beating heart from the dead Timberwolf's caved-in chest. With a grunt, he twisted the heart, before wrenching it from the corpse with a spatter of glowing sap.
Interesting... might be fun to study sometime.
With a satisfied sigh, the archlich deposited the heart into his satchel, before floating onwards into the forest, putting a surviving wolf down with a small icicle between the eyes as he floated past the whimpering creature.
The lich sighed.
.........
How...
How... could I have been so STUPID!?!"
With a growl of anger, the lich threw a greatsword-sized frostbolt infused with plague at a nearby tree, the projectile catapulting through the air with surprising velocity and strength. With a *hiss* of triumph, the bolt connected with the comparatively warm tree, the bark cracking and decaying from the rot-infested frostbolt. With another snarl, he launched an orb of frost from his other hand, the projectile bursting at the seams about four yards away with hundreds of miniature shadow and frostbolts, peppering and shredding the forest in front of him for several dozen feet.
"She... she's gone. She's not coming back..."
"I... I killed her."
"I... MURDERED HER!!!"
With a howl of anguish and arcane energies, the lich ascended several feet into the air, his soul chains unfurling from his slender form, lashing around him in a tornado of metal and death. With a crackling smash, a blizzard erupted from his form, obscuring the forest in every direction with blinding white, clouded with the blackening rot of decay within the spell.
Trees withered, animals hiding in the underbrush nearby collapsed and shriveled from the power of the numerous spells orbiting the archlich.
With a final, desperate burst of fury and anger, the lich unleashed the plague.
.........
THE plague.
The plague that had single-handedly wiped his home continent clean of ALL life...
It wasn't out of spite.
It wasn't out of anger this time, no.
This was instinct kicking in.
Instinct that he had forgotten he had.
For just a brief, fleeting moment, the Archmage of the Crystal Empire was gone.
Kel'Thuzad, Archlich of the Scourge, had returned.
.........
"HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
With a dark, glistening, blood-red bolt of magic, the ground was desecrated and torn to shreds by his potent magics. The trees nearby died instantly, what little bark left on them turning to naught but ash. The animals nearby rose from the dead, ravenous and hungry for enemies of the archlich. With a final, ear-piercing howl of unrestrained FURY, the lich’s form exploded with arcane energy, blue flames and waves of force exploding from his form in practiced, deadly waves.
With the addition of his potent arcane magic’s, the plague dissipated, leaving the husks of the former residents of the several acres of land surrounding him to fall to the ground, turning to ash quickly.
.........
Not a sound pervaded the clearing of blackened, barren dirt, the trees that once grew here non-existent...
No birds or wildlife sang the song of nature.
No... just silence.
Death...
.........
Jaina... forgive me...