The Crystal Vizier

by Lich-Lord Krosis

Breakdowns and Buildups

Pain.

Agony.

Remorse.

Hatred.

GUILT.

Emotions the seasoned wizard had not felt in literal centuries all of a sudden were very real once again.

And he felt them all at once.

"Urkgh..."

With that, Kel'Thuzad collapsed.

"Kel'Thuzad!" Shining exclaimed, the prince leaped up from his cushion, yelling for the guards to fetch a doctor instinctively.

.........

He felt the pain of every person he had ever killed.

He felt the guilt of every murder he had ever committed.

He felt the agony of every single soul he had ever enslaved.

He felt hatred.

He felt anger.

He felt... sadness.

Despair.

Hurt.

PAIN.

For the first time in his unlife...

Pain.

So...

Much...

PAIN!

.........

Shining Armor stopped his frantic cries for a moment. It felt... cool. Cold, even. The unicorn turned to Kel'Thuzad, only to witness the slender pony... disintegrating? His flesh peeled slowly away from his alabaster skeleton, and not a drop of blood spilled. A mysterious wind took form, blowing the curtains and bedsheets from their rightful places.

With a shrieking howl, the room was engulfed in frigid winds, Kel'Thuzad little more than a skeleton now, some paltry scraps of fur and meat clinging to his otherwise bare form. Shining backed into his ward, frantically trying to rip the magical barrier down once he did. He found that the ward was unresponsive to his commands, and seemed to be... freezing?! He turned slowly back to the center of the room, and witnessed the last shreds of bone be ripped away from Kel'Thuzad's position. It was quickly replaced by...

"AGH!" Shining exclaimed. He fell to the floor, his horn smoking. His eyes flickered, then closed.

.........

For a split moment, Shining saw... horrors.

Horrors he couldn't even begin to imagine.

Brief flashes of a life dedicated to learning, no matter the cost...

The necromantic abominations and nightmares that were constructed and resurrected aboard Naxxramas...

The fall of the High Elven Capitol of Silvermoon, and the corruption of the Sunwell...

The Fall of the Lich King, and the destruction of Frostmourne...

He saw... a Crypt. A massive, sprawling crypt...

Above the crypt, a tower...

Below the tower, within the crypt... death...

So...

Much...

Death...

At an altar, deep underground, a monstrous figure worked tirelessly, zealously to achieve it's goals.

Even if you are gone, master... I WILL finish your work...

.........

Brought back to reality by a jolt of magical energy, Shining's spinning and terrified eyes darted towards the hearth once more.

A massive shockwave of visible arcane energy, a sickly grayish-white in color, rocketed towards the space in front of the fireplace from all corners of the room.

For a moment, apart from the trapped stallion's panicked breaths of frigid air, all that could be heard was the winter winds of the Frozen North battering the window pane.

"Hehehehe... HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Cackling, maniacal laughter roared through the room, sheer cold pervading the very air, wisps of frost clinging to any stray traces of warmth they found, snuffing them out without mercy.

With an audible arcane hum, the frost started to coalesce into a structure of ice before the hearth, so white with cold it wasn't even transparent.

Before Shining could even gather his thoughts, and perhaps even walk towards the sculpture, his vision was taken from him as the crystallized ice shattered into thousands upon thousands of peices, their small, sparkling forms quickly gathering into a storm of pain and cold.

A blinding blizzard engulfed the already decimated room, breaking furniture and ripping the stallion's very movement away from him, the storm far more powerful than even the one he had braved to escort Twilight and her friends...

Prince Shining Armor was not a coward.

Prince Shining Armor was not a filly, running at the first sign of trouble.

When the storm broke, those two facts were no longer true.

With a ghoulish and ear-piercing howl, a visible blast of cold rocketed away from the horrifying true form of the necromancer. When the magic hit him, the already battered Shining Armor was slammed into the side of his ward, the magic that had saved him several times now becoming his jailor.

Shining Armor, shaking the dizzyness from his head, looked up.

And up.

And up...

.........

He was... monstrous...

This was what Death had told the stallion of.

Long segmented robes of sickly and tattered purple cloth flowing down from a skeletal torso, blowing creepily in an unseen wind. Large, ivory claws adorned the end of two colossal, spindly arms. Rusted and frosted chains circled the lich's form, dancing along barely visible waves of cold.

The cold... oh sweet Celestia, the cold.

Never before had Shining felt this COLD.

Several moments passed, and... it's mouth opened. That terrifying, horrible mouth. Dagger-like teeth parted slowly with each meaningless and frostbitten breath. The lich's eyes flickered open, lidless sockets hosting two piercing blue eyes, scarlet red pupils darting back and forth across the frigid room.

The lich opened and closed his hands several times, testing them for the first time in ages.

With a sharp intake of air, he cracked his neck lightly, his eyes darting around he took once more, taking in the destruction his transformation had caused.

Eventually, the lich was satisfied with his examination, and turned to his ruler, the scarlet pupils settling on Shining's cowering form.

Author's Note:

Kel'Thuzad's laugh is probably up there as one of my favorite bad-guy laughs of all time, by the by.

Points to whoever knows the last location from Kel'Thuzad's past.

Comments

[Lich-Lord Krosis]

6508162
Shining is going to have to get his hooves dirty, if he wants what's best...

[Need More Gore]

Interesting so far. Didn't see any mistakes that bothered me.....though i got to say red eyes on a WOW undead seems just wrong. green for regular necromancy or the blue of the scourge eh whatevs. Ill keep an eye on the story see what madness you dream up.

[Lich-Lord Krosis]

6522955

Kel'Thuzad's model ingame has blue eyes with red pupils...

[Bronzer]

6522955

Most Scourge units (at least in the Forsaken starting zone) have red eyes. Forsaken have yellow eyes.

6523009

Unlike your awesome cover art.

[PrimordiusLordofThestris]

the last location was Karazhan and the secret crypt beneath it one of the more hidden and obscure WoW hidden areas and a long time favorite of mine