The Crystal Vizier

by Lich-Lord Krosis

When Former Colleagues Clash

"DIE, SCOURGE SCUM!" the chitinous voice of the changeling roared, the unexpected and swiftly executed attack admittedly catching the archlich off-guard. Before the mage could even raise his arms in defense, his former 'friend' was upon him. With a sickening *SNAP*, the archlich was smashed into the wall beside Chrysalis' door, several of his ribs fracturing and falling to the floor as his body collided with the hard crystal. Anub'arak roared, and collapsed the archlich's sternum inwards with a single hoof, earning a yelp of surprise and reflex from Kel'Thuzad. Growling in more annoyance than anger, and with the help of his soul chains, the archlich pried the changeling stallion off of him, with surprising difficulty. With a sickening screech of bone on bone, he slashed Anub'arak once across the face with his right claw in a blind attack, knocking the stallion further away from himself to gain some metaphorical breathing room. Now in a battle stance, and recovered from the skirmish the lich hastily teleported several dozen yards up the hallway, towards the entrance of the Royal Quarter. Quickly raising a ward around himself, Kel'Thuzad awaited the former nerubian's next move.

The door to Chrysalis' door swung open, startling the males further into their defensive postures. The swift form of Chrysalis ran between the two of them, tears falling from her eyes. She hastily turned to her king, hissing and screeching in their foreign tongue. The great changeling's stance and visage immediately softened at the sight of his mate, and he moved slowly towards her, still wary of the archlich down the hall, whom had a readied frostbolt in either claw. The queen hummed her approval at her mate's arrival, a bug-like purring sounding from her throat as Anub'arak nuzzled her, positioning himself so that nearly her entire body was hidden from view.

Now, Kel'Thuzad had known the nerubian king for a long time, prior to his eventual third and final death, of course. He had known the infamous Traitor King as a ruthless and proficient fighter. As a skilled diplomat and fair ruler of an ancient and prosperous people. As a stalwart and hardened nerubian, not a gentle giant. Yet, that is what he had been reduced to, at the sight of his queen. The Anub'arak HE had known would have eviscerated one of his OWN queens before letting his opponent get away like this. Yet, here he was, once the proud and deadly Underlord of Azjol-Nerub, reduced to a purring mockery of the archlich's memories.

A startled-sounding yelp sounded from the queen, along with a screech of chitin-on-chitin. Chrysalis' mouth fell open like a broken hinge, and Anub'arak chuckled, his form lowering further unto her back.

"Um... Chrysalis?" Kel'Thuzad hesitantly asked, the lich having moved closer to the pair as they continued their... reunion...

The second the lich lowered his claws a centimeter more, the changeling king was already in the air, Chrysalis begging for him to stop the attack one more.

Should've known... bastard's nearly as dirty a fighter as I am...

Too smart for his own good...

With a mighty crash, and a roar of fury, the changeling's hooves collided with his ribs once again, another load *crack* signaling the severance of his spinal column. With a clatter of metal and cloth hitting crystal, the lich's robes fell to the floor, his form reduced to nothing more than a skeletal torso floating on a sea of cold. With awareness back on his side, Kel'Thuzad barely dodged a jab from the changeling's horn, the bladed chitin adorning it singing through the air as it passed his head.

"You want to fight dirty then, Nuby? Good..." the archlich chuckled, sending a flourish of shadowy bolts arcing towards the changeling, whom had retreated to regain his posture. The king barely dodged the majority of the shadow bolts, a few pinging uselessly against his thick armor. Not wanting Anub'arak to gain any more ground than he had already taken, the archlich threw down a few ice fields before him, before launching several more shadow bolts to keep the king busy.

"You will pay for what you did, Kel'Thuzad..." Anub'arak snarled, charging forwards once more, his bladed horn level with the lich's mangled torso. This time, however, Kel'Thuzad was ready for him, sidestepping as the changeling skidded past him, expertly slicing through the gap of his armor at the shoulder with a blade of hastily constructed, sharpened ice. The nerubian-turned equine roared in pain and fury, before bucking once, sending the archlich into the wall next to his own chamber's door. With a grunt of exertion, the mage lifted his destroyed body from the ground, just in time to avoid impalement by the bladed horn of Anub'arak, the armored chitin once again sailing by, inches from penetrating his skull.

"PLEASE! STOP!!"

"Lady Cadence?"

With a quick glance, the princess came into view, dragging a barely conscious Shining Armor behind her, suspended in her telekinesis.

That quick glance cost him.

With a triumphant snarl, the changeling penetrated the lich's skull successfully, the blade going up through the roof of his mouth, and out of the dome of his head, the headpiece atop it clattering loudly to the crystal floor. With a gurgling growl of sheer fury now, the archlich lashed out at the king, blades of brittle and rusted metal lashing the changeling form all sides, attempting to repel the attacker of their master. With his own hands, the lich reached up, and with a swift pull, and a twist to the right, a sickening crack echoed down the hall in either direction.

With a squelch of flesh and chitin tearing, the king's horn was ripped from his head.

"AGHH!" the king cried, a gout of green blood erupting from his wound, along with several pieces of twisted flesh.

With a crash, the changeling hit the floor, breathing labored, but stable.

The lich fell to the floor, the horn still stuck up through the top of his head. One of his eyes flickered slightly, before going out completely, the fight with the Underlord taxing him greatly. His energy and mana reserves were the lowest they had been since he had fought Nightmare, and it showed.

"You... Your mate... is... Anub'arak?!" Kel'Thuzad gurgled slightly, his hands reaching up to wrench the still-bleeding horn from his head. Chrysalis, however, was too busy nuzzling her mate, chittering and hissing once more.

"Kel'Thuzad! What is the meaning of this?!" Cadence angrily asked, her husband falling unceremoniously to the floor behind her with a grunt, seemingly forgotten for now. Kel'Thuzad slowly turned his battered and beaten form to the left, facing his queen. His strength was fading, fast. Already his other eye was flickering, on the verge of going out.

"Anub'arak... he attacked first... know him from... I... I... sorry..."

With that, the lich collapsed, his form disintegrating into nothingness as he directed the last of his energy into his master, hopefully speeding the recovery HE was responsible for.

Cadence looked hesitantly away from the deathbed of her vizier, to witness the look of grief and sorrow on Chrysalis' face as she nursed her mate's wound. The great changeling groaned, his wing gently opening from his side, to bring his queen in closer. Chrysalis immediately accepted the gesture, and was snuggled up within the larger changeling's form before Cadence could comment.

"Goddesses...what happened?"

Cadence whirled around, to find a clueless Shining Armor dizzily staring at the discarded robes of his friend, and the couple currently snuggling in the center of the hallway.

.........

For the first time since college, Cadence drank herself to sleep.

Comments

[Vailen]

At this rate all of Arthas's old commanders are going to show up.

[DJ Discharge]

7012888 just have putricide and sindragosa to go...maybe mograine too.

[Gobeman]

good cadence needs a vacation....send luna down there or something

[Patchwork_]

7012915 forget Putricide just bring in Sindragosa and Mograine. that and Shining Armor and KT need a worthy enemy to drop in.

[DJ Discharge]

worthy enemy? then maybe kael thas and illidan? Also i would love to see a parody of this story based off of this...

[SeventhBrony]

Great update! Now we're just needing Sindragosa

[Bazing]

7013144 Kael'thas is possible, since he's actually dead, but Illidan isn't.

[The Chronicler]

... So has it explained how all these Azerothians keep popping up out of nowhere for no reason, or did I miss it?

[Lich-Lord Krosis]

7014701 Every one of them is bound to the Lich King, and so they are not allowed to rest without his consent.

[The Chronicler]

7014718 Hmm... Well that's one mystery solved. What about how Cadence and Shining Armor got the Helm of Domination in the first place?

[Lich-Lord Krosis]

7014745 Ughh... Always back to that question...

I don't want to give away too much, but there is an Old God on Equus, and he was responsible for the helm arriving, along with Shining's ascension to lichdom...

Please, no more questions on that, I've spoiled too much already...