'Gifts'
Cadence grunted, the cold sting of the needle entering her flesh hurting more than she had originally planned.
"Cadence! I'm sorry... I didn't me-" Shining's worried rant was halted by his mare's lips, the princess carefully aligning her body so as to not disturb the syringe currently sticking from her left foreleg. She withdrew, a smile present on her serene face.
"It's fine, Shiny." she giggled. "I was just never a fan of needles..." she sighed, the princess moving slightly to allow her husband to reach the small device embedded in her skin. With a nod, and reassuring nuzzle, the stallion pulled back on the plunger.
With a subtle, almost unheard whimper, Cadence watched as the small syringe was filled with blood.
"Are you sure about this Cadence?" Shining asked, carefully pulling the sterilized needle out of his wife's foreleg, wiping the small droplet of blood away from the already nearly healed wound, her alicorn cells rapidly reconstructing and rebinding the separated flesh with ease. Cadence shook her head, attempting to slow her anxious breaths as it came free, the red liquid within sloshing gently against the sides of the glass tube. She nodded slowly, a small smile across her muzzle.
"Yes, Shiny. I'm sure." she gently took the ounce of blood from Shining's magical hold, kissing him on the nose as she did. Shining shook his head slightly, following the mare to his archmage's chambers. The stallion sighed, following his wife down the hall, towards the dungeon, and his vizier's now permanent quarters.
The young prince had given the mage the option of moving out of his rather cramped... office.
No idea why he wanted to live... er... dwell in the dungeon...
But whatever makes him comfortable...
.........
Over...
Under...
Over...
Under...
Over...
Under...
Over...
Under...
Over...
Under...
Under...
......
"GODS DAMN IT ALL!" Kel'Thuzad berated himself, pulling the small instrument gently back out through the small hole. His form was hunched over a dimly lit table, a small candle burning gently on the side of his work.
Sewing never had been one of his strong suits...
Especially since his ascension to lichdom, which replaced his hands with sharpened claws of frigid bone.
Turns out bones aren't too good at gripping small and delicate instruments.
Maybe I could get some verses in Equestrian telekinesis. Rarity seems to be quite adept at sewing using it...
Sighing, he set the thread and needle down, and turned to look at his rather... bare quarters.
His laboratory, as he would call it, was less than adequate for a mage.
It was woefully inadequate for an undead lich with decades of experience in warfare and magic...
But nevertheless, he jumped at the chance for more metaphorical breathing room when his king presented his gift to him. His new quarters consisted of a huge portion of the GARGANTUAN dungeon complex beneath the palace.
In the laughably small FRACTION of dungeon that he currently occupied, he had placed his meager belongings.
In the corner opposite the large, reinforced door, he had placed an improvised enchanting surface on a discarded table, complete with several shards of ice and crystal, modified for external energy and soul storage. The rather controversial Scourge practice of weaving souls into weapons to empower them was surprisingly accepted universally as the main enchanting process in Equestria several centuries before the archlich had even arrived.
Granted, enchanters were far and few in between on Equus, seeing as the last major equestrian enchanter was Starswhirl the Bearded, who preached the use of souls in enchanting.
The more I delved into Equestrian enchanting and conjuration, the more dark and morbid it became...
I'm really starting to think that Equestria is not nearly as peace-loving and innocent as Celestia has said...
Especially since Lady Cadence gave me a stack of paperwork to do...
Not that I mind the work. I actually enjoy the distraction from my daily activities of... almost nothing...
I just could've lived without the knowledge that more than a third of the empire's trade and monetary gains were due to the extensive and 'exotic' brothels that were in place near the city's center plaza...
Shaking the rather... enlightening report from his mind, the mage turned to his quarters once more, turning to his wall of weapons and trophies.
While he wasn't the most proud advocate of his achievements on Azeroth, especially after his death, he had collected, undisputedly, the most extensive collection of dark and otherwise morbid artifacts known to him.
His eyes flicked across his weapons and armor, smiling at the hazy memories. When you get to his age, memories begin to start to blend together. Regardless, his eyes eventually flicked to the section of items displayed behind an array of wards and curses that would literally disintegrate anyone who was foolish enough to reach for the items that would most likely kill them anyway.
The Last Spellbook of Medivh...
As much as I regret my actions, I do not regret killing Antonidas. The stubborn old fool was the bane of my existence. If that idiot wasn't stuck in the past, I would never have left Dalaran, killed Jaina, and I might have even learned to combat undead more effectively!
The lich's eyes flicked left.
Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian...
Heh. Couldn't believe my luck when I came into possession of the head of one of the greatest staves ever made...
Couldn't believe my EYES when a mage came strutting into my throne room several years later in Northrend, brandishing Atiesh like a trophy...
Once again, Kel'Thuzad's scarlet pupils flicked left.
Thori'dal, The Star's Fury...
Yanked from the corpse of a blood elf attempting to attack the ground forces below Naxxramas. Fool was killed by an archer...
It seems even a bow with arrows made of starlight couldn't save him...
This time, the lich looked down.
On a pedestal near the center of the wall, sat one of his most prized possessions.
The Skull of Gul'dan...
Found on the body of a warlock that decided to resurrect himself as a person next to him exploded with frost during the second invasion of Naxxramas...
Sighing, he turned back to his work, the needle gently moving throught materials before him once again. He thought as he worked about the massive size of his current residence, the initial size baffling him. Even Icecrown Citadel had nowhere NEAR the size of a dungeon as large as the palace's.
Shining had briefly explained when he decided to move down there that Sombra had liked to keep a large amount of his citizens as...
'Practice.'
For what, the lich wasn't sure, but he could fathom a few guesses.
One, Sombra had been mentally unstable BEFORE his ascension to a, quite frankly, mentally taxing form.
Lichdom, while beneficial for the most part, still comes with that teensy, weensy little detail...
You're dead.
He always seemed to forget that some people don't like to be dead...
Kel'Thuzad, however, was never happier to devote even more time to his studies and duties, his lack of a need (and capability) to sleep, eat or drink fueling his endless quest in search for knowledge.
He was, after all, a wizard.
Wizards and sorcerers alike desire one thing over all else...
Knowledge.
Either way, Sombra was likely not mentally prepared for the idea and reality of being basically trapped inside your own rotting body. He likely turned to more... cruel and unusual punishments to amuse him, as a dead mind is still a mind.
Minds need entertainment.
Two, Sombra was rather cruel to begin with. From what Kel'Thuzad could find, he was born into a family of poverty, but was recognized by a passing mage for his talent with magic, and was whisked away to a life of grandeur and lavish living.
Probably didn't help his ego, either.
His third theory was that Sombra used the citizens he executed to draw the Royal Sisters to him, as he was severely limited in power by his jerry-rigged phylactery, the Crystal Heart.
The lich laughed, shaking his head for a moment.
When he first saw the Crystal Heart, he had to applaud Sombra's intuition. The device was a natural phylactery, and the vast arcane energy it emitted was likely boosting his already considerable powers to greater levels, perhaps even in excess of an alicorn.
Still, Kel'Thuzad realized quite quickly how dangerous the Crystal Heart could be as a phylactery.
The ascension to lichdom is, for the most part, an extremely volatile and caustic ritual. The vast arcane energies required to grasp and then bind the soul of a living thing to an object, something the gods obviously did not intend for it when the shaped humankind, is the easy part.
Having the necessary knowledge to infuse the necessary necromantic energies into both yourself and your phylactery, and then nullify them to a point so they don't dissolve your body completely however, is quite another story. If done incorrectly at ANY point, the ritual could release magics that could easily kill both you and everyone around the phylactery.
PAINFULLY.
While he was still under the control of Arthas' Scourge, he oversaw many of the rituals. Their success rates were very much dependent on the competence and quick thinking of the necrolytes or possibly other liches involved, otherwise the would-be newcomer to lichdom could be reduced to naught but a pile of ash and bone.
Sometimes less...
He thought that the process was streamlined to the point that it could no longer be improved upon.
Perfected.
He was pleasantly surprised when he realized he was woefully wrong.
While accidents regarding necromantic rituals were quite common, and usually deadly, an accident during an ascension ritual was quite rare.
So rare, in fact, that only two were ever recorded by his hands...
He was present for one of them...
.........
The crackling energies of the machines decorating the main hall of the construct quarter of Naxxramas whirred and buzzed as Kel'Thuzad floated through the space, the sentient crew members of his necropolis sending him a stiff salute, and the more brainless ones haphazardly bowing to him.
He payed them little mind.
That is, until, the explosion occurred.
With a deafening boom of necromantic energies and power, the air surrounding the back corner of the expansive room warped and sizzled with magic, disintegrating several necrolytes and undead servants or soldiers completely.
Immediately, he whirled around, the aged wizard's combat instincts kicking into overdrive as he threw a ward up around himself, and prepared a frost and shadow bolt in either clawed hand. As his undying gaze turned to the explosion point, preparing to be met with whatever had quite foolishly blown its way into his necropolis, he stopped. With a snarl, he lowered his hands, floating towards the lightly coughing necrolyte at the center of the blast, who's hair had all but been singed from her scalp, a few white hairs still managing to stay attached. As he approached the seemingly oblivious girl, he took note of her rapidly decaying skin, a tell-tale sign of necromantic infusion into a living being.
As he stopped before her, she shivered in fear as her eyes opened to the sight of the citadel's master, his gaze boring into hers.
"What is your name, girl?" Kel'Thuzad growled, his fist unclenching and clenching as the girl stammered a few more times, her words escaping her.
"E-Eola, master..." she stammered, her decaying form quickly kneeling before the lich. Kel'Thuzad grumbled, looking around for the first time at the damage her little... experiment had caused.
Several ghouls were the only survivors of the necrotic blast, one of them literally blown in half, his torso dragging itself towards the citadel's master, obviously wishing for aid. In a rare bout of mercy, the archlich severed the necromantic bonds within the cretin, it's form groaning, before falling to the ground and disintegrating completely.
Several abominations had waded through the small stream of plague and embalming fluid, the brutes obviously wanting a fight, their stupid grins and rusted cleavers betraying their thoughts. Patchwerk had already made his way over to the lich and his underling from the hallway to the fleshworks, the hulking goliath of decaying flesh and bone standing beside his master, awaiting orders.
All in all, the girl had destroyed several important projects, and had possibly ruined months of preparation and necromantic rituals.
Whether she had succeeded in making herself a revenant, however impressive for her status as a necrolyte, was irrelevant.
She had to die. He couldn't be seen as being... soft.
"Any last words or requests, necrolyte?" he growled, his arms already bathed in icicles, ready to unleash themselves into her mortal flesh. She looked up at him, and without fear this time, shook her head.
"No, archlich. I am ready to join the master." she solemnly admitted, hanging her head once more.
"Very well..." Kel'Thuzad droned, his next action so quick it could have not happened at all. With a flick of his wrist, the icicles were flying through the small gap between the two.
Without a groan, the girl was dead, her body slumping to the left a bit, before propping itself up on a partially large icicle that protruded from her side.
As the lich turned to leave, however, he stopped.
Her soul had visibly just traveled to a small urn on a desk nearby.
Without a word, the lich began the summoning ritual.
Within minutes, the girl was back before him, albeit skeletal and floating.
She had managed to ascend herself...
"I... I honestly don't know what to say..." Kel'Thuzad genuinely remarked, the smaller lich bowing once more at the chance of having a second chance.
"Master, may I have permission to speak?" Eola spoke, her voice unchanged other than the trademark echo of magical vocal chords.
Kel'Thuzad could not think of a reason to not let her.
"Permission granted, necrolyte."
Eola rose at this, her height impressive, but still small compared to his.
"I joined the Cult of the Damned to learn magic, archlich. Ever since I was a little girl, all I've ever wanted was to be able to throw fireballs, change my friends into sheep..." she sighed, her eyes betraying her anger. "But the mages... the mages in Dalaran said I... didn't seem... 'promising'..." she spat.
"Yes... we were rather picky of our students." Kel'Thuzad admitted. Eola looked up to him.
"Yes, but you, YOU gave me a chance, master! I didn't care about any of this Scourge nonsense! I wanted to learn... I just wanted to learn..." she... sobbed?
"Girl... you have emotions?! You can still feel grief? Anger? Hatred?!" Kel'Thuzad shook the smaller lich, her eyes opening wide at the archlich's questions.
"Y-Yes?" she answered, little more than a squeak escaping her.
For a long while, the only sounds in the large chamber were the clanking of chains colliding around the archlich's body, his mind spinning.
Finally, he spoke.
"Eola, I would like to offer you... a chance." he spoke. Eola jumped at this.
"Yes, master?"
"I will teach you whatever it is you wish to know." Kel'Thuzad explained. "Teach you the pros and cons of magical undeath..."
"But in return..."
"You will teach me how you managed to resurrect yourself... AND keep your emotions..."
Eola immediately bowed as low as she could.
"Master, it would be an honor!" she exclaimed. Kel'Thuzad sneered, gesturing for her to rise.
"Then rise, Lady Eola Deathwhisper... we have much to discuss..."
.........
Arthas found her before long. He stripped her of her emotions, but he did leave anger and cruelty.
She resided in Icecrown from then on, ruthlessly teaching chosen disciples the craft HE had taught her.
Kel'Thuzad never really forgave him for that.
He took one of his only... friends, from him. Turned her into a monster...
.........
Sighing, he turned back to his original thoughts.
All in all, the modifications made to the Crystal Heart by Sombra were not designed for lichdom. Merely to hold a soul.
Fortunately, he was able to repair and reinforce the rather sloppy addition to the heart.
Had he not, the powerful fragment of the Lich King's soul would likely have eroded and shattered it eventually.
A careful application of arcane magic by the archlich smoothed out the edges of the jagged addition to the heart, and guaranteed it's safe and effective use as a phylactery. Kel'Thuzad had his doubts that anyone would ever even attempt to destroy the Crystal Heart, but it never hurt to be cautious.
A scream alerted him, and as he turned, he saw Lady Cadence falling into her husband's arms, her form limp. Shining himself had a look of disbelief on his face.
Silence for several moments...
.........
"Kel'Thuzad, is there a reason you're sewing skin?"
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IT IS ALIVE... AND MAKING CADENCE FAINT AGAIN... THE WARRIORS OF THE EBON BLADE SALUTE YOU, UNDEAD LORD!!!!
yes my tauren DK agrees about the campaign
So we're just... gonna ignore what happened last chapter, then...? O-ok...
Is he making a meat-suit?
7541820
The point was kind of TO ignore the things that happened at the party.
Dwelling on something is not good for anyone. Kel should know that better than anyone by now.
The longer I play my DK in WoW, the more I wonder when the classes will get an upgrade. I don't mean a revamping of abilities and stats, but something like a Stage 2, like Death Knight to Lich Knight, sort of a halfway between being a DK and the Lich King. Or Paladin to Crusader, Priest to Bishop, Druid to Archdruid, etc, etc.
Just something on par with or more difficult than a legendary quest line, to boost your character to unheard of levels of power.
7542060 I still hold firm to my belief that by the technical 'endgame' of wow every player character will end up being the most powerful possible thing relevant to their class. DKs will become the Lich King, warlocks will become a ruling demon of the burning legion (Inquisitors, tho. All them legion liches!), mages will become either the leader of the kirin-tor or the guardian, paladins have already technically become their most powerful form, highlord AND ashbringer, shamans will become an aspect of nature, druids will become archdruids or demigods of the wilds (Cenarius is already going bye bye), priests will become the next prophet or high priest of the church of the light, warriors are already becoming Viking demigods (totally on board, friendly Vrykul are awesome), rogues will become the leader of the Azeroth 'underground world', hunters will become the next Hemet Nesingwary...
Cool shit.
7542094 As a hunter main, I'm thinking less Hemet and more Vereesa or possibly even Sylvanas.
7541875 Probably to make himself more approachable.
Honestly, I was wondering what he was sewing, but I had a hunch it was skin.
7543940
Though it may be able to it still isn't dark magic though.
7544157
7543940
A discussion was had about this very topic when the chapter first came out. I've based the Equestrian magic system on the one used in the Elder Scrolls franchise, not the D&D franchise, as is usually used. This is for my own personal reasons, and the fact that I know the first much better. If you've ever played the elder scrolls, you should know that by their definition of dark, illusion magics used for the wrong things are just about as dark as you can get, barring necromancy or possibly atromancy.
Controlling someone, both emotionally and physically, is pretty screwed up regardless. Mind control is a no no.
7544117
Yes, one would naturally come to that conclusion, seeing as he's currently the most powerful necromancer on Equus.
By the by, the way the Lich King performs necromancy, both in game and in this story, is not exactly... natural.
In the game, you see Arthas raise an entire army of undead at the Wrathgate, not even glancing backwards as he does so.
The necromancers and liches below him have to spend quite a bit of time learning the relatively complicated rituals and runes required for bestowing artificial life upon a corpse.
A SINGLE CORPSE.
Meanwhile, the Lich King literally just... wills it. Wills it that an entire army appears at his beck and call. Thus my interpretation of Ner'Zhul, Arthas, and by some extent, Shining, as all being necromantic gods, in a sense.
They don't study, it just... comes naturally.
7544362
I guess in the Elderscroll sense a lot of illusion would be a lot darker.
Cool, for blacksmithing do you go to an actual school? Or do you take an apprenticeship?
Ooooh! I see someone is enjoying Legion! Dont worry, I am to, and it is awesome! Leveling a arcane mage, and the artifact quest line is fun, and I like the others as well.
7544380 That would actually make a lot of sense, although it also begs the question as to how good Death Knights are at Necromancy, because they have that Army of the Dead thing going for them.
7545907
The large majority of DKs under the Scourge were trained either in Icecrown or aboard Naxxramas. Both of these places provided excellent classes in the art of necromancy. In fact, the majority of the leading DKs onboard Acherus were trained by Kel'Thuzad himself, or his underlings. Acherus was supposed to be the pinnacle of necropolis making, until Arthas decided to start making one out saronite in front of ICC, Malykriss, the Vile Hold.
Fortunately, he never finished, as such a fortress would be very difficult to destory. Regardless, lorewise, we are the best of the best DKs that the Scourge had to offer.
7676968 Don't worry, it won't. I just have the sickness that I can't seem to get rid of called real life, and horrific issues with getting words onto paper. I'm planning on working on it over vacation in a week or so, and hopefully that will reignite the flames.