A twisted soul indeed.

There was no sound he loved more than this, the roaring of the crowd, the sound of his spells sparking and exploding. Everything was perfect. The sparkling eyes of the audience as they howled with praise. Their arms shooting up, cheering the magician. 

“Now everyone please calm your cheers, for my next act requires absolute focus.” Kyrin the magician spoke in a deep powerful voice that commanded reverence from all that heard it. The audience silenced themselves almost immediately. He grinned widely with narrow cold eyes watching them shush themselves at his whims. 

He raised his hand in the air and brought his thumb to his middle finger. The ordinarily mundane clicking of a snap boomed like a great canon from his fingers causing a jolt of surprise from the audience. He brought up his other hand to meet the other. He parted his hands from the top and brought them back together at the bottom drawing a circle in the air. The magician suddenly clasped his hands together, trying to conceal something hidden in his palms. An emerald glow burst out from the spaces between his fingers and finally, he released it. 

A Walz of emerald embers lit up the room, flowing through the theatre. They swirled and twirled showering the room and audience in a sublime pale green glow. In an instant, the flames were swallowed up by the air as the opera house was full of the echoes of cheers and praises. 

“Be grateful ladies and gentlemen, for you had the honor of witnessing, Kyrin the magician,” He said before disappearing in a puff of jade. The howls of applause were muffled into hushed flatteries by the stone walls of the magician’s dress room. Just as Kyrin began to wind down a young worker poked his head into the room. 

“Sir, they want an anchor!” The young man said enthusiastically. 

“Anchor!?” Kyrin screeched back, peering back at the young man revealing veiny eyes and gritting teeth. The worker quickly slammed the door shut rushing off. Kyrin looked back at the mirror seeing his disheveled reflection. “Damn it.” He muttered quietly. He slammed his eyes closed taking in a deep breath as little sparks of emerald magic lingered around his eyes. He reopened them to see a clear image of white and brown staring back at him. The door behind him busted open as a tall gangly man floated through. 

“The people are waiting,” Azrin spoke. 

“I’m out for the day,” Kyrin spoke between breaths. “ “Got nothing left in me,” 

“You have enough,” He said contemptuously. Kyrin groaned 

“Yes, but the difference between you and I is that your magic is the showy kind, the kind people like to gawk at, mine on the other hand,” He said grinning with sadistic delight. Azrin raised his hand in the air as tiny magenta razors formed in the air around Kyrin. “Mine is for hurting people,” He curled his hand into a fist the shards of magenta shot at Kyrin  stopping just short of breaking the skin. Kyrin looked up with fear and exhaustion. 

“Fine,” He said. Azrin’s grin grew even wider, stretching across the entire breadth of his face. 

“Excellent,” Azrin said before beginning to leave. “You have two minutes to get back on that stage,” He said knowing Kyrin had no choice but to comply. As the door clicked shut the room was filled with the silent fury of the magician. The mirror behind him began to shake and the clothes started tearing themselves apart. Then the magician felt something different. A mix of anguish and disgust chirred in his gut causing a dreadful sinking misery. 

He went to cure the pain in his gut with his magic but decided against it, knowing he had to save what little he had left. 

“It wouldn’t do you any good anyway,” A sly voice that sounded simultaneously like the chorus of heaven and the raspy howls of hell. He turned his head to the green eyes of a snake leering back at him. The figure was humanoid with large leathery wings and the tail of a scorpion. The skin on its chest and torso was peeled away revealing the muscles and bone that lay underneath. Its roughly human face was corrupted by small pointed teeth and a supernaturally wide grin.

Kyrin widened his eyes much broader than ever before at the sight of it. The smile on its face grew ever so wider as it noticed his eyes. He subconsciously stumbled back to the door in an attempt to leave but the beast lifted its finger and beckoned him closer, without hesitation, his legs moved of their own accord toward the creature. It pointed its finger to the ground signaling him to sit. 

“Rest your worries, I’m not here to cause you any harm,” It said. 

“What are you?” Kyrin called with a dying hope in his voice. It narrowed its eyes and shooed away its smile for a more disdainful expression. 

“My name is Marlith, and I’m exactly what you are, just a few leagues above,” It answered. Kyrin’s fear turned into a slight confusion at this. Marlith clearly noticed this and took initiative to explain himself. “In your terms, I’m what they’d call a lich,” it said. 

“A lich?” Kyrin asked with disbelief. Marlith gave no verbal response only offering a groaning sigh. “But, I thought that they were only myths,” Kyrin added. Marlith snarled and took a few steps forward. 

“Do I look like a myth to you?” The creature asked. Kyrin only gulped, not wanting to offend the creature any further. “Whatever, I’m not here to convince you of my validity,” It said. It waved its hand lifting the force and pushing Kyrin to the ground. He stammered backward until he was against the wall. He looked to the door and considered the idea for a moment before realizing the creature would never let him escape so easily. 

“I’ve come to ask something of you,” It said with malicious glee. 

“What do you want?” He shouted. Marlith stared at him for a few moments with contemplative eyes. 

“Well, from one Mage to another, it is hard to watch you struggle so much, perhaps that’s what it is, the last embers of sympathy lighting up in this cold heart,” Marlith said putting a dramatic spin on his tone. “Besides your benefactor, Azrin, I’m not much of a fan of his either,” The creature’s words allured Kyrin. Though its body was old and tattered its mind was clearer and sharper than Kyrin could’ve predicted. He gained his composure pondering what to say and think.

“You’re just telling me what I want to hear,” He said with quivering confidence. 

“Well, of course, there’s no easier way to manipulate someone, but what’s really so bad about that? I’m offering a way out of your dreadful life, trickery or not it’s a good deal,” It said. Its eyes narrowed as it watch every tiny movement of his body gaging every thought passing through his head. Kyrin considered it for a moment before realizing that the creature had gotten into his head again. 

“I have a show to get to,” He said mustering all the willpower he had left. 

“Fine,” Marlith said with a tone that sounded like a toddler being denied a new toy. “But at least at let me give you a boost,” It said offering out its hand for Kyrin to shake. Kyrin looked at it considering the lich’s proposal. Its hand lit up into green flames as he slowly approached. He looked down at his own hand a dim pale green glow was barely enough the give off a soft glow on his palm. He took the creature’s hand as pools of flowing green magic poured into him. 

The magician proudly strode back onto the stage Twirling his wand in his fingers with a confident smile before addressing the crowd. 

“You’ve asked for an anchor from the unknowable power of Kyrin the magician?” He said. The crowd howled with delight as he asked. The next few moments were brilliant flashes of emerald twirls and spins entertaining the crowd. He unleashed flash after flash of power, the crowd and employees alike gawked at the fire, it was more than Kyrin had ever shown to be capable of. The flames hissed and fluttered in the air more and more violently. Kyrin couldn’t see an end to his power. His joyous showman facade quickly faded as he found himself becoming more and more obsessed with his power. 

The fire grew more and more and before long began devouring the stage and theatre. The green fire crept up the walls and exits, and the crowd screeched and hollered as they too were swallowed up by the flames. Kyrin kept up his performance in the burning theatre. He saw the man he hated most, Azrin standing in shock and horror, Kyrin cackled as he forced the flames up to engulf Azrin. As Azrin lay being eaten by the green embers the fire finally died down. The ceiling collapsed to the ground crushing anyone who hadn’t been burned to death already.

Kyrin looked at the destruction he was responsible for. Shivering in the cold air he felt tears begin trickling out of his eyes at the sight of what he had just done. 

“Why the tears? This is what you wanted right?” It spoke. Kyrin looked up to see its grinning face and narrowed eyes. 

“This was you, you possessed me!” He shouted to it. It simply turned its head to the side with a cunning grin.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” It said. Kyrin shouted in horror and anger to it demanding to know what it was talking about. “I simply gave you the means to fufill your desires, I never forced you to do anything,” It said. Kyrin looked down at himself and realized the creature was right, he had done this himself. 

“Why?” He shouted with all the vice and malice he had left in him. 

“We’re kindred spirits, and I know if I were in your position I would want the same thing,” It said its forked tongue licking its lips.

“I didn’t want this!” He screamed back. 

“So you’re not just an agent of chaos, but a liar too, you are a twisted soul indeed,” Its words echoed in the fierce winds as the creature’s tail wrapped around the magician’s dimming the muddling the already quiet sounds and dim lights.