Joint Intentions (Book 9) Read online

  Delver Magic

  Book IX

  Joint Intentions

  Jeff Inlo

  All Rights Reserved

  120150223

  I have tried to make this eBook available in as many formats as possible. If you encounter any difficulty with the formatting, please let me know. Contact information can be found on my web site at www.sitelane.com.

  By Jeff Inlo

  Fantasy:

  Delver Magic Book I – Sanctum’s Breach

  Delver Magic Book II – Throne of Vengeance

  Delver Magic Book III – Balance of Fate

  Delver Magic Book IV – Nightmare's Shadow

  Delver Magic Book V – Chain of Bargains

  Delver Magic Book VI – Pure Choice

  Delver Magic Book VII – Altered Messages

  Delver Magic Book VIII – Spirit Past

  Delver Magic Book IX – Joint Intentions

  Delver Magic Book X (Coming Soon)

  Spiritual Thriller:

  Soul View

  Soul Chase

  When Do I See God? (by Jeff Ianniello)

  Science Fiction:

  Alien Cradle

  Science Fiction/Apocalyptic :

  Slow Fall: Counting Down

  Humor:

  Counterproductive Man

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  To Joan, for her unquestionable loyalty!

  Prologue

  Within Demonspawn—an existence both part of and separate from the dark lands—waves of the past carved their influence deep into the gray mist which engulfed the region. History shaped the realm, but it was not through the forces of nature such as wind, water and fire. Thoughts and deeds born of twisted and malicious desires echoed across distant horizons and found their way into the pit of misery. The burning domination of such malice forged the substance of Demonspawn.

  No matter where deceit or cruelty occurred, the underlying emotion broke from its point of origin and cascaded toward a welcoming home. Vibrations of hate floated across time and space, ventured over the dark lands, and slipped through the curtains which separated the domain of demons from the rest of existence.

  Those same curtains formed the very essence of Demonspawn, a place of layers and boundaries. The shroud of gray incompleteness swirling over bleak ground served as evidence that the future of the region would always remain dominated by its past.

  Throughout the realm, thick magical energy flowed endlessly across the tainted landscape, created a staggering well of power for those who knew how to reach into the depths of history. Twisted and spiteful magic inundated the domain of nightmares and allowed demons to breed and fester.

  The complex structure of the beastly breeding grounds formed barriers which limited the movement and influence of the dreadful monsters. Demons found themselves mystically anchored to Demonspawn, a covenant which proved a blessing to other lands. The narrow containment of powerful beasts allowed for a certain degree of security. There were always exceptions, but for the most part, creatures of full demon heritage remained within the borders of their origin.

  The intricate boundaries extended within the region as well and formed the foundation of the layered rings inherent within the enclosed realm. Echoes of petty sins—a litany of casual lies, minor thefts, and stubborn grudges—formed the outer layers of Demonspawn. At the veiled edges, lesser demons prowled in relative obscurity away from the far more corrupt beasts which stalked the tormented grounds deeper within the realm.

  Closer to the center of the tortured existence, eons of warped and diseased choices twisted the region into a haven for demons too hateful and grotesque to describe with any accuracy. The cumulative transgressions of extreme magnitude weaved their way through the deep recesses of the land. Pulsating evil raged through the magical flows like the incessant beating of a deformed kettle drum.

  At the heart of Demonspawn, a being of pure iniquity—the daokiln—basked within the vibrations of past malevolence. Reiculf, the master of all demons, embodied the history of all depravity. Every wicked indulgence committed throughout the course of time fed the beast's insatiable desire for destruction. The vast pools of malice flowing across every region of existence eventually found asylum within the tremors of Reiculf's repulsive essence and formed the basis for his overwhelming presence.

  Perpetually gaining strength from the ever expanding tide of selfish desires, Reiculf's influence filled the very core of Demonspawn. So colossal was his thirst for torment, no creature within the condemned land dared challenge the daokiln for supremacy. With unconscionable cruelty, the lord of rage wielded uncontested power, demanded absolute subjugation, and punished the slightest whisper of opposition. Throughout the ages, his presence at the center of the realm embodied complete domination, but as if to signify an incomprehensible alteration in the strings of time, the master no longer stood unopposed.

  A single human sorcerer, Ansas, dared to battle Reiculf at the very heart of the demon lord's domain. The arrogance of the spell caster was colossal in its own right. The sorcerer sincerely believed that, over time, he could eventually match the demon master's hate with his own inherent dominance of ebony magic.

  Ansas knew how to tap into the pure black magic flowing within a multitude of realms. Even in Demonspawn, he could absorb the energy, strip the ebony power away from the twisted echoes of ancient transgressions. Eventually, he would utilize it to assault the beast, bring the lord of the realm to his knees, but first, the sorcerer needed to withstand Reiculf's assaults. He could not become the aggressor until he learned to neutralize the daokiln's endless attacks.

  In his initials struggles against the beast, Ansas utilized every spark of energy he could muster to suppress the waves of violence which pelted him from seemingly every angle. The sorcerer could heal his wounds, which were many, and such healing became an incessant necessity.

  "You are a tiresome flea," Reiculf muttered as he sent another wave of blistering fire at Ansas' prone body.

  The flames turned the sorcerer's limbs to ash, but ebony magic eventually restored them to a relatively healthy state. Ansas' refusal to die did not appear to frustrate the daokiln. If anything, the beast professed his own contentment with the continuing struggle.

  "Then again, I do find some amusement in battering you over and over again."

  Ansas screamed in torment, but he remained unrelenting in his own efforts. The pain was excruciating and beyond anything he had ever experienced, but at least he had access to his magic, and with that, he always had hope.

  "I defeated you once before," Ansas managed to assert through tortured breaths. "I'll find a way to beat you again."

  "You never defeated me."

  "What about the delver?"

  Reiculf responded with a wave of pure force which obliterated Ansas' bones, turned them into near dust.

  The sorcerer shrieked, but he did not die.
He could not, saved both by his magical essence and a simple truth regarding Reiculf's power.

  The demon master's abilities were influenced by actions of the past, and Ansas, in his own twisted manner, had assisted Ryson Acumen in defeating the demon lord. Though the ebony casting sorcerer had his own history of arrogant and selfish acts, that single success limited Reiculf's ability to vanquish Ansas completely.

  After the ebony magic restored Ansas once more, the sorcerer coughed out another admonishment.

  "You see, you can't decimate me completely. There will always be a shred of my existence left to claw at your miserable hide. With the magic that runs through this realm, I can restore myself no matter how badly you injure me. I will grow stronger with each challenge."

  "And who says I wish to remove you completely from my realm?" the daokiln questioned through a snarl. His massive gray form towered over the sorcerer, his essence shimmered with the sum of his hatred. "To release you would mean allowing you to escape my wrath. I have no such desire. Torturing you amuses me, and my pleasure is all that matters in this realm."

  "Then obliterate me completely if you disagree," Ansas challenged. "Prove that I'm wrong!"

  "Prove?" Reiculf growled. "I have nothing to prove to something as lowly as you. You speak as if you are somehow my equal. You're not even close."

  "Perhaps not now, but in time, I will overcome even you."

  "You have no concept of time. In this realm, I am time. The present is irrelevant, the future is less than a dream. It is only the past which nurtures power, and the past is an incalculable cesspool of indecency and decay. That is what feeds me... has fed me since the first dishonorable deed was ever committed. Do you actually believe your feeble skills can ever match the sheer magnitude of such festering malignance?"

  "My skills are based on similar aspects," Ansas countered. "You speak of the past and focus on the decisions and acts of the misguided. I concentrate on the consequences of those actions. Each deed which brought you strength trembles with a ripple of transformation. Whether the acts themselves are good or evil is irrelevant to me. All that matters is the resulting change. The corrupt acts that embolden you also generate a pulse of transformative magic tuned to the purity of my core."

  Despite the obvious disparity in strength between the two combatants, Ansas held firm to that one simple belief. Demonspawn might have been a region dominated by the past, but the sorcerer concentrated on a growing spark within him, a unique and deep link to the black magic which inundated the fabric of his essence.

  Ebony magic was more than just shadow, or even death. It encompassed alteration. It lived within the essence of change, and as such, it remained powerful in any region where transition occurred.

  While in some ways, Demonspawn was a stagnant pool of hate. It was also, as Ansas realized, the culmination of warped intentions and malevolent deeds. Such characteristics often created the most dynamic changes throughout all existence, and alterations of any kind were the very basis of black magic.

  Despite Ansas' claims, Reiculf believed the sorcerer was delusional, but the daokiln did have reason to hold Ansas in contempt.

  "You talk about purity as you hold to your pathetic ebony power. My energy is colorless. It has no limitations."

  "Wrong again!" Ansas accused. "You cannot reach beyond this realm. That in itself is a limitation."

  "My influence can go anywhere. I command all demons, no matter where they prowl. And they are not all restricted to this dominion. Despite the limitations and boundaries of my domain, there have always been demons willing to pay the price to escape my wrath or to venture into lands of greater light... and easier prey. Throughout the ages, demons have spread through all of existence. That means I am present in all of existence."

  "Passive influence is not the same as direct involvement," Ansas declared. "I can cast my magic anywhere, but you are bound by the borders of this cage."

  There was a spark of truth to the assertion. Without the use of heralds, the daokiln could not send his magic directly into other realms. The veils of Demonspawn prevented Reiculf from exerting anything other than indirect influence beyond his domain.

  The demon lord, however, chuckled at the misguided exaggeration of the sorcerer's own powers. Ansas had once been locked away in a realm where he could not utilize his magic, and Reiculf felt the need to remind Ansas of that particular failure.

  "Anywhere?" the daokiln questioned with a sour grin. "Not in Baannat's realm, or are you forgetting when the slink ghoul held you prisoner? You had no power there. Isn't that the true reason you decided to remain within my realm? You had a choice; leave this place and go back to being a tortured soul in a region of nonexistence ruled by Baannat... or stay here. You chose to remain here. You thought you chose the lesser of two evils, you were wrong."

  "No! I was not wrong. In this realm, I have access to pure ebony magic, and it is with that energy I have been able to endure your attacks."

  "You only endure what I allow you to endure."

  "Your claim rings hollow to me," the sorcerer declared. "I know what happened here. You used my vision of alteration to reach out into other lands, even found a way to bring your energy and consciousness directly into Uton. You utilized my concepts of alteration to place your essence in magic casters once controlled by me. Master of demons... lord of hate... fah! You are the ruler of a cesspool, nothing more. Without my understanding of ebony magic, you never would have broken through the barriers of your own prison."

  "What you call a prison... and a cage, I consider a kingdom. I freely admit I am the sum of misdirected arrogance across every existence, but your tiny contribution to my power is barely noticeable, a drop of rain in an ocean without borders."

  "And yet, it was I who took Ryson Acumen's magic and placed it within you, cut off your reach, kept you from obtaining the vengeance you seek."

  Reiculf unleashed a ball of colorless magic which erupted at Ansas' center and tore the sorcerer to shreds. Slivers of the spell caster's body scattered all about the dark gray dust surrounding Reiculf's feet.

  Waves of ebony magic rolled out of the gray mist which swirled across all of Demonspawn. The energy took hold of each mangled piece and reestablished the sorcerer's form.

  Once Ansas was whole again, the daokiln made his own declaration of an undeniable fact.

  "Your arrogance is laughable, and it only strengthens me. Do you understand? You are caught in an unbreakable trap. I admit your power over alteration will grow in my realm, but the very conceit which enables you to remain sane and heals your body adds to my own expanding strength. Every empty grasp you make at more power comes back to me amplified in sheer force. The very desire within you to beat me will only make the task that much more impossible."

  Ansas refused to bend, let alone break.

  "That would only be true if your powers were limitless, but they are not. There is also the matter of Ryson Acumen's magic within you. As long as it remains there, you are helpless against the delver. You cannot seek vengeance against him in any way."

  "Continue to speak of the delver, and you will continue to suffer greatly."

  Ansas found the strength to smile as he mocked the immense beast before him.

  "You admit to another weakness, and each admission is another alteration to your very being, another monumental element of the change which diminishes your power and increases mine."

  "Diminish?!! You think I am diminished by you... or by the delver?!"

  Reiculf plucked Ansas from the ground with his massive fingers, held him like a rag doll, and shook him viciously.

  Ansas was unable to respond. The violence of the attack sent incredible waves of nausea through his consciousness, and the dark mist swirled around him like a tempest of gray smoke.

  "I never diminish!" the daokiln roared. "The delver did not beat me! He only managed to save himself and his wretched mate. What do I care for them? They are ants, just like you. They scurried back into their pathetic
lives. They are just as insignificant as when they were first born."

  Reiculf stopped shaking his victim and allowed the black energy to restore Ansas to a semblance of awareness.

  "Tell me, sorcerer," the daokiln growled, "are you really so blind that you fail to see why your existence here is to my benefit?"

  "Benefit?" Ansas struggled to respond.

  "Yes, to my benefit. Your magical core served as a key for me, a key to open doors beyond Demonspawn. You yourself admitted as much. Do you really think I wish to lose such a key? Would I simply toss it away, or would I keep it within my grasp?"

  Ansas stared at the demon lord in near disbelief. He assumed it was his choice to remain in Reiculf's realm, but he could not dismiss the doubts which began to grow within him.

  "There are those who thought I would remain locked within my domain forever," the daokiln continued. "They were wrong. You allowed me to reach into other existences. There are others who thought by locking you in here with me that the barriers would be restored... that they would hold firm in the future. They are also wrong. You create an opportunity, and an opportunity is all I have ever needed."

  Chapter 1

  Ryson Acumen smiled broadly as the spirit of Sy Fenden appeared at the north gate of Burbon. The apparition reminded him of why he needed to leave, but the ghost warrior also offered comfort regarding far more important matters.

  "You'll keep an eye on Linda and Stomps for me?" Ryson asked of the spirit.

  Sy nodded, but then turned to Captain Klusac. Burbon's captain of the guard could perceive the words of the spirit even while the delver could not.

  After a long pause, Klusac explained to Ryson what he had just heard.

  "Sy says they'll be safe as long as they remain in Burbon. He'll protect them, just as he protects the entire town, but his influence is bound by these walls. They'll be secure, but when you venture beyond Burbon, your well-being is in your own hands."