A story for my friend  Rubber-Vecks based upon his pic: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11624378/

A young mage with a lust for power, and his master with a powerful tome hidden away. What possibly could go wrong?

I hope you all enjoy, and I would love to hear what you all think! ^_^

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The magic burned through the air as darkness flowed from the shadows surrounding the apprentice, and he couldn’t help but smile at his master as he focused the shadows into the form of a small imp. “…lasheri heros!” he finished chanting, and with that the small imp formed with a blink of his bright red eyes.

“Not the world of humans again…” it piped, from the way it was glaring scornfully at the apprentice it was obvious that it was already imaging terrible things it would do to him.

“Focus Dole, if you forget to bind the imp’s will it will curse you,” Dole’s master said, his eyes severe as he glared at his apprentice.

“Oh right,” Dole said, wincing as he nearly forgot the most important step. “Imp who slaved away in the shadows of the nether realm; I Dolian Recuse bind you to my service until I deem it time for you to leave my service!” A purple band of energy surrounded the imp until it formed into a small collar that closed around the imp’s neck causing him to bow in subservience to the mage.

“Yes my master…” it said, and though it still despised the human it couldn’t injure the human even if it wanted to with the collar around its neck. “How might I help you?”

“For now you shall go back to the world of shadows until I bid you once more,” Dole said, with that the imp faded away but not before shooting his master a nasty glare. “How was that, master?” he asked, grinning as he turned to face the wizened mage.

His master, Trelion Morner, was not amused as his apprentice turned to face him. “Dole, if you hadn’t been more careful you might’ve been injured by that imp. Even though it appeared small any spell it would’ve cast upon you would’ve injured you deeply, and even I can’t heal a magic wound with great ease.”

Dose turned his gaze to his feet and felt his smile slip away. “Sorry Master Trelion, I forgot the rules of subservience…”

Trelion sighed and patted his young apprentice on his head and smiled at the young man. “Still, you did well with the spell. You’re the first of my apprentices to complete the summoning spell on your first try, and it’s no easy task might I add.”

“Thank you, master,” Dose said, the smile returning as the elder mage chuckled to himself. “Shall we eat now?” he asked, noting his rumbling stomach.

“I suppose, though you’ll be making the food as I have to go to my room for a brief while to consult my tome. I’ve been feeling the dark magics around us growing restless as evil powers outside of the castle conspire to steal the power of our dark magic’s,” Trelion said, his eyes dark as he glanced out the window towards the lands of evil.

When Dose was a child just like everyone else he had believed that darkness naturally meant evil, but when Trelion came to his parents to take him on as an apprentice he explained in great detail how darkness was only an affinity rather than just pure evil. He’d been risen as a grand dark mage, and had adapted quickly to it as he realized that he was a natural with the shadows and dark magic. Though recently the evil forces from beyond the mountains kept coming after their tower to steal away their dark magic for their own evil deeds, and Trelion had to continue arising new barriers to prevent them from breaking in.

“Master, when will I be able to read from the tome?” Dose asked, glancing nervously at the elder man.

There was silence as Trelion stared out towards the forest before glancing at his apprentice, and in his eyes was a great sorrow that Dose hoped he would never have to feel. “Hopefully my boy, not for many lifetimes. Not until I pass, and that will take a while yet as long as magic runs in these old veins…” He looked years older from the stress of his words, but after glancing back out the window he looked youthful once more. “Alright you make food, and I shall go read from the tome to arise a new barrier.”

As the mage walked up the stairs Dose bit his lip as he imagined himself wielding the tome, and though he knew to wield the tome would be dangerous for a younger mage like him he still craved the power that came with it. He glanced at a nearby time candle, and he knew that it would take him fifteen minutes to study the tome and then an hour to rise the barrier around the keep. “I’m going to take a look at that tome…” he muttered to himself, smiling as he started cooking.

After getting the food started, and setting up the table Dose heard the telltale footsteps of his master walked down the stairs. “Dose, I’m heading out towards the edge of the barrier to make a new one. I will be back soon, and please don’t burn down the kitchen… again.”

“Yes master,” Dose said, and it wasn’t but a minute when he heard the door close. Dose felt his heart beating in his throat, but he waited for five minutes to make sure that his master wouldn’t walk in on him going upstairs. After he was sure that the old man wouldn’t be returning anytime soon he stepped outside onto the doorstep and made a ward that would warn him of his master’s approach, and then up the stairs he went. It had taken him a year to figure out how to get up the stairs as his master had set up several spells that would push him down if he tried to get up, but he’d made very miniscule spells that would let him through and stay unnoticed by Trelion.

After getting to the top of the tower Dose gulped as he looked at his master’s door; even though he’d gotten through all of the mage’s barriers he didn’t know how to open the door yet, and if his master had set up a ward he might get caught in the act. “Alright…” he muttered, pulling out a small pocketbook full of spells he flicked through it before he found the perfect spell. “Heckero… dalios…” he muttered, and he shivered as his body became intangible.

It was a spell of complete intangibility, but Dose feared the spell as it was known to be very hard to cast and even harder to keep going. If Dose made a mistake and dropped it for but a moment he could easily be cut in two by reappearing in the door, or he might even slip through the floor if he let himself become too intangible and fall through the tower and… best not to think of it now. Dose held his breath as he stepped through his master’s door, and though he felt many wards in the door he sighed in relief as his master hadn’t thought of intangibility.

“Alright…” he muttered, and Dose knew as soon as he stepped in that the tome was in the room. It let out a presence even more intimidating than his master, and as he laid his eyes on the deep velvet book he knew this wasn’t just some book of dark magic, but one that carried evil within its pages. “Gods above…” he muttered, and though there was a deep fear rooted in him from the moment he saw it there was no going back as he touched the cover and felt a zap of pain flood his hand.

The book seemed to call him even as he withdrew his hand in pain, and as Dose laid his hand upon it once more it didn’t hurt him but instead warmed his hand pleasantly. There was a sense of foreboding even before he opened the lid of the book and looked at the front page, and with a shiver Dose could see that these words could bring a dark power that might destroy the world. Dose knew though that he had to incant a spell from this book so he could prove to himself that he was strong enough, and soon he found a simple enough spell that couldn’t hurt.

“A spell for strength and power beyond one’s beliefs…” he muttered, and though Dose could make out most of it there were many symbols in the book that were beyond his comprehension. It was a guess at most at the full effects of the spell, but Dose was too excited to not try out this spell. “This is a complicated spell, but it shouldn’t be too hard,” Dose said, nodding as he quickly set to preparing for the ritual.

To cast the spell Dose had to summon eighteen demons, and though Dose was told to only have one demon bound to him at once he figured that seventeen more imps shouldn’t be too hard to control, and with limitless power and strength it wouldn’t matter so much. “Laysho varinta heroth coranto dulas for bromir!” he shouted, and upon summoning all of the imps Dose nearly passed out from the sheer strain that it had on his body, but he quickly bound them all with a pained wince.

“O… okay… next step…” he groaned, he stood and looked the page over. “H… have the demons get in a circle around you as they incant a spell of power, and then chant these words…” he muttered, and though Dose had been taught never to let demons surround you unless you have them triple bound he was too deep to stop now. “Demons surround me, and chant the spell of power.”

The imps looked at one another in shock, and then smiled as they realized the spell he was casting and they were more than happy to surround him as they started to chant in a guttural tone a spell that sent shivers down Dose’s spine. The mage stood in the center of the glowing imps as he looked at the spell that would finish the spell. “Reythas deluci necro parathesis-“ Dose was chanting, but he could tell the words that slid over his tongue were evil by nature.

Dose wanted to stop as the power grew and swelled around him, and one by one the imps turned into dark velvet puddles which grew under him, but the spell had him and wouldn’t let go until he finished chanting. The shadowy pool grew larger and larger until it was practically flooding the room’s floor, and all Dose could do was chant as the shadows started up his legs creating a second flesh that swallowed his own. Dose wanted to scream, and leave the room but the walls disappeared beneath a darkness that swallowed up all light and the candles in the room went out as the mage started to hear evil whispers. “Young mage… so foolish… so full of aspirations… all of which are unattainable… but with me… you can reach the stars…”

Up the young man’s legs the black shadow climbed, and where it touched a black stain made out of liquid shadow stayed leaving it shiny and smooth. Dose finally finished chanting the spell, but it was too late as the room was covered in the goo and from above him a long stream fell down and touched his head coating his face in it and flowing over his hair leaving it as smooth and purple as his legs. “What demon are you?” Dose asked, knowing that this demon was obviously powerful if it could enter the world with such an entrance.

“I am one without name for I am a great Demon, and since that is so I cannot take on a form of my own for I am evil and darkness incarnate. Thankfully human with this spell you have released me, and I have found you for my host. With my power, and your body we shall become an invincible pair.” The Demon had a shape in mind as Dose’s feet became clawed and started to arch up high into his heels as the goo pushed his face out into a pronounced muzzle, and Dose winced as the taste of the shadow entered his mouth and started to corrupt the purity that was within him.

Struggling to fight against the possessive demon, Dose pushed through the shadow towards where the door once was to turn intangible once more, but the magic that held the demon in the world was connected to his own, and it wouldn’t fade until the Demon wished it so. “I shall not merge with a being of evil…” Dose said, wincing as dark whispers flooded his very head with promises of deeds too foul to speak of.

“Oh but, Dolian. You were promised to me from birth, this is why you were brought in by the man you call master…” the shadow whispered, his evil lies quickly getting to Dose’s heart and he froze as he heard his true name only spoken by his closest friends. “Yes Dolian, I know your name… Your master gave it to me for the day that I devoured you, but if we combine like this you would become a Great Demon, and you could make him serve you…” Had Dose been older he would’ve known that Great Demons could reach into one’s mind and pull out anything they needed, but Dose was falling into the trap.

“I could become… a Great Demon?” he asked, his eyes starting to give way to a golden hue of a demon. Down from behind him a long black tail reached down to touch the darkness allowing it to cover his body, and his clothes quickly gave way to his scaled body of a demon, and as Dose listened to the evil whispers his pure soul was giving way to the evil that his master tried so desperately to keep out. “I can… be powerful?” Dose hissed, his tongue forking out as he lost his humanity.

“Yes my servant… you and I shall become powerful, and we will take the world with our dark power…” the Great Demon whispered, and Dose was sold as his skin became blanketed in the slick blackness of the Demon that he had become. “No longer shall we be Dose…” they whispered, their deep voice combining to become one personality.

“I am Loryal… master of Darkness,” the Demon chuckled, his eyes flashing a deep yellow as he blew out darkness. The room changed back to normal as he absorbed his shadow. “I shall make a better home for when the mage returns,” he said, holding his hand up the dark magic flowed allowing him to change the entire inside of the keep.

***

Trelion stepped into the keep with heavy shoulders, and as he looked at the table he noticed smoke rising from the pot where Dose had been cooking. “Dose?” he called, glancing around he didn’t see his apprentice. “Dose?!” he shouted, and as he felt a dark energy flow from upstairs his heart practically stopped as he realized where his naïve protégé was.

Up the stairs he walked, and as he opened his door he saw that it had widened into a fortress fit for a king, and sitting upon the dark throne was a demon that dripped black evil that filled the room. “Trelion, it’s good to see you,” the Great Demon said, his smile wide as his tongue forked out to taste the air.

“Demon, let my apprentice go,” the mage said, his magic flaring up as he stepped into the boundaries of the room.

“There’s no need for that… I am your apprentice… or at least I was until the demon gave me what I wanted,” the Great Demon said, his eyes glowing with evil that had corrupted his once innocent soul.

“Dose, please…” Trelion pleaded, he wanted to free the young man from the evil, but as the demon held up his hand he just smiled.

“Trelion, it’s time for you to become my pet. You shall become the harbinger to show the world that they will fall to our evil, and once I’ve eaten the world I shall bring out my brothers, and let them have their fun,” Loryal chuckled.

The mage tried to protect himself, but with him in the demon’s realm it was child’s play for the demon to swallow him within his darkness, and when the magic faded it revealed a darkness clad dragon who bowed before his master. “Loryal, I shall fly out and tell the world of your magnificence…” the dragon said, his voice ringing throughout the room.

“Good, now go,” the demon waved, and the dragon flew into the darkness which allowed him into the world where he blew black flames, and all Loryal did was lean back and laugh as he awaited the world at his feet.