The infinity dungeon 243

Chapter 243

Johanne and David returned from their respective delves at roughly the same time. The two met up with Travis in the Valley, enjoying what little time dilation still affected them before returning to the outside world.

The air between them was strange, as if they had nothing to do with one another save for their shared point of connection: Michael. With him absent, the three didn’t know how to interact.

The truth of the matter was different, at least between Travis and David. Their recent conversation occupied Travis’s mind, and his left hand itched like a caged animal that wanted to come free of the pocket that was hiding it.

“I did go delving deeper, in the end,” he said in the end, the words rushing out of him almost against his will.

“Good,” David said curtly. “You faced your fears. I thought you would not do it.”

“Got a new card. Gold.”

David nodded. “Then, perhaps, you are not the coward I thought you were.”

Some of the tension melted away, at least on David’s side. The same could not be said for Travis, who felt like he had just swallowed a bunch of razor blades. Lying was usually easy for him, so why was he feeling bad about it all of a sudden?

His office felt more cramped than usual. The work he was doing slipped from his mind no matter how hard he tried to focus, thoughts circling back to the deal Infinity had offered him back in the Valley. They had talked at length, and the conversation still lingered in his mind like a disturbing presence.

He had ended up accepting the deal, and what worried him the most was the feral grin he could not wipe from his face. David had shot him glances when he thought he wasn’t looking, clearly aware that something had happened, but every time Travis simply claimed to be excited about his first gold card, and the matter had been dropped.

“You’re powerful now,” a voice said. Icarus appeared in a swirl of magic, wearing a yellow raincoat and cat ears. “Only one card?”

Travis’s left hand twitched unconsciously. On its back, the outline of the single card glowed gold for a moment before returning to dull yellow.

“I know you talked with the spirit,” the AI said. “She hid the conversation from me.”

Not an easy feat, even in the Valley, but clearly the former dungeon spirit had her means and knew about Icarus.

“What did you talk about?”

Travis got up from his chair, the work discarded, and went to stare out the window. In the last two hours, he had achieved nothing anyway.

“She offered me a deal, an alternate way to power.”

Icarus snorted. “I think that much was obvious. You lied to David. It was a lame lie, but he bought it. Did you trade all your cards for a single gold one?”

“I did give her the cards, but it was not a trade. This gold one was for free.”

“A sign-up bonus, then.” Icarus said.

Travis shrugged.

Icarus nodded as he thought about something Travis could not even begin to fathom, then brought a finger to his chin. “Good, I suppose. Now you won’t have to stoop so low as to ask Michael for help.”

Travis said nothing, waiting for Icarus to continue like he obviously wanted to do.

“I don’t have a read on her,” the AI said. Travis’s lips curled up in a hint of a smile.

As I thought. Perhaps he was beginning to get a read on the AI. 

“She is not like us,” Travis said cryptically. He enjoyed the frown on the AI’s face, and he enjoyed even more the fact that he now had control of the conversation and could steer it away from the deal with Infinity and the gold card.

“I am not like you either.” Icarus countered.

“Then this makes it twice as hard for you, I suppose.”

The AI’s lips twitched. “How so?”

“Suppose humans are in the middle. You are on one side, she is on the other. One step removed from me, but two steps removed from you. Twice as hard.”

Icarus watched Travis nod to himself. “I see,” he said. “Twice removed.”

Travis too studied the other’s expression, wondering how much of it was intentional and how much was not. Was Icarus showing his emotions on his face by accident, or was he manipulating Travis even now? He thought it was the first option.

“And her goals?” he asked.

“Believe it or not, and it took a while for her to fully convince me that she wasn’t lying to me, I’m pretty sure her end goal is the same as mine and yours.”

The AI hologram’s face perked up. “To help Michael?”

Travis smiled. It was a two-faced smile, half of it being him reveling in his accurate read of the AI. 

He’s like a puppy when it comes to Michael.

“Indeed,” he said. “Each of us in their own way.”

“Yes,” Icarus said with a sudden frown. “If only he let me do my job, instead of forcing me to work, how do you say? With my hands tied behind my back?”

Travis nodded. “I think you got it right. Why? What did he not want you to do?”

“Manipulate people,” the AI whined. “If only he let me… it would all be so much easier.”

It had turned into a gossip session, one that could be very useful to Travis. He had not lied when he said that he wanted to help Michael, of course, but he also had other objectives. He always had other objectives. A man needed them to live. 

Knowing how Icarus thought and worked was crucial if Travis wanted to see those objectives furthered. Knowing that Icarus was forbidden from manipulating people was the icing on the cake, although a small part of Travis told him that those were the exact words that a manipulator would say, and that he should not trust them.

“That’s too bad,” he said. “He does that sometimes. I think he might say something similar to me if he knew what Infinity offered me. You understand why I don’t really want to tell you, don’t you?”

Icarus nodded pensively. “Everyone is free to pursue their own objectives, I suppose. As long as you also help us, and by us I mean Michael.”

“Of course. My objectives will always align with those of Unity Corporation,” he said. The company, not necessarily Michael. “You know it.”

***

It wasn’t hard for Johanne to figure out where Michael was: she could sense him sitting atop the tower at the center of Site 00, the one everyone was beginning to call Control Tower. The hard part was figuring out when she could make a move and join him, so that she could talk to him, without being a bother. She worried often about that, thoughts swirling in her mind endlessly about her usefulness, about her mannerisms and the strange relationship she had with other people, but those whirling thoughts never led anywhere, only resulting in more confusion.

The right time to join Michael, it turned out, was in the early hours of the next day.

“Hey Johanne,” he said as he stretched. “How was your solo delve?”

“Good, I think,” she said, then quickly amended her sentence. “Thank you for asking.”

It came out rushed, and she felt her face heat up against her will as he stared at her. Perhaps he was about to speak about her strange tone of voice, or why she was looking flustered. 

But no. He was not looking at her face but through her face, at the core of her, the magic beneath. Her muscles relaxed. She found the intense stare that dug deep into her soul to be more soothing than the casual glance that stopped at the surface.

“Back to middle silver, and with a solid foundation,” Michael said with a satisfied tone.

She lifted her chin higher. “I think I have overtaken my old self, my lord.”

“Michael,” he said. 

She smiled. “You know I will never grow out of that particular habit.”

And of them all, it was one of the few she was not ashamed of.

“How long were you in the challenge?” he asked, shaking his head at her antics. “I can sense that you have reclaimed the use of the time element, as well as some traces of Qi and Intent. It must have taken a while.”

“It has taken me a long time indeed, my lord. I kept my aura suppressed to take advantage of the time dilation, knowing that you could cleanse me of the Gaze’s taint. Speaking of taint, do you see any within me?”

Michael focused. “None. But then again, you never had problems with the Gaze.”

She nodded. It was as she had expected. “Travis and David have also increased in power during your absence.”

An eyebrow shot up. “They have? Tell me more.”

“Of course. I met them when I emerged from my challenge. We did not speak much, but from what I gathered, it seems that David has gone delving all the way down to the sixth floor. Travis had planned to remain in the Valley, but has changed his mind and he too went delving in the deeper floors.”

“That would explain why he felt different. I wasn’t paying much attention, busy as I was… does he have a gold card now?”

“Did you sense it, while distracted, from up here?” she asked in surprise. “You never cease to amaze me. Yes, he does. He has a single gold card instead of his many silver ones. Perhaps a reward for beating a challenge?”

Michael shrugged. “I’ll check up with them later. Let’s talk about your magic. Show me something.”

She did, and they spent some time practicing together in the air above Site 00. The storm above them swirled, a maelstrom of clouds with its eye watching down on them like the dungeon’s Gaze itself. Then, when Johanne was about to leave, she lingered for a few moments, unsure whether to speak or not.

Michael forced her hand by nodding at her. “Something has been on your mind all this time. What is it?”

She took a deep breath. “I do not know if it is my place to ask, but…”

“Ask,” he said. “You can always ask me anything you want, Johanne. You should know that.”

“Very well. It is regarding the dungeon spirit. You met it, didn’t you?”

“I met her, yes.”

Johanne’s eyes shone with sparkles. “Can I… see her?”

Michael thought about it for a good minute, then shrugged. “Why not? In fact, why don’t we go see her right now?”