Chapter 60

“What’s the name you came up with, then?” Travis asked, clearly impatient.

“I will call it: Unity. And its vision shall be to shape a better future for humanity and all other sapient races we might encounter in our travels.”

“You have come to a decision, then.” Said Old Dave gravely, yet not without a hint of pride in his voice. “You realize that of all the paths, this is the hardest one, yes?”

Michael nodded. “It’s the right one. For that reason, I also want to create a charity division called Candle Light. I want it to be there when problems start to arise, helping the weak and the innocent navigate the changes that are to come.”

“Very well,” said Old Dave. “You have grown, I’m proud of you.”

“Now tell us about what happened on the second floor.”

***

“Disturbing,” said Travis after a while.

Old Dave was pinching the bridge of his nose as he also mulled about the information revealed to him. Michael had not told them everything, choosing to leave his understanding of magic and of his own abilities a secret for now. It would be so at least until he had a science division filled with people he could trust. But what he had said was already worrisome enough.

On a more positive note, he mentioned about the second floor becoming a rest area for him, but it didn’t do much to cheer the two men. Sure, Travis now wanted to see whether he could access it if he tried to go there together with Michael, but his curiosity was not so great as to risk being separated from Michael by the stairs and ending up in a challenge floor alone.

“Indeed,” said Dave, “this adds a whole existential problem on top of our already plentiful problems.”

“We need to move up the scale of our operations, and quickly. Now that I have your permission, I’ll officialize PetroLink’s new direction and devote its resources to the task.” Travis said, “it’s no time to take it slow.”

“Will the board agree?”

“What board?” Travis said with a smirk. “I am the board. On a side note, I’d like to take another dive through hell soon, if that’s okay with you. I want more options.”

“Sure,” nodded Michael, “and to that end, I think it’s time to bring Jennifer and Trevor in on a few secrets. As heads of security they will need the information. Do you think they can be trusted?”

Travis nodded, “I chose them myself, and we offered them the same deal we offered your driver Bob.”

“Basically,” Old Dave interjected, “we overhauled their whole lives and the lives of their families. This is the most loyalty money can buy, the rest has to come from actions.”

“It will have to be enough,” Michael said. He did not miss the glint in his mentors’ eyes, proudness and other emotions evident in both men. If Old Dave was like a proud grandfather, then Travis was like a proud father, and the image clashed with that of Michael’s own father. The latter was so similar, yet so different in temperament to how Travis had become once he and Michael had gotten to know each other better.

“This is good work,” Travis said, confirming Michael’s thoughts, “you are growing faster than I thought. Good, ‘cause shit is going to hit the fan soon, I feel.”

“I agree with him,” said Old Dave, “I shouldn’t feel this excited. An old man like me should just rest and enjoy life but… I can’t help but feel a sort of trepidation. As if something big is going to happen.”

“That’s not what I meant, old fool,” said Travis, and it was weird to see the two men banter like best friends. “I was talking about problems.”

“So what?” the older man said defiantly, “overcoming problems and difficulties is one of the biggest pleasures in life. Am I right, Michael? It might be shit while you do it, but there’s nothing quite like the feeling you get afterwards.”

“I suppose you are right,” said Travis.

“Now shush,” said Dave, “let me go fetch the others.”

After he left, it was only Michael, Travis and Johanne. There was a moment of silence during which the former dungeon captive studied the CEO with uncanny intensity, but Travis held her gaze defiantly.

“You are a strange man,” Johanne said in the end. “Full of pride, yet also proud of another’s achievements. You are one to covet what is not yours, yet why do you not do so with my lord’s?” she said, and Michael shot her a glare. “With Michael’s, I mean.”

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“Because, as I said multiple times, I have no incentive to do so. Besides, is it so hard to think it might be out of the goodness of my own heart?” he said, smiling mischievously.

“It is,” Johanne said, not missing a beat, “in face of power this great, it is. I shall watch you, like I can feel you are watching me. Perhaps, one day, we shall trust each other.”

“What about the old man?” Michael asked, “do you not trust him?”

“I am less wary of him,” she said. Travis feigned offense at that, but did not mind.

Old Dave returned soon after, bringing the two heads of security in tow. Trevor took the news that Michael was the boss in stride, already having pieced together enough to make his own deductions. Jennifer did not, and apologized profusely for her earlier behaviour. Michael waved her apologies away, telling her that it was her job to be wary of outsiders and always on high alert.

Then, they came upon the subject of magic.

“Can you show me?” Jennifer asked after they were done giving her the much-sanitized version of the story.

Michael snapped his fingers, and a small flame appeared above his index finger.

“Well, this is not—”

Then the flame expanded into a roaring inferno that enveloped his hands and arms, the flickering flames sending tongues of fire up towards the ceiling of the prefab building. Then they were gone as quickly as they came.

“Now shoot me,” he said.

Even though her hand went to her gun, she did not unholster it. Instead, she scanned the room with an unsure gaze, the request enough to throw off the seasoned woman. She grew more confused as she saw that nobody in the room was worried in the slightest, until she finally steeled herself and drew the gun.

She fired. Michael was ready for it, after having trained against guns quite intensely. His new stats were more than enough to let him react to the close-quarter shot, and a [Distortion Field] sphere appeared between him and the bullet, angled so that the ricochet would not hit anyone.

There was stunned silence for a long moment.

“Impossible,” Jennifer muttered.

Trevor, on the other hand, was shaking his head. It was as if a sudden wariness had overtaken him, and it took a few moments for him to shake the sensation off.

After the initial shock, they talked business. Both Trevor and Jennifer were professionals, able to quickly adapt after their initial surprise at seeing that magic was real. Johanne also contributed to the conversation, showing her quick thinking and great intellect as she was able to understand and adapt to novel concepts that to her must have felt more alien than magic had to the others.

Then they were finally done. Michael slumped on the tiny, uncomfortable sofa that had been for some reason brought to the corridor leading outside. Johanne was discussing some last details with Travis, and the heads of security were back to their jobs, now much more alert. Old Dave lingered for a moment at the threshold, before sighing.

“What about the woman you brought out?” Old Dave asked.

“What about her? You’ve seen her. She’s smart and committed. Plus, she gave me her oath.”

“The magical oath that binds the soul, yeah,” said the man, “Do you want us to swear as well?” he asked, exchanging a look with Travis. The CEO had come out of the other room but did not seem nearly as uncomfortable as Michael expected him to be.

“No,” he said, “and even if I wanted you to, I don’t currently have the capacity for two more oaths. I trust you, and if what Travis said about his company is true—

“It is. I’ve seen the paperwork.”

“Then I know he’s for real. I will not say I’m sorry for doubting your intentions even after all we’ve been through, though.”

“You know neither I nor Mr Tyrell would want you to.”

“Right. Back to Johanne, though. We are going to need to find a place for her.”

“She can go to your place for now.” Said Old Dave as if it was the most natural thing in the world for Michael to have a gorgeous woman, who had sworn to always serve him until the end of time, come to live in his cramped apartment.

“I… guess it can work for the time being.” He conceded. It wasn’t like they had other options unless he wanted her to sleep in a the shipping container with the guns and ammo. “But my apartment is too cramped to live comfortably.”

“Not like you spend any time there!” Rebutted the old man, “besides, it’s just a matter of time before the road is completed and we can drag a couple containers close to the dungeon. What’s a couple more after all, right? We already have what, five around here? Come on. A quick refit and you can move there, old house forgotten. Just be patient.”

***

“Aaaand it’s over,” Michael said, throwing his bag on the bed.

“What is this place? Is this your residence?” Johanne asked. She had been pleasantly surprised by the ‘metal horse’ they took to get here, as well as the deference with which the driver, Bob, had addressed Michael. Everything else, she took mostly in stride. She had not seen enough of the modern world to truly be surprised yet, Michael felt, even though her reactions were more subdued than he would have expected. Perhaps as someone used to magic, she did not find the concept of technology to be so alien.

“Yep. I live here. Hopefully not for much longer.”

“I should hope so,” she said scornfully, “this is not a residence fit for someone of your stature.”

“I fear that you will have to bear with it for a bit longer.”

“What about the container house your underlings talked about? Will it be completed soon?”

“Ah,” Michael said, “it won’t be much of an upgrade. It’s just a temporary measure made for me to be closer to the dungeon until I get something more permanent done.”

“Umph,” Johanne… pouted? “I shall drop the matter for now.”

“Right. You can sleep on my bed tonight. I will sleep on the floor.”

“What? It is most unacceptable!” she said, reverting to more archaic forms of speech as she worked herself up.

What followed was a long discussion, at the end of which Michael ordered Johanne to stop trying to sleep on the floor herself, and that was the end of it.

“Here, let me teach you how to use this,” he said, pointing at his smartphone, “it’s like one of the most important parts of the modern world, after all.”

“What is this?” Johanne asked as she examined the thing, “your world is strange, but strangest of all is your devotion to glowing panes of glass. Is this another such thing?”

Thus, began a long explanation of the wonders of the internet.

“To think,” Johanne muttered, “that you live in a state of perpetual connection to this… internet. The wealth of information at your fingertips is staggering. The possibility to send a call capable of reaching all human beings, should you want to. It is hard to wrap my head around it.”