Chapter 127

  “What a drama queen,” Michael heard someone mutter from behind him.

  He turned around in a fsh. There, on the bed, he saw Old Dave slowly shaking his head. “Dave!” he excimed.

  The man snorted before descending into a coughing fit. “Your healing magic sucks,” the man joked, wheezing slightly.

  “It’s losing its potency on you,” Michael stated. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “Well, that’s a matter for another day. What about Travis?” Dave inquired.

  “What about him?” Michael asked.

  “He’s being a drama queen. You don’t want drama queens in positions of power under you,” Dave advised.

  Michael’s eyes narrowed. “Ah, that’s what he meant by picking a side. It’s you against him, isn’t it? You know what? Py your games, but don’t involve me,” he warned.

  “You would let us py games like this? You know this is serious,” Dave pressed.

  “I know it well.” Michael said. “I trust you both to know what lines not to cross. Now rest, mentor. It seems that your pupil has outgrown you. I shall give Travis back his cards, with a warning. You are right, I don’t want drama queens under me, but that goes for both of you.”

  “I’m not your enemy, Michael. You’re pying his game by doing this,” Dave argued.

  “That’s enough,” Michael commanded.

  “You don’t trust me anymore, do you?” Dave asked quietly.

  “I do trust you,” Michael insisted.

  Old Dave shook his head. “When you asked me to defend you, back in the dungeon… You knew there was no danger, or you wouldn’t have asked, would you?” he pointed out.

  “Why are you acting like a teenager, Dave? Trust, no trust. You are weaker than me. Everyone is. It’s not about trust, it’s about personal power,” Michael expined.

  “You think I don’t know? Look at this mess. This was my st hope! With all the research gone… I am doomed to die an old man. You say your healing is losing its effectiveness on me like it’s a new phenomenon, but we all know it’s been happening for a while. You don’t want me to act immature, then start treating me like a grown-ass adult like I fucking am, you brat,” Dave retorted angrily. His wasn’t real anger, not yet, but it was a warning.

  “You are right, I’m sorry. It’s the headache,” Michael apologized.

  “No,” Dave shook his head. “It is I who is sorry. We have been pushing you, Michael, more than you had any right to be pushed. You should rest,” he suggested.

  “Maybe. When things calm down,” Michael replied.

  “They will not calm down. I heard some of your conversation with Travis. You always knew everything he was up to, didn’t you?” Dave questioned.

  Michael nodded.

  “You don’t trust anyone, Michael, do you? Nobody other than yourself,” the old man observed.

  Michael sighed. “You should rest, Dave. As for your body, I’m working on it. I’m not letting you wither and die as an old man just yet. I need you,” he reassured.

  “And Travis?” Dave inquired.

  “I need him too, the asshole. I’m good at magic. You are good at managing things and, apparently, fighting. Johanne is good at science. Travis is good at what he does. He just needs to be reminded of his pce from time to time,” Michael concluded.

  With that, Michael left. Behind him, Old Dave smiled proudly at the retreating figure.

  “I joined you because you said you would do good for the world!” Dr. Kavins shouted.

  Michael paced around the room, tanking the insults that Dr. Kavins was throwing at him. He had both his arms again, Michael’s healing skill powerful enough to regrow his limb in a matter of minutes, but having the limb back had not calmed his fury.

  “Are you even listening to me?” Kavins demanded.

  “No, I get it,” Michael said as he massaged the bridge of his nose. His headache was getting better, but the shouting had brought it back with a vengeance. “I know Travis took some liberties and pushed you a bit too much, but it’s not like all he did was evil.”

  “He is evil,” the doctor spat.

  “A necessary evil. Stop whining. I need you to develop that serum quickly because I want to do good for humanity. Travis wants to monetize it and limit access because he wants to do good for the company. Now, I know you think his mindset is bad, but you’d do well to remember that if there had been no company there would be no space for you to develop a humanity-saving serum at all,” Michael countered.

  “But you don’t need to stoop so low,” Kavins protested.

  “Low? You think this is low? Read about what other companies are doing. I am literally hemorrhaging money just to stick to my idiotic ideals. Stop being a naive idealist and come down to the real world. We need to tread carefully, bance things. You can’t flood the market with a miracle cure for aging and cancer and expect the world to keep going as if nothing changed. Everything will change,” Michael argued.

  “So what? You want to keep it under control,” Kavins accused.

  “Of course. Otherwise, it might do more harm than good!” Michael excimed.

  “People are dying,” Kavins reminded him.

  “And you can’t save everyone. Learn the lesson, doctor. I thought you’d know, given your job,” Michael retorted.

  “Oh, I do know. That’s why I’m sick and tired of this,” Kavins stated.

  “Well, let me spell it out for you. If we release a miracle cure to the public, Icarus estimates five billion dead within the end of the year. Nuclear war, famine, powered people out of control, several nations at war to pry secrets from each other. Once you open Pandora’s box, you can’t close it. Get it?” Michael expined.

  “Oh,” Kavins whispered.

  “Yeah. I need to keep all this shit in mind with every action I take. That’s why I let assholes like Travis manage things. They are better suited for this and know what they are doing. A necessary evil. Now stop whining. Old Dave is dying; figure out a cure before it’s too te or trust me, Travis will look like an angel in comparison.” His voice, almost a growl, made the walls rattle because of the power ced into it.

  After Michael was done dealing with the fallout of the incident, he decided to let Travis stew without powers for a while. Only several days ter, with a clear head a no longer suffering a constant headache, did he approach the man in his office. He brought the cards with him. Travis was sitting at his usual pce like nothing was wrong with him, even though his aura was barely even there anymore without any magic to sustain it. This was the curse of False Silver, Michael realized, an aura the could not sustain itself without external aid like the Card. If Michael lost his skills, his aura would not disappear like Travis’ aura was.

  The man was hiding it well, but he was clearly distressed and in pain due to his colpsing magic.

  “Michael,” Travis greeted with a shit-eating grin as he got up from his chair.

  Michael said nothing, staring at the man. His theatrics were almost useless when Michael could sense his condition, and with Michael’s [Unity] skill becoming a better and better lie detector with each passing day.

  “You finally decided to—” Travis began.

  Travis’ words were suddenly interrupted when Michael blurred forward. He punched the other man in the gut, and his fist went through flesh and bone like they were paper, emerging from the other side covered in gore. With a kick, he sent Travis tumbling to the ground, but before the man could even nd or scream, all the damage had disappeared.

  All the proof that was left of the brutality was the hole in Travis’ suit and the blood it was stained with. The man got up, wincing and holding his hands over his healed wound that was still hurting with phantom pain.

  “I marked you,” Michael stated menacingly. “Can you feel it? The foreign Intent in your body?”

  Travis nodded weakly. He was pale, and sweat made his hair stick to his head. “What is the meaning of this?” he choked out.

  “You are mine now,” Michael stated, ignoring him.

  He pulled out the three silver cards Travis had given him, along with the copper ones. He put the copper cards on the table, then showed the other cards to Travis one by one. He took the Elemental Weapon card, twirling it in his hand. Travis’ eyes tracked its movements while Michael set it on the table, on top of the copper cards, tapping it once with his index finger.

  Then, his eyes began tracking the second card Michael pulled out. It was the teleportation card.

  The cards, even the copper ones, were considered to be indestructible. Travis had personally conducted many experiments to prove their resilience, and nothing short of a nuclear weapon could damage them. Neither magic nor mundane applications of force had been shown to even be capable of scratching them.

  Michael leveled the card in front of him, holding it horizontally. With slow, controlled movements, he put two fingers at each side of the card and started bending it. The card didn’t budge at first, making Travis sigh in relief. But then, after merely two seconds, the card suddenly snapped.

  There was an explosion of wild magic as each fragment released all of its accumuted potential. Michael did not even flinch. After snapping the card with his bare hands, he maniputed his aura and pulled the wild magic in orbit around him. With a wave of his hands, it all vanished.

  Travis’ mouth hung open. He knew how much magic there was in a single card. It was enough to obliterate this side of Site 00 at the very least. Then it registered: one of his cards had been snapped. Gone.

  Michael wasn’t done. He took out the st silver card and did the same. The pieces evaporated in a storm of magic and, once again, it was all gone with a wave of his hand.

  Michael stared at Travis in the eye. Neither spoke for what felt like an eternity before Michael finally sighed and shook his head. “I hate to have to do this. But you need the stick right now,” he murmured.

  He activated the Truth facet of his [Unity] skill, remembering its secondary effect when used together with Fate.

  Truth: your third eye becomes attuned to the truth. You can force this Fate upon others.

  Thus, he forced Travis to see what he could see beneath the thin veil of reality, just like he had accidentally done with Stephan.

  The screams as Travis witnessed the eldritch truth of the universe were loud enough to be heard from the other side of Site 00. Nobody dared approach Travis’ office for the rest of the day afterward. Then, Michael looked at a once again healed Travis with a grave expression.

  “This is what I see when I look at the world. Don’t think you know more than I do. Don’t think you understand more than I do. And don’t treat me like I’m a little kid. I’m done dealing with your attempts at maniputing me, your power pys and all that shit.”

  “What about David?” Travis grunted.

  “Get your act together,” Michael stated firmly. “You can py games with him if you want. But that’s what they are. Games. Any more than a mere game and I will intervene.”

  He turned to leave, but before walking out of the door he said, “I hope you understand now. The cards are not yours. The power is not yours. It’s as borrowed as it gets: it only exists because I allow it to. Of course, this is just the stick. But you need the carrot, too. Come to the dungeon entrance tomorrow at 8:00 AM sharp. I’ll make you a True Silver.”