The Infinity Dungeon [LitRPG]

"What?" Travis said while laughing, "you thought that we would–"

His words were cut off by a powerful hand lifting him and body-slamming him into the reinforced wall. Surprisingly, it had not been Johanne but David. The man had risen to his full height, and was holding Travis by the neck so that they were face to face.

"Look at me," he said.

Travis struggled, his legs dangling more than two feet off the ground as he was lifted up again to allow David better leverage. He felt his windpipe constrict, but with his Silver power he didn't need to breathe as often.

"What are you doing?" he rasped.

"I know your type, opportunistic asshole." David spat through gritted teeth, "you lay a hand on Michael and Johanne and I will kill you."

"Put me down, asshole." Travis grasped at the hand holding his neck. It was large enough to completely wrap around him, immovable like a steel vice. His other hand went to David's face, but the man did not budge. "Put me down."

David suddenly released his grip, making the man collapse down to the floor. He got up, massaging his neck.

"What the fuck, man," he muttered. "The rejuvenation fried your brain or something? You think I'm going to turn on him the moment he shows some weakness?"

David's eyes narrowed. He scrunched up his nose, his long white hair falling on his face. He slowly pushed the locks to the side, behind his shoulders, never breaking eye contact.

"Show me you won't," he said.

"How, asshole? You'll always think I'm planning something."

"Are you not always planning something?"

Travis punched a table, making Johanne jolt and ready a spell. Travis looked at her.

"Ah, I see how it is. Well, David, you and I are on the same boat. You've changed with the rejuvenation, but even before you were also planning things behind Michael's back. The idea for Vanguard was from before, wasn't it?"

Johanne took a few steps back, putting herself between both of them and Michael. Both her hands glowed with the mandalas of a complex war spell.

"Cut it out," a weak voice made the trio turn around. With great effort and a groan, Michael pushed himself up from the sofa, feeling like the fabric had swallowed his limp body. He cleared his voice, putting some more power behind it, the more he spoke. "I came back here choosing to trust you. All of you. I might not have magic right now, but I will not tolerate infighting. Cut it out or get out."

The three were stunned for a minute.

"Please forgive me, my lord."

Johanne was the first, but the other two also apologized.

"Yeah, I'm sorry man." Travis said.

David inhaled. "And I am as well. I meant well, but my emotions clouded my judgment."

"That seems to be a recurring problem," Travis said.

"None of it," Michael said sharply, "everyone has their shit to deal with. But we all have each other."

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"Yeah." It was Travis' time now to dip his head and look to the floor. "And I also have my part of the blame. I've been acting like we were all against each other, under you but also enemies in here." He looked at the other three, "No more of this shit. If you can forgive me, that is."

"I can." Johanne said coolly. "I never cared for these games."

"Sure," David echoed her.

They went to planning and scheming. Michael listened, letting them work on the problem like a team, a unit, perhaps for the first time. David and Travis agreed to grow their respective forces, Candle Light and Vanguard, but in a synergistic way. They couldn't help Michael directly, but by working to make Unity Corporation more powerful, they would also help him. They would provide him with muscle, exploration, resources and intel.

Meanwhile, Johanne was the one who could help him out more directly. She would use the resources the others gathered to find a way to restore Michael to power.

"Let's get to work, then."

They were ready. They all knew what to do. They would work hard and weather this storm. Unity and Michael and everyone would come out of this stronger than ever.

Michael felt warm at the sight of his friends working together, hyping each other up, coming up with plans to help him. His doubts evaporated, and he felt like he had done something right after all. That not all was lost.

However, as the days passed, this warmth and hope began to cool down. There didn't seem to be an easy solution to his predicament. Johanne tried everything, but it was as if Michael and magic now rejected each other. She did not let it discourage her. She talked about nanites, enhancing him in a wholly technological way, no magic included. But it would take years.

David and Travis had a delicate balance.

Michael wanted to do things, but found himself unable to leave the compound first, and then the safety of the lab. His sister visited him, worried. The day of the reunion with his friends came and went, and he left them a vague excuse that he had gotten into an accident and couldn't come, with a promise that he would make up to them.

Icarus helped keep Site 00 functional, but without Michael cracks were beginning to show. David and Travis did not see things the same way. Small divergences grew, and soon Vanguard and Candle Light were back to being two separate entities. Johanne and Icarus were their only link, otherwise they might as well have been utterly disconnected.

They took turns using the facilities, the dungeon, and the resources. They only came together when they got important missions regarding anomalies from the OA through Kavanaugh. Some anomalies even lit the fire of hope that perhaps they could be used to help Michael, but the fire was doused every time when each and every avenue of attack failed.

Then, the world threw another curveball. Big news: the whole of Site 00 on high alert. The top brass gathered in the control room, on the top floor of one of the skyscrapers. The sole completed floor, while the rest of the building slowly filled out below them.

Michael had taken to just being an observer in these meetings. At first, the others tried to involve him, but with time they stopped trying. He only gave the occasional suggestion, which they sometimes ignored. Eventually, Johanne became the spokesperson. She was the one who spent most of her time with him, and she was the only one whose loyalty was still utter and complete. His will was her will, and everyone had taken to listening to her words in the debates knowing that they carried Michael's ideas. They were fine with it.

As he looked at the hills through the windows while the meeting room was being prepared, Michael realized that it had taken less than two weeks for everything to slip away from his grasp. It had been longer for the others, who were still using the dungeon and its time dilation, but only a few days for him.

He now knew how everyone else felt when he used to grow by leaps and bounds in a matter of days. How confused they felt when he emerged from the dungeon a whole new person, having spent years in isolation and self-reflection. He saw it happen around him, unable to keep pace with the changes.

He just wanted to get away from it all.

The meeting started.

Kavanaugh, their mole at the OA, was dead.

"Someone dropped off a printed image of his dead, mangled body on an otherwise blank sheet of unmarked paper at one of our warehouses and left. Untraceable. To make matters worse, it was one of the darker warehouses. Makes me wonder just how much they know of our whole operation that I thought was secure." Travis said, slapping a picture on the table.

It was still bloody. Everyone gasped, save for Michael, which told him that there was something else about it other than the blood, and he was the only one who could not feel it. He knew from Icarus that they had all grown in power, quite considerably, which meant that whatever was scaring them about the picture had to be rather bad.

It took a moment for the others to remember that he was a cripple.

"It's full of Renegade Energy, Michael." David said.