Chapter Eighty-Four: Back To Business

Tim and Meg were back at the library. Meg was working, Tim was lounging, and tonight would host a full moon.

"Alright then." Tim said happily, clapping his hands. "It's been a while, let's do a summon."

Meg froze, not quite believing what she had just heard.

"Are you fucking serious?" She asked angrily, whipping around. "After everything that's happened?"

"Yeah. Dude's dead now, what's the problem?"

"The problem..? THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE DIED!"

"Only soldiers though."

"Are soldiers not people too in your eyes?"

"Of course they are. But death is in the job description, so I'm not going to cry about it."

"Do you feel any regret at all, over any of the people you've killed?"

"You mean, actual regret? Hmmm... Maybe one."

"Oh really, and who was that, some whore?"

"No, but I would if that ever happened. Whoring is a valuable service."

"Who was the one person you regret killing?!"

"My second mother. Kind of. She looked after me when I became homeless."

"...Why would you kill her?" Meg asked, still angry, but now for multiple reasons.

"Dragons."

"...What?"

"Parent dragons used to let their kids hunt in towns as they grew up. The citizens and soldiers just hid away until they were gone, because if they did anything it would make the parents mad, and that wouldn't have ended well. So the kids would just hunt the homeless. There was a crack between two buildings just big enough for one person, and I got there first. She came and tried to squeeze in, but the little dragon got hold of her. It tried to drag her out, so she grabbed me and tried to pull herself back in. I wasn't strong enough to pull her and keep myself in at the same time... So I beat her, until she let go. Then I got to listen to her scream. So, you know, that was fun."

Meg's anger was long gone, and she stared at Tim in abject horror with a hand over her mouth.

"After it was over they took what was left of her, dumped it on a pile of rubble and wood and lit it up. All things considered, it was probably the best funeral she could've hoped for."

"I'm so sorry..." She whispered, as Tim stood there awkwardly.

"Eh, you get over it." He said.

"...Do you?"

"Well, you stop caring as much."

"...I don't know what to say to that."

"Just say that you'll summon something tonight."

"No!"

"Oh come ooooon, I told you a sad story and everything."

"This and that are separate, you sociopath!"

"Look, I'll ask them before we fight whether they want to or not, and if they aren't into it, we'll send them back. Okay?"

"Not really..."

"Well, while I may be terrible at the theoretical stuff, I scribbled down how the circle looks, and I can copy a picture. So either we do it and you're there to supervise, or I do it myself."

"Ughhhhh..." Meg put her head in her hands and groaned.

"Calm down, it'll be fine."

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Later that night, preparations were complete, and the two stood before the summoning circle once more.

"We ready?"

"Yes. But I swear if this goes wrong you'll have an eternity alone to regret it."

"You worry too much. I put a pie in the oven that should be finishing soon, so think about that instead."

"You left a fire unattended? Tim we are in a library, this building is full of mostly wood and books, are you insane?"

"Yes, now let's get on with it."

Meg sighed, and moved over to one of the storage circles to the side of the summoning circle, and began to scratch away at it with a stick.

"What are you doing?" Tim asked, confused.

"Oh yeah, I didn't tell you." Meg said, halting her progress to explain. "I found out that you need free power around the circle to activate it, that's why it's draining even if the circle has already been charged."

"That from the explosion?"

"Yup."

"Huh... Well that opens up some possibilities."

"Yeah it does, that's how Thomas and I summoned my helpers even after he nearly killed himself summoning you."

"Well then, let's see if it works with the big jobs."

Explanation given, Meg went back to scratching at the circle. As soon as the line was broken, power filled the air, and drained into the circle as it began to glow. Meg backed away to the far end of the balcony, and there was a loud popping noise accompanied by a flash, signalling a new arrival.

A human being again, in shining silver armor, with light blue cloth that accented it, and a large sword hung on their back unsheathed. The figure was holding their helmet in their hands, as if they were putting it down, and despite the hair being covered to keep it out of the way, the face was recognisably female. The woman's eyes were wide open, and darted around in shocked confusion, until they found Tim staring at her with a grin.

"Hello." He said cheerfully.

"...Hi?" The woman's voice could've belied any number of things about her life up to this point, if it wasn't so overladen with confusion.

"Do you want to fight?" Tim asked expectantly.

"...No?"

"Tough, you don't have a choice."

"Yes you do!" Meg yelled from beyond Tim, and the woman's eyes darted to her.

"Meeeeeeg, shut up!" Tim whined.

"You promised!"

"I don't remember that."

"Jackass."

Tim stuck his tongue out in response, having given up already and now just messing around. Seeing this, the armored woman stood up straight, and began to look at the pair with bemusement.

"So..." She said, drawing the attention of the two. "Can I go back now?"

"Yeah, let me change the circle."

"Nooooooooooo..."

"Just take a seat, and ignore that idiot."

"Okay."

"But I want to fiiiiiiight...."

"Actually, you know what? Excuse me, miss?"

"Isabelle."

"Isabelle, would you like a fruit pie as an apology?"

"Oh come on..."

"That would be lovely."

"Alright then, Tim."

Faux sobbing, Tim descended to the ground floor to get his pie out of the oven, and brought it back up with tears in his eyes.

"My pride and joy...."

"Put it down."

"But it's my pie..."

"Down. Tim." Meg scowled at Tim as he placed the scalding hot pie and its container onto the table.

"And here." She continued, thrusting a sketch into his hands. "You said you can copy a drawing, get to it."

Tim grumbled to himself as he got to work altering the summoning circle in accordance with the picture, so that it would return Isabelle to where she had come from.

"I'm very sorry about this." Meg said the woman in armor as she joined her at the table that had been moved to the side.

"It's fine." Isabelle said, looking very amused. "I'm fairly certain that this is a dream, so I'm not upset."

"I am pretty dreamy." Tim piped up, before being hit on the head by a book flung from Meg.

"You shouldn't throw books like that." Isabelle admonished Meg.

"It's fine, they're magic, they fix themselves."

"Magic seems very useful."

"Well, the books are actually blessed. But yeah, magic's useful."

"Ah, so God works his miracles even here."

"That's one way of putting it, though they're mostly just arseholes."

Isabelle's eyes widened with shock at Meg's blasphemy.

"Hey!" Tim yelled, turning back and pointing at Meg. "You take that back!"

Meg sighed. "Except for Abraea."

"That's better."

"Abraea?" Isabelle asked, once again very confused.

"Yeah, one of the gods."

"There's more than one?"

Tim turned back again. "What, you only have one?"

"Of course, there is only one true God."

"Well I've met nine, and spoke to two more who don't seem to have bodies."

"I only met seven, and spoke to one of the disembodied ones."

"Seven?"

"I never actually met the Goddess of Fire, remember?"

"Oh yeah... Huh."

"This is very bizarre..."

"You'll be home soon, don't worry about it too much."

"What is your place like anyway?"

"Peaceful, now. There used to be great strife, but we put an end to that, and are now leading the world into a new age of security and glory."

"Sounds boring."

"I can't say I enjoy the busywork, but it's certainly better than the days before. I much prefer wearing this showpiece armour than my battle armour."

"So you did used to fight. I was wondering if this thing hadn't messed up."

"Don't knock my work."

"Yes, I am a paladin, and led a small group of my fellows, charging the enemies of our Lord."

Meg shifted uncomfortable at the piety of Isabelle, but she didn't seem to notice, lost as she was in her memories.

"We fought with the blessing of God, and his holy light burned away the affliction in our lands. I lost many of my kin along the way, but by the grace of God for every man we lost, ten more would take his stead, and together we honoured their wish for a better world."

"A horde of religious zealots on a path of bloody conquest. Now that sounds fun, they might actually fight back properly instead of fleeing at the first sign of bother."

"You think you could defeat the righteous army of God?"

"Wouldn't be the first God I beat."

"Excuse you?"

"I killed one of our gods."

Isabelle stared at Tim in stunned silence, unable to process what he just said.

"You killed a god?"

"Yeah. He started it, I finished it."

Isabelle turned to Meg for confirmation, but Meg just shrugged.

"I wasn't there for that, you'd have to ask one of the gods."

"...I'd like to go back now."

"I'm nearly done, calm your tits."

"How can you be so flippant about the murder of a God?"

"Because he was the God of War, he constantly got involved to make sure wars happened and he sent his Representative to murder me. Fuck 'im."

"Oh..." Isabelle exclaimed, having an epiphany.

"What?"

"I assumed your gods were similar to my God, but it would appear I was wrong."

"Probably, your first clue should've been that we have a few but you only have one. Unless he killed the other ones, it'd be weird if they were at all the same."

"True."

"Alright, I'm done."

"let me check."

"Rude."

Meg checked the circle to make sure it was fine, and then Isabelle stood atop it, cooled pie in hand.

"Well this was... Interesting." She said, her voice now with a metallic sound as it passed through her helmet.

"Again, very sorry about this."

"I am too, it was a waste of my time." Tim said, earning himself a clip round the ear.

They said goodbye to each other, and Tim activated the circle, since they hadn't recharged enough power yet, sending her back from whence she came.

"Well that was disappointing." Tim said unhappily. "I don't even get to have my pie."

"Frankly, I've just gained a new appreciation for the current lack of religious persecution in the world."

"You're welcome."

"Oh shut up."