Chapter Eighty-Six: Something Actually Happens

"One delivery of dirt!" Tim yelled up to the top of the library, having just finished unloading the merchant's cart.

Meg poked her head over the balcony's edge. "Put them in the basement please!"

Tim grumbled as he wrapped his arms around the barrels that were sat in the doorway. They were larger, and more numerous than he expected, and he wasn't happy about it. He trudged downstairs into the basement, and walked past a door through which shuffling and moaning could be heard. On his return journey, Tim poked his head in.

"You know, you guys could be helping." He said. The zombies turned their heads to look at him, before promptly ignoring him.

"...Fuckin' freeloaders."

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"Alright, they're down there."

"Thanks, was there anything else brought with them?"

Tim dropped a small stack of papers onto her desk. "Some notes, and a manifest."

"Thanks."

"Before you go through all that... Can you do me a favour?"

"...What?"

"Nothing nefarious, don't worry... You know how there are transportation circles?"

"...Yeah?"

"And you know how you found a way to activate them without any personal loss?"

"...Yeah?"

"Well, can you write me a report on all that, how it works, how well it works, time requirements for charging, and the rest?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm running out of money, and I know people that would pay through the nose for that knowledge."

Meg groaned apprehensively.

"Come on, you'll have the merchant's guild in your debt, a steady supply of income if we play it right and it'll make people's lives better. Think about it, emergency supplies could be transferred at the drop of a hat, letters can be sent with no wait time, and you'll never have to interact with people you don't know. There are no downsides to this."

"Yeah. You know, that's actually a good idea. I'm impressed Tim, I didn't think you had any in you."

"I shall accept the compliment and disregard the snide remark, I know it's hard for you to be nice."

"Yeah whatever. I've got my notes around here somewhere, I'll have it written for tomorrow."

"Sweet."

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"That was a while ago, and he's just been gone most of the time since. Using his new money to go whoring I assume."

Meg finished telling Helen about why it'd been so long since they last came by, and Tim's face twisted with indignation.

"Excuse me. I've been very fucking busy."

"Doing what?" Meg asked incredulously. "You have done nothing to indicate that you are capable of anything beyond manual labour."

"Well let's see, first, I got us a deal with the merchant's guild."

"Based off of my work."

"Second, I am now a co-founder of the farmer's guild. Which is essentially a network for farmers to share information, and work as a unified bloc to enable stronger negotiating power with governments and the merchant's guild. Despite the fact that I do not, and have never, actually owned any land. All so it's easier for you to do your research."

"Oh... Well, you never told me-"

"Third, I went around to all the magic users registered with the institute, and a few I know that aren't, and convinced them all to sign up to have a copy of their research stored at the library. Even Feroci, who literally tried to kill me when I got there. There should be a letter coming for you, by the way."

"That reminds me actually." Helen interjected, quite amused. "I do have a few letters that are for you."

"Thank you. And finally, I'm the one that had to talk to the merchant's guild, and set things up so they'd even bother reading your report."

"...He never told me any of this."

"And you just assumed I was fucking around for weeks."

"To be fair, that is all you did before now."

"Fuck you."

"So..." Helen interjected. "You two have been getting on fine then?"

"Yeah, things are going well."

"Can't really complain."

"No-one's attacked me in a while."

"And Holly's still going strong."

"I meant to ask, but is that the same horse that you bought from us?"

"Yeah, why?"

"She was old when you bought her, and it's been over a decade, how is she still alive?"

"You don't need to worry about that, she's happy. On a completely different note how's Charlie?  His work going well?"

"Yeah, he's doing fine, Perry has him on a job at the moment. Just delivery though, anything more and he'd have to apply to the guild."

"Hmm..." Tim leant back, and nodded to himself in thought.

"So, any plans for the immediate future?" Helen asked.

"Work, mostly." Meg said.

"Well, I've got a decent amount of money again, I've worked hard, and nobody appreciates it. So I think I'll drink until I pass out."Tim said with a showy smile.

And that's just what he did, much to the amusement and shame of everyone in the vicinity.

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The full moon hung high over the library once more, and Tim and Meg were preparing for another summon.

"This month went by really fast."

"It's because you were actually working for a change, instead of just lazing around."

"Maybe."

"So you know, I've set up a return circle at the back, and it has its own power storage circles.  That way we don't have to bother messing around if nothing happens again."

"Something better happen."

"Don't be a dick."

"No."

Meg sighed, and set the circle off. She backed away as the circle began to glow, and Tim waited with a smile as the air popped, and a figure appeared.

An average looking young man stood there, with short, black hair, and wearing slightly baggy clothes that Meg didn't recognise. He was a little dirty, speckled with stone dust, and was wearing a pair of glasses that had magnifying lenses that could slide over the eyes.

The man appeared to have been focusing on something at chest level when he came through, and was shocked by the sudden transition.

"What the..." He looked around, and seeing the the circle on the floor, and the people watching him, he sighed. "Live long enough, I suppose..." He said to himself, before turning to Tim, annoyed. "What do you want?"

"I wanna fight." Tim said cheerfully.

"Well that's unfortunate, I'm busy. Send me back."

"No."

"Tim..."

"Shut up, I didn't get a fight last time and I won't take no for an answer." Tim's light-hearted demeanor seemed to indicate that he was joking, but he held his ground regardless.

"Look kid..." The man said, taking off his glasses. "I don't want to have to hurt you."

"I'm hundreds of years old."

"Kid." The man said, quite unimpressed. "If you want a fight, try someone else."

"Sounds like a pain, so I think I'll stick with you." Tim said. The man's indifference to his age intrigued him, and he was far too interested to let him leave now. This would usually be the point where Meg would reign him in, but she couldn't help but wonder about the man herself, and kept quiet.

The man sighed, and folded his glasses away. "You know my problem? I want to just overpower you quickly, but I don't know how durable you are, and it'd weigh on my conscience if I accidentally killed you. So how about you do the smart thing, and just send me on my way?"

"Oh don't you worry about me." Tim said with a grin, and lifted his hands in front of him. Extending a finger, he grabbed it with his other hand. Meg winced at the crunch, and Tim revealed his broken finger. The finger snapped back into place, and all the while Tim never looked away from the man.

"I'm quite resilient, you see?"

"Well in that case, even more so." The man said, looking around. "This is a nice building, I wouldn't want to cause any damage."

"The building and its contents are all the same. No damage done here will stick."

The man stared at Tim, sizing him up. "...You're really not going to let this go, are you?"

"Nope."

The man sighed, and opened his arms a little. Tim looked at him for a second, before shrugging, and walking up to him. Standing at arm's length away, he looked at the man, who was a little shorter than him.

"You sure you don't wanna prepare yourself?" Tim asked, bemused smile on his face.

"For you? No."

"Well okay..." Tim said, and Meg could see his body begin to glow as he concentrated his power. After a momentary stare-off, Tim's arm shot out for the man's head.

And then Tim disappeared.

A shockwave shattered the glass opposite them as Tim flew through the skylight faster than the speed of sound. The glass above was struck so hard that it left only a hole where Tim had gone through without shattering, before the shockwave destroyed it too. Meg's ears rang with pain, and she looked back to the man who had sent Tim away.

He stood, arm raised in the air, not even clenched into a fist. It looked less as if he'd just hit someone through the ceiling, and more like he was lazily pointing upwards. Meg saw a movement across the floor out of the corner of her eye, and as she looked for it, she felt the pain in her ears subside.

"You know, you did very well to summon me." The man said, and Meg turned back to look at him again, and found him staring directly at her. She stared in stunned silence for a second, before snapping out of it.

"W-Well, it's mostly random. I don't even know what I've summoned till it's here."

"Still..." The man said, before frowning, and leaning to look past her.

"Oh for goodness sake." He said, and walked towards Meg. Meg shied away from him, but he stepped passed her, to the balcony's edge. Meg followed his gaze, and saw what he was looking at.

Tim shot through the front of the library, where the glass was attempting to reform. He looked like a crazed animal, and Meg saw the light around him burn like fire, as he flew towards the man.

This did nothing to help however, as the man decided that if up didn't work, then he would try sending Tim down. Tim smashed straight through the second floor, and the ground floor, and the building began to shake as he slammed into the foundation.

The man stood for a while, staring down into the dust where he had sent Tim. With no sign that Tim was coming back up to try again, he turned to Meg.

"Send me home." He said, and Meg nodded.

"Th...There's a circle at the back-"

"Good." The man didn't let her finish, and went to the back of the third floor. The building trembled slightly as it reconstructed itself below them, and the man found the return circle. Standing on it, he pointed his finger down, and disappeared in a flash of light.

Meg stared silently at where the man had been a second ago, then jumped over the edge, and flew downstairs.

"Tim?!" She yelled into the spot where the hole was just closing up. After peering through it for a moment, she turned and headed for the door leading into the basement. As she approached it however, Tim stumbled out, clutching his head.

"Tim!" She yelled, relieved to see that he wasn't dead, or stuck under the foundation.

"Please don't shout." He said, wincing. "Is he gone?"

"Yeah, he left."

"Right." Tim staggered to a seat, and sat down.

"Are you okay?"

"...I think I passed out."

"You can pass out from injury?"

"No, from exertion. Usually when I strengthen my body or something I leave a little leeway, in case it's too much for me and breaks, so I can just take the damage and move into a new position. Strategy, you know? But in cases like that, like when the big monster stamped on me, I use all my mental strength, and it takes a toll on my mind when it fails. I remember charging at him, then I woke up in the basement."

"Who do you think he is?"

"Don't know, but his clothes were kinda like what Death wore. So there's a very good chance we accidentally summoned a force of nature."

"Well he certainly slapped you around."

"Yeah, it was very nostalgic. Although she at least held back a little."

"Judging from how he spoke, I think he did too."

"Yeah..." Tim looked up, at the pieces of the second floor that were levitating back into place, and the glass shards that were fitting together.

"Meg."

"What?"

There was a long silence, and eventually, without looking at her, Tim turned his head down.

"I'm going to bed."

"...Okay."