(Start of Part 6)
In a world unlike any other, there was a man who dwelt alone and had done so for quite some time.
In this zone, he was ageless. Not through any divine power or any exceptional fortitude on his' part, but because of the very nature of the realm itself.
The sky around him was red and boundless, filled with distant haze of exploding suns. There was no ground to speak of, except for a sparse few rocks which were held in place by nothing more than a solid form of an unknown red energy, not unlike that which existed in the sky, that amalgamated together to form solid paths.
These paths led to archways, portals that were formed along with their counterparts in the physical world known as Ehb. In the past, these portals were built for the purpose of conveying various sizes and complements of armed forces through vast distances, without actually having to travel said distance, without very much risk of danger at all; an inter-dimensional shortcut if you will.
However, time passed and knowledge on how to activate and traverse these pathways became more and more sparse, and soon only a few would know of the existence of these portals, let alone the dimension that lay beyond them.
This chaotic realm was known as The Causeway.
However, he had long since given up staying idle in this world and had begun engineering a device powerful enough to transgress the very nature of time itself!
Though to understand the nature and reasoning for the man's course of action, one must delve into both his' history…and his' identity.
This man once held a name, but he was simply known as, The Dapper (A/N-Just means proper or elegant) Old Gent.
And to understand his' actions, we must first delve back into a bit of the history for this world.
In the kingdom of Ehb, for a great length of time in its history, there was a militarized faction known as The Legion. The legion was led by a family line known as the Montbarrons, as well as other notable figures and lines as well, since its formation. These men and women were peacekeepers all over the realm, taking great discipline and pride in their work, eliminating crime and providing justice and court rulings whenever they could.
However, the peace would not last, and external forces would come to seek their end.
At some point, a young woman named Jeyne Kassynder came from the eastern lands, raised within the Azunite Church who would later worship her as a prophet or goddess herself.
She would come to claim her right to the throne sometime after the legion assassinated her late father, the king. Accusing the legion of committing an act of treason against her family and the throne, she swiftly turned the populace against them and finished them off by killing the then-ruling commander of the 10th Legion, Hugh Montbarron, at the Mournweald forest; a place which was laden with mystical energy.
With the 10th Legion all but annihilated, the rest of the kingdom's armed forces were in disarray as Jeyne waged war against the kingdom of Ehb in order to claim the throne by force, with the war lasting twenty to thirty long years.
However, descendants-in-hiding of the legion trained and grew until a time where they would reunite once again to form the last remnants of the legion, and the last hope for the kingdom of Ehb.
However, they were few, numbering only four, but were quite powerful through their strengths, though some of their skills were a bit more orthodox than others. The members included: Lucas: knight and son of the late Hugh Montbarron. Katarina: gunslinger, criminal and illegitimate daughter of Hugh Montbarron. Reinhart: descendant of the mages of the legion as well as a tinkerer of mystical devices. Finally, there was Anjali: an Archon (Fire spirit/Messenger of the Creator Gods) and spearman who suffered from amnesia during her rebirth, unable to recall her previous life before her untimely demise as well as the reasoning for her rebirth in the first place.
All of these heroes were recruited by one of the final surviving members of the legion, Odo: spy and scout of the 10th legion, who found and raised them all, separately, where they would be safe and grow to reclaim the kingdom of Ehb for the legion.
Through much trial and tribulation, this group of heroes was able to beat back Jeyne Kassynder's forces, eventually defeating Jeyne Kassynder herself, before deciding to spare her, though only if she swore to rebuild the kingdom of Ehb and reforge the bonds between the nations. Bound by this promise by The Radiant Youth (an ancient and powerful spirit taking on the form of a young child), she kept true to her promise and persuaded her followers to cease aggression with the kingdom, undoing all the damage which she helped commit.
However, before the journey's end, the group carried out many important tasks throughout the kingdom, one of which took them around the capital city of Stonebridge. And in that city, they found numerous conspiracies and plots carried out in secret under and throughout the city, all eventually leading to the one at the head of it all, The Dapper Old Gent.
Once the heroes discovered his' ploy, the Gent used the city's robotic sentries against them, throwing the city into chaos and carry out justice against the city council. Though, before he could fully carry out his' coup and eliminate the leaders, he was forced to escape in a Causeway portal just before the hero's arrival.
Following after him, the heroes faced off against the Dapper Old Gent while fending off his' horde of rogue machines, thus forcing him to retreat back to the hall of Stonebridge where he was arrested and restrained by the heroes and council alike.
When questioned about his' motives for the coupe, he reasoned that he did it to bring retribution to those who led the populace against the 10th legion in the city some odd years ago, where the legion was slaughtered, and their reputation slandered. When questioned about his' identity, where he surprised them with the fact that he was a member of the legion, being an apprentice of the Grand Mage at the time, and told them that his' real name was: Archambaud du Payen (A/N. Yeah, even I couldn't pronounce this at first.), last survivor of the legion, until he met Odo that is.
After being questioned and reasoning with the group about his' actions, they decided upon his' fate, whether to have him judged for his' crimes within the city's judicial system, or hold him in the legion chapterhouse and use his' knowledge to aid the legion. So, when the heroes decided upon his' fate, they chose to…
…Spare him. Deciding that his' knowledge was too precious to be wasted, and that he would be of better use to the legion alive, rather than be tried and sentenced to certain death.
After the journey's end, and his' fate decided, the Gent made good on his' promise to aid the legion, taking back control of the sentinels watching over the relics under the Grand Chapterhouse in Stonebridge (which were incidentally set off by the heroes in their first exploration of the location) using his' knowledge of the arcane.
However, he was unable to leave the confines of the chapterhouse without raising the ire of the city and drawing an angry crowd with him. (And not being able to go to the chapterhouse in Raven's Rill due to it being owned by a woman by the name of Leona, who asked for the heroes to claim it for her in order to establish a home for her wandering sisters (the Lescanzi.)). This captivity eventually drove him to madness, and he returned to the causeways, finding freedom at last. There he would dwell, even to this day.
And with or without him, life moved on, and the fate of the world as he once knew it was unknown.
However, now that whatever semblance of rationality he once held finally left him during his' solitude in this realm, he aimed to carry out a plan to alter the very concept of fate itself.
However, someone else knew of his' plans and aimed to put a stop to them before it was too late.
(Causeway; Era-Unknown)
Amongst the endless expanse of sky known as the Causeway was a cluster of rocks which formed a platform, and on this platform a man stood, forging a powerful device capable of reversing the flow of time itself, made to fulfill one purpose:
Preventing the legion's massacre at the hands of the city of Stonebridge.
The man worked tirelessly, almost fervently, on the device, intent on using his' knowledge of the future as well as all the experiences that he gathered over the years to rescue his' fallen brethren from their untimely demise, ignorant of the consequences that would follow from altering the space-time continuum.
Though in order for his' dream to be realized, the Gent had to get his' resources for the device through several means, which were: his' own innate knowledge of the arcane, using the causeway portals to travel into and out of the realm of men in order to gather the various pieces of information and components in order to actually build the device, as well as using the unique nature of the causeway-dimension itself to keep himself ageless, allowing him to work on the device indefinitely.
Working feverishly on his' project, he failed to hear the portal silently opening up on the other side of the platform behind him, as well as a certain familiar figure quietly stepping out of it.
The Crusader made his' way towards the Gent before stopping a short distance away from him.
"Gent." He said, trying to get the man's attention which had previously been focused on the device's construction.
The elderly figure jumped, pausing in his' work before he turned around to look over his' shoulder at the newly arrived figure behind him. Opting to stand in-between the new arrival and his' life's work, he questioned the man's sudden appearance.
"Who are you? A-and what are you doing here?" He asked, his' body shaking randomly; Though whether it was from anxiety or mental instability was unclear.
"Who I am is inconsequential, though the reason why I'm here is what you should be concerned about." The Crusader stated, fixing the man in front of him with a hard and serious expression.
"Then why are you here?!" He asked, perturbed by the stranger's presence in his' domain. Meanwhile, he slowly took a few steps back towards the device.
"I know what you're going to do Gent, and I can't allow it. You're meddling in forces you don't understand, and you're going to endanger not only yourself but all the lives around you!" The Crusader stated, swiping his' hand in front of him dramatically as he spoke to the man.
"No! I-I can't stop, I won't! Not now! My work is nearly complete, and I won't let you stop me!" The Gent said once he gathered the device before stepping up to the center of the platform and attaching the device onto his gauntlet before continuing. "Even in its incomplete state, it should still be powerful enough to defeat you posthaste!" He finished, the area he was standing on raising up several feet above the ground, giving him a vantage point over the area whilst activating a shield around him.
"If your goal here is to stop me, then I won't allow that. My fallen comrades will have vengeance!" He shouted before he hunched over slightly as he condensed magical power between his' hands.
(Play: Carl Orff- O Fortuna ~ Carmina Burana)
"So, it's going to be like that then, eh?" The Crusader muttered to himself as he summoned forth his' guitar, Jasmine, in its flattened and battle-ready state.
With various magical energies coalescing around his' form and into his' grasp, the Gent sent the tumultuous ball of energy hurdling towards the Crusader, the sphere of energy encroaching upon him at an alarming pace.
"Whoa!" The Crusader stated as he dove to the side with his' guitar. Getting up from his' previously prone position, he sprinted away from the impact point of the magical attack as he ran along the perimeter of the platform.
The condensed ball of energy impacted the spot where the Crusader previously stood, illuminating it for a brief flash of light. Then, the point of area as well as its immediate area of effect started to crack along the fabric of space-time before freezing in place.
"Huh, well I don't want to get hit by that." The traveler stated, continuing to run around the spherical shield around the Gent as he strummed his' guitar to cast lightning on the shield surrounding the gent, weakening it bit by bit.
"No! I will save the legion if it is the last thing I do!" The Gent shouted before condensing more energy and once again sending it in the path of the Crusader.
"Shi—" But whatever the Crusader was going to say next was cut off as he jumped back away from the bolt of energy, though he didn't realize how close to the edge he was and stumbled as he tried to keep his' balance. However, by that time the shockwave from the magical blast reached him, and knocked him off the edge of the platform completely.
"Hmph, petty fool." He harrumphed to the fallen (no pun intended) warrior as he started to lower his' platform.
A moment later along the edge of the platform, a hand reached out over the side of the platform and back onto the top of it, followed closely by an arm and soon enough the rest of the body.
The Gent noticed this movement at the edge of his' vision and halted his' descent as he noticed his' opponent's return onto the platform before he promptly reactivated his' defenses in preparation for the Crusader's counter-attack.
'Well, it seems like this won't be as easy as I thought' The Gent thought, sighing in frustration.
"Why couldn't you just stay down there? It would have so much easier for the both of us!" He said as he charged another attack, one stronger than the previous ones before it in order to blast his' enemy from existence once and for all…or at least off the platform and into the endless void below them, whichever happened first.
Soon enough, the Crusader pulled himself back onto the floating platform and took a moment to gather himself before he re-summoned his' enchanted guitar.
"I can't let you do this Gent. If you continue along this path, you're going to be doing more harm than good. Even if this works, you don't know how this will all play out afterwards. You could be dealing with more than just the destruction of the legion. The entire world could be decimated by your choice!" The Crusader paused a moment to breathe and collect his' thoughts before resuming the discussion in a much calmer tone.
"It doesn't have to be like this, just cease in your plans now. The Legion wouldn't want this! They-" However, he was cut off as the Gent spoke up.
"And what would you know what they'd want!? Those were my brothers and sisters that died on that day all those years ago! They didn't defend themselves when they chapterhouse was mobbed, and the people rewarded them with slaughter! You have no idea how much I lost that day, None!" The Gent said, finally condensing enough raw power between his' hands for his' attack. "I will have vengeance against those that killed them in the past, and I will make this all right once again. I can even stop the war from happening altogether by eliminating Jeyne Kassynder's reign before it even starts. But if you're going to stand in the way of all that, then so be it."
"So where will it end? I know it won't end at just trying to kill me. You'll dispose of anyone who you see as a possible threat to the legion, won't you?" The traveler asked.
"If they plan to destroy the legion, then they seek to destroy the very foundation of the kingdom as well. The legion has always kept the throne and its nation safe. What those people did that day was an atrocity! Even after all the legion did to keep them safe, even saving them from their own king. But with a few honeyed words from an outsider, they turned against their protectors and the nation suffered for it!" He sighed. "But it isn't like you could understand that. You aren't even a part of the legion, and I'm not even sure you are a part of Ehb at all, if your apparel and weapons are anything to go by." The Gent concluded.
"No, no I'm not from the kingdom of Ehb, though I can understand your plight. You're angry and you want justice for them, but this isn't the way to do it. Why not go with the legion as it is now? Why not help them rebuild what remains and help them learn from these past mistakes?" The Crusader pleaded.
The Gent shook his' head in exasperation, before saying back to the man, "I could do that and so much more if I were to go back in time to save the legion of my day. I could even recover the knowledge and experience of those who existed back then. I can still save them, and with their help I can prepare for whatever threats may come." The cultured man reasoned, trying to persuade the traveler to his' line of reasoning.
The Crusader though, was still unconvinced. "The threats I am talking about are much more than just that. You can't keep this device out of the hands of those who would seek to use it for malicious purposes forever. Even using the device as it is, is tearing apart the very fabric of space-time itself! You need to stop this before it's too late. Just get rid of the device and-"
"Enough! You have no right to tell me what I can and cannot do! And once you are out of the way, nobody will be able to stop my plans. I'm sorry it has to end like this, but I can't let you stop me before I try…try to save them all." The Old Gent's voice lowering to a whisper at the end of the statement before continuing with renewed vigor. "This ends now!" He threw his' attack forward, the blue and white ball of energy streaming towards the Crusader, intent on finishing him off.
'I'm not completely sure if my armor or my abilities can get around both time-manipulation and magic, it'd be best not to risk getting hit.' And with that thought, he activated his' Divine Armor, or more specifically its flight ability.
The ball of energy zoomed in on its target, its humming getting louder with every second of flight.
Meanwhile, the Crusader's armor finally formed its several pairs of wings, the warrior tensing as he prepared to launch himself off the platform, but not before retaliating with an attack of his' own.
'Hayley's Comet' Getting off a few quick licks for his' guitar-solo-attack (Eric Calderone-Hayley's Comet, 0:18-0:26) and casted it towards his' opponent.
Coming from behind and above its summoner, the definitive characteristics of the attack became visible. Looking at it as it closed in, it seemed to be quite sizeable, perhaps the size of a vehicle, and seemed to be made up of white-hot flames whilst its surface seemed to be flickering with arcs of lightning.
A moment later, the humming of the Gent's attack grew to an incredibly ferocious crackling as it made contact with the ground at the Crusader's position, creating a huge explosion of power as well as creating arcs of electro-magnetic energy and wisps of magical power before once again freezing in place.
Meanwhile, the attack from the Crusader raced towards the gent unimpeded, hitting the shield dead-on, creating an immense explosion of fire and electricity that licked at the surface of the shield for a few more moments, weakening it to the point where the shield dissipated altogether, the effects of the attack fading away as well.
As the dust cleared up from around the impact point of both attacks, it was apparent that there wasn't anything left where the Crusader once stood besides the remains of the Gent's attack, as well as nothing being in the sky in the Gent's line of sight.
Lowering his' arms from his' face as he guarded himself against the Crusader's attack, the Gent examined the area in front and above him, not seeing a trace of the Crusader anywhere, relaxed his' posture. His' breathing was labored, the fight taking a significant toll on his' magical reserves; perhaps a result from using the device in conjuncture with his' own abilities.
However, the sound of a blade cutting through air interrupted the silence and the Gent swiftly turned around to an alarming sight, but by then it was already too late.
In the air above him, previously above and behind him, the Crusader flew towards the surprised man whilst in mid-swing, his' weapon already on its course to quickly and mercilessly meet its designated target.
A moment later, a scream was heard before swiftly being cut-off by the subsequent sound of flesh and bone being sliced apart. Then, there was silence.
(Several moments earlier with the Crusader)
Once his' solo was cast, the Crusader back-flipped off the edge of the platform before righting himself, going under the platform as he both heard and felt the impacts of the attacks above him.
Under the cover of the booming sounds of the explosions left by the attacks, the Crusader hastily made his' way high above the battlefield before turning around to survey the effects the attacks left.
Noticing that his' attack left the Gent defenseless, the Crusader swiftly dove towards the man, gathering his' scythe off his' back and activating its blade.
Once he was in range, the Crusader tensed himself before beginning his' swing towards his' target, intent on ending this threat once and for all. Almost hesitating as the Gent turned around, a shocked look appearing in the aged man's eyes, he forced himself to follow through on his' attack and as he swung the weapon around he turned his' head away from the soon-to-be horrific scene at the last moment before impact.
In the next instant, the sound of flesh being cut hit his' ears, promptly followed by the Gent's severed head falling to the ground with a dull, wet thud, the man's body twitching minutely in place before soon collapsing to the ground as if it were a puppet whose strings had finally been cut.
(Resumed)
Landing back on the platform in a kneeling position, the Crusader deactivated his' weapon before straightening himself out and shouting, "DECAPITATIIIOOONN- blurgh!" Unable to finish the war-cry due to his' sudden shock-induced vomiting, the Crusader bent forward, hands on his' knees as he emptied the contents of his' stomach on the ground in front of him, the mess itself seeping away into the cracks of the fragmented ground below him and drifting down into the endless, red void.
A couple minutes went by before the regurgitation and dry heaves from this involuntary action stopped, the traveler breathing heavily as he started to recover from the repulsive action.
He was both surprised and unsurprised by this occurrence- Killing somebody was no small matter, and no matter who you were, it was always a harrowing experience to deal with, especially on your own.
"…Alright, that was for you Eddie, but I'm not doing that ever again. Not if I can help it…" The Crusader muttered as he closed his' eyes, sighing tiredly as he stayed in his' bent over position for the time being.
(Sometime later)
After assuring himself that his' actions were necessary and justified as self-preservation, the Crusader was able to at least come to terms with the Gent's death before making his' way to said individual, a queasy feeling beginning to form once again as he neared the body.
The Crusader was not entirely unfamiliar with death- The brief encounter with the ruthless, otherworldy Gorgon he beheaded for his' meeting with Athena being proof of that. However, this was the first time he had ever had to deal with the death of a human being. While the Gent became a shadow of his' once-wise self, he still fought to the end for what many would consider a heroic purpose, if limited in its total perception of the effects it would cause.
Despite this, the Crusader still couldn't shake off the thought that there could have been another way to deal with this, that the Gent could have somehow been persuaded to take another course of action. This and many other thoughts went through the Crusader's guilt-ridden mind before slowly coming to a halt as he realized that worrying about it now was useless. The Gent was dead and nothing he could do would change that, other than asking an incredible miracle from his' maker, but deep down he realized that perhaps the Gent was too far-gone and that his' actions may have perhaps been a mercy; The threat the mage posed being far too great to have left him alive and or imprisoned only to escape through his' own abilities or external means in order to wreak havoc or have his' knowledge used by others for nefarious purposes.
Though realizing that his' actions in the previous world of Ancient Greece could be considered hypocritical, as he himself changed the past fates of his' own world in a time before his' own, he resolved that those actions were made not with the intent to cause lasting harm, but in defense of himself and others who would have suffered an otherwise horrific fate and that any effects his' actions may have created would have faded long before the time of the modern world, ultimately affecting nothing more than the immediate fates of those he interacted with.
'But then again, some of the worst things imaginable have been committed with the best of intentions…' He thought solemnly, thinking back to a time when he first heard the saying some odd years ago, though it provided only a small means of comfort for him at the moment.
The man that was once known as Archambaud du Payen, the mage apprentice-turned-master of the legion, died and became the figure collectively known as The Dapper Old Gent, criminal mastermind and terrorist of Stonebridge. The respectable legionnaire that he once was dying along with his' brethren at the Grand Chapterhouse of Stonebridge all those years ago.
The Crusader walked forward until he stood above the remains of his' adversary, taking a minute to gaze at the fallen man before him.
"I'm sorry it had to end this way, but you left me no choice. You were a threat to a great deal many lives of the people of this world, and who knows what you would have done if I had let you go free?" He paused, closing his' eyes as he sighed tiredly. "But, despite all of that. In a world without treachery, who knows? Perhaps we could have been friends, once upon a time… I truly am sorry, Gent…" Opening his' eyes, he looked upon the fallen man's frozen-in-fear countenance and silently pondered the man's fate. And in doing so, a sudden feeling of guilt and comprehension of what he had truly done hit him full force, impacting both his' psyche and state of mind with a force equal to that of a sledgehammer.
"May God have mercy on your soul… and my own." The Crusader muttered to himself aloud, although it wasn't really meant much for the man below as it was more for just trying to set things right with the Crusader spiritually.
Once that was said and done, the Crusader turned his' attention to the device the Gent so fervently worked on for all this time, eager to see what exactly such a mad-Genius was capable of creating.
The device was integrated onto the wrist of the Old Gent's gauntlet, being nothing more than a small yet intricate piece of technology coursing with unknown energy.
The device itself was able to fit in the palm of one's hand, yet was fairly heavy and warm due to its components and mechanisms. The center of it was a clear material not unlike glass, if much stronger, that showed off the blue-white glow of the energies within as they flowed in lines along and around the device itself. The metal covering the rest of the device was a warm, golden color. The metal overlapping and fitting in such a way as to fit perfectly together with one another to remain both functional and sturdy in its design, making it incredibly resistant against any type of trauma, mystical or physical.
If what the Gent said about the machine was true and it could actually allow travel through time, then this device was incomprehensibly powerful, able to change the very fate of the world itself.
However, such power could grow to corrupt a person and the possibilities it, or the user, would create could be incomprehensibly disastrous if they were used without the wisdom to see it through properly. Knowing this, the Crusader initially felt that the best course of action would be to destroy the device and eliminate the risk of disaster altogether. But, as he looked on at the device as it sat idly in his' hand, he soon grew to realize that perhaps there was another option he could explore.
Maybe the device could theoretically be altered to do the same job, but perhaps in a different way…
(Unknown amount of time later-Causeway Realm)
In a dimension with no perception of time, existence itself seemed to lose impact. Moments became minutes, minutes became hours, and hours turned into days; All of it meaning nothing as time itself seemed to be unable to affect the sole individual left in that realm.
The Crusader wiped at the sweat gathering at his' brow as he continued to tinker and toil at the project at hand.
After disposing of the Gent's body through the thorough means of disintegration, the Crusader spent an extended amount of time in the Causeway, learning about the device while also noticing several of the qualities about the dimension itself during his' stay: One, his' perception of time seemed to come to a halt, his' body seeming to be unable to age; Experimenting and monitoring this through observing the rate of growth of his' hair over "time". Finding that the perception of time here halted the progression of reality itself in those who inhabited the Causeway. And two, with the perception of time lost, all biological needs were no longer required, or rather put on hold until the occupier left the dimension.
Over the course of his' stay, the Crusader stumbled upon the notes and workings of the Gent on his' device. Studying and examining the device, the traveler was able to eventually decipher and understand the designs left behind on the device's functions and inner-workings.
Despite not actually constructing and building the device itself, altering the device was a colossal undertaking, both physically and mentally. Without a means to use or learn magical abilities in this world, the Crusader had to make do with his' own physical prowess, his' own brand of enchanted abilities as well as his' mental aptitude to understand the inner workings of an object through its dissection and inspection of its underlying components.
The Crusader figured that if the device could not be used confidently to travel back through the passage of time, it could in a sense, like the world he was currently in, rather be used to halt the progression of time outside of the device unless in close proximity to the device itself; which in this instance meant being in immediate contact with it as to not be caught in its effects, thus not affecting its operator, namely the Crusader.
After much trial and tribulation, the Crusader successfully completed the alterations to the device, allowing it to successfully cease the progression of time itself along its current plane of existence. Being that the device was purely physical, if counting the energy within it as such, it could in theory travel along with its courier, the Crusader, and being infused with the energy of said individual, would stay anchored to be accessible to only him, self-destructing if it were to be dissected or tampered with by someone other than its architect.
However, along with its base purpose, a subsidiary function was added onto the device as well. Transmuting the components and implanting the workings of a clock onto the face of the device, being able to do so by being taught the art of watchmaking at a young age by his' uncle Joe, the clear material on the face of the device was fitted with an underlying mesh of mechanisms and instruments to record the passage of time, none of which affected the main functions of the device itself.
In essence, it became the most powerful pocket-watch in all of existence.
Finishing the final touches on the device, the Crusader picked up and scrutinized the device heavily for any defects or miscalculations and was satisfied not to find any. Therefore, he proceeded to activate the device by pressing down on the button on the side, the device reading the energy that flowed through the Crusader to confirm the identity of its architect. Instantly, the device halted the flow of time of the world around it, the instruments on it that recorded time inter-dimensionally (Quite the convenient feature if he had to say so himself) stopping as well upon the device's activation.
Satisfied that the project was a success, the Crusader resumed the flow of time (as much as time was perceived to flow in this world) and fastened the chain of the newly christened Pocket-Watch in the pocket inside of his' robe before depositing the device itself in the pouch as well, keeping it close to heart and easily acceptable at all times.
Deciding that his' work here was done, the Crusader resolved to head to the last place of his' training before he truly began his' journey; Deciding that this next location would be used in order to fulfill the final request of a desolate being.
Making sure all his' gear was prepared and ready for use, the Crusader took one last look at the endless red sky he had grown accustomed to for this unknowable amount of time, he closed his' eyes and took a deep breath into his' lungs before expelling it. Mentally prepared for the course of actions ahead, he nodded to himself before requesting a portal for departure.
A moment later, his' requested portal appeared and opened up before him, humming silently as it silently awaited his' entrance into it.
Taking a moment to gaze into the depths of the eternal night that seemed to constitute the portal, he walked forward and into the gateway.
Then, he was gone, perhaps forever…
(End of Part 6)