Meanwhile on the other end of the Doloran-Roland interaction spectrum: a deus ex machina

When the Tale of the Timeless Tome DLC was announced, I thought the wedding was going to be the kick off for the latest DLC apocalypse. Turns out it wasn't but I still felt like kicking Roland in the feels anyway.

This chapter contains the Name Spoiler. Turn burn back if you haven't done the fifth memory lane quest and want to avoid spoilers.

Stick to the Script and Other Stories

By Bilbo-sama

Wedding Gift

The wedding of Queen Nerea and Archon-now-King Leander was the grandest event ever seen in Hydropolis.

At last, after three hundred years, the Queen was freed from her burden of keeping the city alive and unchanged in the face of death. She too had to obey the four pillars of law and could not truly express her feelings towards Leander until the four pillars were rescinded.

Roland Crane watched the proceeding behind the last row of cheering citizens with a heavy heart.

The smiling couple. The bride's beautiful dress. The groom's calm demeanor hiding his anxiety about what could go wrong (but didn't).

That was him once. He was only a decade older than his body's current age when he watched his fiancee walk down the aisle before him. The nervousness. The elation. The table the wedding cake rested on collapsing during the reception.

His breath hitched as he recalled his own. He immediately attempted to calm himself. No, he can't break down during a royal wedding.

He had to remain in control. Otherwise...

He felt a pull in his chest and he sighed. Blast, it's trying to start up again.

"Not now," he muttered to himself as his body began to glow, "I can't go just yet."

For days the magic that brought him to this world slowly wore off. He can sense that soon it will be time to go. He had been doing his best to out stubborn magic but he knew he can't keep resisting forever.

He had to make sure everyone will be okay before he leaves.

He sensed another familiar presence and he turned to see a man in a cloak that hid his features. But Roland instinctively knew who it was.

"Gateway is calling to you," stated Doloran quietly.

"Yes." Huh, so that's what this spell is named.

"Part of it has...her touch," his other self confessed and Roland knew who he meant by 'her.' "Alisandra herself had brought you here."

"How?"

Doloran shook his head, "I do not know. However, Gateway activates when the user wishes it to. I doubt Alisa remembered what she had done when she at last passed on. Something or someone is interfering."

Roland opened his mouth to ask why but thought better of it and closed it. He had a feeling that he knew why.

"Whatever it was you were tasked with," said Doloran, "has finished. There's no need for you to stay any longer."

"I don't want to go."

"I know," his soul mate sighed, "This world has become your home. I was angry when I realized that was what you came to feel. You, who had no need for fantasy and what ifs, ended up embracing it. Why not? It was your reality now."

"You didn't want me to move on," guessed Roland, "you wanted me to fight against the hand I was dealt with."

"Indeed. Which is why I wish to try to have you fight one last time," a small wand appeared in Doloran's hand. With it, he traced a symbol before lowering the wand. The symbol, resembling the letter Omega with a line dashed in the middle, floated in mid air before fading away inactivated.

"Remember this rune," instructed Doloran, "if you ever wish to return home someday."

Roland stared at his other with an incredulous expression before it melted away with a grateful smile.

"Thank you."

It had been seven years since Roland returned to the world of his birth. For a year he endured the culture shock and the grief of what he had lost until it hurt less and less and his smiles were more genuine.

But the second chance he was given was worth it. The world is entering an age of peace. His successor will be the one to truly usher in that era. All Roland did was open the door.

It was not without cost. His son managed two years of remission before his own body betrayed him hard. William, in the end, once again joined his mother. It took Roland a good while to recover before he regathered his strength to continue on. If Evan could do it...if Doloran is giving his all...then he could as well.

And now his role as President is over. Roland had no idea what to do with himself now.

...Perhaps he can begin on his memoirs.

He got out a stack of paper and stared at it as he wondered where to begin. He tapped the pencil against the paper as he recalled nearly sixty years of his life.

Roland smiled as he recalled Evermore. He recalled its young king who earnestly worked for a happy ending for everyone. He recalled the pirates who swore fealty to the boy. He recalled traveling the world.

He recalled the last words Doloran spoke to him before Roland departed.

Roland blinked as the pencil slid out of his hand.

How...how could he have forgotten?

Roland felt a surge of excitement as he picked up the pencil and carefully drew the symbol. The completed sign seemed to stare back at him as if asking him, "Well? Now what?"

Good question. Roland felt annoyed. Why didn't Doloran give him any more instructions? Just because he was a skilled sorcerer doesn't mean...!

He tapped the rune with the pencil and yelped as the spell began the shine and the energy channeling through the instrument destroyed it.

A stream of light shot up and went over his shoulder. He jumped out of his chair, turned around, and watched as a door formed in the office.

He...he did that?

Roland's shock turned into hope and he smiled.

He's coming home.

He opened the door with thoughts of Evermore (of home) and ran down the corridor until blue light engulfed his vision.

He stood on a hill overlooking a grassy plain. A gentle breeze ruffled through the grass and his graying hair.

In the distance stood a walled city.

Evermore.

Roland ran down the hill as joy filled his very being.

He was home.