He falls, and falls, and falls… until he imagines a destination, and the endless black around him breaks apart to reveal a dark and dreary neighborhood. A regrettably familiar level, very much unwanted by him — and yet, fate has brought him here. "Lovely…" he grumbles to himself. "Here I am… again."
Memories of traversing the dusty sidewalks and slaying eyes in the darkness flash through his mind. Of all the damned realms to find myself within… Well, of course he would be here. If there is any level dangerous enough to emit a near-irresistible call for help, it would be this suburban nightmare.
"Well, then…" he murmurs to himself, hoisting his sword over his shoulder, "I suppose that I must find those in need of saving…"
After traversing for some time, he is alerted to a call for help. Immediately, he breaks into a sprint as he feverishly searches the streets for the human in danger. He refuses to fail anyone, no matter the cost, and he'll be damned if he fails this one like so many others before.
"Hey!" he shouts as he finds his prey. "You!"
The giant eyeball pauses, slowly turning from its target — a defenseless mortal — to face him. It stares at him, seemingly studying his strange attire and choice of weaponry without so much as a word or a grunt. It affixes him with a stare, and then, light engulfs him.
The golden beam of light very quickly dissipates as he slashes his sword at it, cleaving the front of the eye in twain and causing the creature to recoil, emitting an ungodly roar of pain as it struggles to process what just happened to it — something that it won't ever get the chance to do, as he swiftly finishes it off with a horizontal slash that sends its two halves falling back down to the ground.
After wiping the blood away from his faceplate with his arm, he turns towards the mortal that he had just rescued. "Are you alright?" he gently asks.
They are too petrified to even speak. He understands; such an occurrence is common with those he saves.
"…Very well." With his sword, he promptly slices a slit in reality next to them, ignoring the way that they tense up believing themselves to be the blade's target — before pushing them through the rift and willing it closed before any horrid entity can pursue them. "Back to your home, then."
Home… He doesn't know what their home is. But he can take a guess and assume it's that sprawling city full of humans and surprisingly docile entities. They'll be safe there, and they won't have to go through this horrid place ever again — not unless they want to, of course, which is surprisingly common for humans like those in groups.
humans and their lack of survival instinct… But it's not like he is in any position to judge.
Something runs up to him from behind. He turns around, just in time to see a massive optic nerve reach for him and coil around his body, trying to crush him in its vice grip like a snake. He simply grimaces from beneath his helmet and cuts through the appendage with a casual swipe of his blade, falling onto his feet as the owner of the nerve screeches and staggers back in pain.
"Try it…" he dares the beast. "See what good it does you."
As if rising to the challenge, the now-enraged eyeball slams a pair of tentacles next to his sides before sweeping them together — clearly trying to crush him a second time. It seems that the monster doesn't know the definition of insanity, or doesn't care.
He allows it to clasp its appendages together for roughly four seconds, before eviscerating them in a flurry of strikes and slashes as he jumps out of the makeshift cage that it attempted to form around him. As he soars through the air and meets it on eye-level, he asks, "Was it worth it?"
It doesn't answer. It couldn't anyways, because he immediately cuts a Red-Knight-shaped hole through it and dives to the ground on the other side, narrowly dodging its falling corpse with a roll before arising back to his feet. "I presumed as much…"
He gazes upon the imposing distant silhouettes of this world's run-down houses. He can already imagine the sheer amount of monsters lying in wait for whatever poor, defenseless mortals stumble in there.
Gritting his teeth, he sheathes his sword and makes his way to the neighborhood.
No, he defiantly thinks. Not on my watch. I shall not allow it.
He cannot afford to fail again…not like how he failed her…
You are to be strong in all capacities; physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Otherwise, how can you say that you are strong enough to save others? Shaking the traitorous thoughts away, he soldiers onward and enters the urban hunting grounds of the Watch. He feels his body tremor with rage towards the thought of them preying on innocent, helpless wanderers.
Monsters… why do you not face one of your own caliber?
He shakes his sword in righteous fury as he storms through the empty streets. "Show yourselves, beasts of the Ninth Domain!" he calls forth into the darkness. His enhanced hearing alerts him to the shifting of appendages and the rustling of leaves around him.
They're too quick, too numerous to be human. Humans wouldn't run towards a potential threat — and even if they did, there would be too few of them to make a continuous noise like this. His expression hardens, and he raises his blade as the noises rise louder and draw nearer. Let them come, he thinks, so that I may make this realm safer for the mortals cursed to roam it.
An eyeball pops out of the darkness. Then another, and another. Eyeballs of various sizes seem to rise out of the inky blackness surrounding him to meet his challenge, to meet their ends at his blade.
"COME, FACE ME!" he roars, as a pair of massive eyes with optic nerves for limbs charge at him, veins outstretched and prepared to take hold of his limbs should they reach him. With a war cry, he jumps into the air and swings his blade at the closest strider. The soft, bloodshot eyeball caves underneath the force of his sword…
"…Is that it?" he mockingly asks, panting from exertion as he leans onto his sword, which is stabbed into the ground to help him prop himself up. Around him, the maimed and pulped eyeballs start to decay, returning the matter that made them back to the level.
Or perhaps, back to Augustus, he bitterly thinks. He knows little of the fate which has befallen his brother, nor his sister — though the rumors he hears about them do not paint a pretty picture. He huffs, dislodging his sword from the ground and sheathing it. He doesn't need these thoughts to plague him now, not while he's still in the hunting grounds of wretched, rotten beasts. He'll leave first, and then he can ruminate.
But first…
He briefly takes time to explore, finding a few humans quickly enough. They seem to have been drawn to the sight of this battle out of curiosity surrounding all the commotion. or perhaps curious as to why there were so many of the Watch flocking to this area in particular. Still, he introduces himself with what little information they need to hear, asks them where they wish to go, and sends them off with a few flicks of his sword.
As the last rift closes, he sighs, kneeling on one knee and stretching his arm. Fatigue begins wearing on him, but he cannot yet rest. There are more journeys to be undertaken. Yes, that'll clear his head and allow him to rest easy…a rest well-earned.
With a tired huff, he arises once again, preparing another portal with his sword. He doesn't react at all to the rustling of leaves behind him, nor does he do anything about the rapidly approaching dog-sized eyeball about to pounce on him.
It does exactly that, soaring through the air and preparing to latch itself onto his back. With a flourish, he slices into the air and cuts the eyeball into two perfect halves, which scrape against either side of him before hitting the ground in an almost morbidly comical fashion.
In the same swing, he wills a portal into existence, and the fabric of reality once again peels apart before him him as he follows the call for echoing through time and space. Without another word, he enters the rift, leaving the dreaded neighborhood behind.
It'll be safer now, he thinks as he's transported through the Backrooms. For a little while, at least.