When he exits from the tunnel that he's bored through space and time, he finds himself in an empty, eerie parking lot, with red streetlamps that cast his surroundings in a dreadful, unsettling red glow. His face falls as he tries to navigate the area, recalling what he read from abandoned M.E.G. tablets a while ago. A long while ago. It's honestly a miracle that he even recalls the information considering how many journeys he's gone through since then.
I am so glad that I bothered going through the humans' archives, he thinks to himself, trekking in a straight line till he locates the garage in the distance. Yes, so glad indeed.
…wait. He stops, turning around as he tightens his grip on his sword. The only danger documented in this level was… that… screaming… beast… His thoughts trail off as he hears exactly that, mixed with the panicked cursing of a human caught in a terrifying conundrum.
Damn it. DAMN IT!
Cursing under his breath, he runs through the lamp-posts as he tries to find the source of the ruckus. Please, please for the love of the gods I hope you haven't made any turns…
He realizes that he can hear the sounds from another direction. The Red Knight's face scrunches up in a frown as he goes to the right. "Of course you made a turn," he mutters out loud as he sprints as fast as his legs can carry him.
"HUMAN!" he shouts, hoping to catch their attention. "FOLLOW MY VOICE! RETRACE YOUR STEPS TO THE GARAGE, I'M HERE TO HELP!" Aware of how he'll probably be disregarded as yet another beast, or a phenomena of the level, he adds, "IT'S THE RED KNIGHT! IF YOU'VE HEARD OF ME, YOU KNOW I CAN STOP THE MONSTER CHASING YOU! JUST COME TO ME!"
Miraculously, he can hear the hurried footsteps of the one he intends to save approaching his position. Well, that's convenient, he thinks, right as they crash into him and fall on their back. Immediately, he reaches out to them, and they take his hand as they practically jump to their feet and hide behind him.
"W-we have to run!" they blubber. "That thing is going to tear us both to pieces if it gets its hands on us!"
"What thing?" he asks, despite knowing full well what they're talking about. He's confident in his ability to handle it, although they probably should run back to the garage instead of staying here and risking forgetting which direction he came from…
Unfortunately for him, it's too late to make any decisions, because just a few seconds later, the monster comes barreling out from behind a lamp-post, hands outstretched to grab them when it catches sight of him. He stares at it, whipping out his blade and immediately slicing its hand off before it can reach either of them.
The beast shrieks, the unholy cacophony of noise reverberating around the parking lot as it recoils, taking a few cautious steps back. It stares at him with white, empty eyes, its huge, inhuman mouth opening and closing as it tries to gauge the threat that he poses to it. It almost seems… intelligent.
Behind his helmet, the knight scowls as he comes to that dreadful realization that it's probably not just hunting for food. It's guarding this wretched place for some reason. All the humans that had wandered this level had probably died because it simply didn't want them finding anything of note. And because he wasn't there to save them. That. Ends. Now. He tightens his grip around the hilt of his sword.
It closes its mouth, seemingly gulping as it looks at him with what seems to be fear in its eyes, taking a few more steps back as it closes its other hand into a fist, lowering it. Before either of them can question its strange behavior, it turns and runs off into the parking lot, disappearing behind a lamp-post and leaving the two alone and unharmed.
He pauses, slowly lowering his blade as he stares at the lamp-post that the creature disappeared behind. "…I see," he mutters. The knight turns to his charge, relief lining his obscured features as he jerks his head in the direction of the beast. "It seems to have recognized me as a threat that it can't beat, and retreated… for now, perhaps. We'll head back to the garage before it tries to kill you a second time."
The human bites their lip. "You do remember which way you went, right?"
The Red Knight stares at them quietly. Behind his helmet, he feels himself sweat profusely as he wracks his mind for memories of his path to the human. "…Yes," he reluctantly answers. He lies through his teeth as he says it. "But… I think we could try a shortcut."
Before they can ask him what he means by that, he cuts another opening into the world, grabs them by the arm and strolls through the tunnel before it closes.
They emerge from the portal, and promptly slam right into the wooden wall of the garage's exterior. The Red Knight is relatively unscathed by his little screw-up. His charge, not so much. They stumble backwards, clutching their face as they curse their rotten luck. "My nose…" they mumble.
"We can deal with that later," he quickly replies, leading them around the garage to the entrance. Leaving no room for them to protest, he leads them in, closes the door, and idly twirls his sword as he watches them walk around nervously. "You want out of here, right?"
They look up at him, still bleeding from the nose. "Yes," they say. "I uh… maybe Level 11 will do?" As he moves to make a cut next to them, they quickly add, "W-wait, but my nose-!"
"You can get the help you need in that level," he coolly replies, opening a portal next to them. He doesn't want them to be in this level any longer than they need to. "My apologies, wanderer, but my medical supplies are strictly for emergencies only. I can't waste my scarce resources on something as trivial as that."
They sigh. "Fine," they mumble, slowly walking through the portal and leaving him alone once again.
Finally, he thinks, relaxing as he looks around the shoddy garage. Actually, this place unnerves me. I want to get out of here as fast as possible, too.