What???

"I am here to help you," he replied gently, hoping to convey his sincerity and compassion. "I don't know who you are or how you ended up here, but I want to help you get out of this place."

"Help me get out, huh", she comments, her tone laced with sarcasm

"Despite the passage of time, I fear that even a century would not suffice for me to fully make amends for the wrongs I have committed."

"Goddamn, you are old -",

As soon as the words escape his lips, he immediately clamps his hands over his mouth, realizing his mistake. He glances over at the woman, who now has a cold and intimidating expression on her face.

"Who are you referring to as 'old'?" she demands, her voice laced with an icy edge.

Feeling awkward and ashamed, he lets out a nervous chuckle and tried to change the topic.

"It feels like an eternity," Damien laments, his voice heavy with despair.

"Even if I were to spend my entire life in this place, it still wouldn't be enough to make amends for my wrongdoings," she says, her tone tinged with regret.

Aren't you being a bit nihilistic?"

"What do you mean by that?", she inquires

Suddenly, the chamber begins to shake and an unusual surge of magical energy begins to accumulate within its walls in the middle of their conversation. Damien feels the bells in his head ringing incessantly, and he instinctively steps inside the cube, covering his right palm with a veil of purple flames.

"What are you doing?" Her voice is laced with agitation and concern.

"I have a feeling that this chamber is going to collapse," Damien replies "I'm taking you out of here."

"Aha, you can't do that. Nobody can," she retorts.

"Oh, I can", Damien lets out a small chuckle.

As soon as Damien's fingers make contact with the chains, they begin to melt away like snowflakes falling into a burning fire.

The woman is stunned by what she sees.

"How is he able to do that?" she wonders to herself, amazed by Damien's power.

"No one can burn through the chains created by the Chain Demon herself," she thinks silently, but refrains from voicing her thoughts out loud, still in awe of what is happening before her eyes.

As soon as the restrictions were lifted, her body began to weaken and she was on the verge of collapsing, but Damien quickly stepped in and supported her, preventing her from falling to her knees.

"Why are you doing this?" she asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't want to see you suffer," Damien responds, his voice full of concern.

She tries to push him away.

"Just leave me here," she says, her voice filled with despair. "If death is the only way for me to find redemption, then so be it."

"Goodness, you're so far gone," Damien remarks, his eyes filled with compassion.

"But I won't let you give up on life so easily. There's still hope for you, there is hope for everyone."

Without a moment's hesitation, Damien picks her up in a princess carry and rushes towards the exit, determined to get her out of harm's way.

"Put me down!" she protests weakly, trying to resist his grip, but her body is too frail after being imprisoned for a century.

Despite her feeble attempts to resist, Damien continues to carry her with care, his eyes fixed on the goal of getting her to safety.

BOOM

Hardly had they exited the chamber when it erupted into a blazing inferno, releasing a massive wave of energy. But Damien was quick to react, carrying her to safety just in time, out of the radius of the explosion.

Once they reach a safe distance, Damien sets the woman down gently on a nearby rock, her back propped up against the wall to support her weakened body.

He collapses on the rock opposite her, breathing heavily from the physical and emotional strain of their ordeal.

"I'm Damien," he introduces himself, trying to break the ice.

"Victoria, Victoria Blackthorn," she replies, her voice still laced with coldness and detachment.

"Cool name you got there," Damien remarks, trying to keep the conversation going.

Victoria is visibly shocked by his comment. After all, no one in this world should be so calm hearing the last name 'Blackthorn,' let alone 'Victoria Blackthorn.' She wonders if the world has changed so much in the past 100 years that people have forgotten about her.

"What should I call you then, hmm"

"Didn't I tell you my name already"

"Yea but what should I call you"

"I know, I will call you Vicky"

"My name is Victoria, Vic--"

"I know I know your highness but Vicky sounds cuter"

Victoria's expression softens slightly, but she quickly regains her composure and turns her head away. "Whatever," she mutters under her breath, but a small smile lingers on her lips at the thought of being called 'Vicky.'

Despite her initial coldness, Damien's lightheartedness and humor seem to be slowly melting away the walls she had built around herself after years of isolation and imprisonment.

As Victoria sits there, feeling the cool breeze on her face, she realizes that she is feeling happy. It's a feeling that she hasn't experienced in a long time, and she never thought she would feel it again. She doesn't even remember how long it has been since she last felt this way.

As Victoria continues to sit there, the memory of a child playing in a garden suddenly floods her mind. It's a child she remembers well, one whose life she destroyed. She had been trying to make amends for what she had done and repent for her past actions before this bastard had interrupted her.

Tears well up in her eyes as she thinks about the child she had hurt so badly. She had thought that there was no way to make up for what she had done, but maybe there was. Maybe she could find a way to atone for her past sins and find some peace.

Damien looked at Victoria with a serious expression.

"You know Vicky, things change time changes. People change life changes. But the one thing that never changes is the fact that you don't need to die or be trapped in a cube to repent for your sins. You just need to change yourself, and everything else will be healed in time."

His words seemed to resonate with Victoria, and for the first time in a long time, a glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes. She had been so consumed by guilt and shame that she had forgotten that redemption was possible. Perhaps it was time to change, to try and make amends for what she had done.

"Thank you," she said softly, "for reminding me of that.", Damien smiles satisfactorily hearing her reply.

"It's amazing how she hasn't lost her mind being in there for so long," he mused silently.

[Answer, The vampires possess an exceptional mental capacity. They have a natural ability to adapt and thrive for centuries, making them highly resilient and mentally robust beings.]

"Vampire" he repeated, taken aback. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

[Answer, She's just as much a vampire as you are a demon.]

"What????" he spat out loudly, catching Victoria's attention.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied with an awkward smile.

"What do you mean I'm a demon? Did I turn into one after coming here?" he asked Sage in his mind.

[You have always been a demon]

"What do you mean by that-"

"Oh, I see. Now I understand why I was always so different from everyone, or, as my mother put it, special."

"So, Damien, what are you doing in the Black Serpent's lair?" she asked, making Damien snap out of his stupor

"I don't think you came here just to save me."

"Why do you think that? I definitely came here to save a damsel in distress. I'm your white knight, you know"

"Shut up and tell me honestly"

"Okay, okay, don't get mad now"

"I don't know how I got here myself," he said.

"One moment I was somewhere else, and the next I was here." She just stared at him, her expression conveying her lack of trust.

"You don't have to believe me, but it's the truth," he said with a shrug, then stood up.

"I believe it's time we should get going." He walked over to her and picked her up in a princess carry, then started walking toward the exit as deduced by Sage.

"What are you doing?" she asked, agitated.

"What does it look like? I'm carrying you since you can't walk," he replied.

She knew he was telling the truth, but she couldn't hide her shame, so she decided not to comment on it.

XXXX