The dust gave an eerie, uncomfortable feeling as it brushed against Nick Ohmsford's skin, waking him up from his slumber. His head felt heavy, and his body weak.

Slowly rising from the cold and dusty cobblestone floor. He heard the clinking noises of chains ringing into his ears. He sat himself up, falling back into a resting position on the floor.

He noticed that he was shirtless and his wounds had healed over time, even as they ran deep, they were all healed, leaving neither marks nor scars.

It was a new discovery for him, as he had never known that he his regeneration exceeded to this amount; for he had never received any injuries that ran as deep as these before.

"The perks of being an angel." The thought ran cold in his mind. He did not feel thankful or anything of such in regards to being one. As him having the responsibilities of an angel had led him to this fate.

Yet another day had passed, nearing up to a week. Finding himself yet again still locked away inside a cellar.

The cellar was dimly lit, with cracks all around the walls, as if the place were to fall apart. It had seemed as the cellar had not been used for such a long period of time, with the place filled with dust. But there were neither spiders nor webs about, as he was the only living being present.

The cellar too had no windows as it hid him from the sun. Even if the cellar did, there won't be any rays of sunlight shining through, but Nick was clueless about it.

The only light that was present; was light from the emitting lamp that hanged outside his cellar. It was not much as it only gave light to only some parts of the cellar, but the edges and corners remained in darkness, leaving Nick, hiding in the shadows.

His whereabouts were unknown, but he could only come up with a wild guess from his previous observations of prison guards, who came and left bringing him lunch and dinner every day.

Like all humans from his world, their eyes were naturally be drawn to the unnatural appearance of the prison guards; their large two horns. His eyes slowly moved down and saw that their humanoid faces still remained. They were females of a demon race.

It backed up in his wild guess as he concluded that he was being kept locked in the world that he and his companions had been in search for.

The irony of such thought ran through his mind; of how much he and his friends had wanted to discover this world, but only for him to be locked away here in a cellar. And his companions. . . were gone.

He was in shackles, as he felt the weight on his wrists, being bounded by chains, like a monster. His meals were rather grand for a prisoner such as him. It was as if he was a pig being fed for slaughter.

He was about to question why, but then immediately realised that his future self must have asked them for it.

The thought irked painfully in his mind as he screamed out of rage, "I don't need any sympathy from you!"

His blood boiled from the slightest thought of his future self. He could picture the man's face clearly as it was yesterday when his friends were murdered by him; cold and emotionless. Without a single shed of tear, as if his future self felt nothing from taking his old friends' lives.

It filled him with disgust and rage as the thirst for vengeance returned back to him, filling him with a burning desire to see his future self's neck snapped by his own hands.

His chains were being pulled from the wall as he aimed for escape, but his strength wasn't as it was before, as he had grown weak. His muscles had softened and nearly deteriorated.

Being unable to free himself from the chains, he did not stop but continued pulling and began screaming at the top of his lungs. But his scream was not out of desperation for escape, but out of rage; a twisted rage that filled his mind with only the desire for revenge. He was able to go on for hours and hours until his consciousness slowly fades away from the strain.

The sound of Nick's scream was heard and echoed throughout the prison cells and into the prison guards' room.

The two demons who were on guard duty heard his scream as frustration plastered over their already exasperated faces.

"And he's going at it again. The usual!" Orsha, one of the two guards on duty said to her friend, Isir, with a voice filled with irritation whilst letting out a loud and tired sigh.

"Ugh, that brat just doesn't know when to give up." She added in frustration.

"But he does have quite an undying spirit," Isir added in acknowledgement as she saw Orsha rubbing her own chin, thinking of her next words.

"Yeah, he does have one, but it'd be nice if he'd go a day without screaming!" Orsha screamed back towards the prison cell's direction but it seemed as she was not heard as his scream continued on.

"Ugh, like who pissed him off this much? Why is he even kept here imprisoned?" Orsha questioned with her forehead on the table.

"Wouldn't the humans be pissed if they find out that we're keeping one of their own here as hostage?" She added, her face rising up to show concern plastering all over it.

"Well that's only for the higher-ups to worry about," Isir answered her being composed like her usual self.

“How are you not affected by this?" Orsha asked with a confused look.

"You'd get used to it." She answered with a smile, as she sipped her tea.

"Uh-huh," Orsha responded with one brow raised as she watched Isir placed her cup back onto its saucer.

"But I did recall hearing rumours," Isir said at last as she began searching through her thoughts.

"Rumours? Like what?" Orsha asked with a genuine sense of curiosity.

"Rumours like this human here is special in some way," Isir replied as she had finally recalled.

"Haaa?!" Orsha exclaimed in disbelief.

"How is he special? The only thing he does is scream and scream day after day." Orsha stated with an agitated look, her arms folded at her chest.

"I'm not too sure about it, but he's under the Queen's jurisdiction," Isir said backing up her answer as it led Orsha into more questions.

"The Queen?" Orsha asked, confirming if she didn't have heard it wrong.

"Yes, our Queen Lilith." Isir nodded.

"And it seems that the plot runs deeper."

"How so?" Orsha asked, leaning closer to hear.

"Well, this wasn't made public, so I only heard it from one of my friends who had been working in the higher-ups as the Queen's guards. So do keep your voice low and it a secret," Isir said as she waited for Orsha to agree, answering her with a nod.

"Five days ago, a human came from the gateway bringing along this boy with him." Isir continued.

"Gateway? You mean the historical monument?" Orsha asked, her eyes filled with surprise.

"Yes, it seems as that human managed to get the gateway to function. And it seemed that the two of them were related in some way."

"Five days ago. . Wait! That was the day before—"

"Yes, the day before the declaration of war against the other continents," Isir said, finishing Orsha's words for her.

"It seems that they're all connected in a way, but I am clueless as of why." Isir shook her head disappointed by her own lack of intelligence.

"But that makes this boy here, a very important human to the Queen, if she had him kept locked in here, healthily," Orsha gasped with her sudden realisation.

"Indeed," Isir said in reply.

"You telling me that just makes me want to go in there to find out more about him," Orsha said her face stirred with excitement.

“Don’t,” Isir was quick to warn her, partner. Concerned if she would actually attempt in doing so.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Orsha assured her, freeing Isir from her concerns. She let out a soft sigh before continuing with her words.

"I'd be sentenced to imprisonment or worse if I ever touched the Queen's property."

"Must be nice being the queen, to be able to bend the rules and keep a human for herself." Orsha sighed once again as she sunk back into her seat.

"Well, she is our Queen." Isir began, "And we as her people are obliged to follow her."

"Yeah, yeah," Orsha replied with an annoyed voice as she nonchalantly sticking both feet on the table, with her chair swaying backwards.

Night in the city of Ixerath was the same as any other would. When the hour reached midnight, the city's lights would be out with most of the citizens would be asleep. It was rather dark outside, with only but streetlights emitting the path walks for pedestrians.

It was during that time when Queen Lilith was wide awake, sneaking out from her study room, heading out into the lower districts. She brought a cloak with her, covering her head and face as she began rushing down through the streets.

There wasn't anything special to her attire, as she wore plain clothes and pants, comfortable enough for her to freely move in.

Like all the other districts, there were guards patrolling on the streets keeping the city safe, and citizens free from suspicious intruders. Lilith was rather suspicious herself, as she was hiding her identity beneath her hood.

She waited for the patrol guards to pass by, not wanting to start any conflict with them.

Lilith's aim at this hour was to visit the prison cells. She had been waiting patiently for the past five days since the arrival of the captive that the future Nick had brought along with him. She had been busy then, with all the work she had, arrangements needing to be signed, orders needing to be approved. She had been unable to visit him.

She had grown impatient then, finally resorting to her sneaking away from her study room. The thrill of sneaking away at night to meet someone of the opposite gender filled her with great excitement. She was rebellious.

Even is she was the Queen, there were many procedures she had to follow before she was able to meet him. But living up to her personality; she would always go against those procedures.

In most nights, she had been kept wide awake, flustering on what conversations she would hold with him, leaving her unable to sleep.

She finally arrived in the lower district where the prison block was located in. But there were still passersby about as she hid within the shadows, waiting patiently before proceeding towards the prison block's door.

Pushing the door open, she stepped in and closed the door behind her. But as soon as she did, she was welcomed with hostility as the two prison guards who were on duty was alarmed by her intrusion, with their weapons at ready.

"State your name and business!" One of the guards demanded of her, the guard's weapon pointing in eye's height at Lilith.

The guards were clueless of Lilith's identity for she had worn a hood, hiding her identity from them. But it was no longer needed as she revealed herself by pulling back her hood.

Her long striking black hair with the mix of red stripes fell on her back, with her beautiful light brown face finally revealed to the prison guards as they immediately realised of who she was.

Sheathing their weapons, they immediately kneeled down on their knees before her. The fear was palpable by just the looks on their faces.

"Forgive us, for showing you hostility, your Majesty." One of the prison guards spoke in apology for them both, seeking for the Queen's forgiveness.

"Rise, for you are forgiven, as you are not to blame for carrying out your duty," Lilith replied, gracing them with her forgiveness.

The fear in their looks had been lifted away as they risen to face the Queen.

"What are your names, my sisters?" Lilith asked of them.

"My name is Isir, and my partner here is Orsha," Isir answered her, politely with a bow as Orsha panicked and followed suit.

Lilith's reddish eyes examined their flustered looks that were plastered all over their faces. The two prison guards were not prepared in spirit, as like all others, they too dreamed of being able to meet the Queen, but never imagined of being able to see her this close in person.

"Forgive me for asking, but what brings your Highness here?" asked Orsha, her face brimming with curiosity.

"There is a human imprisoned here, and I wish to give him a visit," Lilith answered, her voice almost filled with grace.

"Oh! The boy." Orsha exclaimed as she hurriedly went to grab the keys for the prison cell.

A genuine sense of curiosity and protectiveness filled inside Lilith as she wanted to know the reasoning of why Orsha referred to the human so casually to call him as a boy. But she held herself back and threw away the feeling as she decided to think of it being nothing much.

"This way, your Highness," Orsha said as she had found the keys, beckoning her to follow as she unlocked the door that leads to his cellar.

"He doesn't talk much, all he ever does was screaming in the top of his lungs throughout the day," Orsha notified Lilith as they were close and nearing towards his cellar.

"Does he now? Was he in pain?" Lilith asked concern plastered over her face.

"No, there were no physical injuries. His wounds from before had all been healed away without treatment, it's amazing how it never left a scar or two." Orsha said in acknowledgement.

"If anything it would be mentally." She added.

Orsha went into a stop as she nodded her head towards the cellar she faced, where a boy in the cover of shadows was resting with his back against the wall.

"I wish to be left alone with him," Lilith demanded, not as a request but as an order.

"Do you need the keys for his cell?" Orsha asked, wanting to offer any help she was able to give to her Queen.

"No need," Lilith denied her.

"As you wish, your Majesty," Orsha responded with a bow before she started off back towards the prison guard's room. She closed the door behind her, leaving Lilith alone with the human, away from ears' reach.

Lilith took her time, examining the human's build and appearance, he seemed rather young. His face was not covered under the cover of the shadows as it was hard to see.

His hair was black and messy, filled with dust. His body was thin and out of shape. He seemed different from the man she had given the command of her army to. But she was definitely sure, that they were the same person.

She only managed to catch a glimpse of his face, his eyes were half opened, gleaming in the dark, as it seemed as he was daydreaming as he stared into the wall behind her.

Squinting her eyes, she took a step closer to look and saw that his eyes were filled with coldness, almost devoid of life. As if a man was stripped away his will to live.

What a pity she had thought, as it seemed as the boy was in no condition for her to converse with.

Letting out a sigh of disappointment she began walking back, away from the cellar.

It was then when her foot had caught in between the cracks in the floor, forcing her to lose her balance and fell down. Grabbing onto the cellar's bars, she managed to stop her fall, but a loud noise was made from it.

"What do you want?" A rough voice said from within the cellar.

It seems that the noise she made had wakened up the boy from his sleep, but his voice seemed almost hollow.

"I just wanted to have a talk with you," Lilith answered, her face filled with surprise.

The boy slowly rose up from the ground and started towards out from the shadows, revealing his striking yet dirty face. His cold eyes stared at Lilith for a brief moment before his mouth opened to speak.

"Ooh.." He exclaimed almost mockingly, his piercing eyes were locked onto hers.

"Sorry, but we don't accept visitors at this hour." He replied as if he was a prison guard on duty, shooing away visitors after hours.

Lilith was slightly agitated by his words as she saw him turning his back on her as he started off walking back into the shadows. She clenched her fist, as she was still not finished with him.

"Wait!" She said.

He stopped in his tracks with his head turned over his shoulder to face her. His brows furrowed in annoyance as he wanted to return to his sleep.

"My name's Lilith," She introduced herself.

"Humans are rare to come by in this part of the country, and seeing you here, I decided that I wanted to learn more about you." She explained, her face gleaming with hopes for the boy to accept her invitation.

The boy took a moment before he decided his answer. He let out a sigh, knowing that it was pointless to try to avoid her, as she was arrogant enough to not leave him alone; thus he decided that he follow her wishes.

He walked back closer towards the cellar's bars away from the shadows, falling back into a resting position on the cold floor.

"You can call me Nick." He introduced himself to her, but Lilith already knew of his name but she had already decided that it would be best if she kept it a secret along with her status in position and their connection.

"Have a seat," He invited her, his head nodded towards the wooden chair that was conveniently placed behind her.

Lilith turned around to look in his direction and was surprised to see that a chair was present, grabbing the chair, she sat down, closer towards him.

"Now, before I can give answers to any of your questions, I have some of my own that I wish to first clarify about." He said as he waited for her agreement.

"Ask away," Lilith said, allowing him to continue.

"Where am I?" Nick asked a simple and expected question.

"You're in the prison block located in the lower districts of Ixerath. A city built within the heart of the Northern regions of Mégia, Daemonia; the Demons' continent." She answered him, without leaving out any information.

It had seemed that Nick's wild guess was not off the mark, as he really was in the world that his expedition was in search for.

"Why am I being kept here?" He asked again with another question.

"That I do not know," She answered truthfully, as even she the Demon Queen does not know why Nick's future self wanted him to be kept here imprisoned.

He let out a sigh filled with his disappointment, on tops of even knowing that she wouldn't know the reasoning for his imprisonment.

"Very well, so what do you want to know about me?" He asked, his questions were all not answered but it seemed to him that Lilith wasn't the person who would have answers for them.

"Your age, your hobbies, everything." She answered.

"Age of nineteen, and I love sleeping." He said with a loud yawn.

"Nineteen years? But you look rather young to be at that age." She stated in her surprise as she examined him once again.

Nick saw the surprise and disbelief plastered on Lilith's face, as a small grin grew on his face.

"Well, it is to be expected. I'm nineteen in heart, but physical appearance is seventeen." He explained as if he was a maiden in heart.

"But even if you were seventeen, you seem to be rather younger than most humans here." She continued with her disbelief.

"I thought you said, humans rarely come by here?" Nick asked with his eyes frowned as Lilith still did not believe his words.

"I heard of them from stories and books." It was half a lie, as she had lived long enough to fight countless wars against humans.

"The difference in the environments might come into effect of our growth. I'm no Highlander." He informed her.

"From the world, I am from, my size would be considered as a fully grown adult, well with a little bit of more muscles." He said as he examined his one present features that had begun deteriorating away.

"From your world?" She asked as Nick had brought up something that peaked her curiosity.

"Just as humans are not from this country, I am not from this world." He said as he relaxed his head back, with his eyes closed as he began to recall his world.

"But you should tell me about yourself too," He added before she was able to ask more questions.

Lilith had just realised that she hasn't talked much about herself, as she had been curious in wanting to know more about him. It was rude she realised for him to only talk about himself.

"For me, I'm at the age of two hundred and seventy-eight years old." She said with her hand touching her chest.

"Two hundred and seventy.. years.. huh," Nick mumbled to himself, his eyes staring away before he began questioning her once more.

"And what is that in human years?"

"It's rather hard to explain but, we demons are gifted with the long span in age. But it differs from one to another, some are able to live up to a thousand years or more. But in the majority, it would round off to seven hundred or so."

"Hmm, and at what age do you come off as an adult?" He asked, his hand brushing his chin.

"One would be considered as an adult at the age of fifteen years." She answered.

"Huh, quite young compared to a human's coming off age," Nick added.

"At what age do humans from your world come off age at?" Lilith asked.

"Depends on the country, but universally it would be eighteen." He answered, with a slightly saddened face.

"It's a shame, I wasn't able to reach that age." He said to himself.

"We demons have an extraordinary speed in growth. But our growth stop as soon as we reach adulthood, we do not grow old like humans do." She explained.

"So you demons, have it nice huh. Being able to keep your beauty," Nick said, letting out a sigh.

"Now if you don't mind me asking, what are your three sizes?" He joked with his hand covering his grin from view.

"My three sizes?" Lilith asked in confusion before her face slowly flustered in embarrassment as she realised what he meant.

"It's just a joke!" He said before bursting into laughter.

It was rather a surprise to Nick as he managed to see the cute expression Lilith ask as he had teased her.

"Even demons can make those expressions too, huh." He thought quietly, still laughing uncontrollably.

It seemed that Lilith was the type of girl easily to be teased by him as she had begun to pout.

"It's quite late now for a young lady like you to be here, you should return back to your home while the night is still young," Nick said as he calmed himself down from laughing, letting out yet another yawn.

Lilith who had been lost in the track of time, came to a sudden realisation that she must make haste in returning to her study room before the guards are notified of her disappearance. Or worst, her strict head maid finding out.

She was rather fearful of the head maid as she would never let her escape from her punishment.

"Very well then," Lilith said as she rose from the wooden chair.

"It's been a pleasant night being able to have a talk with you. I look forward to our next meeting." She said, leaving Nick baffled by her statement.

"You're coming again?" He asked, with an almost annoyed voice.

"Yes, but of course. I still have a lot I wish to learn more about you." She stated.

"What is your goal really?" He asked cautiously, with his eyes frowned."

"Just to befriend you, that is all." She said with a warm and friendly smile. It was half the truth, as she was indeed wanting to befriend him, but she wanted to improve more of her relationship with him.

"Have a pleasant night," She nodded with a smile, before parting ways as she headed out towards the door.

Nick watched her go, with mixed emotions. He was rather irritated to have visitors disturbing him as he had wanted to be left alone to his grief.

"Well at least, I have something to look forward to now." He said with a smile, as he felt her smile's warmth reaching him, freeing him from his worries.

As Lilith entered through the door that leads back into the prison guard's room, she closed the door behind her and was welcomed back by the two guards on duty.

"Were you able to get a word out from him, your Highness?" Orsha asked as she was quick, wanting to know of their Queen's attempt.

"More than a word, but it seems that he is still quite rather distant before being able to fully open himself to me." She said as she held back her saddened expression.

"I have a favour that I'd like to ask of you two before I return," She announced as Isir and Orsha were surprised of her request.

"Whatever you may ask of us, your Majesty," Isir said with a bow, as Orsha followed in suit.

"Keep my visit here a secret, it'd be troublesome if word gets out of me visiting, I already have enough troubles with the current state of crisis," Lilith ordered them.

"We shall keep this a secret to our graves," Isir spoke in favour of her and her partner.

"Very well then, I shall return here again, so be prepared for my return," Lilith said as she started off towards the door that leads back out into the streets.

She stopped just before the door, as she pulled her hood back on to hide her identity. She turned her head over her shoulder as still had more to say to the two.

"Isir and Orsha," She said their names.

"You both have done a great service to the Queen. I shall remember your names as valuable assets for the times to come." Lilith said in a voice filled with grace before stepping through the door and out into the dark street.

The two prison guards were swayed by her words, as they had almost fallen to the point of being stunned.