"Of all things, I certainly didn’t expect to see soone else here."
Indeed, before Jamie was a woman restrained in a straitjacket and bound to a chair.
She seed to be asleep, but even in slumber, her beauty was striking—a sight for sore eyes.
Her hair was ridiculously long, trailing to the ground, its ends splitting into an array of colours that shimred and shifted like liquid light with every passing mont.
The effect reminded Jamie of his fellow Hybrid, Sarina.
Perhaps sensing his presence, the woman’s eyes fluttered open. Her gaze was initially vacant, her expression distant.
But when Jamie saw her eyes clearly, he was t with the second most surprising sight of the day.
Though her irises were a simple brown, their shapes constantly shifted and changed, creating a srizing display.
After a few seconds, she properly processed Jamie’s presence and her eyes widened in shock.
"...a person?"
"A person."
Jamie parroted her words and her expression shifted to one of disbelief. She blinked rapidly, as if unable to process that soone else was standing before her.
"...how?"
"If you’re asking ’how I got here,’ I’m as clueless as you are."
Jamie replied casually and she blinked again. Her gaze dropped to the restraints binding her, and after a mont of silent observation, she looked back up at Jamie and spoke.
"So..."
"So?"
"There’s a beautiful woman bound before your eyes."
"Indeed, there is."
"Would you be a kind gentleman and help her out of this predicant?"
When she requested this, Jamie’s gaze dropped to the restraints holding her. With his level of perception, he easily discerned the intricate layers of seals woven into them, each filled with power that would be beyond the reach of most beings at his current Existence Realm.
"Those are so pretty powerful seals."
"Indeed, they are."
She replied to Jamie, her gaze drifting down to so of the belts now glowing with magic power, seemingly reacting to her desire for freedom.
Naturally, their response was to tighten, ensuring that her wish remained unfulfilled.
"I’m not sure being a ’kind gentleman’ is reason enough for to want to break you out."
Jamie’s statent prompted her to raise her head, her brows arching as she asked.
"I thought kind gentlen were always eager to help fair ladies in distress? Especially those bound against their will.
Or has the definition of ’gentleman’ changed since I’ve been trapped here?"
"Definitions don’t change so easily."
"Then you’re saying the word ’gentleman’ still ans what I think it ans?"
She asked this question with a tilt of her head, and Jamie shrugged, slipping his hands into his pockets as he responded.
"Dunno. I have no idea what goes on in your mind."
His response drew a light laugh from her, and a small, amused smile appeared on her face as she spoke.
"I suppose you do not."
Silence settled between them after her words.
Jamie walked around her, his gaze scanning the walls of the spatial room they were in.
Like the one before, it wasn’t as ’endless’ as it appeared at first glance. It was also much smaller than the first chamber, yet the energy concentration here was exponentially higher—roughly twenty tis greater.
Even Deities would struggle to breathe in this space.
To be more precise, while their physical bodies might endure the energy’s density depending on their level, no Deity Soul was strong enough to withstand the concentration of energy here.
As a result, the suffocation their souls would experience would manifest physically as difficulty in breathing.
Jamie, however, was unaffected, as his soul was of a much higher level.
"So, might I ask if helping out of these restraints is still on the table?"
The woman’s voice broke the silence, drawing Jamie’s attention for a mont before he resud his inspection of the space.
"I wonder. You’re bound here for a reason—one I know nothing about.
There exists the possibility that releasing you could very well backfire on ."
Hearing Jamie’s reasoning, her brows lifted, surprise flickering across her face. It was as though the possibility hadn’t crossed her mind until now.
After a brief pause, she let out a soft sigh, her tone tinged with resignation.
"Your reasoning is sound. A pity, really, as even I can’t tell you why I’m bound here... in a prison of my own making."
Jamie halted his steps at that, his gaze snapping to her. Noticing his interest, she tried to turn her head toward him but was limited by her restraints.
"It seems I’ve piqued your curiosity."
"Indeed, you have."
Jamie didn’t deny it. The idea of this place being a ’prison of her own making’ had indeed piqued his curiosity.
"Wonderful. Hopefully, I am able to make you curious enough to help out of these restraints."
Her bluntness was rather surprising. Most in her situation would at least try to be subtle about their motives, but she laid hers bare without hesitation.
"You see, I can instinctively tell that this space we’re in was created by my own power. But I have no mory of how I ended up sealed within it—or why."
"So, you’ve lost your mories?"
Jamie asked, tilting his head slightly, and she nodded, but paused midway before shaking her head instead.
"I do have so vague, very old mories. But core mories of mine seem to be missing.
For starters, I do not even know my own na, nor what I am."
She tried to shrug as she spoke, but any movent below her neck was impossible due to the severity of her restraints.
"The last thing I clearly rember is a battle—a battle I lost. The sensation of pain as my body was perforated by countless silvery swords is sothing I could never forget, even if I wanted to.
After that... everything sank into darkness."
The woman paused, tilting her head to glance to her sides in an attempt to find Jamie. She failed, however, as he had moved to stand behind her.
Still, sensing his presence, she continued.
"When I woke up, I was here. As far as I can recall, I’ve been restrained like this ever since. As for how much ti has passed... well, there’s no way to asure ti in this place."
She paused again, tilting her head back until her eyes t Jamie’s.
"But I do have a vague mory of the Year Cycle I was in. Or was it Cycle Year? Hmm..."
Her brows furrowed as she tried to piece together the fragnted mory, but the exact term eluded her.
"This is troubleso. I’m certain the words Cycle and Year were part of it. And... I recall the number 1410 quite vividly."
At the ntion of ’1410’, Jamie’s eyes narrowed slightly.
To be precise, it wasn’t just the number—it was the combination of the term Cycle with 1410 that elicited a reaction from him.
The reason being, that it reminded him of the 1410th Cosmic Cycle.
The Destruction Supre’s Era.
It was a ti Jamie could never forget even if he wanted to.
’If she’s really talking about the 1410th Cosmic Cycle, that would make her nearly 500 million years old.’
Even for long-lived species, that was a long ti.
"What’s wrong? Perhaps, do you understand sothing from my vague recollections?"
The woman’s words snapped Jamie out of his thoughts, and he looked down, eting her gaze.
"If you claim this place is a prison of your own creation... does that an you know how to escape it?"
"Hmmm. I can’t say for sure. Logically, I should be able to, but with these restraints, I have no way of even assessing my own power, much less determining if it would be enough to escape."
Once again, the conversation returned to the subject of her complex, multi-layered restraints.
The two of them remained in silence, the woman keeping her neck bent backwards to maintain eye contact with Jamie, who stood behind her.
They stayed that way for a full minute before Jamie sighed, breaking the stillness.
’Imperial Privileges. Fifth Privilege: Destruction.’
With that internalized command, Jamie moved around her chair. Just as she returned her head to its normal position, Jamie extended his palm toward her chest.
"Hmm? Might I ask if you are intending to-?!"
Her question was cut off as a pulse of destructive energy burst from Jamie’s palm, washing over her and blasting the straitjacket into tattered scraps of fabric that fluttered to the floor.
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