"2000 years..." Leon murmured, incredulous that so much time had passed in Victor's inner world.
He had just heard the entire story Victor had told. An unbelievable tale, yet at the same time very convincing considering who the man in front of him was. Long ago, he had veered from the curve of what was considered normal, even by godly standards.
An example of this was this story itself; even Leon, who hadn't spent much time in the supernatural world, knew that meddling with time as Victor had done was extremely difficult, if not nearly impossible.
But here he was again, breaking rules as if they didn't exist in the first place.
"Indeed. Despite 2000 years passing, only a few of my wives felt the passage of time, for others like Anna, only a span of 10 to 20 years passed," Victor explained.
Anna glanced slightly at Victor, unsure whether to be upset or grateful for his interference. She was grateful because by interfering in this way, not letting them know how much time had passed, some wives who were previously human still retained their human 'sensibilities' and didn't completely lose their humanity.
But she was upset because this simple gesture only meant that her husband didn't trust her ability to withstand time. It was a complex feeling she was experiencing now.
Setting that aside for now, she spoke, "Exactly, due to Victor's interference, we didn't feel much difference. The only measure of time we can use as a reference was the children's growth, and even that wasn't 100% accurate, considering the type of children we're talking about."
"...Dragons...Dragon children to be more precise," Leon said.
"That's one of the reasons why I needed more time," Victor nodded. "My daughters don't grow normally like mortals, even though a thousand years have passed for some of them, they were still children."
"...That's understandable. I don't exactly know the biology of dragons, but I've heard they take thousands of years to fully grow."
"True, that's what Zaladrac said... But that's in the past now; my daughters aren't normal even by dragon standards, they're growing very fast."
"But for mortals, it's still very slow."
"...Hmm, are you saying that by godly and dragon standards, they're growing fast, but by mortal standards, they're slow?" Leon scratched his head, slightly confused.
"Exactly," Victor nodded.
"They're goddesses, and at the same time dragons. Theoretically, they should take millions of years to fully grow, but that's where I, as the Progenitor, come into play. My own existence being close to them gives a boost to their growth. So what should take 10,000 years to happen will be reduced to 1000 years."
"Normally, a dragon takes 100,000 years to fully grow and mature, but that has been reduced to 10,000 thanks to me."
"...That's a lot of zeroes there."
"Indeed," Victor agreed, laughing.
"That's the reason we need to step away for our family to grow," Victor added. "But... As previously mentioned, few things really changed thanks to my interference."
"As someone who experienced this through abnormal means, experiencing memories of beings that have been around since the beginning of time, I'm not completely ignorant of the effects of time on people. Especially mortals. Insensitivity, boredom, ceasing to care about small things, detachment, etc. These are just small symptoms that can happen to mortals who aren't accustomed to living as long as gods."
Of course, the same doesn't apply to gods; after all, they were around long before the beginning of civilization, and few of them truly changed because they are timeless deities, literally built differently.
A human wasn't built to live millions of years; that's a historical fact. Because of this, many humans who turned into supernatural creatures with long lifespans tended to lose their minds over time, both due to the amorality of supernatural creatures and the passage of time.
Even creatures that live a long time like noble vampires tended to have the same symptoms after the first 1500 years; an example of this would be Lilith Tepes, Vlad's daughter, who was a complete spoiled brat who treated everyone's life as cattle, although in her case, this attitude can be attributed to the indulgence Vlad gave his daughter.
Victor's wives, who were once mortal, are not exempt from these rules. Even though they are now dragon goddesses, they are not completely exempt from these rules. Yes, their dragon soul and brain will give them more mental fortitude for these small things; they are essentially now long-lived beings.
But Victor didn't want to take the risk; it's better to 'see' the passage of time with the progression of their civilization than to just fast forward through time as Victor did.
This way, they would have a feeling more or less like this; Oh, so much time has passed, I remember when this land was just dust and arrogant gods, look how society is now.
A sense of accomplishment will form in all of them; after all, indirectly or directly, they are all somehow connected to the society Velnorah is building, and seeing their growth will be good for their mentality.
Victor might be overdoing it, and some of the women, even if they spent 100,000 years, wouldn't change much thanks to their new way of existence, but that's okay; that's how Victor is and always will be. A man who exaggerates everything related to his loved ones.
He always prefers to ensure and make plans to preserve everyone's integrity while forgetting about his own. But in his defense, he's long been away from normal as an outer god, so it doesn't matter much.
"The passage of time can be cruel, even for beings like noble vampires," Leon spoke; on one of his missions, he saw exactly how noble vampires who completely fell into the corruption of their feelings ended up.
'Nobility' may be an archaic term, and very ancient for someone from the 21st century like Leon, but for noble vampires, it was very essential; they needed to occupy their time with anything, after all, the greatest enemy of beings with long life is not another enemy with long life, but boredom.
Boredom will lead a being to do anything to make that feeling disappear; the example is there with the gods who are 'participating' more actively in humanity after the day of judgment.
Victor simply nodded at Leon's words.
"...And then? When did this happen?" Leon asked, pointing at Victor and Anna, who shivered slightly but then composed herself again.
An involuntary reaction caused by the lingering human sensibilities she still possessed, but her 'pride' was much greater now. And when Pride is mentioned, she isn't referring to the feeling itself, but more to the existence of the dragon.
By nature, dragons are beings who enjoy hoarding treasures of various kinds, while also being lustful, proud, petty, and driven by emotions. Only those dragons who have lived for a long time can control these bad qualities.
For a blood dragon who is a mix of two races, these bad qualities were even more amplified. When pride is mentioned, she is talking about herself.
Long ago, she stopped caring about these trivial things. She is a being who has the power to bend reality at her fingertips; reality can literally be whatever she wants. In a world where there is no Victor, Jeanne, and recently her daughter, Anna would be an invincible goddess.
The reality was that... Unfortunately, ever since she saw the 'new' Victor a long time ago, she always had certain thoughts... But these thoughts never progressed due to things like rules, commitment, and because Victor didn't really 'change' that much, he just changed race.
Even with her human sensibilities still intact, this kind of power can change people, and Anna is no exception.
...Wrong, she was just making excuses. Yes, this kind of power caused these kinds of changes, but for someone who is always close to 'family' and constantly reminded of its importance by her own husband/former son.
The reality was that... Unfortunately, ever since she saw the 'new' Victor a long time ago, she always had certain thoughts... But these thoughts never progressed due to things like rules, commitment, and because Victor didn't really 'change' that much, he just changed race.
But... That changed completely when she became a noble vampire. She began to pay more attention to her 'creator' both by instinct and by self-interest, and this interest increased even more when she became a dragon.
No matter what they say, it's impossible to ignore such a beautiful, caring, so... Victor.
It's as if in a normal hall there were two tables, and these two tables were with food, and decorated according to the host, Victor was a beautiful table made by a goddess of beauty, and the foods offered were food that a god found irresistible.
While the other one was a normal, simple table.
Yes, this was a terrible analogy, and Anna felt horrible for thinking like this, but it doesn't stop being true. The true truth was that she was being greedy, the way Victor treated his wives, that obsession, that affection, that attention, she wanted it all for herself too.
She accepted this part in her training with Hilda and hid it, but these thoughts have always been there and blossomed completely after she became a dragon.
"Our relationship happened during the isolation period," Victor was honest.
There was no reason for him to lie or act dramatically; everyone here was an adult and had known each other for a long time. Despite a 'bad' atmosphere being felt around, such an occurrence is normal considering the kind of relationship Anna and Leon had.
Unlike Anna, Victor wasn't feeling strange or having his human sensibilities touched in any way. Being who he is and what he is changed him in various ways.
If he were a normal man, he should honestly seek a psychiatrist, but as a certain clown says, madness is like gravity, and it only needs a little push to make it a reality.
And Victor has been drowning in this bit of madness for a long time, his countless principles as a former human, only the one that forms his core remained, the rest was molded or changed according to his evolution.
"I understand... I presume traces of this have happened before."
"Exactly," Victor nodded.
"I wonder when everything began to change..." Leon wondered.
"Since the moment you became my children," Victor was very clear.
Leon and Anna shivered slightly at Victor's words.
"The supernatural world is strange, incomprehensible, and often crazy. The rules created by humans have no meaning here, only strength does."
"You must know that by now, Leon."
"Yes, indeed... I must say we are in a very privileged position because of you. As the strongest, no one dares to provoke you."
The strongest... It may seem like a cliché title, and boring to some, but this title provided a lot of benefits, the biggest of which is the ability to do what he wants, when he wants, and in the time he wants.
Victor understood this the moment he stepped into the supernatural world and got his ass kicked by Scathach, the strongest teacher made sure to put that in his mind.
Because of this, he didn't waste time, he always trained, always sought to be the best. He didn't want to be stepped on by others and be in an unfavorable position.
Some say that a good story is made with losses and gains, a character who always wins is boring, so he needs to lose to have 'character development'... But the moment he loses, readers get annoyed and start cursing the author.
Victor calls that nonsense; everyone wants to be on the winning side, he's no different. From the moment he understood what 'losing' means in the supernatural world, he made sure to incorporate the concept of his name into his existence. What's the concept of his name? It's simple, Victor means; The victorious.
As a weak human, he didn't have the capacity for that, he was not only debilitated by his illness, but he also didn't have power, but as a progenitor, and eventually as a dragon god... He can do it.
"But that doesn't change the fact of what happened... It doesn't change Stella's existence."
Victor's eyes glimmered slightly when he heard his daughter's name, and that gleam was warning enough for Leon to know that he was stepping into dangerous territory. Knowing Victor, he doesn't doubt that his possessiveness towards his daughters is on the same level or even worse than what he has over his wives.
"Yes, indeed. Feelings cannot be controlled, not perfectly, after all, as dragons and vampires, we are creatures of desires."
Anna felt very strange now. Honestly, she expected more drama, and not a cordial conversation as if they were talking about the weather.
Yes, she can perceive that Leon often speaks words that can trigger drama, but Victor professionally avoids it and keeps the conversation cordial.
'I think just like Violet, he doesn't like drama,' Anna thought distractedly.
.....
