"This is my younger brother, isn’t he? He looks so beautiful!"
Iliad, who had gone to Heaven for advanced training and completed the first round of studies, leaned on the windowsill, peeking at the young Golden Dragon sleeping soundly on the Golden Gemstone Couch, his eyes full of eagerness.
Although this brother’s dragon form was almost identical to his own, with just brighter scales, it made him even more tempted to reach out and touch him.
"I wonder when he’ll wake up?"
Lengthening his neck to gaze at him for who knows how long, Iliad saw that his brother was still motionless on the Golden Gemstone Couch, with only the sound of steady breathing filling the air, causing the look in his eyes to gradually shift from anticipation to disappointment.
Because he had realized that it was impossible to wait for his brother to wake up within a short period of time.
Though he possessed Dragon Species lineage and his dragon form was nearly identical to his brother’s, he did not need to sleep deeply during his infancy, nor did he have a Deep Sleep Period.
Iliad jumped down from the windowsill. Though he was on holiday, the time wasn’t long, and he couldn’t waste all his vacation watching his brother sleep; he still had many things to attend to.
However, after wandering around the places he used to frequent, Iliad returned with a look of melancholy and confusion, devoid of the joy and vitality typical of someone his age.
He sat on the steps in solitude, contemplating for a long time. Under the worried gazes of several Angels who had accompanied him to the Lower Realm, he decided to seek out the ruler of this land.
"You seem a bit lost."
Noah looked at his eldest son entering the chamber.
By age, Iliad should be thirty-six now. In short-lived species, that would naturally be middle-aged, the head of a household, a true pillar, with responsibilities above and below, carrying heavy burdens.
But as his progeny, Iliad was still just a child. Not even a youth, since his father himself was not yet an adult dragon.
"I just went to find my old friends, they’ve all changed..."
Seeing his father, who hadn’t changed since his own birth, except growing even larger and more imposing, Iliad revealed the source of his current state.
Before his mother Ophelia took him to Heaven, Iliad had stayed among the secular world, where he made many friends among the short-lived species.
But this time, upon returning and visiting these old friends one by one, Iliad found that they were drastically different from how he remembered them.
If he hadn’t confirmed that his memory was intact, and could even conduct a more precise investigation from a soul level, he’d suspect some entity was playing a cruel joke on him. How could the changes in short-lived species be so immense?
Why had those who were once so passionate become weak and disheartened? Allowing themselves to be bullied.
The youth once filled with a sense of justice was now indifferent to injustices happening before them, acting as if they were mere trivialities.
The once proud and upright heroes had spines no longer as straight as pines, now bent as if aged, gaining the skills of sycophancy, so obsequious it made him inwardly loathe and thoroughly disgusted.
Where had those brave young men and women from his memories gone, those who once stood up to defend fairness and justice, and protect kindness?
"This is because you left for too long, so their changes shocked you. If you hadn’t gone to Heaven and had stayed here with me.
Then you would have seen for yourself everything they went through. You might have understood and accepted the transformations they underwent."
The pain in relationships between the Longevity Species and the short-lived species stems from this.
The outstanding qualities and shining virtues that short-lived species possess during youth are quickly worn away over time, rapidly transforming into something completely unrecognizable, even abhorrent to the Longevity Species.
For the short-lived species themselves, they naturally faced numerous challenges, forced to make choices and change to continue living or even just surviving.
Shedding aspects that had no impact on their actual living and survival, irrelevant or even obstructive, and in return, receiving certain compensations.
But for the Longevity Species who knew them and considered them friends, it is like a cruel joke of fate; comrades in arms from the day before suddenly transformed into what they once fought against.
"No, I absolutely cannot accept it."
Remembering those he once knew and admired, now changed, Iliad felt his heart ablaze with anger. Yet, he didn’t know where to direct this burning fire.
"Really? Are you sure you cannot accept it?"
Noah inquired with a gentle smile.
"Then would you like to experience the things they once went through?"
Confusion appeared in Iliad’s eyes.
"Abandon the power and identity you currently possess, and live life as a mortal."
Noah actually wanted to suggest sealing his memories and living as a mortal, but he reconsidered. He was still too young. Experiencing two decades of mundane life and then unsealing memories might twist his view of the world entirely. That could cause serious problems later on.