28th of An, 227 years since megados eruption
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good source of squirrels. So instead we're working with rats (ugh) and owls (cute!). Unfortunately, rats live for around 2 years, while owls live significantly longer. I would've used pigeons, but the owl family killed the nest I was going to, which is why I have owls now.
Anyways, their longer lifespan means that I'm going to have to extend this experiment for at least a decade of rats and a century of owls in order to get definitive results. There's also the minor bonus that we can feed the rats to the owls, in order to figure out if the dragon blood has to be ingested directly or not.
I'm annoyed at the fact that I have to dig out extra rooms just for this experiment. It feels like such an unnecessary use of a room. But Mesmo was very strict about 'controlling all variables' and 'removing external influences to results'. We're feeding dragon blood to random animals to see if they live longer, we don't need to worry about the placebo effect!
I need to calm down. Conveniently, I can mine out some rooms.
21st of Ar, 227 years since megados eruption
Ended up digging a few dozen extra rooms. Some will be used by the Esmos, but the rest have to be reserved for the experiment. This is because, as Nesmo puts it, 'we don't know if the effects of dragon blood is limited to certain types of animals, or even if its limited to only animals in general'. In other words, the Esmos are bugs, moths are bugs, maybe dragon blood only extends the life of bugs. If it isn't limited to bugs, does it have a limit? In my opinion, we'll answer that after we see if dragon blood is even the cause of their longevity.
Anyways, that's why we now have rooms full of lizards, foxes, spiders, frogs, and snakes. Weird fun fact, spiders aren't bugs. Nesmo did not clarify what they meant by that. Bonus fact, frogs like to scream. I am trying to figure out how to prevent sound from escaping a room.
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Note 17;
Vildra's background is... uncertain to say the least. There's lots of normal stuff mixed with information that sounds too unusual to be true, as if there was an illusion but for raw data.
I cannot locate her mother. All potential information of Vildra's mother does not exist. Unsurprising based on what we have seen of Vildra.
Her father is... incompetent? Stupid? These words are insufficient to describe just how dumb he is. He thinks a crab is immortal. Just a normal crab. His evidence is that he hasn't seen the crab die. I wish I could reclaim the time I wasted investigating him.
Her grandparents on her father's side are mostly normal or dead. Her more distant relatives are as normal as any other dragon can be. The only oddity is an allergy to shellfish, which is strange as shellfish is not normally part of a dragon's diet.
While information on her mother is missing, I was able to find some accounts of Vildra's grandmother, the missing mother's mother, Lapis Miltos. The dragon lord before dragon lords were even a thing. A veteran of the war between demons and angels. An angel hunter with over 50 confirmed kills, and many more assists. The strange thing is that there was no date of death recorded. As far as everyone was concerned, she simply vanished one day, over 6000 years ago. The wording made me suspect that somehow it was related to Vildra, but Vildra would be born over 5500 years later.
None of Lapis' children are still alive. There's oddly conflicting reports of how many children she had, but all of them stated that there was only one still alive. The name was missing, as expected.
Note 18;
I found a diary that mentions Vildra by name. I shall investigate it thoroughly. There's about 571 pages though, so it'll take a while. I am unable to identify who wrote the diary.
Note 19;
There's a lot of information. I'll try to summarize the important points.
The writer is implied to be Vildra's mother. Vildra has no desires, despite all other dragons having a similar desire of superiority. She got manacus while still young, but was cured by eating her (already dead) younger brother. Vildra then learns the spell 'erase memory', a spell that, as far as I know, should no longer exist. This partially explains some things, but it just brings up new questions. How did she learn that spell?
Stolen novel; please report.
Eventually Vildra got manacus again, then got cured by eating 'David'. Implied that memory of David's murder was erased. There is an explanation that manauriunt actually casts a spell beyond its normal limits. It is implied that this is how Vildra erases a dragon from everyone's memory. The first case of an erased identity is the brother of Vildra's mother. She then mentions her fear of forgetting or being forgotten. She made a timed oath with Liberos (who was mentioned several times throughout the diary and is probably the one to publish it,) in an attempt to counteract potential memory loss.
There's some interesting clues here. I'll keep on analyzing what I found and compile it later.
Note 20;
Liberos is missing.
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18th of Auv, 227 years since megados eruption
Finally did my side of the agreement with Liberos. It was a bit complicated since she tested me by making me say some code phrases. Something about time loops and paradoxes. After that, I brought her to a dedicated room deep beneath my home. It was interesting seeing the house shrink down to a book. Wish I had something like that, but without the whole 'cursed to spend all lifetimes within that house, with only brief moments of freedom to move.'
Anyways, this means I now have a close source of stories to read. And unlike Liberos, I don't care if I read the same one twice. That's what I used to use 'erase memory' for. Though I guess I have more precise control now.
Speaking of control, I've been reminded of my horrible skill with spells by Repha. She recommends I do some practice, which is a terrible idea in the wastes. It's not like I have a readily available, abundant source of mana replenishment. I only have a few dozen dragon livers left!
3rd of Ax, 227 years since megados eruption
Apparently the sapients have been killing a lot of dragons recently. Something about money. Never really understood why money exists when you can just use raw resources. The only reason I can guess is that money isn't consumed permanently (most of the time). But then wouldn't that mean its value goes down the more money you have? Whatever, this is more of Yesmo's domain.
Anyways, back on topic, there's about 500 dragons left. I'm tempted to say 'I don't care' like I usually do, but as a dragon lord I have a responsibility blah blah blah, basically I should at least do something. Which is why I'm sending a well written essay to all dragons to sit still and not attack a city, or interrupt a battle, or attack a town, or fly through a castle, or attack a village. There's very little reason to do so, and they'd just be risking their life for minimal gain.
On a related note, I got really philosophical for a moment thinking about whether or not dragons should go extinct or not. My conclusion was 'no longer my problem'. I'm starting to feel like me no longer being a dragon solves a lot of my problems. Fuck, I'm not even a cannibal anymore!
Actually, that gives me an idea. I need to check if a dragon lord can resign or something.
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Note 36;
Vildra's planning something. She just sent a letter to every dragon telling us to not attack the sapients. Her argument was that doing so would put dragons into unnecessary danger, risking death. Then she had the gall to resign from being a dragon lord. Something that I wasn't even aware was possible.
I think we're running out of time. With only 500 dragons left, I'm not even sure if our population can recover anymore. Assuming the sapients will only continue to develop stronger weapons, it's only a matter of time before they turn from defense to outright hunting us. Ironic, considering what some dragons did to sapients.
I made up my mind. At the very least, we must stop Vildra. I believe she is the current greatest threat to all dragons. Whether intentional or not, she is responsible for far too many deaths. I hope the time I spent on networking will pay the cost.
Note 37;
They agreed. All of them. Something doesn't seem right about that. It's as if all 500 dragons have an innate hatred or something against Vildra. As if they were designed and destined to hate her. As if there was someone manipulating all of them against Vildra. Fuck.
Note 38;
Someone had to have given Vildra 'erase memory'. Someone had to have gotten rid of her grandmother. Someone must have done something to her desire.
Conversely, someone had to have erased Vildra's mother. Someone had to have broken into the council room. I doubt Uildra managed to gather 4 whole armies in a few weeks, but someone had to have done it.
In a game of chess, the most important piece isn't on the board. Its the player. Someone that the pieces may never even know exists. Someone who controls all of the pieces. I can only hope I am the king, and my player will win.
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243th of Ax, 227 years since megados eruption
I don't think I ever wrote down my spells anywhere in my diary. Just in case I lose my memory again, I'll keep a list. Aesmo, I know you read this, please make your own copy so that even if the diary gets destroyed, the list remains.
Spells; antivermilion, buridice, chains of hadon, deconstruct, feast of mursymmuse, gravitas, joneia, manipulate memory, moment of eternity, pleiades senses, recandescent, torl gate.
I also know that there's 1 last spell that I should know, but don't remember. Unfortunately, even Repha wasn't able to figure it out. Maybe it's an angels' spell that nobody even knows about. But then, why would I know it?
My second theory is that I made it, but that's unlikely. You can't just 'make up' a new spell. There's a whole complicated process and stuff that I would've remembered. Maybe mom made it and taught me when I was really young. Relevant fun fact; dragons have no memories for the first 5 years of their lives. Weird, right?