We all experience the flow of time, but the value of its passing is relative to our frame of reference. A century is a lifetime for some but a long sleep for others. What's important is we cherish the time we have, no matter how long or short it may be.

***

"Mother, I don't understand humans," a young Alaric said as he sat on his mother's thigh—a human named Celestine turned immortal by his Father long ago. She was always calm and collected, with icy blue eyes and white hair that flowed down her back like snowfall. Despite her rather cold appearance, she was a kind person deep down.

Celestine slowly closed the book she had been reading him about a valiant hero's journey and tilted her head. "What don't you understand, my dear Alaric?"

Alaric paused to find the words. He tried to sum it up in a single word or phrase but eventually gave up with a sigh. "Everything."

"Everything? Well, that's no good, Alaric. Do you not even understand your own Mother?"

"You're a vampire."

"But I was human once, a long, long time ago."

Alaric frowned, "What was it like to be a human?"

"Wonderful," Celestine glanced away, nostalgia clouding her eyes, "I remember those years like they were yesterday. I was a traveling merchant's daughter, so I saw the world. The chilling sea salt breeze that tickled the tongue, a holy city of white stone that glowed under the moonlight, and people of all races and backgrounds with fascinating stories to tell over a jug of beer. There were so many things I lived and saw that it's impossible to summarize all of them. I also loved my family, and I made many friends along the way that I still remember."

"Aren't all of them dead?" Alaric said bluntly.

Celestine gave him a weary smile, "Yes, most of them are. But that makes me cherish my memories of them even more."

"I don't get it," Alaric shook his head in defeat, "It seems like a waste of time to make friends with mortal races. All the time you invest in the friendship will one day be worthless as their corpse lies rotting in the ground."

Celestine ran a hand through his hair, "Alaric dear, how old are you now?"

Alaric looked up at his mother, "I don't know? Why would my age be important."

"Do you remember what you did yesterday? How about a hundred years ago or a thousand?"

Alaric scrunched up his face, thinking, "Yesterday, I was playing with the hellhounds because I was bored after waking up. I was probably sleeping a hundred years ago and a thousand years ago? I was probably also sleeping."

"Do you dream when you sleep?"

Alaric shook his head, "No. Time simply passes, I wake up, and nothing has changed."

Celestine smiled, "I was once told by a mage that the brain only commits new experiences to memory. This fact is of great importance to mages who require vivid visualizations to cast their spells. Those mages who waste away in their towers in a routine and studying books advance slower than those who seek out the wider world and new challenges."

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"What are you suggesting?" Alaric asked his Mother.

"You don't understand the humans because you have all the time in the world." She smiled and ran a finger across his cheek, "Because their lives are short, they are in a hurry to find meaning to their existence and achieve great things."

Alaric glanced at the book in his Mother's lap.

Celestine noticed his gaze and softly patted the leatherbound book, "You find the heroes unrelatable because they strived to etch their name in history while you lived their history. This book isn't some old fairytale. It happened a few centuries ago. There was an entire invasion by the Demon Lord, but you were fast asleep and missed it."

"I still don't get it. If a human's life is so short, why risk it to get written about in some book nobody cares about."

Celestine laughed, "They do these things exactly because their lives are so short. That's the beauty of life—it comes to an end. Might as well go out as a legend and remembered by those that live on than to fade away without leaving a mark on the world."

Alaric frowned. I am starting to see what Mother is saying, but it still seems dumb to me. Why care if your name is in history if you aren't around to see it?

"Say Alaric, you have spent hundreds, if not thousands of years stuck in this castle. If you don't understand the humans, why not venture out and try to?"

Alaric snorted, "I'm a vampire. We don't go outside and mingle with the mortals. Not only is it dangerous for us, but that's how bad things happen, like what happened to you, Mother."

Celestine winced a little at his words but quickly recovered her smile, "You're different from your Father and the others."

"How so?"

Celestine tapped him on the chest, where his pounding heart condensed his blood with mana, slowly growing his power over time. "Because I gave you the one thing your Father failed to take from me, a human soul. You are free to walk the world, my son. The sun god won't vaporize you for daring to challenge its wrath."

Alaric's eyes widened. "But Father told me that if I was to go outside—" Celestine silenced him by putting a finger on his lips.

"Hush dear, this a secret even he doesn't know. I kept it from you until now as knowing there was a whole world out there that you could explore would do you no good while you were weak and your Father was awake," Celestine's icy eyes began to tear up, "I'm sorry, I feel like my selfishness of keeping this hidden from you has led to you wasting away thousands of years in these cold stone walls."

"Mother, it's fine." Alaric wiped away the single tear rolling down her cheek, "Don't cry. It makes me sad."

"Sorry," she apologized again and hugged him tightly. Alaric could hear her pounding heartbeat and deep breaths as she rested her chin on his head and rubbed his back. Her snow-white hair flanked him on either side like curtains to hide his Mother's sadness.

Alaric reluctantly returned the hug. They stayed silent for a while, appreciating the moment as Alaric's mind wandered with possibilities. All his life, he had lived inside this prison of stone, never daring to so much as venture a step outside, night or day. Other than sleeping, his only pastime was hearing the stories of these humans—he couldn't understand them, but he sure was envious. The outside world sounded like a fairytale to him, but he had kept it at arm's length, believing he would never experience it.

"So, does this mean I can go outside?" Alaric asked softly, and his Mother hummed in agreement.

"Really?" He asked, a hint of impatience in his tone.

Celestine pulled back and looked down at him. Her eyes were reddened from crying, and she had a weary smile. "Yes, my dear, you can leave anytime."

"Then let's go," Alaric got up and pulled his Mother along. They left his bedroom and walked down the long black stone hallway lined with glowing stones embedded in the walls and many artifacts stolen from humans proudly displayed on pedestals. Having seen them all a thousand times before, he didn't so much as glance at the shiny swords stained in blood arching over the doorway at the end. A hefty wooden door inlaid with runic formations stood between him and the outside world.

Alaric touched the door, inserted some of his mana, and heard a distinct click. Blood rushed around his ears as he felt excitement brewing in him for the first time in centuries. Pushing it open after a moment of hesitation, the door creaked as they parted, revealing a balcony under a sea of stars. Cold, fresh air blasted him in the face, ruffling his hair and stealing his breath away.

"Mother, come take a look at this—" Alaric glanced over his shoulder and was surprised to see his Mother waiting beyond the doorway in the corridor. A mixture of love and sadness weighed on her gaze as she watched him, "—are you not coming?"

She shook her head, "I can't dear."

"Why not?"

"I'm enslaved to this place," Celestine ran a finger along the black band around her neck, "But you are free, son. Go experience the life I once had and realize what makes life beautiful and worth living."

"Without you?" Alaric walked over, "That's impossible—" He hit an invisible barrier, unable to reach his Mother despite nothing but air separating them. "What's this?"

His Mother looked to her feet, "Forgive me, son. I tricked you."

"How?"

"This castle is surrounded by a barrier that keeps humans out while your Father sleeps. Since you have a human soul, you cannot come back until he awakens a few centuries from now."

"No, no, no," Alaric unleashed some of the mana in his blood and tried punching and clawing at the air to little effect. "You can't just leave me alone out here?! I wanted to explore the world with you, Mother."

"This is harder than I expected it to be," Celestine said, placing both hands on the doors and starting to close them. "Allow this foolish Mother to be selfish one last time. Leave me, dear, and don't you dare return until you have many stories to tell me."

"No, I'm not ready!" Alaric pounded on the barrier to little effect.

"Alaric dear, you are thousands of years old and are stronger than you even realize." Celestine gave him one last tearful smile, "I am proud to call you my son."

The door then clicked shut. Alaric spent the next few hours trying everything he could to break his way in, but sure enough, his Father's magic was absolute. It was like trying to defy the gods themselves.

Alaric collapsed against the door and stared at the rising sun on the horizon. It was the first sunrise he had ever seen, and despite his despair, he had to admit it was...

"Beautiful."