Solitary Eternity

Author: Huanzhen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This is a highly imaginative novel that will take you to a mysterious vampire castle and introduce you to vampires of all kinds. The author Huanzhen is a relatively young writer, so the novel doesn't rely on life experience, yet it's not thin either. She makes up for her lack of life experience with her own thoughts and cultural knowledge! It's a philosophical fantasy novel aimed at interpreting many of the confusions humans face. The work follows a beautiful and enigmatic writing style, maintaining the readability of a fantasy novel while retaining the depth of a philosophical one. Through vividly depicting the colorful world of the vampire kingdom and observing the human world from an otherworldly perspective, the novel reflects the author's thoughts on death, life, loneliness, love, and the barriers between people.
Dexter returned dazed, and for a while, she thought she was dreaming. She didn’t see the pharaoh’s appearance, but the penetratingly gentle voice lingered in her mind, drifting like mist in her heart. Those somewhat obscure words contained so much wisdom, making Dexter feel a mix of awe and fear. However, at that time, she had no idea what the pharaoh had been warning her about. This was the first time she had heard the word: immortality.
Dexter noticed that none of them seemed to match their youthful appearance, as they were all incredibly old. When she asked about it, they laughed. “Don’t talk to us about age; you’d think you were living among a bunch of fairies.” “We are fairies, after all, haha.” Privately, she had asked Tavish, who hesitated for a moment before telling her. “This is a very boring and uninteresting question for us. Age holds no worldly meaning to us. But fine, I’m 418 years old, if you really must know.”
Dexter stared at Tavish’s smooth forehead, free of wrinkles, and his vibrant body for a long time, utterly amazed. “Well, you can’t tell from looking, silly child!” Tavish was amused by her innocence and laughed heartily.
Dexter noticed that they kept their ages very precise but were secretive about them. Why? Everyone celebrated their birthday twice a year—once in a white tie and once in a black one—but neither occasion was particularly cheerful. Birthdays were almost the times when they felt most down. Why? But her curiosity about this mysterious community was only growing.
Living here for these days had made her more familiar with the inside and outside of the Cistine environment and given her a basic understanding of vampire life. Everything in the world undergoes metabolism and gradually decays with the passage of time—the only exception is vampires. Their strange blood contains a mysterious power, like an illusion, that allows them to cleverly avoid the effects of time and leave no trace of it on their bodies. All their cells refuse to divide and resist change. Therefore, they are free from disease, aging, and death, always full of energy and eternally young. They are young, handsome, intelligent, healthy, strong, and always remain so.
Dexter had asked Tavish curiously, “Do you really never die?” “Oh no, we’re not invincible. The first thing to be wary of is sunlight—just touching that terrible thing.” Tavish made a gesture of despair, as if slitting his throat. “Of course, similar things like fire are dangerous too. Next, being pierced through the heart by a sharp object, with blood unable to circulate for too long, will also kill you. If another vampire drains your old blood or you accidentally drink the blood of a dead person, that’s almost the end for you! Besides that, haha, there’s nothing else that can harm us.”
He danced gracefully, his movements as swift as a dove’s steps, spinning around in circles as he laughed, “In short, as long as you don’t defy death, you can’t die.”