Mansion of Dolls (Complete)

Chapter 37 (Edited)

The realization hit Taryn like a ton of bricks.

So much so that her mind completely halted all forms of thought for a moment.

There had been no record of Toya's family tree past his grandfather simply because he never had a grandfather in the mansion to begin with. The man in the old photo with the two women was Toya.

How could he have lived that long and remain looking the same? She didn't have a clue.

Why? A thousand possibilities could have been the reason.

His smile remaining, Toya spoke. "You're not the first to be told this, but to answer your question, as of this year, I am one hundred and seventy-five years of age."

Taryn looked at him thoroughly, trying to come to terms with this information. Could it have been something closer to what Elizabeth Báthory had done? No, that didn't make sense. How could he have kept his youth while also turning people into dolls? She needed to know more, so she kept the conversation going.

Hoping for a better understanding since he was so willing to talk. "You're saying you've lived for a long time; do you mean to say you're an immortal?" Maybe not, but it's best just to cover all bases.

Toya shook his head. "No, I'm not immortal. I honestly wish people would stop saying that when calling a person who lives a long time and is essentially ageless but is still able to die, immortal—claiming that something or someone is immortal means that they are undying, deathless. They can never die, no matter what. And yet in so many stories, a person will have created an immortal being and have them die in some arbitrary way. If an immortal being dies, then they aren't truly immortal. It goes and contradicts what that word means. If anything, I would say that I have unlimited longevity. I'd prefer it since I have lived for nearly two centuries when I have not physically aged."

Well, someone's got a disdain for that word. Taryn thought, surprised by his sudden monologuing rant. She didn't expect that. "Just to be clear, I was using the correct definition," she retorted, causing him to pause in his sudden tangent. "So, you're able to die. If that's true, how would you even know?"

"By testing, of course. Not on myself, obviously, but on others who became like me. On those, I never intended to turn, only to come out that way through chance. But they were louts, to begin with. Not good people at all, no one would miss them."

"Why would bother doing that, to begin with?"

"Simple, I would have then done so on myself were I to live another century after this one if I were never to find you."

Taryn frowned, still trying to understand his logic. "But you didn't find me," she countered. "I came to you. If you really wanted the person you believed to be with, then you could have just left this place."

"Yes, you're correct. I could have left this village at any time. However, that is where two issues arise. The first being that I was told that the one I seek, the one who would complete me, would come to me. There go, I could not leave this place if I were to meet you. And the second; if I were to have you, or someone like you regardless of age or sex, go through this process, it would have to be here. I tried it once in an abandoned village not far off, thanks to one of many wars that plagued us, but the person never changed when I completed the process. All I did was cut him up like a slab of meat."

Taryn didn't respond to that last part. "And when did you become this?"

"The end of winter at the start of 1871. I wasn't lying when I told you my age."