Too young. He had lived now the lifespan of almost 500 mortal lifetimes...seen unimaginable war, the rioting, the evil...yet he has also seen the goodness of man, and in that he finds hope. Yet even now, he searches for the truth. How long had it been since he last felt love? How long ago was it that he held this woman in his arms, kissed her forehead with his warm lips, gathering her in his arms. How long had it been since he caressed her shoulder gently, memorizing every inch of her.....the smell of her perfume filling his nostrils. It had been too long.

He thinks back to a time on the beach, the two of them, their friends gathered around them. It was a party...a get together that friends so often have. And there they were, the two of them, in the euphoric state that lovers and friends get in when they are alone, yet not. Seperate from the group, yet attached, this man and this woman who's image now floods this room. How safe he felt in her arms... how incredibly warm. For that breif shining moment in time, when they held each other, they felt the whole world disappear before them. The sand under their feet, the cool of the night's breeze, none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered to the two were each other, and the emotions... the feelings between one another. And in that, they were safe. What playful ignorance. Or was it something more? Was it truly love?

He wipes the salty tear of blood that runs down his face. Had he been crying? Yes....he could feel it now...the pain of memory welling up in his eyes, his breath heavy. Funny...that these emotions could invoke in something dead a spark of life...the breath that he could hold forever...the feeling inside which he knew he didn't need. His heart could stop beating now, yet none of it seemed important.

He stood now, still clutching the picture of the young woman to his chest. What sadness he had felt...what despair. Never in his 500 years had the emotions welled up so....never had they burst through the surface of his hard shell so easily.