Xellos sat alone in the hot spring that late summer night. The others had already gone to bed when the trickster priest decided to take a midnight dip. Not that he needed sleep like they did, anyway.
The stars were out tonight. it is a really beautiful night. a voice in his head told him, but he somehow couldn't feel the awe that the sky inspires in others. The world had lost it's glow for him many centuries past. He had lived longer than all his traveling companions put together, had a thousand times the experiences, and at his best power equal to any of them. He played his games with them, like the pawns that they were.
A swarm of fireflies dances above the pool and Xellos watched them through his merrily closed eyes. So frail, yet so bright. it reminded him of his companions. Bright shining lights, each of them. with such hopes and dreams, such emotion. But like fireflies, they're light wouold quickly fade and burn out.
How he hated them, for dying to soon, for being weak and leaving him alone. Yet while despising them for their light, he felt drawn to it and admired it. He could not help trying to touch it, though like fire it had burned him before. A single firefly landed on his outstretched palm, glowing a beautiful light in the calm night. Xellos watched it in wonder, his eyes lighting as they had not in many, many years. But like a fire; it's beauty is transient and burns itself out simply by existing.
The moon had set, and the clouds covered the stars. Xellos opened his eyes and frowned. Having lived so long in darkness, now I hate the light With a dark smile he crushed the firefly in his palm.