Eternal

Speckles of gas dotted the sky, lighting the world with brilliant displays of red and white and touching her hair with gentle fingers. It glowed in the moonlight, the beautiful glossy black of a raven's feathers: mysterious, untouchable, the greatest gift of the world.

He longed to reach out and touch her locks with his fingers, but feared to soil its beauty with his impure touch. His fingers were covered in the dirt and blood of the earth, bathed with the texture of brown and green that graced this terrestrial plain. And though beautiful was the earth, hers was a beauty all its own.

To mix those two drinks was like bloodying the hands of a child. Blood red would stand out on the frail pale skin of a child, the picture of innocence covered in the fear of the world.

She smiled at him with soft brown eyes, a very pale brown indeed. They held the softness of her heart and displayed the beauty of her soul. Her body could have been engulfed in velvety wings, feathers of black running down her soft cheek and caressing her round heart-shaped face.

"The night is beautiful," she whispered softly, her voice a blend of bells ringing in the wind. She reached out her hand to him allowing the moon to cast shadows along her creamy brown skin. His large rough hands fell into her smaller soft ones, fitting into each other like the final shards of a mirror. They allowed their gazes to linger over each other, their eyes like parched lips tasting the cooling drops of liquid for the first time.

"Don't let this night end," she whispered leaning her head softly against his chest. He breathed in the earthy scent of her hair, enjoying the smell of honeydew that filled and settled in his once dry lungs. His free arm enfolded her soft waist as she pulled his hand to her lips. They brushed together lightly, sending a spark of warmth running softly through his body.

For a moment they clung together, two lovers on their last night together before the storm of war took one away. He could feel her shaking against him and knew the moment that he felt a wet warmth touch his chest that she was crying.

"I won't," he promised. "It'll never stop no matter what. Maybe it will in the eyes of others, but for me, eternity!" He could taste the salt stinging his eyes and nose, threatening to burst forth in a flood of sadness. But he held the tears back, knowing that weeping would only make it harder to leave.

"I wish I could join you in your eternal dream," sadness echoed in the vast caverns of her bell-like voice. "It would be a slumber so sweet and bright that it could never be real." Her fingers squeezed his softly. She looked up, staring at him with sad brown eyes. Leaning forward, she kissed him lightly on the lips. "We'll marry when it all is over, I promise. But for now, goodbye."

She pulled away from his silent grasp allowing his arms to fall numbly to his side, now devoid of the warmth that had once seemed to keep his blood flowing and heart beating. She stood; back straight, pride visibly swelling into her features, and quickly grabbed the pack that lay at her feet. Without another word she turned away, tossing the bag onto her side and walking into the distance, headed toward the doom that surely awaited her.

"I love you," he whispered softly as he watched her form moving further away. He sat down on his cold, lonely perch. And waited…

For eternity.

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