It has been a century since I was born.

I have seen the best of humanity, among my peers and consort, and the worst, in the ones who tried to solve the puzzle of immortality.

I have seen wars go by, people sacrificing themselves for others, people dying before my eyes. All the while asking the question, 'Why die for me?'.

People have, and still do, see hope in me.

In my hundred years of living a life filled with a celebrity status, I have come to realize many things.

I have seen countless days of rain, falling down on the meadows. Each drop has given me the simple relief that a child gets when learning something new.

I have basked in the warmth of the sun, gaining pleasure.

I have, time and again, tried to save people from unnecessary deaths. I have not succeeded in many, but many have died thanking me in their last breaths.

Though I shed a tear for each and every life that I couldn't help save, those tears were wasted tears.

Two younger generations have stepped forward, the younger ones always succeeding their immediate and past generations.

I have also seen evil rise time and again, and I have seen that the younger ones have surpassed us in vanquishing evils that have arose.

I have trained my sons and daughters in the fine arts of magic. They have truly surpassed us, by adding their own researches and findings to their already excellent repertoires of magic.

I have seen and come to realize that evil shall never be truly vanquished, as long as humanity exists. There will always be a reason for someone, somewhere, to embark, and meet with failure, on the quest that one man took, to rule the world, to conquer immortality.

I have also seen that there is more to humans than meets the eye. As long as humanity exists, hope exists, and as long as hope exists, someday, evil may be brought to a long halt, though not a permanent one. Humans will always fight to protect loved ones. Humans will fight evil for other reasons too. One main reason being that they want hope to exist till humans exist.

For if hope dies, then humanity dies.

And as my hope dies, I shall fade to black.

I fade into black, knowing that the forthcoming generations shall truly do their best to help hope persist and survive.

Hmmmmm..... Someday, maybe, I shall come back in black.