A goddess said to a man on Neptune. "I understand you're still coping with the loss of your daughter."

"You took her from me." The man with blue eyes stared at her while muttering in Korean. "...the one thing that was mine...gone."

"I could understand your upset, so I've decided to create a gift for you."

She crushed a hundred stars together, white powder coming out from her hand. He crossed his arms while turning his back, then gasped when a sprinkling neon light made his eyes water.

He put his hands out for it, the light going to him. "...I don't know what this is.."

"It's for you. It's a star made to your abilities. It's intelligent. It could grasp your words and ideas. It enjoys sound and sights."

His voice highen with excitement as the light danced around him. "What's...what is it? Boy? Girl?"

She chuckled. "Gender is a human concept. It could be anything your heart desires."

"A girl. The prettiest little girl you've ever seen." He teared up slightly. "Just like her."

---

Centuries past by beneath his button nose. People on Earth came and went, but the man and his star carried on. They would look at planets dying, new stars coming up, they would touch the rings on Saturn without a naked eye staring.

The bad part, however, was that the star had a mind of its own. If it didn't want to do something, no amount of pulling it and yelling would make it go. It learnt from somewhere, the man was the same way.

The one thing they longed to do was to explore Earth. The man had lived there before, the star had not. It would be the best thing he could give to her.

"I advise you to heed my warning." The goddess stood in their way. "I am commanding you to not go near Earth, as it is not the same as your mind remembers. The consequences will be ones you will heavily despise."

---

On earth, a couple in an Asia shared a bowl of strawberries before turning off the lights. The room was lit with candles as the man undressed his wife.

"I want this to work." She whispered as she lay on the bed. "This has to work."

"And it will." He laid beneath her, her naked body being the only thing important to his eyes. "I have a good feeling this time."

---

The man built wings out of stars, giving him the ability to fly.

"No, little girl. You don't need wings. You fly naturally." The star turned her back on him. So, with a drawnout sigh, he made her tiny wings. The star flew beside him.

They took flight. The man held onto the star, laughing.

"Look!" He pointed to the ocean on the planet. "Look how blue it is!"

The star looked and saw something that caught its attention. It smelled something it wanted, something that the man could never give it.

It started falling towards Earth. The man, horrifed, shouted as he flew down faster. The wings broke during the ride. Touching the tip of the moon, he screamed when he fell, nearly burning in the sun if it weren't for the black hand of the Goddess catching him.

"My star!" He tried reaching out for Earth, tears falling from his eyes when he couldn't see the star anywhere. "Where did she go?!"

"I had warned you. Your star is now gone. It is to be reborn as human. It will not remember you." The man wailed. "I must punish you. You have disobeyed me." She put him back on Neptune. "I terribly apologize."

As his punishment for believing he was more powerful than the Goddness, she took away his legs. She took away his eyes. In its place, a snake's tail and eyes took its turn. His once pure white skin became scaly. He was sentenced to never fly, only being able to sleather. He was never to see that little star and any star again.

---

That little star fell into a woman's stomach as she slept. In the morning, when she woke up, she took a pregnancy test.

"Beom." She said as she shook her husband awake, the test in hand. "I'm pregnant."

--

The Fall of Icarus
René Milot