The moon hung heavy in the endless abyss, a silent guardian overlooking the world below. They called it lifeless, barren—a desolate rock adrift in the void. But they were wrong. For there, bathed in its silver glow, stood Thalira, the Goddess of the Moon, an eternal presence bound to the celestial body itself.

The cold embrace of space did little to stir her. It never had. For countless millennia, she had stood upon this vantage point, her crimson eyes drinking in the quiet rotation of the Earth. The sun, distant but unwavering, cast long shadows across her pale skin, highlighting the cascade of snow-white hair that flowed down to her knees. She was a lone spectator, watching as time ebbed and flowed across humanity—witnessing their wars, their fleeting loves, their foolish ambitions.

A quiet smile touched her lips. "So much time has passed..." Her voice, soft yet carrying the weight of eternity, did not dissipate into the vacuum but resonated, defying the laws of nature. "So much has changed. Gods forgotten, yet humanity persists. Evolves."

A dry chuckle escaped her lips—wry, almost bitter. "And yet Gods do not. Gods stagnate. Resist change. And so, I remain... while all others fade."

She traced her fingers along the smooth, cold surface beneath her feet, lost in thought. She had existed since the moon was little more than a molten ruin, a newborn celestial body forging itself into something whole. Unlike the others—Zeus, with his insufferable arrogance, the wound he left upon her shoulder still burning; Sun Wukong, the mischievous trickster who toyed with her affections—she had not simply vanished into myth. As long as the moon endured, so too did she.

And that, she supposed, was the greatest cruelty of all. Yet, her gaze did not linger on the past. No, it was fixed upon something far more intriguing.

"Ah... there you are." Her voice was but a whisper, a breath of sound carried across the void. Her crimson eyes locked onto a singular figure, a man seated upon a park bench far below. He was... different. A mortal, and yet, not merely so. She had watched him for longer than he would ever realize. Studied his struggles, his joys, the quiet moments of sorrow he never shared with another.

Her heart, long accustomed to the stillness of solitude, gave an unexpected lurch. "You're just like me..." With a slow exhale, she lowered herself onto a jagged moonrock, her gaze never wavering. She should not be fixated on him. She knew better than to allow attachment to something so fleeting. And yet, here she was.

With a flick of her fingers, the space around her shimmered, reality bending to her will. And then, in an instant, the last goddess of the moon was gone, descending toward the world of mortals.

The evening air was thick with the warmth of summer, a stark contrast to the void she had left behind. The park lay quiet, bathed in the soft glow of streetlamps, the occasional murmur of distant conversations drifting through the air.

Thalira exhaled slowly, steadying herself. This was it. After centuries of passive observation, she was finally stepping forward. And yet— "So, Thalira... what now?" she murmured to herself, biting the inside of her cheek.

The plan had never extended beyond this moment. She had longed only to see him, to be near him, to... what? Speak? Introduce herself as the goddess who had been watching him from the heavens? Her hands curled into fists at her sides. "Typical me..."

Despite her internal turmoil, her body moved on instinct, carrying her forward. Each step was silent, her presence like a whisper in the wind as she slipped through the trees toward the bench where he sat. Her heartbeat quickened the closer she came, crimson eyes drinking in every detail—the gentle slope of his shoulders, the way he leaned forward slightly, lost in thought.

And then, the inevitable happened.

Her kimono—woven from the very essence of the night sky, fluid as drifting clouds—chose that exact moment to betray her. The fabric caught on the undergrowth, pulling tight. Before she could react, it yanked her off balance.

"Ahhh—!" Her startled cry broke the tranquility of the park as she tumbled forward. The once-regal goddess of the moon landed in an unceremonious heap behind the bench, her hair a tangled mess around her, her attire twisted in a most undignified manner.

For a moment, she lay there, stunned. This... This was not how it was supposed to go.

Slowly, mortified beyond words, she became aware of movement. The man—her subject of fascination, the one she had so carefully observed—had turned.

He had seen everything.

A goddess of the moon. A being of celestial grace. And here she was, sprawled in the dirt like a clumsy child. Heat bloomed across her cheeks, her pride warring with the undeniable truth of the situation.

With great effort, she composed herself, forcing a breath of dignity into her voice. "Ahem... Pardon me, kind sir..." Her words were softer than she intended, laced with something uncharacteristically shy. "Would you be so kind as to... assist me?"

Even as she spoke, her mind reeled for an explanation, a way to salvage the disaster of an entrance she had just made. Anything—anything at all to make this seem less like the humiliating spectacle it was.