"I liked it," Gabriel said simply. As he concentrated on trying to touch the wall, he apparently lost concentration on the rest of him, and little tendrils of darkness were starting to drift outwards from his back, curling and twisting in their own wind.

"It had many beings on it. Small ones. Compact ones. This was before things that could poke - or, at least, that could not poke strongly. So there were others, though I tried to keep them away from my planet. They like to eat. You know. A star. A being. They see little difference. I like beings. Not for eating but for being. But they destroyed themselves. I tried to stop them, but I couldn't."