Submitted by Balkoth

"High above in the sky, the stars look down on Tharel. Why are the stars up there? All they do is sit up there, staring at us. It is like they are watching us, observing our movements and actions." A moment passes before Balkoth begins to speak again "It would seem to me that the stars would know everything. They would know what has past and what is to come. If one were able to read the stars and to know what the stars know, they would be considered the luckiest person alive. Because if you know what is to come, then you can either accept your fate, or change it for the better. Don’t you think so Stargleam?"

Yawning, Stargleam glances over and states, "I always believed that the stars were a map of life. Some mark the beginning, others mark the end. You never know where the beginning ends or where the end begins. If you are able to make sense of the stars then, I too believe that will make a person the luckiest person alive."

"I wonder what my destiny is, what is to become of my life?" Balkoth glances up at Stargleam and notices that he fell asleep. Balkoth shrugs and says "It is getting late, I might as well go to bed too." With that, Balkoth sits down and leans back against the wall and falls asleep. During the night Balkoth dreams of the past present and future.

Strangely, Balkoth recognizes that he is dreaming, and he can‘t seem to wake up. He stood there, watching his dreams, his past. "Mommy? Daddy? Where are you? Where did everyone go? Why...am I so lonely...Why doesn’t anyone...love me..." He sees himself grow up again. Balkoth watched as he searched through Naerlan when he was a kid. Then he remembers the time when he first saw Asteri’s temple. He was so impressed with the height of the temple, it seemed as if it never ended. Then Balkoth sees himself enter the temple and greets Darius for the first time. "I am Darius, Bringer of Mischief." Right then Balkoth sees his eyes light up, he remembers being very impressed with the clan Mischief.

Time goes by and passes into the present. Balkoth sees himself looking beyond the temple doors into the clan hall. There wasn’t much in the clan hall, for the clan Mischief is very poor, but very happy. With a blank stare on his face, Balkoth watches his dream, wondering what it means, he sees himself talking to Stargleam just a minute ago, or so it seems. Then suddenly everything goes blank.

His body was swirling around in a circle heading towards the middle. It seemed as if he was in a black hole, time moved slowly and everything seemed to be stretched out. He saw many stars around him, swirling, he started to watch the stars, looking for a pattern in the stars. The stars started to move, they formed a window. In this window Balkoth saw himself as he will be. He saw himself in the clan Mischief, he saw piles of diamonds everywhere. Then he saw himself again, he was giving Darius money to improve the hall. Watching this, Balkoth started to feel proud of himself. He saw himself bringing fame to Mischief. People started to say "Look at that clan, they have so much fun, I envy them so." Balkoth saw himself as a very devoted and loyal member of Mischief. Soon everything started to fade away, the stars moved back to their original formation, and everything went black.

Balkoth woke up the next morning with a grin on his face. Stargleam asks "Why do you have such a big grin on your face?"

"I just had a wonderful dream, I dreamed about watching the stars and becoming rich. I helped Mischief become rich, and I made Mischief known to all."

Stargleam has a puzzled looked on his face and just shrugged and went about his business. Balkoth also shrugged and went to petition the clan Mischief to fulfill his dream.