The night was entrancing. There was not a cloud in sight, and so the bright stars were fully displayed for Philip, their lustre shadowed in a beautiful blue and white. It was a first for him to be so totally dumbfounded as he was today. People had told him, the sky at night is the most beautiful painting in the world, and the little boy had at that time scoffed in laughter. But now, as this sight was placed in front of him, he admitted how wrong he had been and what he had missed out on. The emotions the starry sky awoke in him, indescribable. Even he, a mere kid, was reminded of nature's innocent beauty and overwhelming visage.

"I feel that," thought Philip. "that something has changed in me. I feel... free."

The little boy smiled sweetly and found a good spot at the training field just outside the village. No one would disturb him here, if they even were awake, that is – which was something he very much doubted.

"This state of mind might be the best one for meditation. I should take good use of it or I'll probably regret it later."

He crossed his legs and positioned himself.

The air was cool to the touch, and the breezes were slow, sweeping past him like fleeting clouds. Clad in a t-shirt during almost autumn was not often the best idea. But as strange as it was, the temperature did not affect him at all. A strange phenomenon, perhaps foreboding if one were to dwell deeper, but as of now, nothing like that went through the little boy's mind. He looked up at the starry sky, then corrected the position of his head, and straightened his back, lay his hands in his lap, before falling into deep meditation.

The silent lake with the undisturbed surface appeared once again in his mind. After a while, a drop of luminous water fell from above, hitting the surface with a soft ripple, yet unrippled itself and disappeared before spreading any further ripples. His gaze followed the trajectory of the fallen water drop. The starry sky over him was just like the starry sky he saw previously today, just as beautiful, just as blue and white.

A deep-blue light blinked in the corner of the sky, pulsating with an even tempo. Philip was drawn to it. The blinking was calling for him. He knew it and couldn't resist. His inner eye left the shore of the lake, surging upward, toward the starry sky and the blinking blue that called for him to come.

The blinking blue became bigger. From the size of a grain to the size of a fist to the size of a mountain. Ocean blue enveloped him. He felt at bliss, totally at bliss. It was at this time, as everything about him was at its purest, that a voice; a soothing one, like the cord of a violin, like the most gentle flute's tune, like the voice of his mother, spoke.

"Are you alright, little friend?" said the voice. "I feel, familiar with you. Have you been here before– no, you haven't... but then why else can I sense in you, divinity? You pique me! Such weak flame and yet, strong will. Tell me, what is the purpose of your coming, the arrival of a divinity's descent– why, little friend, are you here?"

"I-I don't know, I–" said Philip, unable to understand what was happening.

"I shall ask again. Why have you entered the sea of stars?"

"I seek for a way to save my mother who was abducted," he said. "Are you a star?

"I am," said the voice.

"Then can you help me?"

"That depends," the star said. "are you the one I have waited for?"

"I don't know," said Philip. "what will you do if I am?"

"Give you power."

"Then I am."

"I see." said the star.

"See what?"

"through you, Philip. Nothing is hidden from us, not even the thoughts and secrets of a divinity's descent." said the star. "and can see only good in you. A seldom seen sight. I now understand why I have yet to bond, the one I waited for never came – until today. "

"What do you mean?" asked Philip.

"You will understand when the time is ripe, little friend." said the star. "Now I must kindly ask you to leave, for else you will not be able to get back in one piece.”

“I shall await your return.” was the last Philip heard before he was ejected from meditation, blood spurting from his mouth. His face was pale and his mind very, very heavy as he sat in the quiet training field where only his ragged breath was heard.

“Was that really…” began Philip. “...a star?”

“Shit, I need to get back to bed. It’s already past midnight.”

The day after his encounter with the mysterious star in his meditation, Philip was very tired, so much that he was unable to do anything productive for the whole day. Barney was quite concerned, and so were the twins, but he just told them that he had gotten a fever and that was that, they didn’t probe further– maybe they thought he had girl problems, who know.

Three weeks passed until Philip felt good again. Good was, however, an overstatement– his condition was still not perfectly fine. He had mild headaches now and then, a significant increase in numbers since before, and also suffered from slight memory loss. But with drawbacks comes benefits.

That night when he was attacked by several people – when he hadn’t remembered anything except the footsteps – was starting to come back. And of what came back, he could see Jonathan’s face, one of the older guys in the training group, standing beside the others in the dark night, muttering the orders of when to attack and when to withdraw.

"Good morning, Sir Clave,"

"Morning, kid. It's been a long time since we last met," said Instructor Clave. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm very well thank you!" said Philip. "My rib is almost healed, said Miss brent, and my arm is on its way. How about you, Sir Clave?"

"Let's just say I've been better," sighed Instructor Clave. "By the way, I thought I should tell you that we have yet to find any clues to who attacked you that night. No one in the village saw or heard anything out of the ordinary. It's quite upsetting."

"I know one of the people who did it," said Philip, a bit out of the blue.

"Yeah, and I also kn– you do!?"

"Yes, but I would like tho deal with it myself," said Philip. "If you deal with it, Sir Clave, it will probably happen again, and I don't want that. My mother always told me men should sort out their own problems, and so it's only proper for me to take care of it myself."

Instructor Clave pulled his beard and looked at Philip with a thoughtful gaze. "He's growing up faster than I expected," thought the middle-aged man. "It might not be impossible for him to become a star warrior, he has all necessary qualities."

"Fine," said Instructor Clave. "I will allow you to sort out your own mess. But if you are wounded to such a sorry state again, you must promise me that you will tell me everything you know about the incidents. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, Sir Clave!" said Philip and smiled. "I'll go home now. Oh, one last thing. As I was meditating a few days ago, my head got all heavy and I felt feeble even the day after– might you know why?"

"It seems you overworked your mind," answered Instructor Clave. "so your problem should be an insufficient mental strength."

"How do I improve that?"

"Meditation," explained the middle-aged man. "Push yourself to the limit without overworking yourself, and you will find within days to have your mental strength improved. Be careful not to overstep the boundary, though. There's a fine line between pushing the boundaries and trespassing them."

"Thank you, Sir Clave. See you later!"