Once upon a time there was a land where light has never shone, a finite network of caves, wholly consumed by endless rocky walls. Inside this cavedom, there was a society of people who lived there called the hoarders. These people spent their lives almost entirely in complete darkness, faintly lit only by bio-luminescent gems found within the deepest mines, known as Solidians, which were traded as their form of currency.

Then one day, a hoarder named Sach - who was disillusioned by the fact that over thousands of years a vast gap in wealth between the richer and poorer cave people was widening yet further still, and desperate to find a means to live with a greater purpose than merely a race to the top or bottom in a game of counting Solidians - ventured out into the highest reaches of the cave network in search of something else. Wandering into ever higher tunnels, for the first time in the hoarder societies’ existence, Sach came across a crack in a cave wall. A sparkling, crisp, slither of light shone through it as if it had been lasered through a prism, split perfectly into every colour of the rainbow across the cave’s walls and floor - not that Sach could fully appreciate its beauty, as even this shimmer of such bright light was still far more intense than the light given off by a Solidian and enough to blind the hoarder for some time afterwards.

Sach, who being used to the darkness, had little trouble finding the way back, did however find it extremely difficult attempting to describe to everyone just was out there. Not that anyone was interested, for while Solidians were first collected and admired purely for their ability to help the hoarders see and traded with that intrinsic value, they had over the years become coveted entirely for their own sake. The power that having them gave the hoarders over those that used them became the focal point, and so, over time, the light they gave off had become insignificant, having more of it was everything and so all the hoarder people wanted to know was if they could collect it. “No,” Sach replied, “you cannot hold it in your hands”, and no matter what else was said, the other hoarders would not be convinced of value in the beauty that lay in the far reaches of the cave without the ability to store and trade it, and eventually Sach believing in the end it must of all been a dream, gave up and went to bed.

The next day, Sach woke up with fresh vigour and self-belief and decided to return to the crack. Somehow, overnight, the slither had become an opening large enough to fit through. The light forced its way inside the cave and splattered a haze of colour across its walls. Sach summoned courage from the heat now pouring into the cave, and with eyes covered by white-knuckled hands, stepped through the opening and into the outside world. With the sun now beaming onto Sach’s face, warming the cave-dwellers skin like it was searing in pan, pleasure of this new experience sharply turned to pain. Sach quickly found shade beneath a large rock and began to imagine the treasures that might be found in this new part of the cave, once Sach had figured out how to be protected from the intense heat and light.

Squinting, Sach slowly began to allow a whisper of light into focus, and as hours passed by gently increasing the amount of light into view, eventually day became night, by which time Sachs eyesight had adjusted just enough to tolerate the ambient light from the now star-lit sky. As Sach looked up at the sky, having not ever seeing a star before, it was clear that they were just a new type of Solidian and had hit the jackpot. Sach fell back and lie looking up and the untold riches and possibilities running through the curious hoarder’s mind. But as Sach spent more and more time out amongst the stars, watching trillions of glistening jewels in the roof of the outside ‘cave’, it became clearer that there was a beauty in these Solidians, beyond any that which had been found within the cave. Soon more and more objects came into view and Sach realised this wonderment should be shared and enjoyed by all, not hoarded away by a few.

So Sach went back into the cave to tell everyone of the treasures he found outside. “Through the opening lies fantastically-bright, bio-luminescent Solidians,” Sach said, “brighter and more numerous than all found within the cave”. Now his fellow hoarders took heed to what he said, all they wanted was as many Solidians as they could collect, and trillions was too tempting for the greedy hoarders. So they all grabbed as many containers as they could and raced to the opening. The way from the opening down through the cave was a long journey, taking roughly half a day, so by this time upon return, the light of the opening was fading to night once more, but some still shone some light through the opening. However, the hoarders knew that the light would affect their eyesight when collecting the stars and so covered their eyes before even looking until it went completely dark but for a soft, moonlight glow. Then, one by one, they all left the cave for the first time and looked up, with dropped jaws, to see more treasures than they could ever dream of. Everyone would be rich.

After the brief shock of wonderment has passed, they looked at each other, pausing for a moment the joy of wealth for all quickly turned to worry that the others might get a larger share. The hoarders panicked and began snatching and grabbing at every outdoor-Solidain they could, and once they had as many as they could carry, they scurried back into the cave to stash them away for safe-keeping. This carried on all night, and as number of stellar gems became fewer and fewer, the hoarders became more and more violent, pushing and fighting over the last few million. As the last star was removed from the sky, the last of the hoarders all slithered off back into their cave to count their new treasures, and see who had the most and might now rule.

All of them except one. For Sach knew that there was far more beauty to be found outside than lie in the glistening jewels of the sky. He saw the rest of his people squabble and fight over who had more of something which was now in such abundance, that their value had surely become meaningless. He laughed to himself at how foolish they all were squabbling over petty things and blind stubborn to what else might lie beyond their closed minds.

So Sach, undeterred by the rest of the hoarders narrow-minded thinking, remained outside the cave, gradually moving from the shade into the sunlight for longer and longer periods each day. What could be seen at the edges of Sach’s vision during the day was majestic. Tall, fractal structures lined with dancing green tears, wild unimaginable beasts hurtled across the carpeted floor, the horizon seemed never-ending, as did the sky, and light was not afforded only by the rich, but was free to all beings equally. At night Sach would look up at the dark sky, wondering how it was no longer a breath-taking wonder, but now nothing more than a replica of the darkness of the cave roof which was once home, the hoarding nature of his people had taken all of the brilliant stars away and buried them underground for no-one to see and with doing so, had stripped the night of its uniquely magical light that was once free to all. Some time passed and then one day while lying under a tree, Sach could hear a rumbling in the distance, and despite still barely being able to see, Sach could make out a blurry outline of what appeared to be a huge group of people coming over the horizon and towards the cave opening. As they edged closer, Sach could hear them speaking about how the stars seemed to have been taken down from the sky at this spot. and that they were nearly there to seek vengeance.

As the group came closer, they saw a person stood beside a small opening in the rock face. Sach, knowing what they were looking for and hoping they might be able to put them back up there, pointed into the cave. The large group of people, who bore swords and axes, lit torches and went into the cave. Sach remained still and silent in anticipation and a whole day passed by outside without a sound. Then finally a person emerged from the cave with a sack of stars, this person was not a hoarder. Then another came out, then another…

Sach was excited to see the starry sky once more and found a comfortable spot to lie down and look up in a thrill of expectation. But as person after person emerged from the cave, they walked past Sach, kept walking and didn’t look back. Not a single person tried to put a star back into the sky. For because they were once always out of reach, but always dreamed of and desired, and now they had them in their hands, they did not want to let them go. They hadn’t come to put the stars back for everyone to enjoy, but had merely come to take them from the cave hoarders to keep for themselves.