Quick notes before we start: I have made some very small changes in the first chapter ( like the instead of it being the purple moon festival it is now the blood moon festival ) also I will add additional tags as I move on with the story.

Middle Ground - The Crystal Meadow

"Hyung you're late." Minghao a tall, slender boy with a slightly long auburn hair and the only heir to the noble house of Xu glared at Wen Junhui. The said boy has been waiting for the older for almost quarter an hour now right beside the entrance of the crystal meadow. A few cloud denizens and nether dwellers have been giving him strange looks and a few concerned middle grounders dared asked the young noble out of concern and curiosity as to why he was standing there all alone for quite sometime now. They were supposed to enter the festival grounds together like they would usually do, but this time Junhui is way more late than he's used to.

"As expected. Remind me later to ask myself why did I even thought that you would come on time for once in your life?" Minghao continued with a huff. He should have ditched Jun and entered the festival grounds himself instead of waiting for him. He didn't want to be late and leave a bad impression to the other nobles, it was a very important gathering after all. 

The blood moon festival is an annual festivity where they celebrate Lilith's defeat and the 13 heroes who are the ancestors of the 9 noble families.

"Oh my dear Minghao, I know you are upset" Junhui, the eldest son of the noble Wen's paused and snickered as he heard his younger friend mumble a barely audible "obviously" under his breath. "But hear me out." He continued, his dark brown locks bouncing as he skipped in front of the glaring boy.

"I, for the first time in my 23 years of existence actually came early. Then I thought that it would be best that I surprise you. So, to commemorate such event, I decided to look for a present." Jun paused as he swing his right arm and enveloped Minghao's shoulder, subtly dragging the glaring boy to the entrance of the open field. 

"Here look" he reached out to his side pocket and handed the younger a small brown box. Minghao slowly opened the box and after seeing the content, his glare turned into a small smile. 

"I knew you would like it. It reminded me of you when I saw it." Jun comments as he took the present out of the box. It was a simple silver bracelet with a lone red dahlia in the middle. Its petals are made of rubies making it shine brighter in the middle of the glowing meadow. 

"Wear it" he said, as he coax the younger to stretch his right arm so that he can wrap the bracelet to the youngers wrist.

Minghao's soft thank you was almost unheard when Chan, the youngest son of the Noble Kwon's came running to them. His light brown hair sticking on his forhead due to sweat.

"Hyungs where have you been?" The breathless boy asked, catching his breath in the process. 

"The play is about to start! Soonyoung hyung said that you should hurry up and sit beside him because anytime longer and he might go blind". Seeing the confusion written on his hyungs faces, the youngest explained that his brother is sat next beside the Cloud denizens and their white clothes and light hair color is blinding him. Apparently, they were needed to dim down the place a little bit since the gloomy auras of the nether dwellers did not quite reach him.

Laughing at their friends unrealistic complaint, the three ran their way to the makeshift open theater.

As nobles, they always have a their own special seats. The nine noble families of the 3 realms, although different from one another tries to get along in order to sustain peace, balance and happiness. 

The Head of each family together with their other halves are sat next to each other while their children are seated right behind them.

Today, Soonyoung is seated right beside the eldest son of the Lee's. Lee Jihoon, if Soonyoung is not mistaken. Jihoon is a short man with fair skin and golden locks with a tinge of red in the tips. He has blue eyes just like any cloud denizen but a bit darker since he is a noble.

Sitting right next to him made Soonyoung nervous, for the man exude such an intimidating aura. It seemed like the other man is glowing while here he is with his light brown hair and green eyes wearing an assortment of different animal furs in varying shades of brown just like all the other middle grounders.

He can't help but feel like twig placed right next to a crystal. A glowing crystal to be exact.

"Hey Soonyoung can you still see us? Junhui asked as he takes a seat right beside Chan.

The other rolled his eyes while answering a short "fortunately" and did the unique hand shake that he and Junhui did after their first sparring together.

"Where have you been?" Soonyoung loudly whispered as the drumroll for the play resonated allover the stadium. 

"I'll explain to you later. For now let's just watch the play." Junhui replied and pointed right in front of them. Soonyoung nodded as he can feel the seriousness laced in the olders voice.

The play started like it usually would. The actress playing as Lilith jumped all around the stage, flapping her wings as she gathered all the women and children that she can see in every town the she happens to pass by. Magic is used to enhance the realness of the play and as it reached the finale and the blood moon reaching it's peak in the night sky, a burst of different colors representing the colors of the stones from the chain where the soul of Lilith is trapped lighted up the entirety of the makeshift theater.

The people were ready to applaud.

But as the whole place lighted up, a deafening screech of an owl was heard. Seconds later another one was heard, followed by another, and another, and another until hundreds of them screeched in the middle of night all together. Little children started crying while the older ones started to visibly shiver on their seats. Everybody was on edge, confusion and nervousness all etched in their faces.

One of the noble nether dwellers gasped, face paling as he looked directly at the moon. Soonyoung followed the direction that he was looking at. His blood run cold and he froze at his feet.

There covering the moon was the nightmare of humanity. Looking at them with her glowing purple eyes, a sinister smile was plastered on her face. Her feathery wings of pure darkness is in full display and the little streaks of light seeping out behind her made her look even more demonic. Soonyoung felt how his legs started to turn into jelly.

Then, everything went silent as Lilith laughed in midair.