Surrounded by darkness there are those made of light. They lived happy lives and were perfectly pure; they could not experience any emotions that could be considered evil or sad. They only felt positive emotions such as amusement, bliss, satisfaction, pride, and affection. They viewed themselves as the better of the two groups and felt as though those who were made of shadow had done something wrong and were therefore being punished. It was believed that if you were made of light and did something terribly wrong you would fade into the shadows and become part of the other realm.

 

This belief made it so that everyone was very careful to not do anything that would risk their position and cause them to become a shadow.  Because of this everyone followed the regulations very strictly, and those who did not were viewed as threats to the society and would always disappear quickly after. It was believed that they faded into the shadows, but nobody had any proof confirming the speculation.

“Come on Baekhyun we’re going to be late!” A loud voice travelled through the darkness, followed by a loud laughter. The two figures made entirely of light were sprinting towards the center of the realm where everyone else was already gathered.

 

Just as the assembly was beginning they reached their destination, short of breath, but on time. One of the Doyens gave them a reprimanding look from the front of the gathering before returning their focus to the Luminary, who was starting to speak.

 

“Thank you all for gathering here at the allotted time once again. I just want to reiterate how lucky we all are to have the light inside of us. Never forget that, even a slight mistake could have put us all in shadows, but we were pure enough to remain in the light.”

 

Everyone was silent, listening as intently as always to the Head Luminary’s speech. Some were nodding along, showing their support for what he was saying.

 

“It is a shame that not everyone is as fortunate as us. However, we must all remember that it is through their own faults and mistakes that they are punished. It is their fault they have turned to shadow! So as terrible as it is that they must suffer whilst we live in comfort, we must not falter in our resolve. For associating with those made of shadow, is the same as being a shadow yourself! And if you feel as though it is unfair, then you are showing support for what they have done to get there, thus condemning yourself to fade into the shadows as well.”

 

Some of the younger ones seemed frightened, but the rest were used to speeches such as this and were not as affected by the aspect of fading away.

 

After pausing to let his statement sink in, he continued his speech.

 

“I don’t mean to frighten you, but you must all remember how delicate our position is. One misstep and everything is over, there will be no more light. It is therefore our responsibility to this world to make sure there is always light. Even if it seems burdensome or difficult at times, we must bare with it for the good of the world. For if we all fall to the shadows then the light will be no more and the entire world may collapse. The balance would be no more, for without the light, there can be no shadows.”

 

The speech came to an end shortly after with the congratulation of not losing anyone to the dark in the recent days. Thus, everyone was dismissed to do whatever it was they were doing before.

 

As the two who were almost late began to leave the Doyen who had witnessed their timely arrival stopped them.

 

“Is it that hard for you two to arrive on time? The assemblies are always held at the same time.”

 

The two hastily bowed to show their respect before responding in unison.

 

“ Doyen Iri.”

 

After this the taller male continued speaking,

 

“With all due respect sir, I do believe my companion and I arrived before the assembly began so, technically, we were not—“

 

The elder promptly cut him off with a glare, already knowing how the other would end his sentence.

 

“Is it really considered arriving on time if you arrive precisely when it is supposed to start?”

 

The two once again bowed their heads and uttered a quiet apology before he continued to speak,

 

“You both know the saying, correct?” After gaining a nod from them he carried on, “To be early is to be on time and to be on time,”

 

“Is to be late.” The two boys in front of the elder finished, once again in unison.

 

The Doyen nodded approvingly, and as he turned to leave added,

 

“I’ll let you off again, but remember it for next time. Do not be late in any sense of the term.”

 

The two nodded once again before giving the man another bow for respect and chorusing a “Yes Doyen Iri.”

 

Once he was finally out of earshot the two let out a sigh simultaneously. The shorter male, without missing a beat promptly smacked the other on the back of the head as hard as he could,

 

“What were you thinking Chanyeol?! Are you freaking insane? I can’t believe you spoke back to one of the Doyens!”

 

“Chill Baekhyun, it was just Iri. It’s not like he’s going to do anything to us, he’s been ‘letting us off this one time’ for as long as I can remember.”

 

 

“Doyen Iri, Chanyeol, you have to address him with respect even if he’s not here. Even if you’re close, if someone else overhears you referring to him so comfortably they might report you!”

 

“Okay, okay, I’ll be more careful from now on.”

 

After this there was a short silence, until the two made eye contact and bursted into laughter. As the two were laughing, four others were approaching them, two of them looking very displeased with the duo.

 

“Are you two crazy?!  What were you thinking? You were almost late again! I mean really, what could you two possibly be doing that makes you late every week?”

 

Their laughter died down at the sound of their friend. The two made eye contact once again this time resulting in an exaggerated roll of the eyes rather than laughter.

 

“Sorry Kyungsoo, we’ll be more careful next time. I promise. We just lost track of time is all.”

 

Baekhyun carefully tried to appease the angered male. However, the angered boy’s counterpart quickly jumped in.

 

“You lost track of time? Do you lose track of time every week!? I mean really, do you have any idea how worried we were?”

 

“Well only some of us-“

 

“Shut it Sehun,”

 

One of the other boys tried to jump in, but he wasn’t finished yet and quickly cut the other off before continuing.

 

“We were all concerned, okay? Do you have any idea what happens to people who don’t attend the assemblies?!”

 

Before the two could attempt to defend themselves again yet another boy from the group stepped in hoping to allay the second concerned male.

 

“Calm down Suho hyung, they were there before it started so there’s no need to freak out about it now. You can’t change what’s already happened.”

 

Suho heaved a sigh before slowly nodding his head,

 

“I guess you’re right Kai, I was just worried. Make sure you’re early next time okay? Don’t lose track of time again, you know what will happen if you’re late.”

 

With that the atmosphere became lighter and the six of them went off to enjoy the rest of the day.

 

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Hello~ I hope you found this "chapter" enjoyable. If you're curious I will be making a prologue for each realm before officially starting the story. I would once again like to apologise for any mistakes I may have made, I'm working on it I promise. I would greatly appreciate it if you would point out any mistakes I may have made so I can fix them and learn from it. I hope to improve my writing in the future! My biggest problems are my limited vacabulary and my tendency to switch between past and present tense, so if you see any problems with these please let me know.

Thanks for reading,

                          ~K