The sun peeked from the mountains, the birds sang in joy as they saw the light; the light that had always protected them from darkness. It’s not like they were afraid of the night, they had the moon and the stars, but sometimes, there are other things lingering in the dark. Lingering but not appearing, at least not yet.

The White Cloud Kingdom opened up its curtains to welcome the morning. The chambermaids, butlers, chefs were running around in circles. They have the whole day to prepare for the Exchange Ceremony but sometimes, even a whole day is not enough to prepare for the event of the century.

The Exchange Ceremony takes place between two kingdoms. They go through a ritual under the moonlight, the host kingdom gives The Book of Life Magic after guarding it for a whole century to a new kingdom. The new kingdom will now be in-charge of keeping the light and dark in the world in balance.

It has been this way for centuries. Each kingdom has had the chance to keep the book in safety and then pass it on the neighboring kingdom. This century, the White Cloud Kingdom is appointed to pass it on to the Moonlight Kingdom.

White Cloud Kingdom is full of brave and noble warriors, it is the strongest kingdom despite its name. The Moonlight Kingdom on the other hand is the opposite, the Moonlight citizens don’t like war and would do anything to avoid it. Although they are also fair fighters, they are the weakest kingdom.

The young king of White Cloud Palace walked in his study, he has planned this since the day they received the Book of Life Magic. He had planned the security system along with the General and his Chief Adviser. He trusted Moonlight Kingdom even if they are labeled at the weakest. The young king from the neighboring kingdom is his friend.

“KRIS!” the king was put to a stop from pacing when his Chief Adviser appeared. He looked worried and alarmed though the king had a hunch.

“is she not in her room again?” Kris asked and narrowed his eyes before walking to the window.

“I don’t know how your sister does it, but she’s gone again.” The adviser sighed and the young king took a deep breath before facing his counselor and friend.

“call the General and find her. We cannot have her running around the town and missing before the party starts.” He ordered and the latter nodded before bowing and leaving the king to himself.

Kris was too young to be king but he was crowned as such since the king died of old age, the queen followed. But even if he was younger than the other kings, he had continued to show that the White Cloud Kingdom was still the strongest among the rest.

Kris heard the galloping of horses from below and he looked down to see soldiers in white armor, charging towards the castle’s exit. Kris noticed that the General was leading the search and he felt at ease because of that. Maybe in a few minutes; they’ll be back with the princess.

--

Somewhere in the kingdom, there stood three tree trunks with something hanging on them; a straw dummy. It was tied and it looked like it had been used for more than a century. The wind made the straw doll sway but then it was put to a halt when an arrow pierced its form at the head.

Same had happened with the other straw dolls. Across from the trees, there stood a girl in red armor; she had long brunette locks, tied into a ponytail. And her eyes were covered with a black cloth.

“Tuilin.” She called and a brown Swallow flew behind her head and pulled on the knot of the black cloth to reveal ocean blue eyes. The eyes admired the work done on the trees. She’s been practicing for almost a month now and she already had the blind shooting narrowed down.

“let’s do a few rounds and go back home. I bet Tao is flipping tables by now.” She said and a picture of the Chief Adviser literally flipping the long dining table entered her mind. The white horse with her lowered its head, as if to say that it agrees to her imagination. She gave her best friend a smile and stood at an upright position before taking another arrow from behind her.

“Sul.” She called and the wind grew stronger, making the leaves from the trees fall gradually. She took a deep breath before aiming the arrow and releasing it; causing it to pierce to five leaves before they could even fall.

Ten arrows were wasted as she captured each leaf with the sharp end. She was about to release an eleventh but she felt a presence behind her so she turned around and released the arrow, only to have it deflected by a silver sword.

“how long have you been here?” the young man with the sword, wearing the white soldier armor asked.

“long enough since you managed to find me.” she answered and walked to the trees to gather her lodged arrows.

“you know the king will be furious.” The young man said

“he’s always furious. Add the chief adviser and he’ll be double furious.” She rolled her eyes and whistled to call her horse over. She jumped on the horse’s back and galloped next to the other horses.

“shall we race back to the castle General?” she asked with a playful smile. The General’s lips curved to a smile and he brought his sword back to its sheath before riding on his own horse and accepting the challenge.