Eclipse ran through the woods looking for a place to hide. She knew her time was almost up and ran even faster, occasionally glancing back to make sure she wasn't being followed. She looked up to the sky, seeing the full moon starting to make an appearance. There were fallen trees scattered around but none seemed acceptable enough to hide with. Then she saw the perfect spot. Right in front of her was a massive oak tree. Near the top was full of leaves and branches, perfect for hiding in.

She shifted into her dragon form and flew up towards the top of the tree, then changed her mind of hiding on the top, to hiding in the middle. There it wouldn't be so obvious. She found a sturdy enough branch to hold her whilst being in her dragon form. Going back to her human form may make her smaller, but in her dragon form, she blended in nearly perfectly with the night. Her pure black scales would fit perfectly with the night sky. The only element that could give away her spot was her dark purple underbelly and bright purple glowing eyes.

A simple solution to her eyes is to close them. With her spot, she would be able to see anyone approaching before they could see her. She just hoped that Star and Ash wouldn't have figured out her strategy. It worked well with strangers who don't know her, but her closest friends know all about how she played.

Eclipse could hear approaching footsteps. After looking around, she noticed it was another hider, by time they started the game, others decided to join in. She couldn't get a good look on exactly who it was, but it definitely wasn't Star who volunteered to seek first. As the kid got closer, she closed her eyes so she wouldn't be spotted. Eventually the footsteps faded further into the woods.

There was a faint sound of the air moving, Eclipse knew it was the sound of wings pushing against the air. She peaked an eye open and spared a glance towards the sky. There was a dim light, some would mistake it as simply the light from the moon or from a star. It was a star alright, a very alive Star who was hunting for the hiders. So that's how she's playing, getting an overhead view first. This made Eclipse grateful that she chose the middle of the tree instead of the top. Soon, Star passed and continued to look in other areas.

Eclipse began to settle in. It would take a while before Star researched the area again. She once again heard the sound of the air being stirred. Even trying her hardest to see who it is, she could only make out the outline of a dark colored dragon. Definitely no one in her clan since the dragon seemed to have a fin. So that means whoever it is, is a water element, the only water dragon on the trip from the Ember clan is Hydra, who is light blue with white. Fearing that whoever it is that's flying about is another seeker, Eclipse closed her eyes.

There was a soft rustling of leaves above her as the person landed. There was whispering, Eclipse realized it was Cain, "Hey, relax, I'm not a seeker."

Eclipse spoke softly as not to give away their location, "How did you know I was here?"

There was a pause, "I didn't know until I landed. I can leave if you want."

"It's fine, you can stay. I really don't mind."

They remained silent. Soon there were soft footsteps as someone tried to walk so that no one could hear them. They sounded too light to be a human, much less a dragon. The footsteps stopped right below them, Eclipse strained her neck to see what was walking. There was a young buck sniffing at the ground. She watched the deer closely. Since it seemed so calm, that meant that it didn't know anyone was around. The deer walked a few steps and looked up the tree making eye contact with Eclipse before running off.

She sighed softly as she watched the deer run off. The only time she's able to see wildlife is when she leaves the kingdom. The soldiers don't allow wild animals in for fear they may be spies. Sounds silly, but when Eclipse and her sister were born, there was an attack on the kingdom. When searching the castle, the guards found a seemingly wild wolf. On closer inspection, the wolf had a tiny microphone in its fur. Since that incident, wild animals aren't allowed in the kingdom and any animals that are allowed in are searched beforehand.

Eclipse loved being around the kingdom's animals of course, but they don't have the beauty that wild animals have. Seeing the deer makes her wish she got out of the kingdom more often. At least for now she can enjoy nature, and once back she promised herself to explore out of the kingdom regularly.

There was walking from underneath the tree again. This was odd considering Eclipse didn't hear anything beforehand. She shrugged it off as being a rabbit coming out of a burrow. That was before she heard his voice. "I know you're up there, Eclipse. Come on down," Cliff called

She sighed before gliding her way to the ground and shifting into her human form. "What do you want?" She was annoyed.

"Relax, I just want to show you something. Come on, it's just a little away."

"I don't think I should," She glanced up the tree to where Cain hid. She could barely make out his silhouette but knew that he was watching.

"Please? It'll be quick."

Eclipse weighed out her options, with another quick glance to Cain, she agreed. If anything were to happen then at least someone knew who she was with last. She was taken aback when Cliff grabbed her hand. He wouldn't let her pull away and started walking her away from the tree. This must be how Ash feels whenever Eclipse drags him around like a ragdoll.

They were walking for a while, pausing whenever they heard the flapping of wings. By the time they were done walking, they made it into a clearing. Cliff simply pointed to the sky and what Eclipse saw amazed her. The northern lights were simply perfect. She could never see them at the kingdom because she was either busy, had to sleep, or simply that there were always so many lights on that it's hard to see them.

Maybe he isn't that awful. Weird, yes. Perhaps he's just excited to meet another kid from a royal family that's around his own age. Or he could just be trying to work on the relationship between the two clans. Whatever his reason, Eclipse was no longer weary about his intentions.

A twig was snapped behind them and Eclipse was quick to see what it was. Ash walked into the clearing with a clear frown, "You know you left campgrounds right?"

Eclipse stood up with a surprised expression, "Really? I didn't realize. But that also means you left as well."

He gave a small grin, "It's my job to break the rules, and yours is to keep me in order. You've seemed to have forgotten."

She let out a small laugh, "Did you get found already?"
He nodded and put on a really exaggerated sad face. Great, now she was also found. She turned to Cliff, "Thanks for showing me the lights. It was really cool, now I think I need to help Ash."

Cliff nodded and took a seat on the grass. Eclipse walked over to Ash and surprised him with not grabbing his hand to drag him around like she normally does. He sent an accusing look to Cliff who shrugged before looking back to the sky.

It took them way longer to get to the cabins again since Ash said he was too tired to fly. Plus he wanted to find the way back to the cabins himself which ended up getting them lost, Eclipse should have known better. The light was left on in the girl's cabin. She walked in quietly but there was only one girl inside. Amber was sitting on her bed reading something. At closer examination, Eclipse realized it was a small textbook on different elements and their abilities.

Amber looked up from her book and smiled, "Hey, I was wondering when anyone would show up. Did you know that death is one of the rarest elements to have? So rare that it's not even genetic, it kinda just appears. How crazy is that?"

Eclipse looked at her confused. Why was she so happy all of a sudden, did she want something from her? "Yeah, it's pretty cool. Nexus is actually a death element. What are you getting at?" She asked suspiciously.

Amber shrugged, "Nothing, I thought it was just interesting. Are you a shadow element? I would assume so. Did I ever tell you I'm a fire element?"

Great, just when Amber started to be friendly, she also decided to spill everything out. Eclipse shrugged, "I'm a void element. Umm, this was an interesting conversation but I think I'll head back outside."

She quickly made her way outside and headed towards the now lit fire pit and sat across from Nite. He was writing on a clipboard and didn't notice Eclipse's presence. She watched as the fire was dancing around. Suddenly she could no longer see the light from the fire although she could still hear it and feel its warmth. She looked up to see Nite watching her with a grin, "Pretty neat huh? I can bend light, it's not like I can make things disappear."

Eclipse nodded and watched as the fire slowly reappeared into her vision. Nite stood up and let her know that he was going to check on the rest of the kids playing hide and seek. Once he left, she focused on the fire. Maybe a void element could also bend light. She was so focused that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her. She was surprised when she felt a hand touch her shoulder and she turned around quickly to see who it was. Ash stood there with no surprise on his face, only a smile.

"I wanna show you something, C'mon," He said, keeping a smile on his face.

"I thought you went to bed already. Aren't you tired?" She looked towards the moon, "I think it's almost midnight."

His smile faltered a bit, "I was going to but I looked out the window and saw something. I think it was the deer you saw from earlier. Don't you want to see if you can find it?"

Eclipse paused for a moment. How did he know about the deer? She thought some more, maybe she forgot that she told him while walking through the woods, yeah, that must be it. She looked back to Ash, "I guess, only if you want to."

He held out his hand to help Eclipse up which she gratefully accepted. He led her behind the boy's cabin and through the woods. She was paying attention to the ground, careful not to trip over a fallen tree. They neared a marker and she stopped, "Hey, we can't go past these, remember?"

He shrugged, "Yeah I remember, but who'll know that we left?"

She hesitated but finally agreed. They walked for several minutes. She paused again and looked around. The only light was from the full moon and the stars. Ash kept walking and looking back towards Eclipse. At the distance he was at, normal people wouldn't be able to see him from where Eclipse was standing. But Eclipse is not a normal person, she saw when this so-called Ash shifted into a different person. Eclipse narrowed her eyes at the man, she didn't recognize him to be any of the assistants.

She started walking backwards and ran into someone who put their hands over her mouth. She tried to see who it was with no luck. Suddenly she could feel a coldness behind her and then whoever was holding onto her let go. There was a scream for only a moment before silence. The person who brought Eclipse there began yelling and running towards her. He reached into his pants pocket and she could see the shiny handle of a gun. She closed her eyes, awaiting for her fate. After a moment of nothing happening, she cautiously opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of the man's head falling into the ground.

She looked around for any other people and was relieved yet disturbed not to see anyone. What happened to the two who attacked her, and more importantly, who were they? Could they be someone from an enemy clan? She doubted it, the clans signed a treaty that said no violence during training.periods. Well, whoever they were, she didn't have to worry about them now.

She looked around at the surrounding woods. With all the confusion, she seemed to forget which direction they came from. She sighed wishing she had a map. There was only one logical thing for her to do. She shifted back into her dragon form and flew high into the night sky. It took her a few minutes to find a marking. Whoever placed the markings had a great idea when they spray painted the leaves on top of the trees.

She finally made her way back to the cabins and shifted back to her human form behind the boy cabin. She made her way to the cabin door and began knocking, waiting for someone to answer. Gust opened the door while rubbing his eyes but somehow he still seemed happy, "Hey, Eclipse. What can I do for you?"

Eclipse avoided eye contact with him while scratching at the back of her arms, "Could I talk to Ash?"

"I think he's asleep, I could wake him up for you if you want though."

She nodded and he closed the door slightly while walking back into the cabin. Eclipse heard yelling from inside. Soon enough Ash came walking out like nothing happened in the slightest, "What's up?"

She grabbed his hand and started walking quickly. Ash kept dragging his feet and asking what was wrong. Eclipse didn't stop until they were at the lake. With a glance around to make sure no one was going to eavesdrop, she began explaining the events that happened.

At the end of her explanation, Ash's jaw was dropped. He surprised her by giving a hug and whispering, "I'm so sorry that happened to you. I think we should talk with the leaders about it."

She shook her head, "I don't think I should. But from now on we need a code so I know if you're real. How about something like 'dishes'? Or you could mention something about Misty Woodland."

Ash blushed and looked down, "C'mon, what happened in those woods was a long time ago."

"That's the point, only you and me know what happened in those woods. It's the perfect code. Are you fine with that?" Eclipse asked while rubbing her arm and also lightly blushing.

He sighed, "I guess it's fine. We should probably get back to the cabins and try to get some rest."

She agreed and they both started walking back to the cabins. Eclipse waved goodbye to Ash before walking up to the girl cabin. There were loud voices coming from inside the cabin, Eclipse guessed that hide and seek was over. She composed herself before entering. Some of the girls said hi, but she ignored them and walked straight to her bed.

Star looked at her sister suspiciously and asked, "What's wrong? Mad you didn't win?"

Eclipse groaned, "No, I'm just tired," She threw the blankets over herself. The cabin had gone quiet so she allowed herself to drift off to sleep.