LiNess, a kingdom where Light met Darkness, the Sun met Moon, yet, there was no good or evil. The people from Sun's had dark wings and the people from Moon's had white wings. Contrasting and balanced. That's how LiNess was.

The lands were separated by a large river named DarT, where a large magic Pendulum was situated. As the saying goes, "The pendulum swings between light and darkness." This Pendulum was swinging between the lands, maintaining the sheer balance.

After all, could Light exist without Darkness? Or, could Sun exist without Moon? The question, was misleading in itself.

In reality, yes, Light could exist without Darkness. Also, Darkness could exist without Light. Some things can exist without their opposite, after all. Temperature exists even though absolute zero is impossible...

But, there'd be no balance. So, this arose the next question. Would either have any meaning without the other?

No. If all one had ever experienced was darkness, say born and raised in a cave far underground, darkness wouldn't be a thing to you. It would be everything, cause there's nothing else. This doesn't apply to blindness on the surface. One could feel the heat of the light.

When there is light, there is darkness.

When there is darkness, there is light.

When there is no light, there is darkness.

When there is no darkness, there is light.

What do you have to destroy in order to create? And what do you have to create in order to destroy?

Light and Darkness, although separate, are supposed to be coexistent. You cannot have light without darkness, and you cannot have darkness without light. When there's no light, everything goes to waste. When there's no darkness, everything goes bright.

And, LiNess had everything. Light, Darkness and Pendulum. Wherever, the imbalance was created, the Pendulum tried to maintain balance. If the Light side attained more power, the Pendulum would start leaning towards the Sun and vice versa. What happened afterwards though? The person holding the most power in one of the lands, had to sacrifice themselves in order to get the Pendulum on the middle side. They'd jump inside DarT, giving all their powers to the river and Pendulum and making the perfect balance.

"Is it the time?" Rachel, the most powerful Sun, spoke as Avalon collected the papers scattered on the desk..

"Unfortunately." There was a silence in the air.

"I know you aren't find of the job but..." Avalon was the messenger of Sun's. Whenever there was a power imbalance from Darkness, she was given the charge to go to the Moon and ask them to sacrifice. She was also responsible for the other official communications in between the lands.

"You know, when I was a child... We looked at the stars to see the fire in their eyes. We were very hopeful and excited about everything and thought that it'll be much better or more enjoyable than it actually was... How naive." She was done arranging the files and it was now time to leave.

"Ava... Just remember who you are. Don't let the world change you into someone else. That's the best advice anyone can give you. And I'm that anyone. Hopefully, one day, things would change." Rachel hugged her friend as she opened her wings to fly.
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"Will my sister die?" Scipio came running towards Avalon, who was looking at the deep blue water of DarT. He was Genevieve's, the greatest Moon and, current sacrifice', younger brother.

"You don't want her to?" Avalon suddenly asked. She had an idea in mind.

"No. You can save her? With your magic?" He had hope in his eyes.

"If I could, I'd have... This power, we have. It's pretty useless. 'Magic didn't make you powerful, it fed you with lies and distractions.' This would be a better saying than 'Magic did wonders.' I can't but, maybe together, we can protect your sister."

"I'm ready to do anything but..." He hesitated.

"Do not be silent. Raise your voice. Be a light in the dark. If you want to protect what's precious to you."
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"I'm ready to jump inside now... But, Ava. I don't think we know what kind of enemy we are really dealing with."

"That we don't. That's why it's important to identify who's the enemy. Is it the Pendulum or is it DarT." Ava sighed.

She was right. Identifying the enemy and cause were the first steps. It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you won't be put at risk even in a hundred battles. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you'll always endanger yourself. And she wanted a sure win, without endangering anyone.

The plan was simple. Scipio will jump inside the water and see what's below the Pendulum. Nobody had ever questioned the authority of Pendulum before but, she was determined to make the change.

"Alright. I'm ready for this." Saying this, Scipio jumped inside the deep waters.

Shortly after jumping inside, he felt the tightness in his drenched wings. It was as if something was taking up his magic, his energy and, his life. He swam towards the Pendulum' base effortlessly. As he was the third brightest Moon, there was plenty of power. He just wanted to last till he reached the Pendulum.

What he saw was equally horrifying as weird. A giant well was placed beneath the Pendulum. He tried peeking inside the well but, it was sealed. As he touched the well, the power from his wings started draining instantly. The wings even started detaching. He wanted to scream but, couldn't do so. Suddenly, a hand reached out to him and he was pulled out of the water, like a cork.

"The sun doesn't abandon the moon to darkness. You did well." Ava spoke as she looked at him.

Courage does not always roar. Valour does not always shine. Sometimes it's the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I'll try again tomorrow'." Courage wasn't always in big acts. The thought about 'To try again' was the courage that roared by being silent. And they were determined to try till they succeed.
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"Isn't it surprising that you almost became alive?" Genevieve looked at the Pendulum. It's white colour had started to fade.

After failing yesterday, they were spotted by Genevieve who confronted them. When told, she somehow convinced the Moon's King to help them. When they started looking, they finally found what the well was about.

In Norse mythology, there was a story of Jormungand, the powerful sea serpent. Jormungand, one of three children of the shape-shifting god Loki and the giantess Angrboda, was thrown into the sea by Odin, father of the powerful thunder god Thor. The serpent grew until his body encircled all of Midgard (or Earth), and he was able to grasp his own tail in his mouth.

After searching another set of books, they found another similar tale. At the start of Ragnarok (it was a series of events and catastrophes that would ultimately lead to the end of the world. Ragnarök culminated in a final battle between the gods and the demons and giants, ending in the death of the gods.), the final battle that would end in the earth's destruction, Jormungand left the sea and rolled across the land wreaking havoc. In their climactic confrontation, the Gods cut the snake in 3 parts. One of which was sealed inside the well beneath Pendulum.

Whenever, the snake was hungry the Pendulum would loose balance, shifting itself towards greater power. In other words, they were just giving energy to the demon beneath.

"Sometimes you know what you want but still go for what you don't want and end up blaming the lack of wonder and magic. Thank goodness we didn't do it." Scipio said as they looked ahead at the Pendulum.

The problem wasn't completely solved. For now, they had just successfully identified what the problem actually was. But, was it enough?

One thing was clear enough, though. There was going to be no sacrifice. Nobody was going to die for a giant snake's food. A change was successfully made, to say the least. And the journey called LiNess and the magic Pendulum, goes on...
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Number of words : 1399
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