Chapter 1: Feuding Forces *~Fresco~* It had been a year since I received the wisdom and power of the Lien. It had also been a year since Summer received the Neil. Because I was curious about my cousin and I’s power, I checked out a book on the Lien and Neil yesterday. It turns out that the two are opposing forces that keep the world in balance. The Lien was light, water, cold, wisdom, truth, peace, and life. The Neil was fire, darkness, heat, conflict, lies, and destruction. The two sisters would battle each other and neither would ever succeed. This is what kept the world together. If the Lien won, then everything would be TOO perfect. But, on the other hand, if the Neil took over, the world would be destroyed. Neither wanted that to happen. But, the Neil wants the Lien’s power to control herself, I thought. I closed the book. Nether, my raven, poked at the Lien’s staff. After I had received the Lien, I put her gemstone on a wooden staff, which was now leaning up on a mahogany bookshelf. The shelf was old and covered in cobwebs. Books about everything from herbs to the Kitsune, from classic novels to atlases, were organized in a messy way on its shelves. Golden dragon-shaped statues held up some of them. My aunt Goldenrod is a librarian. She gave me the books. In fact, the large, leather-bound volume I was reading just a moment ago is hers. It was a little overdue, but she wouldn’t mind. Not if the fate of the world depended on it! Even if it didn’t. Now, where was I…
