01. Introduction

                Night: that mysterious amount of time when the sun is not shining and the moon shows it's pale face. Some see it as a romantic setting when the stars are out and the full moon casts a silvery glow upon the earth. Some see it as a time when thieves and bandits are about doing their business. Others see it as a time when murderers are loose, and your life could end with one quick movement from a sharp blade or a well-aimed shot from a gun. But for us owls, our outlook on the night is much different than yours. We are not day-awake; we are night-awake, and we fly in the dark on feathered wings. To us, the forest is our playground, and night is recess.
                And you, dear reader, are about to enter a world that is probably beyond your own imagination. It is a world that is very close to your home, but yet is far away. This world is beyond the comfort of the nests you call buildings, or the metal-and-stone forests you call cities. This world is in the trees of the forests around you. From the highest branches to the lowest boughs, is the area we owls, the spirit of the night itself, call home. The forest is home to every owl, whether it be a Great-Horned owl or a Barn Owl. We call this place the Fukurou Oukoku, and it is our own little realm, if you please. Our society is much different than yours, and it may seem strange to you, but it is what we call normal and it is our way of life.
                I must also inform you that the owls are not always at peace. Sometimes species feud, like two families that all the sudden decide they dislike the other, and on rare occasions, a war between two groups of ally-species break out, but it never lasts long. Either one side of owls gives up, or the fighting just dies away like a wisp of smoke into the sky. During these wars, friends are usually lost due to separation by sides or being one of the unlucky ones who fall from the sky and never rise again. Those heroes land on the ground, whisper their one last quote into the night, then close their eyes and never open them again, for they have drifted into an eternal sleep from which they never awaken.
                Below these wars, there are owls that dislike each other like teenage enemies. These issues are never really important to history, but to those who are part of the conflict, they are their history. The enemies fight like two rowdy kids in middle school, claws unleashed, beaks tearing at each other's wing feathers, and screeches of anger piercing the silence of the night. By the time that the two foes' fighting has somehow ceased, the damage is evident. Feathers are missing from where they have been yanked out. Scratches are displayed where one has raked their claws into the skin. There sometimes are even marks where owls have bit one another. These wounds usually heal, but the rage doesn't. The fire of rivalry burns bright in their eyes, and is released when talons meet skin.
                Now, lately, something has been happening in Fukurou Oukoku. Species have slowly started to turn against one another. It is minor now, but I know it shall worsen over time. I sense that a few owls might be planning to overthrow the Al'amai-Stra and the Ku'lulei-Thia, whom are our king and queen.
                I fear the worst, and must stop them, but how?