An Owl's Rise



Evelyn watched as the light emitting from her identification cuff grew brighter and brighter, until the battle between Silas and Diomed vanished from her view.

The familiar feeling of being warped away overtook her and she felt an immediate sense of relief.

'I can tell I am still on Bylur's back and that the others are traveling with us. It will only be a few more moments before we are brought back to safety.' Evelyn thought.

Yet, the instant she let herself relax; disaster struck.

Her and her companion's identification cuffs had taken a great deal of damage from the strain of trying to act as anchors to warp them away through Diomed's magic.

The cuffs already had cracks forming through them, and while they had entered the path that would warp them to the Roost's new location, this last push had been all they could take.

More and more cracks formed in their identification cuffs, and before Evelyn and her compassion could reach their destination, their identification cuffs shattered.

With their tethers gone, Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Aralee, and Verrader felt a violent jolt as the path began pushing them out.

In the last second before they were shunted from the warp portal, Evelyn saw Melisandre continuing on ahead of them.

Her identification cuff was still in relatively decent shape since it was far sturdier than the normal ones issued by the Roost. A perk of being a Hall Master.

Evelyn felt a heavy blow that was similar to the time she had been ejected from the warp gate traveling to the newly discovered continent.

When her vision returned to normal, she saw the sky above her and felt the district sensation of falling.

As her senses returned to normal, she looked around to assess if there was any danger and was thankful to see that they were not anywhere near the sight of the battle between the Roost and the Tyrannis Union.

All around her was simply open sky with lush rolling hills that were dotted with sparse groups of trees.

It was an area that Evelyn did not recognize, but that was currently the least of her worries.

While falling would usually not be an issue for her thanks to being able to fly, her wings were far too injured to offer her any support. She would not even be capable of gliding in their current state.

Her magic, which would most certainly be able to help was also off the table. She was fresh out of magical energy and could not hope to lower gravity or create the smallest gust of wind to break her fall.

'I can't even activate any of my storage items I am so low on magical energy. Not that my body is in any condition to get anything out of them anyway.'

Letting out a sigh, Evelyn understood that there was no amount of struggling that was going to help her now. So, she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. If she was going to die again, at least this time it would be quick.

However, the impact she felt was far softer than she expected, and when she opened her eyes she saw that she had been caught by Verrader.

"Sister, are you okay?" He asked with evident concern.

Nodding her head was all Evelyn could do to answer. Without magic speaking was impossible.

Still, her confirmation was enough to relieve Verrader of his worry. Though, he did wear a dark expression on his face that was filled with complicated emotions.

"Aralee is currently helping Bylur and Rehni. It seems that the effects of the potions they drank have worn off and they are having difficulty moving around. I will take us to them, and we can discuss what our next move will be."

With Evelyn positioned on his back, Verrader slowly descended towards the ground towards one of the cluster of trees within the area they found themselves in.

When they arrived, Evelyn saw Bylur and Rehni sprawled out on the ground with haggard expressions on their unconscious faces. It was obvious that they must have been completely wiped out since they did not even have the strength to perch on one of the trees.

'At least they are alive.' Evelyn thought with a sense of solace.

She was already stuck with an immense feeling of sorrow from Otis' death, and she felt that if anyone else died that she might go completely mad with grief.

After seeing that Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee were still alive, the last vestige of strength left Evelyn and she could no longer force herself to stay awake. Her body and mind had taken too much damage and she needed to retreat into unconsciousness to heal.

"Evelyn?!" Verrader said with alarm when he felt her body go slack.

For a few moments panic overtook Verrader, and he rolled Evelyn off his back and tried to shaek her awake. He was afraid that she might be dying. 

"Brother, stop panicking. She is alive, just sleeping. We can't expect her to do anymore in her condition. All we can do is let her rest until she wakes back up." Aralee said.

"But what if she never wakes up? She was hurt pretty badly and if she does not get up soon enough, she might starve!"

"We'll just have to trust her to pull through. She is the strongest individual that I know. I am sure that our sister will make it. We just have to believe in her." 

"How can you be so calm right now, Aralee?! The Roost is gone, our sister is barely hanging on, and Otis is dead!" Verrader shouted.

"I AM NOT CALM! Aralee screamed back at her brother. 

She then took several deep breaths to regain her composure, before saying, "I want nothing more than to cry until things sort themselves out, but right now we are the only ones in any condition to do anything. I know we have gotten used to the others leading us and making sure that we stay safe. Unfortunately, everything is up to us for the moment. We need to step up and take charge until our sister, Bylur, and Rehni have recovered. If we give in, all of us are going to die here. I will not allow that after all our sister has done for me. So, are you going to help me or just continue to throw a fit?"

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