An Owl's Rise

As Evelyn's eyes shot open, she felt a surging of power coming from the sphere that had just merged with her.

It pulsed with energy, and a wave of heaviness permeated her body until it burst out from her.

Immediately the straps that were holding her in place ripped apart under this pressure, and the table that she had been laying on began to fold and crush like a flimsy aluminum can.

An area of ten feet around Evelyn began to be affected by the force the sphere was emitting with her at the epicenter.

The floor around her began to sink in, and the entire room shook under the pressure that had surrounded her.

Yet even though she was in the center of this phenomena, it was not affecting her in anyway.

'What is going on?' She though as she looked around at the destruction she was causing.

Opening her eyes wide, Evelyn quickly realized something about her current situation as she looked at the researcher and his assistants who had backed off away from her.

Now she was free, and while she certainly had no idea what kind of power currently surrounded her or how to control it. All she needed to do was move.

Aiming herself at the closest person, she began flying towards him, much to his surprise and as she pushed him against the wall, the force that was being emitted around her beginning to crushing him.

Soon the man who was one of the researcher's assistants was flattened like a pancake against the wall as Evelyne pushed herself closer.

With one down she turned her sights on the next person and began flying towards him as well.

She was intent to kill all of these men who had forced her to experience pain that was beyond inhuman.

They had to pay for what they had done, and now that she had the ability to, she was going to crush them all until all that was left of them was paste.

Unfortunately, her revenge came to an early end, as the researcher grabbed the box the sphere was formerly being stored in and threw it towards Evelyn as she flew towards the next person.

As the box flew through the air, it began to break apart and the six panes of runic glass moved to surround Evelyn.

All at once the power that Evelyn, or more precisely the item she had merged with was discharging was forced back inside.

The bubble of force surrounding her completely receded and following its disappearance, Evelyn collapsed onto the ground as the box closed in around her. Sealing her inside.

After that she felt nothing, and it seemed that time was no longer passing for her as the box placed her into a state of stasis.

With Evelyne now contained, the researcher walked over to her and picked up the box while looking at her intently while she was frozen in place.

For the first time he had gotten a glimpse of the true power of the divine item that his sect had gotten ahold of, and that was his job to uncover the secrets of.

'Finally, we have a suitable test subject to work with.' He thought, as he turned towards his assistants who were still reeling from Evelyn's outburst.

"You three, hurry up and consolidate the data we have gathered and get this placed cleaned up. I know that it is shocking that Stephan is dead, but these are the risks we take in the pursuit of knowledge."

Nodding their heads, now that the shock had begun to wear off, the researcher's three remaining assistants went to work on following their master's orders.

While they were doing that, he took Evelyne with him and began making preparation for the next step of testing, and to contact his superiors about this breakthrough.

During this time Evelyn saw nothing, heard nothing, and thought nothing.

Her entire being was completely frozen, and for her it was as if no time passed even as days went by.

Eventually though her state of suspended animation ended, and when she came to, she noticed that she was once again in the lab and strapped down.

However, this time the power that had expanded around her previously was gone and nowhere to be seen.

Soon she felt a painful shock run through her body as a long pole jabbed into her side.

Feeling this pain, Evelyn tried to summon the power of the item she had merged with, but it stayed dormant.

*"Hm no reaction."* The researcher said, as he pulled back the pole that he had just used to shock Evelyn.

He was currently standing far back in order to make sure that he was out of the range of the power that Evelyn had demonstrated last time while conducting his tests.

Seeing him there, she squinted her eyes and glared at him. Her hatred nearly palpable.

Smiling, the researcher was happy to see that she was still motivated and stuck her again. Getting a sick pleasure out of watching her writhe in agony.

'I'll kill him. I swear that I will.' Evelyn thought as she was shocked again.

Her rage and anger was all she had left, and every bit of pain that this man inflicted on her just became more resolve for her to pay him back for it.

She was done feeling sorry for herself and was now wholly focused on getting revenge.

Still, she had no means of fighting back right now, but as long as she was alive, she knew that one day her chance would come.

Pain had been a constant in her life for nearly as long as she could remember. So, she was able to take it as she was subjected to any number of stimuli that were forced upon her in order to get another reaction from the item that now resided inside her.

Nevertheless, nothing seemed to happen, and the researcher and his assistants soon concluded that inflicting pain was not going to further their research.

"Sir I think it might be a matter of strength. Th item may have merged with her, but she has almost no magical energy of her own as just a low stage wild beast. I think if we can raise her rank up, she will have the power necessary to activate the divine item again." One of the researcher's assistants said to him.

Nodding his head, he agreed with this assessment and told them to prepare a space for their new number one subject.

*" It is time for you to go to sleep again."* The researcher said, as he approached Evelyn with the glass box that had put her in a state of statis.

Quickly and without being able to put up any resistance, she was once again sealed away, only to be let out when it was convenient for the people experimenting on her.

More time passed as Evelyn was frozen, unable to experience the flow of time, until she once again woke up.

This time however, she was not strapped to some laboratory table, but was instead back in a tree and a nest.

Apprehension immediately took a hold of her, as she looked around in what appeared to be the outside world.

But quickly she noticed that what looked like an endless horizon, was actually just painted walls mimicking what it would be like to live outside.

She was still a trapped animal even if her cage had been expanded and was nicer now.

Examining the area, she bobbed her head around getting a feel for the place she was being kept in now.

'Hm, they have me trapped in a cylindrical room that I guess is about twenty feet in diameter.' Evelyn thought once she had finished looking around.

Next, she flapped her wings around to make sure that she could still fly and that they had not clipped her wings.

Luckily, she did not feel any problems and she was certain she could fly.

Jumping out of the tree she landed on the ground and began feeling around the area.

'Hm it is real dirt and grass. But how deep does it go.'

Beginning to dig up the ground that felt like fresh soil, it was not long until Evelyn found that underneath the dirt about six inches deep was a stone floor.

This confirmed to her that she was likely still underground and had just been put in a different room within the facility.

'I bet they are watching me right now. But why are they doing this. I do not think after all they have done to me, they are trying to get on my good side. Nothing they could ever do would make me forgive them.'

However, as Evelyn wondered what their end game was here by giving her a new place to live, she soon found out what they were trying to do.

A panel on one of the walls slowly began to open, and out of it came a platter that had an assortment of items on it.

Flying over to it cautiously, Evelyn found that there was food on this platter.

Except it was not just any normal fare, but an assortment of nuts, fruits, and grasses that were similar to the ones that had been used as bait to lure her brother into a trap.

Along with these were also a number of the stones that could be found within beasts and seemed to hold some type of power.

Smelling them, Evelyn felt drawn to them as her instincts told her to eat them in order to make herself stronger.

'I see, so that is what they are doing. They want to fatten me up.'