An Owl's Rise

"I will go first and make sure it is safe." Otis said resolutely.

He was the strongest among them and figured that if it was a trap that he would have the best chance of making it back out alive.

"No, I believe that we should either all go in together or not at all." Rehni said, giving her option.

She felt it best that they stick together that way they could all have each other's backs. As a group they were far stronger than anyone of them alone.

"While I understand your sentiment and praise your bravery, Otis, I agreed with Rehni. Either we all go in together or not at all. And this time I think we should go with a majority vote. Things are more dangerous but possibly more rewarding than I thought. This is not just some simple forgotten building in the middle of the wilds." Evelyn said.

After that the six of them discussed what to do, and in the end it was a unanimous vote to continue exploring. The prospect of having found a so far untouched heritage left behind by a powerful entity outweighed the possibility of it being a trap meant to lure them in.

With their decision made Evelyn took the lead with Otis in the back to cover their flank.

Soon they had descend to where the large set of doors stood open and led underground.

'Here goes nothing.' Evelyn thought, flying past the threshold with her guard completely up.

Thankfully no sort of trap or magic enchantment activated upon her flying past the doorway, and she continued downward into the ground.

For nearly a minute the six of them descend in a spiral pattern under the tree until they came into a large room that seemed devoid of anything.

However, upon a closer inspection Evelyn noticed that there was a heavily faded inscription carved into eh floor.

Over what easily could have been several centuries the lines had worn away, but everything was still connected, and the magic still seemed to work.

"This is what I think it is, right?" Evelyn asked to Rehni.

"Yes, this is certainly a warp pad." Rehni replied.

All of them expect for Otis had seen this time of magic tool before in the Roost. It was what was used to connect the separate dimension the owls called home to the real world in multiple location.

Yet after they had been in the room for nearly five minutes, the warp pad began to light up despite none of them activating it.

Immediately it was clear that they would be unable to clear the room before the enchantment activated and Evelyn instructed everyone to stay close and put up a combined magical energy barrier. This would in theory prevent them from being separated and offer them the highest degree of protection they could manage.

Surrounded by a six-layered magical barrier all of them were engulfed by a blinding light and whisked away to an unknown area.

When their vision returned to them, they found themselves inside a crystal dome that was inside of a vast forest.

Nevertheless, it was clear with one look that they were no longer within the Forest of Giants, as the trees were not nearly as large and were far more closely packed together.

At the very least all of them were still together even if they had no idea where they were.

"Well, it looks like there is another warp pad here at least. We should be able to get back." Bylur said, seeing the pristine warp pad below them that was not weathered at all compared to the one that brough them here which was on the verge of collapse.

Unfortunately, it only took them a few moments inspecting the warp pad to realize that it was not going to activate.

Just like when using the warp portals to leave and enter the roost this one needed a key to activate it.

In the roost this was in the form of tickets, but for this portal they had not clue what it could be.

"It looks like you have realized that is not going to work."

Suddenly hearing a voice above them, Evelyn, along with her companions, turned their heads upwards to see who or what was there.

For a moment all of them thought that the entity floating above them was a human, but on closer inspection their skin had a slight green tinge to it and their veins were clearly a dark green rather than blue. His hair was also not normal, being a tangle of red vines. While his eyes were a mixture of several colors that were constantly in flux.

"Oh, it looks like a group of beasts have found their way in this time. Hm, and judging by the matching cuffs that five of you are wearing, you must be from some sort of organization." The green man floating above them said.

"Who, or what are you?" Evelyn eventually demanded.

The more she looked at this figure, the less sure about what he was.

She could not sense any sort of living presence from him. The figure above them to her just seemed like a dense mass of magical energy.

"Yes, I suppose introduction are in order. I am the Verdant Warlord. Or a vestige of him. I am here to act as a guide for those who wish to challenge this domain and reap its rewards. But before we go any further, there is something I must check."

Immediately after saying this the entity calling itself a vestige of the Verdant Warlord unleashed a wave of magical energy over the area.

Putting their sixfold barrier back up, Evelyn and her companions tried to block the incoming wave, but despite giving it their all, the barrier shattered after just a single second.

All of them were then engulfed by magical energy, but none of them took any sort of damage.

Still, each of them felt the slimy feeling of foreign magical energy invading their bodies.

Evelyn had felt this before, and realized that whatever this entity was, it was fully inspecting their bodies and souls.