An Owl's Rise

As Evelyn soared through the sky, the atmosphere around her slowly began to change.

The air became hotter, and a slight sulfurous smell could be picked up on the wind.

Soon she saw a bright red scarlet glow on the edge of the horizon, like a perpetual sunset was locked into place.

'So that is the inferno filed.' Evelyn thought, looking ahead at the vast sprawling area in front of her.

Far in the distance she could make out the source of the bright glow that lit up the sky even in the dead of night. That was where the rift into the elemental realm of fire had formed and allowed elementals to push into this world.

Unfortunately, the bright rift was the only thing that she could see far in the distance. 

The air was thick with a haze of smoke and steam that always filled the inferno plains. Random fires were known to ignite at all times and pits of lava dotted the Field like they were ponds and lakes. Any water that did exist in this land was either underground or quickly turned into steam when it reached the surface.

Even on the periphery where Evelyn was, the temperature had easily reached around seventy degrees Celsius. And it would only continue to get hotter the closer she got to the center where the rift was.

This was a hostile environment that few could venture into without protective measures against extreme temperatures. Close to the center of the Inferno Field even higher ranked beasts not adapted to the environment would find their energy rapidly sapped to stave off the heat.

Luckily, Evelyn held within her the power of a heavenly flame. This source of fire from a higher realm gave her an immunity to any lesser flames. No matter how hot it got within the Inferno Field, she would not be hindered.

Not even Evelyn's master Melisandre could burn her with fire magic. The only one that she knew that would be able to hurt her with fire was the Roost's leader, Minerva, who likewise possessed a heavenly flame.

'Still, I should not get cocky. Melisandre already showed me that there are plenty of ways to harm me with fire magic without needing to burn me.'

Had she not received the harsh lesson from her master, Evelyn likely would have entered the Inferno Field more brazenly, confident in her ability to brush off fire-based attacks with ease. But instead, she kept low to the ground and avoided making herself easily seen high in the sky.

To her surprise there was plentiful vegetation growing within the Field.

Tall yellow orange grass burst nearly three meters from the ground in most places, and short put wide scrubs that glowed a vibrant violet sat in the center of baren areas where the soil was exposed. As if they were draining all the nutrients in the surrounding area.

It was far cry from the ash blanketed barren landscape she had been expecting. Though, in this incomprehensible world filled with magic, life finds a way to thrive even in the most hostile of environments.

'And speaking of life.'

Dead ahead of Evelyn, she saw what looked like a large lumbering boulder.

Of course, this was not a living and moving rock, but a giant tortoise.

It had thick armored skin and a shell that more resembled the walls of a metal fortress than the shells Evelyn remembered seeing in photos back on Earth.

This tortoise easily stood over ten meters tall at its head, with its stocky body being only about two thirds as tall.

To Evelyn it appeared like a living tank, but that was not deterring its attackers.

Three anthropomorphic balls of fire were attacking the giant beast.

'Those must be fire elementals. I doubt any of them are what I am looking for, but maybe I will get lucky.'

Jumping into the fray, Evelyn sped towards the battle raging between the giant tortoise and the fire elementals.

She had no grand ideas about coming to the rescue of a fellow beast though, all she wanted was to test her different types of magic on the fire elementals.

With the flap of her wings Evelyn sent out a tried-and-true wind blade for the closest elemental, watching closely to see what happened.

Astonishingly, the creature did not bother dodging Evelyn's attack, and the flames that made up its body were spilt in two.

Yet, the damage that would have been fatal to any solid creature proved to be little more than an inconvenience to the fire elemental. Its body that had been cut in half, quickly reformed itself before turning towards Evelyn.

Despite it not having any facial features, Evelyn could tell that the fire elemental was enraged by her interruption.

Its body swelled to staggering heights and it turned into a literal wave of fire that bore down onto Evelyn.

For the first time Evelyn felt the full breath of the magical energy within this fire elemental and understood that it was in the range of what an average mid-tier or high tier awakened rank beast would possess.

'It can put on an impressive show, but the intensity of its flames leaves a lot to be desired.' Evelyn thought as the flame elemental's attack bore down on her.

Knowing that the heat from the fire would be unable to hurt her, Evelyn allowed the fire elemental to engulf her. She wanted to feel exactly how much power it could output.

The moment the wave of fire hit her, it did not simply pass her by but instead wrapped around and fully enveloped Evelyn. 

Quickly the fire elemental took the form of a sphere and held Evelyn in the center. Intent on turning her entire body to ash.

However, unlike any other creature this fire elemental had killed before, Evelyn did not so much as show signs of being singed.

'Well, it certainly has an interesting way of attacking, But as I thought, its flames aren't really that hot. I'll need to show it what real fire magic can do.'