An Owl's Rise

As the spear made out of metal threads pierced the heart of the yellow feathered owl, blood began to pour out of his mouth and his eyes went dark as his life left him.

It as a brutal execution, but in this world the strong would always prevail, and the weak would be trampled on.

However, the owl that had just beaten her opponent was not done quite yet, and the spear made of threads expanded and pierced all throughout the now lifeless yellow feathered owl.

At first this seemed to be just an unnecessary act of brutality, but as everyone looked closer, they saw that on one of the threads was the beast core of the yellow feathered owl.

The nearly clear white feathered owl then went over and grabbed the beast core for herself, taking it as another prize for her victory along with her acceptance into the Owls Roost.

After that viscous and one-sided battle, the remaining fights between owls continued until all of the victors had been decided and thirteen owls including Evelyn had been chosen to move onto the sanctuary of owls where they would be able to grow far strongest and faster than if they were in the wilds.

'It really is a far cry from the around two hundred that started.' Evelyn thought as she looked at the dozen other owls that had made it through all of the trials just like her.

Just as the examiner had said, there were less than ten percent of them left. Proving just how difficult the trials really were.

Of course, not everyone died, as a bit more than thirty owls simply failed the second trial by not gathering the correct number or quality of items.

This meant that in the future they would be given another chance to enter if they could pass the trials when they were next held.

Unfortunately, for now they would be sent away with the regret of knowing that they had been unable to succeed this time.

Still, that was just how it went, and really, they should have been thankful to just make it away with their lives.

"Okay now that you all have passed the trials and earned the right to enter the Owls Roost, it is time that I show you to your new home. There is much we have to do to get you all registered and set up before you can start enjoying the befits of our society." The examiner said as she looked at those that had succeed in passing the trials.

"Now we have a bit of a journey to make so prepare yourselves to leave in five minutes." Aldana said.

Soon those five minutes went by and Aldana started flying southwards and the owls that had passed started following her.

Evelyn began to move to follow as well, thinking that they would all be going the same way, but Melisandre put a hand on her shoulder and prevented her from leaving.

As this happened Evelyn shuddered, as Melisandre was in a humanoid form, and her hand reminded Evelyn of her original father from Earth, and the people that had kidnapped and experimented on her in this world.

Suffice to say, she did not have many good experiences with people, and just being touched sent a wave of panic through her due to the trauma she had experienced.

Naturally Melisandre noticed this and felt Evelyn quivering. Seeing the visible fear all over her.

"I see. You must have had some pretty bad experiences to be this afraid of just a touch. But you will find that at the Owls Roost you will not be treated as how humans treat beasts. While our trials may be brutal, we look after our own." Melisandre said in an attempt to ease Evelyn.

"Okay since you are going to be my disciple now, your registration and orientation into our society is going to be a bit different than the rest that passed today."

After saying this Melisandre held out her arm and rolled up the sleeve on the elaborately designed shirt she was wearing.

There she had a glimmering armband that was held in place around her bicep.

For a moment Evelyn wondered what this was, until Melisandre took something out of it just like the storage amulets that Mason had left her.

"Here, put this on." She said as she handed Evelyn a ring made out of some sort of black metal.

Doing as she was told Evelyn slipped the ring onto her left foot, and it shrunk down until it was tightly but not uncomfortably affixed to her leg.

"Now you have permission to enter the Owls Roost as my guest and will not set off any of our defensive enchantments."

Melisandre then pulled out some sort of silver talisman from her storage item and threw it into the air above them.

Quickly it began expanding until it had formed into a ring above them and began spinning rapidly as it descended down on them.

Holding in her panic, Evelyn closed her eyes as the silver ring passed over her.

Immediately she felt a sense of weightlessness, and then it was as if her body was being yanked incredibly hard, as if she had suddenly just accelerated very quickly.

Then as fast as the feeling had appeared, it was gone, and she suddenly felt and overwhelming sense of nausea.

She felt the urge to empty her stomach content all over the place, and nearly did, until she saw what was before her.

The shock made her forget that she was feeling sick in an instant, and she looked out at the wonderous sight before her.

She was high above the sky on some sort of platform that overlooked a sea of trees that were floating in the air. And above her was a never-ending dusk that was almost completely dark, except for a smattering of orange light that had not faded over the horizon.

"Welcome to the Owls Roost. This is going to be your new home."