An Owl's Rise

Looking all around her, Evelyn still could not believe where she was and what had just happened.

She knew there was magic in this world, but so far, the most impressive things she had seen paled in comparison to what had just occurred.

She had been warped who knows how far and to who knows where in just a matter of seconds.

It was almost as if she had been brought to another world, as everything looked completely different to what she had experienced throughout her time in her second life.

In front of her were thousands of trees of different types that were floating in the sky.

And as she looked closer, she could see that each of these large trees that were all bigger than even the biggest on Earth had buildings made into and around them.

Along with that there were hundreds of silhouettes flying around, as groups of owls went from place to place.

Then the most impressive part was the central area within the sea of trees where sixteen trees that were easily each a mile wide and several miles tall circled around one massive tree that dwarfed all of the others.

'It is amazing.' Evelyn thought as she looked out in awe at the mystical sight before her.

It really hammered home that she was in some sort of fantasy world where magic was all around, and anything seemed possible.

"Yes, it certainly is impressive, isn't it?" Melisandre said as if she could read Evelyn's mind.

Of course, with the shocked expression on her face it was pretty easy to understand what she was thinking right now.

"Go ahead and take it all in for a few minutes. I need to contact a few people right now to make your registration go a bit more smoothly anyway. Just do not leave the platform without me."

With permission to look around further, Evelyn hopped off of the magic circle that she and Melisandre had appeared on and readily explored the platform they were on.

As she moved over to the edge of it, she was able to walk all the way around on a sort of balcony and see what was surrounding them.

However, much to her surprise, while there were numerous trees that were also buildings in front of her, behind them was just open space that seemed to go on forever.

'There is nothing out here except more platforms exactly like this one.'

Looking around at these other platforms Evelyn could see that they were each pretty much the same, just being circular floating building that were made out of a light wood.

They all seemed to be completely quiet, until she saw one of them flash brightly with silver light.

A humanoid owl soon came out from the platform and took off towards the numerous trees that were around a mile away.

But before he went far, he noticed Evelyn's gaze on him and stopped to stare back at her.

For a moment she was stunned by his appearance, as his wings looked like the night sky. as they were pitch black other than some spots of white that appeared to be glowing like stars.

He was truly a sight to see for Evelyn, as he had an otherworldly presence.

Yet while she was looking at him with curiosity and awe, his eyes sharpen towards her and radiated a level of hostility

An instant later he appeared in front of Evelyn without her even being able to notice him move, and she suddenly felt a pressure on her just from him floating in front of her.

It was at this moment that she realized just how far above he was in comparison to her, and she felt the instinctual urge to bow her head and prostrate herself.

Still, she held her ground and kept her head raised.

"What are you and what are you doing here? These platforms are only meant to be accessed by those they have been assigned to." He said with a commanding and harsh tone.

Though Evelyn had no idea how to respond, since she could not talk, and no magical connection had been made to allow her to convey any sort of communication.

Luckily, Melisandre appeared next to her just a moment later, and said, "Silas, why are you harassing my new disciple? Surely you can see that she is currently wearing my ring that proves she is my guest."

Melisandre then pointed towards the back ring that was snuggly fitted around Evelyn's left foot, which indicated that she was here as Melisandre's guest.

In response, Silas just frowned looking at Evelyn harshly.

"Melisandre, you cannot be serious? You have refused so many talents from those who come from powerful families, yet you take in this unknown owl that is only at the mid-tier of the fiend beast rank."

"Do you have nothing better to do than criticize my choices, Silas? I picked her because I saw her potential. Now I would ask that you move along. I have much to do right now in order to with register her." Melisandre said while glaring at Silas to convey her annoyance.

"Very well, you are free to make mistakes if you so wish." Silas said with a scoff.

He then turned towards Evelyn before leaving, and said, "And hopefully you do not bring shame to Melisandre. She is far too respected here to be brought down by an unworthy disciple."

After saying that Silas turned towards the main area of the Owls Roost and flew away at a high speed, leaving a powerful gust of wind behind in his wake.

Once he was gone, Evelyn let out a deep breath and breathed in quickly, as she had been holding her breathe the entire time.

She then looked towards Melisandre wanting to know what that was about, but she just said, "Another time. For now, we need to worry about getting you registered and settled. I will explain to you the intricacies of our society later. Now follow me, and I will take you to the records hall."