An Owl's Rise

As this other human approached and saw his two idiot subordinates about to be engulfed by fire, all he could do was sigh.

Still, he had only so many men at his disposal out here in the far reaches of the world, so it was in his best interest to save them

Quickly he began moving his hands in a practiced manner, and when he had finished weaving his spell, he conjured it into reality by speaking its name.

*"Stone Circle."*

Finishing his spell, the man's hands began to glow, and the ground around him began to shift and move before creating a ring around him and his men.

This forced the flames that were growing ever closer to halt their advance as they found no purchase against the solid rock.

*"You two really are a pair of unlucky idiots. Though I suppose it was not so bad since I was close enough to hear your signal. But still, how in the world did you anger one of the maybe couple dozen fiend beasts in this forest, and a peak one at that?"* The obviously much stronger man said.

Lowering their heads, Karsyn said, *"We were only doing as ordered and collecting the beasts caught in the traps, when one managed to escape with the help of an unusually smart wild beast."*

*"Yeah, we simply were chasing them down to recapture them when that monster of a beast showed. And Elder Uriah, what gives? I thought this place could not even properly support a fiend beast?"* Vorigos said with confusion.

Sighing, Uriah said, *"You two nitwits need to read the intel reports more thoroughly. You are right that this place has next to no chance to produce any fiend beasts, but that does not mean that there are not any that live here. A few stronger beasts occasionally migrate here in order to rear their young in a safer environment."*

The three men then continued to talk, and Evelyn's father who had been eyeing the situation warily, decided now was the time to make a move.

He could tell that this new human was strong, far stronger than the other two.

It was uncertain if he would stand any chance, so while the man's attention was on the two others, Evelyn's father grabbed both her and her brother and took to the sky.

However, even though the man seemed to be preoccupied elsewhere, he had always had the bulk of his focus on Evelyn's father.

The second he had begun to flee, the man smiled and finished casting the spell he had already been preparing.

"Hands of earth."

When the man finished his second spell, two large hands reached up from the ground and with greater speed than would have seemed possible, they caught up to Evelyn's father.

Seeing this he knew he had no hope of evading without losing his children. So, he pulled Evelyn and her brother in tight while wrapping his wings around them as another layer of protection.

WHAM!

The two hands clapped together in midair, crushing Evelyn's father in between them.

Breaking apart and falling away, after the two hands of dirt had collided together the force was too much for them to maintain their shape.

Nevertheless, they had already accomplished their job, and falling down with them was Evelyn's father.

After taking that powerful attack, even as sturdy as he was, he had not come out unharmed with one of his wings being broken, while the other was badly injured.

There was absolutely no way he was going to be able to fly again anytime soon, leaving him only one option. To fight.

Pulling himself up he put Evelyn and her brother down on the ground behind him releasing them from the safe embrace of his claws.

He needed everything he had to face down his current enemy, especially now that his wings were injured.

*"Yes I think this one will make an excellent specimen. The researcher is likely to be thrilled when I present him with such a beast."* Uriah said as he looked at his prize.

Screeching loudly into air, Evelyn's father began glowing red hot as heat built up around him.

He was summoning all of the remaining power he had for one final attack to try and take out this human.

Still, the man named Uriah just continued to advance, paying little mind to the dangerous buildup of power around Evelyn's father.

When he had accumulated all of his strength, Evelyn's father aimed forward, and a pillar of flames shoot forth from his body.

The fire engulfed everything in its path burning the brush of the forest as it burst forward towards Uriah.

*"Granite Wall."*

As Uriah cast the defensive spell he had already prepared, a large wall rose up from the ground in front of him and easily blocked the fire being fired off from Evelyn's father.

Smiling, Uriah put his hand on the wall, and began pushing forward, heading right towards Evelyn's father despite the pillar of fire blasting against him.

Yet as he was advancing, his honed senses of years of battle alerted him to a new danger, and he jumped back right as a blade made of wind crashed into the spot he hand been standing a second ago.

However, Uriah did not have time to try and ascertain where this new attack came from, as Evelyn's father turned his all or nothing attack towards him now that he was no longer behind his protection.

Clicking his tongue, Uriah was now feeling a bit of pressure, but he still easily evaded Evelyn's father's attack with swift movement that no normal person should have been able to accomplish.

'There you are.'

Finding the other attacker, he saw another large owl flying around and sending wind blades at him from different angles to restrict his movement.

Still even though he was having to stay on his toes a bit, he was only feeling slightly pressured.

'This one is kind of a pain, but I should end this quickly before one of them ends up killing themselves.' Uriah thought as he continued to dart around, avoiding the onslaught of both of Evelyn's parents.

"Rock Form."

Finishing his latest and most complicated spell, Uriah's body began to be covered up by the ground, and when it receded, he was completed enveloped by rocks looking like some type of monster.

At the very least, this allowed Evelyn's parents to finally hit with their attacks as he had stopped moving while the spell activated its effect.

Quickly he was engulfed by the pillar of fire Evelyn's father was emitting, and Evelyn's mother stopped and began flapping her wings rapidly to send down a barrage of wind blades.

Yet even after being swallowed by fire and pelted by blades of wind strong enough to slice through bone, Uriah had not taken any damage.

Jumping out of the flames, he rocketed towards Evelyn's mother who had finally stopped moving to launch a full offensive.

Rapidly moving his arms Uriah deflected all of the wind blades coming at him with the thick rock armor that protected him.

Then he slammed into Evelyn's mother using his own body as a projectile, and a sickening crack resounded throughout the area.

Evelyn's mother coughed up a mouthful of blood as her bones shattered and her internal organs ruptured from the impact.

Grabbing onto her, Uriah pulled Evelyn's mother down to the ground with him and left a crater where he landed.

With a hostage now in his hands, he smiled under his helmet made of rock and began walking forward dragging Evelyn's mother with him.

Now it would be impossible for Evelyn's father to attack without hurting his partner, and wavering for a moment he lost control of the power he was barely clinging onto.

His magical energy completely exhausted, he collapsed to the ground, no longer able to even hold his head aloft as Uriah approached him.

*"Well you put up a pretty good fight but it is over. Now why don't you go to sleep, and when you wake up, I will have prepared a 'nice' new home for you all."* Uriah said as he lifted his foot up.

Smashing down with a tremendous amount of force he crushed Evelyn's father's head into the ground and rendered him unconscious.