An Owl's Rise

Entering into the dark tunnel it was not long until the faint bit of moon and starlight from outside became too little for even the Evelyn and the other members of her squad.

Luckily, they had an easy source of light and Braulia with her magical affinity began to faintly glow and bring in enough light for the owls to see in the pitch-black tunnels going deeper into the mountain.

'There is definitely no way this is natural.'

Examining the sides of the tunnel her squad was flying through, Evelyn could see that on all sides it was perfectly smooth which should not have happened for any natural tunnel.

There was also a fact that the tunnels only appeared in the giant crater and not anywhere else they had searched while exploring the mountain.

Eventually they made it to there first turn in the tunnel that had been uniform in size and direction so far.

Now going at a downward angle Evelyn's squad was going deeper and deeper into the mountain with no signs that the tunnel was going to be stopping anytime soon.

'Oh, there is something shinny over there.'

Spotting something that reflected the slight amount of light coming off of Braulia. Evelyn stopped everyone else so that they could investigate.

"Oh, I believe this is durium!" The snowy owl said in excitement.

It turned out that he was an inscriptionist and had been taught about rare magical metals.

"Really, it does not look exactly like what I have seen before?" Adolophine said as she examined the vein of dull blueish metal.

"Yeah, there is no doubt that this is durium. My master has shown me it a few times and how he works with it. But you are right that it seems a little off. Its luster is greatly diminished." The snowy owls said with a quizzical expression on his face.

For around the next hour their squad dug out and inspected the vein of the rare magical metal that Evelyn had spotted.

Yet as they uncovered more of it, the snowy owl who knew the most about it began to frown.

"There is something not right here. This is definitely durium, but it is far more brittle than any I have ever felt before. We should not have been able to break off even a small piece with our current strength, but Osten was able to. It is as if its magical properties that make it strong have been taken out."

Hearing this Evelyn suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. She was certain she had seen something similar before.

It was in the back of her mind, but she could not quite recall what was bugging her right now.

'Is it just because there is not enough magical energy in the area?' She thought while trying to rack her brain.

In the end though she could not figure out what was giving her this sense, and her entire squad quickly came to the conclusion that the area just did not have enough magical energy to support the creation of this metal in its perfect form. Which was why the vein they had found was of a very inferior quality.

"Let us keep going. Even if it is of diminished power this is still a rare metal that is valuable. If we find more this could become a new mine for the Roost." Adolophine said, now wanting to explore deeper.

If they were able to find a large quantity of durium here even if it was not as strong as usual, it would be a huge boon for her and her squad in terms of the credits they would receive upon completion of the expedition.

Continuing on they found other veins of durium but also a couple of other magical metals. Albeit ones that were not as rare.

However, all of them seemed to not have enough magical energy either and were of a diminished quality from what was to be expected.

Still, it was clear that this mountain was rich with resources on the inside no matter how inferior they were in compassion to normal.

'I suppose the extra credits will be useful. After we return, I will need to prepare to head out to the inferno field and obtain a hellfire rose in order to get he finally catalyst for my evolution.' Evelyn thought as they went farther into the tunnel.

At this point she was feeling that their mission was nearly over, and it was time to start thinking about what it was she needed to do next.

Yet as they got deeper all of the owls noticed a sudden change in the atmosphere.

Certainly, it had not been nearly as cold in this tunnel now that they were no longer exposed to the cold outside air, but the temperature was beginning to steadily rise.

Before it had maybe been around fifty degrees Fahrenheit, with it getting a bit warmer when they got fairly deep in. But now Evelyn figured it was closer to somewhere between seventy and eighty degrees.

Nevertheless, the temperature change while unusual, did not seem threatening in itself, and it was determined that they would continue for around ten more minutes more to see if they came across any other valuable minerals.

Except, instead of finding what they were looking for, they saw a bright glow coming out from the other side of the tunnel.

This seemed practically impossible as they were now miles beneath the surface and there should not have been any light.

"Oh, perhaps we came across some sort of luminous stone or crystal." Braulia said with her interest piques.

Hearing this all the other owls figured it as likely this was something she might need for her evolution. Which explained why she was seemingly so excited.

'Ugh, but it smells like rotten eggs and a swamp.' Evelyn thought as they got loser.

Still the horrible smell did not deter Braulia, who was already banking on the fact that they may have found what she needed for her own evolution.

Going on with this hope she took the lead as after not encountering anything dangerous so far, they had relaxed their formation.

Though as the others flew out of the tunnel and caught up, they were all stunned by what they were seeing.

There were certainly no luminous stones or crystals here in the center of the mountain.

Instead, what was creating the light and heat was a pool of bubbling magma.

It was slowly rising and falling within the camber that was oval in shape and was several hundred meters wide and tall.

Truly it was a massive room within the very heart of the mountain, and something that should not have been there.

'What the hell is that thing?!'

Looking out into the middle of the chamber there was something suspended with thick roots attached to all of the walls.

Along with that there was one thick black root that went all the way down into the pool of magma and continued for far greater distance than any of the owls in Evelyn's squad could see.

Currently the large form in the center was encased in some sort of membrane that was pulsating every so often.

Immediately upon seeing this the entire squad of owls froze in terror at this form that was above them.

They could feel the immense magical energy that was coming off of whatever it was and it was impossibly oppressive.

It was also at this moment that Evelyn realized why she had felt such unease earlier.

She had seen something like this before, when she was still trying to escape from the deadlands she had been born in.

The entire forest was incredibly low on magical energy not being suitable for even raising up a fiend beast. And it was all because of a single magical plant.

The giant red flower that towered into the sky was sucking up almost all of the magical energy for thousands of miles.

'This plant is doing something similar. That is why the magical energy of the plants above and the metals in the mountain seemed lesser than they should have been. This thing is draining immense amounts of magical energy from the land.' Evelyn thought as her mind began racing for an explanation.

Immediately after that she was the first to unfreeze while her squad had been floating their stunned for nearly a dozen seconds.

No longer did she mind any comradery and turned to flee without trying to get anyone else to move.

Evelyn could tell it was a conscious being as her instincts were screaming at her to get away. Unlike with the red flower that she had been drawn to.

No, the feeling she got from this plant draining the land in the center of this mountain was closer to that of the giant serpent that coiled around the red flower.

An overwhelming force she had no chance against and that could kill her easily if it wished to.

Unfortunately, as she flew towards the tunnel they had just come from, the plant began to shift around, and its roots moved to cover the entrance of the tunnel that Evelyn's squad had come from.

Not only that, it moved to prevent them from leaving via any exit and covered up the other tunnels that entered into this chamber that was equal to the number above in the crater in the side of the mountain.

Now effectively trapped, Evelyn and her squad mates all looked out in terror as this monster cut off any route for escape.