An Owl's Rise

As quickly as the light of the warp portal engulfed them it just as quickly receded.

And as it faded away and their vision returned to them Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni found themselves back in the Roost.

They had been gone for slightly over a month, but things still looked the exact same as they had before they left.

However, surface looks did not tell everything and upon their arrival Bylur visibly tensed up and the expression on his face hardened.

The last time he had returned to the Roost, he had been subject to the unexpected and undeserved ire of a large group.

They had not only mocked him, but Evelyn, who he held in a higher regard than himself.

This caused him to try and get them rescind their words, but he was ultimately powerless to do anything and instead suffered a crushing defeat.

'Looks like his fears are not unfounded though. This faction must be more invested in us than I first thought.'

Knowing that there was a large faction of owls that had set their sights on her, Evelyn had been keeping her senses heightened and taking in her surroundings the moment she warped back into the Roost.

Within just a few seconds of her arrival she had noticed two low tier awakened rank owls look her Bylur, and Rehni over before promptly leaving.

They had tried to be stealthy about it, but they did not do a good job and it was clear to Evelyn that she and her friends were the subjects they were interested in.

'I suppose that they must have left a couple lookouts to keep watch and report the moment that we arrived. This begs the question though, why are they so interested in me and by extension my team? Is it because we broke into the top five thousand in the ranking hall? But that seems preposterous. I doubt they would do this to every team that makes it in. The rankings are volatile where we currently are and should not be enough for such a powerful faction to really care about us. It was not like we easily defeated our opponents; it was a struggle.' Evelyn thought, not sure what could have garnered them this much attention.

She could not remember doing anything so exceptional that it would put a target on her back from such a large faction.

Certainly, she had received a few invitations from some factions due to her alchemy skill and her team's rising through the ranks, but she had been doing her best to not garner too much attention.

Unfortunately, she was forgetting one event that had initially put her on the radar of quite a number of factions.

During her first visit to the mission hall after she had reached the awakened rank, when she easily crushed the high tier awakened rank owl that was trying to bully her, plenty of others took notice.

Now there were many interested parties that were looking into Evelyn, and the more they found out the more those that felt threatened wanted to destroy her, and those that saw her as useful wanted to obtain her.

Nevertheless, Evelyn figured that things like this would happen eventually, just not so soon and as rapidly as it had.

'We will just have to do what we can. Worst case scenario I can involve the leader of the Roost.' Evelyn thought, remembering the emblem she had been given.

After a quick discussion with Bylur and Rehni to figure out when they would next meet up, Evelyn left the warp hall and made her way to Melisandre's mansion.

She made sure to move around stealthily and not take a direct path since she already knew that there were owls keeping watch on her.

'It seems that they are not really intent on following me around everywhere. I suppose that they know where to find me when they need to.' She thought as she slipped back into Melisandre's estate.

It did not take long for Anneli to come and greet her and bring her to where Melisandre and Katrina were.

"You certainly are late once again Evelyn. You said that you would be gone for a week at most." Melisandre said with a raised eyebrow and a probing expression.

"Yeah, some things came up. Sorry." Evelyn said, bowing her head.

She explained what had happened in the desert and how she had got caught up in a more ambitious plan than she probably should have.

"When I found out just how valuable the magic crystal mine was, I just felt I had to acquire it." Evelyn said at the end of her explanation.

Then before anything else she took out the silver magic crystal and handed it towards Melisandre.

"I know I probably owe you a lot more, but I hope that this pays you back at least a little bit."

Shocked expressions swiftly came over Melisandre, Katrina, and Anneli's expression as they saw Evelyn offer up the silver magic crystal.

It was a very valuable item and not something that could be easily acquired.

Even Melisandre had a limited supply of such quality magic crystals.

"It is fine Evelyn; you need not give me that crystal. You fought hard to obtain it and I do not need you to pay me back for anything other than the million credits I loaned you. Which that crystal is worth far more than." Melisandre said as she pushed the silver magic crystal back towards Evelyn.

"But you have done so much for me and used far more magical crystals just to keep me alive when my core was damaged." Evelyn said frantically.

"I used those freely knowing full well I would never get them back. You do not feel like you need to pay me back for those. I am your master, and you are my disciple. I decided to do everything in my power to save you, and that is that. If you truly wish to repay me, all you need to do is keep growing and continuing to make me proud." Melisandre said with a look that offered Evelyn no room for disagreement.

"I understand." Evelyn said, putting the magic crystal away.

With her report of her activities outside the Roost completed, she decided to tell Melisandre about what she had learned from Bylur.

"Yes, I figured that this might happen. I have warned you before that your abilities are stronger than average even here at the Roost. I can say with certainty that there are probably only a few dozen that are close to your level of quality and likely none that have more potential than you. Even though you have been hiding all of your power, it is clear that you are exceptional. At the same rank there is likely no other owl within the Roost that could beat you." Melisandre said.

It was clear that Evelyn simply had to much going in her favor thanks to the Aethersphere and heavenly flame.

Either of these items could be considered some of the greatest treasures in the world Evelyn had been reborn in, and she had them both.

"Now what did you want me to do about this? I have plenty of ways to get them to back off, or even collapse their entire faction if need be." Melisandre said with a scary glint in her eyes.

While upper ranking beasts rarely got involved with those of a lower rank, Melisandre was willing to do whatever she could to help get rid of Evelyn's enemies within the Roost. Even if it meant having a few of the leaders of the faction after her disappear.

"For now, I will try to get by on my own. I cannot rely on you to solve all of my problems and would like to save your help as a last resort. Bylur, Rehni, and I will do our best to resolve this on our own." Evelyn said resolutely.

Nodding her head Melisandre accepted Evelyn decision and told her that she would leave it up to her.

"This will be a good growing experience for you. Just try not to beat them so badly that you bring even more attention to yourself. These things can snowball out of control if you let them. Trust me, I know." Melisandre said, shuddering slightly as she did

It was obvious that she had experienced something similar in the past and Evelyn could see her creating some wave by absolutely obliterating her enemies.

Once they had finished speaking, Evelyn returned to her room where she immediately got to work.

Her store had been closed for far longer than she anticipated and tomorrow she planned on opening it again.

'Not only do I need more credits to pay back what I owe, but I imagine that I will finally come face to face with this faction. It is only a matter of time before they stop by store, and I can officially give them my declaration of war.'