An Owl's Rise

Suddenly hearing a new voice in her head. Evelyn looked back towards the central tree and at the owl that had connect himself to all of the others.

He looked quite a bit like a barn owl as far as she could tell, and was by far the largest owl here, being nearly twenty-feet tall.

Along with his size his plumage was quite impressive as well, as he had a beautiful golden pattern flowing through his cream white feathers.

'He is strong.' Evelyn thought as she looked him over.

There was no doubt in her mind that this owl was far stronger than any of the others that had gathered here except for his compatriots in the center tree.

Even the awakened beast rank owls here looked pretty weak in comparison, and she wondered if he was possibly a tyrant beast.

However, her train of thought was quickly put on hold as he began transmitting his thoughts to all of the other owls now that he had their attention.

'Seeing that all of you have made your way here, we assume that your goal is to join us at the Owls Roost. However, if you are under the misunderstand that just making it here is qualification enough, you are wrong. We have no use for the weak in our ranks and arriving at this place is just a preliminary. Only those who demonstrate strength and ingenuity in the upcoming trials shall be able to join us. Now some of you already show more promise than others and shall be allowed to join on the merit you have already have.'

After he said this thirteen of the owls that had arrived here received another message in their heads telling them that they were already qualified to join the Owls Roost.

Among these owls twelve of them were the ones that had already reached the awakened beast rank.

Yet there was one owl who had caught the eyes of these examiner even thought they were still at the peak of the fiend beast rank like most of the others.

'Now, the thirteen of you shall follow me and I shall take you to your new home and get you inducted into our ranks.' The barn owl with the golden patten said.

Naturally the twelve awakened beast excitedly and with their heads held up high in superiority flew towards the central tree and waited to be led to the Owls Roost.

Except one of the thirteen that had already been accepted had not left his perch, and was instead looking down with a conflicted expression at the owls next to him.

Looking up at the snowy owl, Evelyn wondered why he was looking at her with a sorrowful gaze.

'You there. Hurry up and come on over. We do not have all day. You have already been chosen to enter the Roost and do not have to take the trials.'

Hearing another message over the magical connection, the snowy owl heard the annoyance in the barn owl's tone.

'I would like to request that I take the trials as well.' He said while taking glances at Evelyn.

Unfortunately for him, the owl who was one of this year's examiners was not in the happiest of moods, since he did not want to be here to start with.

'No, you have already been chosen to join so you can come with me now, or I will force you to leave. There is no point in having you undergo challenges you will likely beat, especially since your motives are quite clear.'

Having seen through what this snowy owl obviously wanted to do. There was even less reason to allow him to take the trials that most would have to in order to enter the Owls Roost.

Gritting his beak and closing his eyes, the snowy owl was full of frustration.

He had figured that he would be able to help Evelyn out during the trials that weeded out the weakest owls, and that he would be able to look cool and get closer to her by doing so.

But now that option was taken off the table, and he was left with entering now, or leaving with nothing.

Eventually he made his decision and flew over to the other owls that had already been chosen.

All of the other owls that had not been chosen looked down at him with jealousy, and his reluctance to have joined made them only angrier.

Every other owl here would have killed to be in his position and get into the Owls Roost without having to risk their lives

Yet this snowy owl looked reluctant to go. As if he had not been chosen to go to the paradise of the owls, but instead to some sort of horrible torture chamber.

This made all of the other owls want to tear him apart for being so appreciative of the gift he had received.

Though while a number of them were focused on him, plenty others were looking at Evelyn who he had been sitting next to.

It was clear to them why he did not want to leave, and that was because they perceived that Evelyn was his sweetheart.

Of course, that could not be further from the truth, but for every other owl here that was what it looked like to them.

Sadly for Evelyn, that meant that a good deal of the envy and ire that was being projected at the snowy owl was being redirected towards her simply for having associated with him.

Feeling the hostility directed at her, she looked around and saw that around two dozen owls were staring at her with malice in their eyes.

For a second she wondered why this was, but quickly came to the understand.

Groaning she thought, 'This is why I did not want to interact with anyone. Now things are only going to be harder for me.'

Seeing that a number of the other owls had it out for her, she knew that they were likely to target her if they got the opportunity.

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