An Owl's Rise

Upon returning to Melisandre's estate Evelyn promptly went to sleep in order to be rested for her first trip out of the Roost since arriving.

'I can hardly wait. It feels like I am finally starting to make some real progress, and after this Melisandre will start teaching me alchemy. Just wait for a while longer Mason. I swear I will fine you one of these days no matter where you have ended up.'

With those thoughts Evelyn drifted off to sleep and had a peaceful and restful night.

When she awoke, she felt a sense of anticipation and quickly began getting ready for the day.

She first cleaned herself off very well as she knew that until she returned the best, she would be able to do was wash off with some water out in the wilds.

Once she was good and clean, she headed to the kitchen where a meal was already being prepared by Anneli.

"Here you go. Lady Melisandre instructed me to make the best that I can with the highest quality ingredients that you will be able to stomach. I believe you will find the taste to be quite good and the effects of the magic imbued in this food even better."

Looking at the spread of meats put out in front of her Evelyn felt her stomach begin to rumble and she quickly tore into food.

All of it was exquisite and she could not help but smile through the meal.

Yet as she was eating, she had to stop and marvel at the magical effects that had been cooked into the food through alchemy.

She felt that her thinking was a bit faster, her body felt lighter and stronger, and most importantly she felt as if the flow of her magical energy was slightly quicker.

"I can see you are already feeling the effects of the food. While none of them are terribly impressive, I made sure that they would be as long lasting as possible. I believe you will have around three days in which you will be enhanced." Anneli said.

After the meal Evelyn thanked her for her help and consideration in getting ready.

'Now I just need to do a final check to make sure I have everything I might need, and I can be on my way.' Evelyn thought as she flew back to her room.

Swiftly she took everything out of her storage amulets and went over everything within each one.

'Okay I will put the healing and mana recovery items Mason gave me in the second one. The bags, jars, and vials in the third one. And the fourth one can hold the unleash potential and protective charm Melisandre gave me along with my mission tokens. As for the first one I will just keep Mason's diary and the langue guide in there.'

With everything sorted out, Evelyn put her items back away and was satisfied with her preparations.

'It is time to go. I have actually missed the freedom to just fly around as I like so I really cannot wait.'

Existing Melisandre's estate she made her way over to the warp hall where she would take a portal to the Glowing Woods.

When she arrived, the place was as busy at it had been before and numerous of the warp platforms were in use sending owls to their destination and allowing others to return.

'Hm now that I really think about it these platforms are almost more science fiction than normal fantasy. I wonder how they work?' Evelyn thought as she looked around with interest.

When she had come here yesterday, she was more engrossed in Anneli's explanations to really look around or ponder the intricacies of this place.

However, as much as she wanted to know she had no clue how the magic worked, and she did not even have the means to ask.

Before she could create a thread of magical energy for communications, she would have to learn to control her magical energy first.

Luckily there were plenty of owls in the same boat as her and when she went over to the warp platform for the Glowing Woods, she simply handed over one of her blue tokens.

This was proof of her permission to leave the Roost on official business, and the owl working at the platform gave her a talisman. This would allow her to make the return trip when she was finished.

After that she waited her turn and soon enough the platform began to glow, and a shimmering circle appeared around her.

An instant later her vision went blurry, and Evelyn felt the familiar sensation of being warped away.

When she came back to herself, she immediately felt nauseous as she was not used to be transported this way.

Nevertheless, she kept herself under control and the possibility that there might be threats around kept her on edge.

'All seems safe. I hear what sounds like some rustling around a hundred feet away, but it must be small, and I do not think it is a threat.'

Flapping her wings Evelyn took to the air and flew up into a nearby tree in order to ascertain her surroundings better.

'Oh, it smells good.' Evelyn thought as she landed on the tree.

As she looked more intently at the tree she landed in, she noticed that it had some bright vibrant red flowers on it that reminded her a bit of cherry blossoms she had seen online.

'It is fairly warm here. Not quite like the jungle where I did the trials but still quite nice. The air is also filled with a good amount of magical energy. Maybe a bit more than that jungle and definitely far more than the place I was born.' Evelyn thought as she examined the area.

Opening up her senses she made sure that no sort of threating beasts were around, and when she was satisfied the place was clear she took out the map Melisandre had given her.

'Hm, I think I am around here. The warp portal can only be in so many locations and this seems to be the right one from what I can tell. I guess that means that the lake is nearby. I will fine two of the things I need to complete my missions around there, so I should just head over while I am close.'

Evelyn took off towards the lake that lay on the eastern side of the glowing woods, feeling a bit of excitement to start her first mission.

Yet as she was flying along, she noticed a marking on one of the trees and abruptly stopped.

'This is the territory of an awakened beast.'

Melisandre had warned her that most of the awakened beasts marked their territory and that she would know it when she saw it.

On the tree was a large gash that was far too big to have been made by any beast that was at the fiend beast rank.

The marks themselves where nearly a wide as Evelyn was showing just how large the claws of this creature were.

Luckily Evelyn had been observant and noticed it. Allowing her to go around the area and head to the lake through a safer area.