An Owl's Rise

Tears had already begun streaming down her face practically from the start of the recording, but now that it was over. The full weight of what had happed hit her like a truck.

She fell right over onto the ground screaming and slamming her wings and claws against the ground.

It was all just so much for her to take along with everything else she had gone through.

She had found her brother again, the person she was closest to in her previous world and the one who easily held the highest place in her heart.

Yet in just moments he was ripped away from her again by the harshness of fate.

They never even had a chance to meet each other, because while they had only died minutes apart, Mason had ended up in this world centuries before Evelyn had.

The prospect of seeing her brother again had not even occurred to her, yet now that she knew they ultimately ended up in the same world. Losing him again brought back all of the original pain she had felt when she watched him die.

'Damn it all. Why does fate, destiny, or whatever have to always be so cruel? Is all that awaits me more suffering? If that is all I have to look forward to, why do I even keep living?'

Falling into the depths of despair, Evelyn began contemplating ending it all again, wanting to somehow cease all of the pain she was feeling.

However, she quickly shook off this feeling for multiple reasons.

Her brother had left so much for her, and likely sacrificed his own fate to give her a chance.

If she were to throw away her life here, it would mean everything he gave up and all he had done to make sure she could survive here was meaningless.

It would be like her spitting in the face of his resolve and his love for his little sister that he worked hard to protect in two lives.

Another reason that convinced her not to end her own life, was because of not knowing what might happen next.

For all she knew, when she died again, she might be reborn as something else. Maybe ending up as a caterpillar, or possibly even a microscopic organism.

The last thing she wanted was to start again in an even more harsh environment, or to end up in another loving home that all comes crashing down around her.

She had already fought very hard in this life and lost so much. Now was the time where she could finally move forward and try and live a good life as her brother had wanted her to.

'I will survive and make the best of this life, and then I will find Mason again. We may not have been able to reunite here, but there is magic on this world. If he was able to look into the future to find me here. Surely, I can find a way to get to wherever he is now. We both already died once and ended up on another world, so he has to be somewhere out there, and I will find him.'

Finding her resolve, Evelyn steeled her heart and etched her reasons to live in it.

She would live for her brother who had done what he could to protect her in both their first and second lives. And she would figure out the magic of this world and search for a way to reunite with him wherever he might be now.

Once she was finished crying and had gotten herself together, with a determined look in her eyes she stared towards the crimson flame suspended in a clear case.

This was the item that her brother said had the power to change her fate, and she knew it was something incredibly powerful.

Moving towards it she looked at the flame intently for a few moments, before clicking the switch on the case that opened it.

As soon as she did, the case opened up and the flame that had been suspended began to flicker around, and an intense heat permeated the entire room.

It was nearly unbearable, and Evelyn had to create gusts of wind around herself to keep from burning.

Now that the flame was freed from its prison, she could not help but think that it almost seemed alive as it pulsed at regular intervals.

'It definitely feels powerful, though I am not sure what to do with it. I suppose that I should seal it away again and see if I can find any more details about it in the books Mason left me.'

Moving to close the case again, Evelyn found that the flame moved on its own to prevent being sealed away, and actually flew at her.

Then as it got closer, one of the rings around Aethersphere which had been pointing towards this flame began spinning.

Suddenly the heavenly flame as Mason had called it, began getting sucked into Evelyn's body.

Immediately her body started to get incredibly hot, and it felt like her blood was boiling as this flame entered inside her.

Falling to the ground she began rolling around in extreme pain that was nearly as bad as when the Aethersphere had been implanted into her.

She had no idea why the flame had entered her body, but the pain was immense, and it took everything she had to keep ahold of her sanity.

In fact, if not for all of the pain she had already experienced, this probably would have been enough to break her. But she stayed strong, and within just a couple of minutes the pain subsided as the flames coalesced in her chest around the Aethersphere.