An Owl's Rise

Though she seemed wholly disinterested in the current developments, and it was the other one that moved forward and addressed the hundreds of owls that remained.

This owl in contrast to the other one that had just gone away, had pitch black feathers that made her difficult to see in the dark fog.

'All of you left here have not yet met the minimum qualifications to enter our sanctuary. But do not worry, you will all have your chance to prove your worth. We have prepared a number of trials to test your speed, power, ingenuity, and luck. Those that pass shall be granted the right to join us at the Owls Roost. For those of you that fall short, the most likely outcome is to be crippled or die.'

Hearing this many of the owls began to become hesitant.

Most of them had not known that there were going to be a series of trials beforehand and thought just making it here would be enough to grant them entry.

'Now I can see that some of you are beginning to worry, as you should. These trials will not be easy, and I doubt that ten percent of you here will pass. If you wish to back out now is the time, since you will not get the chance once we begin. Nothing will be held against you if you wish to preserve your own life.' The black feathered owl said.

She wanted all of them to know just how dangerous it was, and to persuade those that were not resolved to die to leave.

Almost immediately around twenty percent of the more than two hundred owls turned around and left.

They had persevered hard in order to reach the level they were at and did not wish to die now.

Also, they had seen that all of the owls that had reached the awakened rank had been accepted. So, if they took another couple of decades to get stronger, they might be able to pierce the ceiling that most beasts got stuck at, and gain entry with no struggle at all.

Of course, many of these owls here had come to join the Owls Roost because they had found no way to advance further on their own after being stuck at the peak of the friend beast rank for dozens of years.

As for Evelyn, she had already chosen to come here, and figured that there were going to be some sort of tests from the start.

Though she did think about turning around and fleeing for a bit. On account of the hostility she had gained for simply having interacted with the snowy owl.

Still, most of those that had been emitting malice towards her were the cowards that were leaving, and she figured one way or another she was going to have to deal with them.

'It will be better just to take these trials. I could spend years twiddling my wings around out in the wilds without making any progress. I was already beginning to stagnate, which is why I came here to begin with.'

Steeling her resolve and ambition. Evelyn kept to her decision to join this society of owls and milk out whatever secrets and resources she could from them.

She had already come to terms with the fact that she might die, but she would rather lose her life in the pursuit of her goals than cower away until she died.

After eight minutes the last of the owls that had decided to not risk their lives had left. Leaving only around a hundred twenty of them left to take the trials.

'Well, it looks like all of you have made your decision. I can see that you all have guts, but that will only get you so far. I am going to weed out which of you actually have the talent and skill necessary to continue on. Those of you that are weak are going to fall, and it will be very quickly.'

As the black feathered owl said the word 'weak', she definitely was staring at Evelyn.

Being the lowest ranking owl here, naturally she would be seen as the weakest and likely to be the first to go.

Not to mention that there were a number of other owls that had decided to target her during these trials simply because of their envy towards the snowy owl that she had been talking to.

None of them could understand why he had been chosen, when all of them had been left behind to prove themselves with their lives on the line.

However, he had been chosen from out of all the other peak fiend beasts for two reasons.

The first was that the examiners had seen him using his technique to speak with Evelyn which was an advanced ability they would not expect to see from a fiend beast. Or even most awakened beasts for that matter.

The second reason was that they could tell that he had a dual affinity and that while one of them was water, the other was a much rarer one.

This had given him the qualifications in their eyes for him to be permitted to enter the Owls Roost above the other fiend beasts that had gathered in droves.

'All of you prepare yourselves. Your first trail is about to begin. Now all you need to do is follow me.'

The instance after the black feathered owl said this, she took off from the central tree and began flying straight upwards.

As this happened many of the owls were stunned and did not react immediately as their minds processed what was going on.

Yet one owl took off immediately, and that was Evelyn.

Her mind was more advanced than any of the other challengers remaining, who had on average the intelligence of a seven- or eight-year-old.

Quickly she flew up right behind the examiner who began disappearing into the thick fog that permeated the area.

Within only a few more moments panic began to set in among the other owls and they took off as well, trying to catch up to the examiner who was moving away.

Soon all of the owls that had gathered in this clearing were gone save for one.

The humanoid owl was still lounging around in the center tree and had glanced up where the other owls had gone with little interest.

'I wonder if there will actually be anyone exceptional this year.'