An Owl's Rise

Soon they made it over floating forest in the sky that doubled as a sprawling city of owls.

It was all very unusual for Evelyn architecture wise, as there were pretty much no stairs or walkways due to how everyone could fly.

Though now that she was closer, she could see that sections of the forest were separated into season and climates, as certain owls felt more comfortable in different areas.

It was all very fantastical, especially with the small floating motes of dim light that provided the slight illumination that the owls needed to see.

As they continued to fly it became apparent to Evelyn that they were heading towards one of the large sixteen trees that surrounded the biggest central tree.

Though while she wanted to look around at every little thing in this new environment, Melisandre was very goal oriented and did not slow down at all.

Even when there were groups of owls in their way, they quickly altered their paths or stopped altogether to allow Melisandre to pass.

It was clear that she was of a very high status, and as Evelyn looked at the other owls that were around, she could tell that most of the were at the awakened beast rank.

'Oh, there is another owl taking humanoid form.' She thought, spotting another owl like Melisandre and Silas.

Just like how Melisandre was made way for, so was this owl. Confirming that those that could take on a humanoid form were stronger and had a high status.

When they finally made it to the massive tree that Melisandre had been leading Evelyn towards, she dove straight down and flew towards the base of the tree.

Following behind her Evelyn went straight down and saw that it really did appear that there was an endless expanse below them

Yet she did not see many owls flying very low, and none were flying below the trees whose roots seemed to disappear into nowhere.

"Stop!" Melisandre yelled towards Evelyn who had gotten distracted and nearly flown past the base of the trees.

Pulling up she failed to stop herself before suddenly hitting what felt like an invisible wall and bouncing off of it with a loud thud.

Flapping her wings rapidly, she brought herself back up and saw that below her was some sort of membrane that shook where she had hit it, before quickly settling down and once again looking like an endless expanse.

"I suppose I should have warned you that the domain ends at the bottom of the trees." Melisandre said as she floated right next to Evelyn who was staring stunned at what was below her.

"I understand that it is impressive since this is your first time seeing it, but come along, we need to get you registered so that I can begin studying your flam-, I mean so that I can begin teaching you."

Hearing this Evelyn now understood exactly why Melisandre wanted her as her disciple, but it was too late to let her worries get to her now.

"Here this is where the records hall is located. It is where all owls that join the Roost have to register, and their information is forever stored within." Melisandre explained as she landed on a large platform at the base of the massive tree.

Going inside Evelyn was immediately surprised to see that the inside of this tree was covered completely in white stone, and lined with shelves of books, documents, and all manner of other things for as high as she could see.

Looking around she could see that there were hundreds of platforms that jutted out the sides of the walls at regular intervals, and they had some sort of desk on each of them where owls could read through whatever they wished.

'This is certainly as amazing as it would be impractical for anyone that cannot fly.' Evelyn thought as she looked around.'

The shelves went up for higher than she could see and there was not a single way up to them other than to fly.

Still, it was apparent that everything here was designed with owls in mind, meaning it had not need to cater to any being that walked around on the ground.

"Come along now, we need to go see the manager of the hall to have you registered." Melisandre said while Evelyn gawked at everything around her.

Coming back to her senses Evelyn hopped along the white marble flooring, and towards a large circular station that sat at the bottom of the building.

Sitting in the middle of this station and reading through a series of books was the largest owl that she had seen thus far.

She was easily over thirty feet tall and towered above Evelyn who gulped loudly as they got closer.

"Oh Melisandre, it has been a while since you last came here. Have you come to publish the results of your recent experiments?" The large owl asked her

"Not today, Dara. I am actually here to register my new disciple. I discovered her while administering the trials for outsiders and found that she is certainly a talent worth nurturing." Melisandre said while gesturing towards Evelyn.

For the first time since they arrived, the owl named Dara noticed Evelyn standing right behind Melisandre and narrowed her eyes as she stared at her intently.

"Hello there, I am Dara master of the records hall. You are quite the lucky one to have been chosen to be Melisandre's disciple. Now I suppose we should begin by testing what species you are and recording what your affinity or affinities are."

Dara then pulled out a few items from under her station, one of which Evelyn recognized as a needle and syringe.