An Owl's Rise

Normally she had no trouble waking up on time but wanted to be certain that she did not sleep in and miss out on the important battle scheduled for as soon as the Ranking Hall opened.

With slightly stiff movements she got up and turned the magic tool off, before stretching her body and shaking off her lingering drowsiness.

After that she went about her normally morning routine of cleaning her body and checking over her items.

Today she was exceptionally careful to make sure everything was in order; despite the fact she had checked right before going to sleep the previous day.

'That should do it. No I need to go and meet up with Bylur and Rehni and head to the Ranking Hall.'

Certain that she was ready, Evelyn made her way to the entrance of Melisandre's estate, where, Anneli, Katrina, and Melisandre were waiting to see her off.

"No need to be so nervous, you prepared the best that you could, and I am certain you will win." Melisandre said, seeing that Evelyn was a bit anxious from a single glance.

"Yeah, you nearly managed to beat Katrina in your last battle and none of your opponents today are even close to as strong. You are going to win for sure." Anneli said encouragingly.

Katrina nodded her head in agreement and likewise praised Evelyn abilities and efforts.

"Thanks. I will make sure to not fall below your expectations." Evelyn said, feeling uplifted by their words.

While she and her teammates had put in a great deal of effort to prepare for this match, they never could have gotten as far as they had without Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina's support, and Evelyn felt she could not let them down now.

"I have pulled some strings so that I can view you match from my room. We will be rooting for you the entire time." Melisandre said, a smile showing her pride in Evelyn on her face.

"Understood. I will make sure that we do not disappoint and put on a good show for all of you." Evelyn said, feeling her spirits rising.

Once she had finished receiving some last-minute morale-boosting, Evelyn said goodbye to Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina, before heading off to meet up with Bylur and Rehni.

Upon arriving at the designated location, she found them both stiff as a board.

Naturally they were nervous since this battle would be deciding their fates.

'I suppose I need to share the same words that were given to me to them as well.' Evelyn thought.

Landing in front of them she gave them the same encouragement she had received from her mentors and helped to ease their worries.

"Now these are the items I prepared for all of us." Evelyn said taking out nine different disposable items.

Swiftly she handed them over to who was going to have what, and Bylur and Rehni were quite surprised.

"Evelyn, are you sure that neither of us should have a healing potion or bottle of magical energy replenishment pills?" Rehni asked, her tone laced with concern.

Normally it was standard practice for each of them to have their own healing potion and magical energy replenishment pills along with one other item to increase tehri power during the match.

However, this time Evelyn had opted to give Bylur and Rehni three items to boost their combat abilities, while she kept ahold of two healing potions and a bottle of magical energy replenishment pills.

"Yes, I believe that you both will need all of the advantages you can get. Using those three potions you will certainly be able to match our opponents. And if either of you start to run low on magical energy, I can always give you one of the pills from my bottle. As for healing we can rely mostly on Bylur's magic and in case of an emergency I will have the two potions ready." Evelyn explained.

She was planning on playing a full support role this time around and had geared up in anticipation of this.

"Just leave it to me Evelyn. I will show that bastard Devurg that he cannot push me around anymore." Bylur said, a fierce resolve burning in his eyes.

He had already lost once before to the leader of the faction targeting them, and this was going to be his chance to get some payback.

"Good, I will leave him primarily to you then. I fully believe that you can win." Evelyn said.

This helped to motivate Bylur further and he started imaging the heaps of praise Evelyn would give him after their victory. Even going so far as to have delusions of her finally accepting his affections.

While Bylur was off in his daydream, Evelyn and Rehni had a last minute discussion on strategy, going over the numerous plans they had made based on the terrain they could end up in, and how Devurg's team approached the battle.

Soon the time had wound down so that there were only thirty minutes left before their match and Evelyn along with Rehni and Bylur flew towards the Ranking Hall.

When they arrived, they found the place more lively than ever with over ten thousand owls waiting to get in.

Of course not all of them were here to see Evelyn' team, but were here thanks to the massive faction wars that were currently going on thanks to the rewards Melisandre was promising.

Things had really heated up recently now that it had been five months since the announcement and the Ranking Hall was seeing more traffic than it had in a century. At least this is what Evelyn had heard from Katrina.

Eventually the Ranking Hall opened, and every public entrance was unlocked and the mass of owls waiting outside began funneling in. Evelyn and her teammates included.