An Owl's Rise

For as far as the eye could see a massive swamp stretched out in front of Evelyn and her companions.

This was the sight of the upcoming recruitment trials for the Roost, a place that was known as the Helmues Swamp.

"What is that smell?" Verrader said, a visible grimace on his face.

Normally bad scents were of little concern for them as owls did not have the greatest sense of smell, but the swamp was incredibly pungent with a smell similar to rotting eggs thanks to all of the decomposing matter within the swamp. 

"It is pretty bad. I hate to imagine what a beast with an acute nose would be expecting. No wonder no one wants to come to this place." Evelyn said, before using wind magic to push the smell away.

"I don't think the smell is the main reason. It seems that we have company from the swamp's inhabitants." Rehni said, spotting movement on the surface of the water.

  What looked like logs coming their way was actually nearly three dozen snakes that had dark brown scales and blended in well with the swamp that was their home.

Yet, while they were heavily outnumbered, none of them were particularly scared.

These snakes were clearly not intelligent, with only one of them even being at the peak of the fiend beast rank. Clearly, they were just acting out of territorial instinct and trying to scare Evelyn and her companions away from the area.

"Who wants to deal with them?" Evelyn asked. She was certain that just one of them would be more than enough to deal with all of these snakes.

"I'll do it. This will be over in just a second." Bylur said confidently.

He then leapt off the branch he had been perched on and flew directly over the snakes.

The more than thirty snakes all opened their mouths to reveal a bright white inside and sharp fangs that were dripping with venom.

Seeing this display Evelyn understood that these snakes must have been similar to cotton mouths. Though they were quite a bit larger than the snakes she had seen in photos when she was still on Earth.

'Still, Bylur is far larger than any of them. I am honestly surprised that they are willing to act so aggressively when clearly outmatched. I suppose the aggressiveness of the swamp's denizens is another reason it is not a popular place.' Evelyn thought while watching Bylur fight the snakes.

Though calling it a fight was an overstatement. Really it was a one-sided slaughter.

The snakes launched some basic magic attacks at Bylur, but not a single one was able to hurt him.

If all of the snakes had been trained to control their magical energy and had a good grasp on how to properly use magic, they collectively might have been a slight threat, but these were just unintelligent beasts that lived in the wild. They never stood a chance against Bylur who was at the awakened rank and was an expert at using his magic.

Within less than ten seconds the area of the swamp that the snakes were congregated in had been frozen over. Leaving all of the snakes dead.

"Just as easy as expected. Even a thousand weaklings like these would not pose a challenge." Bylur said boastfully.

Of course, he was probably right. It would take a massive horde of enemies at this level to bring him down in a war of attrition.

"Well, you might just get a chance to take on that many. It seems that we have attracted another group from the welcoming committee." Rehni said, pointing out a swarm of giant purple moths that were coming their way.

…

"Do these beasts not have any sense of self-preservation. Surely, they can tell that we are stronger than them." Bylur said, hovering over the latest group of enemies that had attacked them.

"This is just how things are here. The swamp is filled with extremely aggressive poisonous beasts. None of them are even at the awakened rank though so nothing for us to worry about. If you want to take a break, some else can take on the role of vanguard." Evelyn said to Bylur.

So far, he had rushed to challenge each group of beasts that had come to challenge them.

"No, this is far from enough to wear me out. I can keep this up for a lot longer. Just leave them all to me." Bylur said, wanting to impress Evelyn.

And he did keep his word and deal with every beast that tried to attack them without fail.

"We've arrived. And it looked like were early." Aralee said, her gaze drawn to a large tree where three figures were waiting.

All three of them were owls, with two of them being peak awakened rank beasts. But the third was clearly several leagues above them.

With wings that were golden in color and an aura that was tremendous and equal to Melisandre's it was clear that the owl that had taken humanoid form was the Hall Master that would be overseeing the entry trials.

"That must be Vedec. The master of the Records Hall." Evelyn said.

Melisandre had informed her already which Hall Master would be running these trials. She had spoken highly of him and told Evelyn that he was an amazing scholar that was unparalleled in the Roost. 

"It seems we have our first participants. Callan, Leona, would you inform them of-"

However, midsentence Vedec stopped what he was saying and quickly glanced between Evelyn and the other's feet.

On all of them expect for Otis were the cuffs that identified them as already being members of the Roost. This was the first time that Vedec had ever seen so many owls that were already members show up to where the entry trails were being held. On occasion there might be a couple of current members that would personally guide another owl, but having five show up at once was unprecedented.