An Owl's Rise

For the next couple of days Evelyn and her companions flew through the Velinis desert that seemed to go on endlessly.

Despite it seeming to only a be a small part of the continent when looked at on the map Evelyn bought, it was still a huge area that they could not clear completely in a short time even while flying.

At the very least they managed to avoid any unnecessary battles, since none of the beasts populating the desert wanted anything to do with Otis. He was proudly releasing his aura as a tyrant rank beast and the lower ranking beasts gave him a wide berth.

On their third day of traveling the sight of massive trees reaching into the sky finally came into view and the desert began to give way to sparse greener and become a plain.

"I would say we are only a few hundred kilometers away now. If we hurry we should reach it before the end of the night and we can finally rest in the trees." Evelyn said, picking up her speed a bit, excited to finally be getting out of the desert.

They had been spending their time resting in burrows that Otis had created for them, but for Evelyn and the others, it felt most natural to rest in trees rather than hidden under the ground.

Riding the winds and flapping their wings at regular intervals their group of six owls sped across the wide-open plains in between the Velinis Desert and the Forest of Giants.

This left them exposed to any beasts on the ground that were living in the plain, but the area they were in had even less magical energy than the Velinis Desert and was home to mostly wild and fiend beasts that all hide in terror as Evelyn's group flew over.

Once they got closer to the Forest of Giants, though, the magical energy in the air began to increase and with it the power of the creatures that lived in the area.

Thankfully none of the beasts living on the edge of the plain as it melded into the Forest of Giants gave them any trouble and they were able to reach their destination about an hour before dawn.

"We will rest here for until around dusk tomorrow and can begin exploring the forest tomorrow." Evelyn said, landing on one of the trees at the edge of the forest.

This one was a bit smaller than the ones deeper in begin only a bit more than one kilometer tall, but it still put any tree from Earth to shame.

"The trunk is pretty solid, but it should not prove too difficult to pierce through." Rehni said.

She then created what looked like a giant drill with her metal magical and began craving into the tree to create a hollow for them to sleep in during the day.

When she had dug out a sizable portion of the trees trunk that would be big enough for the six of them to rest in, Verrader and Aralee used their wind magic to clear away the saw dust, while Evelyn and Bylur kept watch on their surroundings.

It was not long after their temporary shelter was completely that Otis returned from a scouting mission around the area.

"There are some weaker beasts ranging from low tier wild rank beast to mid-tier awakened ranks in the general area, but nothing that is any threat to us. It seems that this area on the outskirts of the forest is relatively safe." Otis said, informing them of what he had found.

"Good to hear, but we should not get lax. We will stick with having two of us keep watch during the day in three shifts.

I will go first with Aralee, then Verrader and Otis, and lastly Bylur and Rehni." Evelyn said, assigning pairs based on balancing their strengths.

Though while the pairings Evelyn had chosen for watch made logical sense, Bylur and Otis could not help but be a bit upset.

So far, Evelyn had not taken a watch shift with either of them, and had been rotating between her siblings.

Still, they were going to be on a long journey together over several months. They figured it was only a matter of time before they got their chance.

"It seems like it is time for us to finally really get started on this journey of ours. What are you planning for us to do first?" Aralee said, making some small talk with Evelyn during their watch.

"Hm, I do not really have much of a plan. We are going to explore the area and gather resources while searching for any hidden treasures like the stable magic spring in the Velinis Desert. Though, if I had to say what our main goal is here, it is to get you and Verrader stronger. Both of you are still only at the low tier of the awakened rank and have a long way to go. It is not just your ranks' but also you magical energy control that could use some work. Luckily, this forest should be a good training ground for the both of you." Evelyn said.

However, this only caused Aralee to lower her head and feel ashamed of her weakness.

From the start she and her brother hand been being supported by Evelyn and her teammates, but they could not do anything to contribute. It was clear that they were much weaker and simply dead wait to their sister.

"There is no need to feel down. It is all just a matter of time and effort. You are going to catch up to the rest of us. I will make sure of that, even if it almost kills you." Evelyn said with a confident smile on her face.

Yet the smile Evelyn was giving her only made Aralee shudder, and she was certain that her sister truly meant she would do any and everything to catch her and her brother up so long as it did not kill them.

For the next four hours Evelyn kept watch with her sister.

Nothing of note happened during that time, and other than the faint movement of far of ebasts it was completely uneventful.

"Otis, Verrader, time to get up." Evelyn said, nudging the two of them.

Both of them sleepily rose and shook their heads to erase their lingering drowsiness.

After that Evelyn and Aralee settled down themselves and drifted of to sleep while Otis and Verrader took their turns at watch.

Things went by without incident and in compete silence.

Neither Otis nor Verrader really new each other and it was difficult for either of them to find any topics to talk about to pass the time.

For the last shift it was Bylur and Rehni's turn and unfortunately, they did not get to enjoy a peaceful watch as the others had.

Climbing up a tree not too far from the one they were resting in was a massive lizard whose body was easily twenty meters long.

It had dark brown skin with a pattern similar to bark, allowing it to blend in well with the forest despite its immense size.

With one look at the lizard Bylur and Rehni were able to tell that it was a tyrant rank beast.

Unlike Otis it had not achieved a higher-level evolution using a human's magic core, but the power in its limbs and the magical energy it held within it was still greater than what Bylur and Rehni could bring to bear.

Both of them wanted to wake the others, but it did not seem like the massive lizard had noticed them yet and any movement could alert it to their presence.

For several minutes they watched the lizard creep up the tree and occasionally snap its jaws shut and take a bite out of the tree.

Of course, the carnivorous tyrant rank lizard was not eating the tree for fun but was swallowing the beasts hidden within the branches of the tree.

The giant lizard did not seem to be picky, eating any beast it came across no mater what its rank was.

A family of monkey type beasts tried to flee, but were easily plucked out of the tree by the lizard and thrown into its mouth.

Truly it was a horrifying sight to watch and nothing like Bylur and Rehni had ever seen.

Normally a higher-ranking beast would ignore those that were significantly weaker than it, but this lizard seemed content to eat anything that was living on the tree it had chosen as its hunting ground.

Once the tyrant rank lizard had consuming all of the life on the tree other than small insects that did not interest it, the massive beast climbed down and ascend the next nearest tree and began the process again.

Watching this unfold, Bylur and Rehni realized that it was only a matter of time until the lizard reached the tree that they were staying in and that their first battle in the Forest of giants was going to be against one of the few tyrant rank beasts that lived there.