An Owl's Rise

Upon waking up Evelyn took many deep breaths and calmed herself down.

She had finally recovered from the crippling damage that had occurred when she pushed well past her limits and used a power she was far from ready for.

It had been quite the ordeal that nearly had her ending up dead multiple times, but now that it was over, she had ascended to the next step on the path to power in this world.

'Hm, I felt it when I first finished the evolution, but I really have gotten smaller. I am now a bit less than half the size I was when at the peak of the fiend beast rank. I think I am much closer to when I previously just evolved. Maybe my body just reset itself again and I will grow larger again as I climb up the awakened rank? Or perhaps this is the size I will stay and not grow larger like most owls?'

Unsure as to what the decease in her size meant, or whether it might have had some thing to do with her damaged cores. All Evelyn could do was keep it on her mind and watch how she changed going forward.

Evelyn now awakes and feeling more aware began stretching her new body out and getting a feel for it.

Her drastic change in size would also mean a significant difference in how she moved.

Her wingspan was one thing that was going to make a big difference, and she knew it would take her a bit of time to get used to being smaller again.

'Well, I need to go and find Anneli, Katrina, or Melisandre. I am sure they are worried about me after all that has happened.' Evelyn thought as she prepared to leap from her nest.

Thud!

Yet as she did a single flap of her wings sent her straight into the ceiling as she had misjudged how much power her new body could generate.

It was safe to say that while she had lost more than half her size, she was easily more than twice as strong as before.

'Ow.' Evelyn thought as she crashed into the floor after ricocheting off the ceiling.

While letting out a low groan at her incompetence, she pulled her body back up and began wiping herself off with her wings.

'Let's try this again.'

Giving her wings a few test flaps, she slowly tried to get more used to the extra power behind her, and with her wind magic at the ready to help her out now she slowly began ascending into the air.

After that she did a few test laps around her room to make sure that she was getting accustomed to how to fly now that her body had undergone such a major chance.

When she finally felt ready to go, she turned towards the door and entered into the hallway outside her room.

To her surprise, Anneli was waiting out there and her head perked up when Evelyn came out.

Swiftly she extended a thread of magical energy to her so that the two could communicate.

"It is great to see you back up Evelyn. For a bit I was truly worried you were not going to make it. If we lost you, I am not sure what we would have done." Anneli said with some tears in her eyes.

She was always pretty bubbly by owl standards and right now she was overflowing with relief.

Evelyn had gotten very close to her and Katrina, and both of Melisandre's attendants felt that she was like a little sister to them.

"I was also a bit concerned for a bit there, but I made it through. I guess now I can be added to that statistic of those that managed to survive evolving with a damaged core." Evelyn said while laughing to try and lighten the mood.

Thankfully this worked, and Anneli was soon back to her old happy self and told Evelyn to come with her to the kitchen to get something to eat.

Evelyn hearing this felt her stomach rumble, and like last time it was obvious that she was famished after evolving which used a bunch of energy.

Quickly the two of them made it to the kitchen, and after Anneli sent off a couple messages to inform Katrina and Melisandre she began cooking up a feast.

Within just a couple of minutes both Melisandre and Katrina came flying in and greeted Evelyn as well.

"Everything still seems normal. Your cores have fully repaired and there is no lingering damage to your soul. When you passed out immediately after evolving you really had me worried, but I am glad that everything has worked itself out." Melisandre said after giving Evelyn a quick examination.

Soon with the help of Katrina, Anneli had finished cooking and they all sat down to enjoy a meal together.

"I have made sure that the food this time is quite hardy and will help with stamina and magical energy recovery. We want to make sure that you get back to normal as quickly as possible." Anneli said with her head held up high.

"Thanks for the consideration. Though I am feeling a lot better now than before already. But I am sure the food will help me all the same." Evelyn said before digging in.

Nearly an hour went by as Evelyn packed away more food than she ever had before. Eating everything that was put in front of her to the point that it would seem her stomach should have long met its capacity.

"You would think with your decreased size that your appetite might be less, but I think you just put away more than double what you normally do." Melisandre observed.

"Yeah, I think I really needed food. It has been a few days since I last ate. And while I am smaller, I feel as if I can eat more than before."

Pursing her lips, Melisandre seemed to be deep in thought, but decided to leave any investigation for latter.

"Anyway, now that you have eaten and seem to be doing better, I think now is as good a time as any to assess your magic. Many beasts can struggle to control their new power immediately after reaching the awakened rank, and their newfound intelligence can lead to a lose in instinct. Though in that case, it appears you will not have any problem being one of the rare cases to have already achieved high intelligence before reaching the awakened rank." Melisandre said.

She then beckoned for Evelyn to follow her, and they headed out to the training room where Evelyn had undergone her evolution.

"Wow, it does not even look like anything happened here."

As they entered Evelyn had wondered if fragments of the advancement chamber she had blown up might still be around, but the room was completely bare.

Along with that, the damage she had caused to the floor was also repaired. Leaving no trace of the wave of magic she had unleashed upon evolving.

"Naturally. It has been a few days since then giving ample time to clean up. And the damage you caused while not insignificant was still within the rooms repair function. Now let us get down to business. Show me what you can do with your magic now."