An Owl's Rise

Slowly consciousness began to come back to Evelyn. Her eyes still felt heavy, and her body was horribly sore all over.

'What the hell happened to me. It feels like I was used as a pinball.'

Her mind still foggy she tried to remember what had happened. And when she did, her eyes shot open, and she tried to get up.

However, despite the fact that she had woken back up, the poison in her system had not worn off and the paralysis along with the damage she had taken kept her from moving for the moment.

Unable to move all she could see was a ceiling above her that had brightly glowing blue crystals coming out of it.

They were releasing a strong light and a gentle heat that was actually quite comforting.

In contrast, the slab of stone she was laying on was nice and cool, and the contrast on the front and back of her body was a bit soothing.

'Where am I? I know I fell into the river, but I passed out after that. Did I wash up into a cave or something? No that cannot be it. I do not hear any water flowing. And what is that smell?'

Sniffing the air Evelyn could distinctly pick up a delicious aroma that she had not expected to fine at the bottom of the Elmot Gorge.

'Someone is cooking something. And it smells great.' Evelyn thought. Letting the aroma wash over her.

Yet a moment later she snapped out of it and her heart began to beat rapidly.

Food did not just start cooking on its own. Someone or something had to be doing it.

This meant that she had been picked up, and while she was not dead, she could easily be an ingredient that whoever had found her was planning on using.

'I have to get out of here. Other than becoming a test subject again, ending up someone's meal is probably the second worst thing that could happen to me.'

Stirred on by a new sense of urgency Evelyn forced her exhausted, injured, and poisoned body to move.

It was a terrible struggle, one of the worst she had ever had. But eventually she got her head up.

Immediately she looked down towards her storage cuff and rings to pull out some recovery items. Except when she saw her left leg where they should have been, there was nothing.

Panicking she glanced over to her other leg to see if her identification cuff for the Roost was still there, and luckily it was.

'Did they come off in the river? No that should not be possible. Maybe the rings, but definitely not the cuff. I would likely lose my leg before it came off from simply being battered around in a river. Whoever has captured me must have taken them knowing what they are.'

Evelyn swiveled her head back and forth now that she had made the extreme effort to lift her head and took stock of what was around her.

First and foremost, she pinpointed where the smell was coming from and found that it led deeper into the cave system she was in.

Along with the path the smell was coming from there were two more, and all she could do was hope that one of them would lead her out.

'Come on. You will die if you do not move.'

With gritted beak she pulled herself off the raised stone slab she had been placed on.

Just standing up took pretty much all her strength, but with the magical energy she had recovered she lowered her own gravity to make it easier on her body.

'If only that poison was gone, I could deal with the soreness. But both of them make it feel like I am lifting a mountain every time I move.'

With immense struggle Evelyn lifted one foot in front of the other and began walking down the nearest corridor that did not have the smell of food coming from it.

Her only goal right now was to get away from wherever she was, and presumably avoid being eaten by whatever had captured her.

Unfortunately, after all her struggles to move, where she found herself was most certainly not an exit.

For hundreds of meters all she could see was a field of magical plants that went all the way to the end of the room she had entered.

'A huge garden growing magical plants. But that should be impossible without a great amount of magical energy to use. Even the one Melisandre has is not this big.'

Evelyn looked around in shock and amazement at the rows of magical plants before her.

Many of them were high quality and she recognized quite a few of them as components she needed for alchemy.

A few moments later when she shook off the daze she had fallen into, she closed her eyes and took a deep breathe.

Inhaling deeply, she could feel the ambient magical energy better and opened her eyes wide in surprise.

The area she was in was very dense with magical energy, and she could tell now that this garden was being fueled with enough magical energy to make her sick if she did not have the Aethersphere to compensate.

'At the very least this environment is helping me recover my magical energy much faster. But where am I? This is basically a tressure trove. Who or whatever lives here must be incredibly powerful to lay ownership over it.'

Understanding now how great the danger she was in was, Evelyn turned around and began waddling back to where she had come from.

There was still another tunnel to go down and she could only hope it would lead to an exit.

Thankfully, despite the fear welling up inside her, Evelyn did not find her captor waiting for her in the small room she had awakened in and was able to go down the other path unabated.

Yet despite getting her hopes up, all she found was a large storeroom with no other way to go.

'No! What am I supposed to do? The only other way is the direction the smell is coming from, but that is likely where the owner of the place is. Though perhaps they are currently gone and just left a pot going. Or maybe I missed an exit in that garden. I could not see every inch of the backwall because of the tall magical plants.'

Weighing her options Evelyn decided to go back towards the garden first. She had left earlier because of how rich in magical energy it was, and she was afraid of overexposure, or worse giving the Aethersphere enough power to start its next repair and give away her location.

Nevertheless, it was the option she felt was best and she slowly made her way back despite the strain moving so much was putting on her.

When she got back everything seemed the same, and she started walking through the rows of magical plants in search of another path along any of the walls.

"Are you going to stop snooping around my home anytime soon. I figured I would be patient and wait for you to come to me, but you are going to get yourself killed if you stay in here at your rank."

Startled by hearing a sudden voice, Evelyn turned around to face where it had come from.

Looking over she saw the owner of this place and was absolutely surprised to find what they looked like.