An Owl's Rise

"That is joyous news! We must prepare a feat to celebrate immediately!" Po said with excitement more intensely than Evelyn was expecting.

Just like her recent sendoff party at the Inferno Field Ranger's Fortress, Evelyn failed to react quickly enough to prevent a giant celebration from happening. Po had already flown off and started spreading the word by the time she realized what was happening.

'Whatever. I'll just let them do as they want.' Evelyn thought, resigned.

She wasn't one for large parties, especially when she was the center of attention, but she figured she might as well let the burrowing owls have their fun. After she reached the tyrant rank, there was a good chance that she would never return.

While Po was busy preparing for the celebration, Evelyn headed towards her room within the burrowing owl's home.

Having stayed here quite a bit she had a comfortable bed set up along with some decorations to liven the place up.

Looking around, she felt a sense of sadness welling up inside her. Soon she would have to abandon this place forever. So far, she had kept off the radar of the people after her, but once she evolved and went on the offense, there was no doubt she would attract a great deal of negative attention. Coming back after would only serve to bring danger to the little owls that had treated her so warmly.

'I can't linger on any regrets. I already chose my path and will see it through.' Evelyn thought, pushing any glum thoughts out of her mind.

Once she had her emotions fully under control again, she moved over to her bed and fell asleep. She was exhausted from her journey here from the Inferno Field and knew she would need her energy for the undoubtedly enormous festivities Po and the other burrowing owls would prepare.

…

The next several days went by, and to Evelyn's surprise there was not just one party, but multiple. Every day the burrowing owls celebrated Evelyn's success in obtaining the grand fire elemental's heart and the Sylphid's Tear.

This nonstop celebrating was tiring for Evelyn, yet the burrowing owls only seemed to become more invigorated the longer they partied.

Nevertheless, on the day that the magic spring finally showed signs of activating, all of the fatigue Evelyn had been feeling was washed away at once. Her excitement quickly swelled, and she could not wait for the moment the spring became full.

Time seemed to tick by both incredibly quickly and aggravatingly slowly, but eventually the spring glowed with an immense amount of magical energy.

Evelyn let out a deep breath to calm herself and pulled the five catalysts she needed out of her storage cuff.

First came the graviton gem she had nearly gotten crushed to obtain, next was the magic core of the human fire magic expert she had killed within the Verdant Warlord's Domain. After that she brought out the grand fire elemental's heart and the Sylphid's Tear which were the prizes she had earned during her recent excursion into the Inferno Field.

Lastly, she grabbed the evolution potion she had made which would act as a substitute for the final item she normally would have needed to obtain.

Each of the five items glowed with the magical energy Evelyn had charged them with and she could feel them beginning to resonate with her.

'Not yet. If there isn't enough magical energy present, I could end up with a stunted evolution or outright perish.'

With a swift flap of her wings, Evelyn hovered into the air and then flew around the magic spring.

As she went, she dropped red and purple magic crystals she had obtained from the mine that the burrowing owls controlled. There was no telling how much magical energy she would need to evolve so she was not stingy and emptied her entire stock of higher-grade magic crystals.

Once she was finished, she returned to the shore and collected her catalyst. Then she waded into the water and swam out to the middle of the spring.

'Down the hatch.' Evelyn thought, first drinking the evolution potion in one gulp.

Not long after she drank the potion Evelyn's body began to glow and the four remaining catalysts that were floating in the water around her lit up as well.

Thin strands of magical energy extend from Evelyn's body and connected to the items.

The magical energy and properties of the graviton gem, human magic core, grand fire elemental heart, and Sylphid's Tear began flowing into Evelyn. One by one the catalyst lost their luster and became devoid of the power they once held. Finally, the magic core was dragged towards Evelyn's body and absorbed into her.

Normally this would create a sort of pseudo magic core within a beast, but since Evelyn already had a true magic core due to her human soul, the core she had just absorbed served to reinforce her own.

Up to this point everything had been going as expected, but now that she had completed the first step of the evolution process, the dormant Aethersphere activated.

Instantly everything felt a searing pain in her chest as the divine magical item came to life.

Just like when Evelyn had evolved into an awakened rank, the damaged Aethersphere drained the great quantity of magical energy in the surroundings to repair itself.

Evelyn had expected this to happen, which was one of the reasons she had added so many extra magic crystals to the spring.

Unfortunately, she had not expected the Aethersphere to be as persistent as it currently was. In what felt like the blink of an eye it had already broken down seventy percent of the magic crystals and showed no signs of stopping.

Along with the magical energy she needed to evolve being drained away, Evelyn also felt her body being crushed by the out-of-control Aethersphere that was rapidly increasing and decreasing gravity around her.

'Damn it you greedy little thing! Just clam down already or you're going to rip me apart!' Evelyn internally shouted.

At first, she did not receive any sort of response, but the more she focused on the Aethersphere and yelled at it in her head, the closer she felt to connecting to it.

However, the pain only continued to increase, and Evelyn could only grit her beak and continue to struggle with her entire body and soul.

Yet just before she felt that she would reach her limit, she felt her will get through the Aethersphere and the divine item stopped its rampage.

It wasn't so much a coherent communication, but someone how she understood that the Aethersphere had just achieved a profound repair and that her connection to it was greater than ever before.

Evelyn really wanted to explore what sort of function the Aethersphere had just unlocked, but she did not have any time to worry about it at the moment.

Now that the interruption to her evolution had ceased, all of the remaining magical energy within the spring was flowing towards her and wrapping her up in a gleaming cocoon.

'It won't be enough.' Evelyn knew instinctively. The Aethersphere had absorbed too much magical energy while repairing itself.

This far into the process, though, there was nothing Evelyn could do. Her consciousness was already becoming fuzzy, and her body was immobilized. All she could do was wait for the evolution to conclude in failure and most likely her death.

'Even if I end up a deformed mess, I can't die here. I already chose to continue living and won't be beaten by something like this.' Evelyn thought, resolving to push forward no matter what.

She could already tell that her evolution would end up incomplete, but that did not matter to her so long as she could continue on. Even if she became a monster, she would see her goals through.

Except, as the cocoon of magical energy was almost finished wrapping around her, Evelyn heard a loud splash next to her.

This first splash was then followed by several more and the magical energy in the surroundings rapidly increased.

'I see. Thank you, Po, and every single one of you burrowing owls.' Evelyn thought before completely losing consciousness.

Thanks to the immense amount of magical energy spread through the area, Evelyn's feelings had been transmitted to the burrowing owls and they had sensed her plight. In a desperate attempt to give her the energy she required, they had gathered up any and everything they had and thrown it into the spring.

From magic crystals to precocious treasured fruits and herbs, everything was offered up to Evelyn.

Now having the necessary magical energy, the cocoon fully enveloped Evelyn and swelled in size. The final step of her evolution had begun and only time would tell when it would be completed.

Unlike the times when she evolved from a wild beast to a fiend beast, and a fiend beast to an awakened beast, Evelyn did not just grow larger and more powerful. Her entire body and soul felt like it was melding with magical energy and being remolded. She was undergoing a profound change to her entire existence.

There were times when she would gain an awareness of what was going on and would either experience an unbearable pain, or a warm bliss like being enveloped in hot water after a stressful day.

Evelyn eventually could sense that the end was coming near and that her transformation would be complete.

But just before her evolution was achieved, she heard what sounded like a booming voice in her head.

'What is it that you wish to become?'

Taken aback, Evelyn did not know how to respond. However, the voice soon repeated its question and in the depths of her very being she already knew what she wanted.

'I want to be the strongest. I need the power to make sure that no one ever takes from me again.'

After giving her answer, Evelyn felt the magical energy cocoon around her begin to fade.

The strands of magical energy broke apart slowly until cascading all around her and dissipating into the air.

With the power that had been supporting her gone, the effects of gravity pulled Evelyn downwards and towards the magical spring.

Luckily, she had been expecting this since she had witnessed the exact same thing happen to Otis after his evolution.

Activating her gravity magic she halted her descent and when she touched down on the surface of the water, she stood atop it without sinking.

Evelyn's eyes then burst open and she looked down at her body that had undergone a drastic change.

Before her eyes were no longer feathered wings and clawed feet, but bare skin and the arms and legs she remembered having when she used to human.