An Owl's Rise

Chapter 367 Chapter 367 What You Still Have

Evelyn felt Lucia's hand closing around her neck, and her throat felt like it was being crushed by a vice.

She could not get any air into her lungs, and she felt her mind slipping as the blood flow was cut off by the pressure around her neck.

Just moments ago, she had felt ready to end her own life in order to protect her friends and siblings from the tragedies that always seemed to follow in her wake.

Yet, as Lucia strangled the life out of her, Evelyn could not help but instinctually want to live.

In a struggle to survive her magical energy flared up once more and her body went ablaze with crimson fire.

Following the flames, the area around her began to tremble and the ground began to ground began to compress into itself as the gravity in the area became several times greater than normal.

Lucia smiled at this development and leapt back outside the range of Evelyn's desperate, but powerful attack.

Her hand that had been grasped around Evelyn's neck had turned deep red in coloration with large blisters beginning to form and her muscles felt sore from having to stand up to the increased gravity.

The damage was not severe, but the fact that Evelyn had hurt her at all was impressive since Lucia was at the peak of the tyrant rank.

Once Evelyn felt that her throat was no longer being restricted, she took a deep breath and began violently coughing.

For a few seconds her mind was completely blank as she regained her bearings.

"Now that your will to live seems to have returned, you should really think about what it is that you still have. Yes, you experienced quite the tragedy. One of your friends died, you've lost your home, and you're terrified of what it to come. So what?! Are you just going to give up because not everything went your way? You still have your siblings and most of your friends, and it is not like the Roost was completely destroyed. In the future you will likely be able to rejoin it. From my perspective, you are incredibly lucky." Lucia said, an envious expression on her face.

Hearing this from her, Evelyn winced.

Lucia had not gone into great detail about her past, but Evelyn knew she once lived in the city state of Atsabala which was one of the minor powers on the continent and a place where beasts and humans lived in relative harmony.

Unfortunately, it had been annihilated a little over a hundred years ago and Lucia had only barely escaped. All of her companions had ended up dead and she was left with nothing but her own life. From her point of view, Evelyn really was fortunate.

"Your right." Evelyn choked out, lowering her head and feeling ashamed of herself.

While she had been telling herself that what she was doing was to protect those he cared about, deep down she knew she really just wanted to run away from her own pain. Since watching Otis die right before her eyes, her thoughts had been mostly pessimistic.

She knew that so long as she had the Aethersphere imbedded within her body that the people from the Tyrannis Union would be after her. The prospects for her life looked grim, either having to hide out or be on the run, with anyone she got involved with likely to be put in extreme danger.

Nevertheless, when she truly looked into Bylur's, Rehni's, Verrader's, and Aralee's faces for the first time since escaping from the attack, she could see their concern and how much they cared for her. If she were to truly throw away her life, their burdens would simply increase.

'Could I really inflict even more pain on them? My death would hurt them just as much as Otis' hurt me.' Evelyn thought, understanding how foolish she had been.

Thanks to Lucia, she had regained some semblance of her rationality.

With a clearer head that was not marred by the negative thoughts and emotions that had been bogging her down, Evelyn truly thought about what their next course of action should be. Since escaping, all she had thought about was getting her companions to safety and then leaving them to live in the middle of nowhere until the end of her days if she could get healed. Or if that seemed impossible, simply ending her own life.

'We cannot return to the Roost. I will not put them in danger again. Our best bet will be the Domain of the Verdant Warlord. It should be nearly impossible to track us there, and if Lucia is not willing to heal me, we should be able to procure a powerful enough item with some effort.' Evelyn thought, formulating her and her companion's next move.

However, she was swiftly interrupted by Lucia.

"It looks like the sharpness in your eyes from when we last met has finally returned." Lucia said with a grin.

She then pulled out a bottle that contained what looked like some sort of paste and tossed it towards Rehni.

"This is a salve strong enough to repair the damage to Evelyn's body. Rub it around her wounds and they should be fully repaired in a few days. You are all free to stay here until you all have recovered." Lucia said before leaving the room.

Evelyn's companions looked on warily at Lucia until she was out of sight, before rushing to Evelyn's side.

Immediately they opened the salve that Lucia had given them and inspected it for poison or traps.

After their violent encounter with her, none of them felt trusting enough to simply use the item she had provided on Evelyn.

"That is enough of that. Lucia did what she did to save my life. Her methods may have been a bit extreme, but she did get through to me. I really had been thinking you would all be better off without me. Yet I was actually just trying to run away from my own grief. I hope you can all forgive me for how selfish I was acting. I had not considered how my death would affect all of you."