An Owl's Rise

(A/N: Dialogue starting with * means that Evelyn does not understand these words.)

*"Well that certainly was something to see. Never thought I would witness a low tier wild beast being smart enough to open a cage."* The man who had just appeared from the brush said while clapping his hands.

However, while Evelyn had no clue what he said, she was not focusing on his words to begin with.

She knew how scary humans could really be, and she doubted that this man had any good intentions. Since it was likely that he was the one that had left out the trap her brother had gotten caught in.

"HOOT!" Evelyn said as loud and with as much warning as possible.

She then bumped her head against her brother with as much force as she could to get him to fly off, while doing the same herself.

She had no intention of staying around to find out what this human from this world wanted and flew away as fast as she could.

Yet, the man just smiled as he watched the two of them fly off in the opposite direction he had appeared from, since that was exactly where he wanted them to go.

As soon as Evelyn and her brother were about to reach the tree line and escape the clearing they were in, both of them heard a whooshing sound coming from above.

Looking up, she saw a wide net had been thrown down from the trees and was going to ensnare both her and her brother.

Seeing this Evelyn's adrenaline that was already heightened reached its max, and time almost seemed to slow down for her as she thought of a way to avoid getting caught in this net.

She had no intention of ever being restrained again, and the fear of this forced her to take drastic action.

From the size of the net and how fast it was falling she realized that trying to avoid it by flying faster or to the sides was not going to work. So, she dipped her body down and went into a nosedive.

Shooting straight down towards the ground, Evelyn made no move to try and stop her fall and smashed hard into the ground.

Truly it hurt like hell for her, but she gritted her beak and took the pain, far more afraid to be caught in the net.

Luckily her reckless maneuver had managed to keep her out of the net and simply a bit injured.

Unfortunately, her brother had not been as daring and tried to escape by simply flying faster.

Now he was caught in the net that had been thrown by another human that had been waiting in the trees ready to capture both of the owls that had wandered into this clearing.

Digging in and really pushing herself, Evelyn got up despite the pain she was feeling, and began running and flapping her wings to get back into the air.

Quickly she managed to get some altitude and began flying through the forest, away from the humans that clearly wanted to catch her.

Certainly, she had wanted to rescue her brother, but her fear of dying another death from the cruelty of others made her flee with all her might.

"Damn it Vorigos, you were supposed to catch both of them. Hurry up and secure that one and follow after me when you are done. We are not letting that other one get away." The man who had appeared from the brush said to the one that had been hiding in the trees.

Continuing to fly with everything she had, Evelyn made a beeline for her nest hoping that one of her parents had come back. If she could get their help, she was certain that these two guys would not be a problem.

However, as she was flying, she heard a loud snapping sound from behind her, and turning her head around she saw that one of the men was jumping from branch to branch and chasing after her.

Immediately Evelyn realized that this was not a feat an ordinary person would be able to accomplish, even if they were a world class gymnast.

No, this person, like her parents must have been using some type of magic to keep up with her as she flew as fast as she could.

Diving down again Evelyn started attempting very risky maneuvers she had never practiced, like flying thorough branches that gave her almost no clearance.

Still, she felt that it would be the end of her if this man caught her, so she was willing to take any risk to keep him away.

Nevertheless, the man moved with more grace and fluidity than would seem possible, and even though she was doing her all to lose him, he was still gaining on her.

Soon, he was only around thirty feet away and threw out a bag that exploded into a large net that was aimed to ensnare Evelyn.

Miraculously though, she just managed to spin out of the way and put a tree in between her and the man, going around it and cutting off his line of sight.

And when the man came around the tree himself, he was flabbergasted to see that his quarry was no longer visible.

'Where the hell did that owl go?' He thought while looking around for Evelyn.

Breathing heavily, she looked down from her hiding spot on the tree, having continued circling around it and quickly finding a thick area of leaves to hide in.

Of course, she knew she could not hide forever as the man had already begun searching the area for her, but she just needed the right opportunity.

She waited and waited for him to turn his attention away, and hopefully move further from her current location.

Fortunately, her prayers were answered as the man searched the opposite direction of where she was first.

Taking this opportunity, Evelyn as quietly as she could, pushed herself out of the thick branches and began flying towards the nearest tree in order to use it as a new hiding spot.

Yet as she was flying over to it, even though she had hidden herself perfectly from one pursuer, the other who had just caught up spotted her.

Before she even noticed, she felt a sharp pain in her left wing before plummeting to the ground.

Wham!

Slamming against the ground incredibly hard for the second time today, Evelyn had the wind knocked out of her.

Feeling incredibly out of it, she felt a terrible weakness and recognized what was happening since it was a familiar sensation.

'I have been drugged!'

Looking over towards her wing that had now gone num, she saw a metal bolt from a crossbow imbedded in her.

'NO, NO, NO! I REFUSE TO END UP IN CHIANS AGAIN!'

Summoning up all of her strength, Evelyn fought through the drug and the pain. Dragging her body forward and trying to escape.

The fear and trauma of the events that had led up to her first death drove her to run away no matter what.

Unfortunately, even though she was able to drag herself a few inches, it was not long before the two men that had been hunting her, dropped down on either side of her, cutting off any chance of escape.

*" I have to admit that this one's tenacity is pretty high. I do not think that I have ever seen a wild beast continue to fight after having the extract from the moonlight gelsemium enter their system."* Vorigos said, impressed by Evelyn's will to survive.

*"Yeah it is unusual, but it does not make a difference. Crawling a few more inches is not going to help them get away from us."* The other guy said as he bent down to pick Evelyn up.

Yet as he did, the two men heard a loud crashing sound like something very big had just landed above them.

And tilting their heads up, the two men saw a massive owl that was ten feet tall staring down at them with murder in his eyes. As Evelyn's father looked down at two soon to be dead humans harming his children.