An Owl's Rise

'And even if they had kept him alive it is a miracle he managed to escape once the place became a battlefield. I was in what was effectively a bunker deep underground and the battling nearly caused me to be crushed by rubble. He was in just a simple cage that would have offered pretty much no protection from the powerful magic that had been being thrown around.'

Evelyn could only be surprised to hear that her brother had escaped from an even more dire situation that hers.

However, her shock soon faded and instead was replaced by lingering resentment.

It was because her brother's idiocy falling for a trap that had originally gotten all of them captured and experimented on.

Had he not been caught initially then their parents would not have died and Evelyn would not have had to suffer unimaginable pain.

On the other hand, what had happened led her to finding what Mason had left behind for her and she was more conflicted about what she really would have wanted.

'No, I need to stop thinking about it that way. There is nothing I can do about the past. What has happened is already over. I need simply keep moving forward.' Evelyn thought shaking off the lingering thoughts that were only anchoring her down.

She had no need to dwell on the past action that led her to where she was, and hating her brother for making a mistake when eh was still just a child would not help her at all.

It was not as if he had actively tried to get their parents killed and Evelyn captured. What had happened was almost certainly just as traumatic for him as it was for Evelyn.

In the end she decided it would be best to meet with him and at least attempt to foster a good relationship. She was hoping to increase her allies and felt it would be easier to trust family who she already had a connection with rather than trying to form completely new connections.

"Yes if our brother is here as well, then I would like to meet him. I have not seen him since the day our parents died."

Perking up, Aralee was happy that Evelyn had agreed to meet with their brother. Shew as honestly afraid that she would refuse.

"Let us go then. We planned a meet up spot beforehand and he is likely waiting for me as we speak. I am sure that he will be very surprised to see you just as I was." Aralee said, excitement clear to hear in her voice.

Enthusiastically leading the way Aralee headed towards one of the common areas within the Roost where an owl that looked similar to Evelyn was waiting.

Immediately she could tell that this was here brother. He had certainly changed quite a bit since he was now at the awakened rank, but Evelyn could still see the visage of how he was before when they were still just children.

Landing first Aralee got their brother's attention first and then directed him towards Evelyn.

For just a single moment after he laid eyes on Evelyn, she was shocked because he looked to be giving her an almost murderous glare.

This only lasted for an instant though, and his expression morphed into one of surprise so quickly that Evelyn was not sure if she had just imagined what she just saw.

For several seconds Evelyn felt unnerved, but she pushed the feeling out of her mind and convinced herself that she had simply been unconsciously twisting what she saw because of the lingering mixed feeling she had about her brother.

"Sister, is that really you, her brother eventually said after they simply stared at each other for a dozen seconds." The shock in his choice was apparent and he seemed to genuinely not have expected to see Evelyn. But something about his reaction did not sit right with Evelyn. It felt almost forced or rehearsed in a way. And she could not get the murderous glare she was not sure if she imagined out of her head.

'Perhaps like me he had some vestige of resentment. Even though there was nothing I could do, maybe he believes I could have done more to save him and our parents. It is possible that he even thinks that my coming to help him is what caused all of our misfortune. If I had simply waited for one of our parents to find him then things may not have happened as they did. At the very least, I can see it from that perspective.' Evelyn thought, coming up for reasons why she was feeling her brother was not actually happy to see her.

Nevertheless, for Aralee's sake she decided to try and get along with their brother despite tension that were still there. Hopefully they could get past their differences.

"Yes, it is me. Aralee just found me after watching my match. I am glad to see that you both survived and arrived here."

"Now before we go any farther let us introduce ourselves. I have taken the name Evelyn. What might you name now be?" Evelyn asked.

"Oh, I took the name Verrader upon entering the Roost. But I am confused. How did you get here? I thought that you had perished in that horrible place where we were confined and our parents were killed. After I escaped and the people had left, I tirelessly searched for you, but only found rubble and crushed bodies. Eventually, I could only assume that you were dead."

Hearing what sounded like genuine concern from her brother, Evelyn was hit with a sense of guilt.

When she had escaped instead of looking for him, she had barely even thought about him and instead only moved to secure her own freedom and kill those who had wronged her. A part of her even believed that it was best to simply leave her brother to his fate. At the time shew as still extremely angry and blamed him for everything, despite it having been wholly the fault of the people that captured them.

"I luckily did manage to escape in the confusion, but likewise never found you. I was mostly absorbed with escaping and honestly assumed you had already been killed." Evelyn said telling mostly the truth.

She figured it would be best not to mention that she cared very little for him, and was not willing to risk herself for him.

"I see, I suppose that does make sense. You were taken to some other part of the facility, while I was kept in a cage and nearly did die. I cannot blame you for believing I was dead." Verrader said, a hint of animosity creeping into his tone despite his best efforts.

Sensing the growing tensions Aralee jumped in to try and keep things together.

"We all suffered a lot from what happened, but we are back together again and have found a safe place to live. Here at the roost among other owls we do not have to worry anymore. We can finally help and support each other as it should have been."

Thanks to Aralee's interjection things started to calm down between her siblings, and Evelyn decided to move on rather than let tensions rise again.

"Let us go somewhere more private to talk. We are attracting a bit of attention out here since I just won a fairly high-profile match. I have some enemies here and do not want either of you being targeted by them."

Taking her siblings along with her, Evelyn brought them back to the private meeting room within the Ranking Hall so that they could continue their discussion.

"First let me congratulate both of you for getting here. It is not exactly easy to reach the Roost. And most surprising is that you have already become an awakened rank Verrader. How did you mange to do so before coming here?"

Rurally Evelyn was curious of this. From the way he looked it was clear he had not achieved a normal evolution but one of a higher degree.

"I simply got lucky an collected the items I needed along the way, while I was simply wandering around. Honestly I did not really know what had happened until I got here and found out about evolution."

It was a simple answer but enough for Evelyn since she figured that he was probably not a beast that attained intelligence early.

'I can tell that Aralee is ahead of the curve and is quite smart already. But it would make sense that Verrader did not achieve human levels of intelligence until he reached the awakened rank. He probably was just going along via instinct until he evolved.' Evelyn assumed.

After getting her brother's story about what had happened to him after he escaped, Evelyn told him about her journey. Minus the part about fining Mason's last gift for her.

Following that they began discussing the roost, but Evelyn had far more information and experience tan her siblings.

They had only arrived a few months ago, while she had been here for years now.

Naturally both Aralee and Verrader asked for Evelyn assistance. Seeing how much more experienced she was.

"I will try to help both of you out with what I can, but it will be best if you learn to do most things on your own. You will stifle your potential if you rely too much on me."