An Owl's Rise

After Evelyn's team had beaten their opponents, the separate dimension they had been warped to that acted as an arena began to fade away.

In another bright flash they all found themselves instantly transported back to the room they had been in as if nothing had happened.

Except, while they appeared in the exact same positions, there was plenty of evidence that what had just occurred was real.

Bylur had taken a few glancing blows during the battle and still had a few shallow wounds on his body.

Another indicator was the magical energy that had been used up.

Each one of them could feel that they were not currently at max capacity.

'So that is what the Ranking Hall's matches are like. They certainly have set up an interesting system.' Evelyn thought, looking back on the experience.

Not long after they won all of their identification cuffs lit up and a notification of their team's victory appeared for a few seconds before disappearing.

Along with that their team balance had gone up by ten thousand credits.

Still, this begged the question, how does the Ranking Hall make any profit.

If every victory earned a team ten thousand credits and the losers lost nothing unless they forfeited, then there was no way the hall could be in the black.

'I will just have to ask one of the receptionists.'

And when Evelyn did, she found out that for higher ranking bouts the hall sold tickets and there was also betting that could be done on in match in one of the viewing rooms where owls could watch the bouts that were going on. This was how the hall earned credits. Though if it ever was going negative it would be subsidized apparently since the institution was too important to the growth of the owls to allow it to go under.

"Okay, I am finished up here. I will be heading back home now. We can discuss finer details when we meet up in three days for our first training session." Evelyn said now that what she needed to accomplish was done.

Yet as she moved to leave Rehni and Bylur stopped her.

"Come on there is no need to be distant. We are a team now right. Let us go out and get something to eat to celebrate." Bylur said in his usual overly friendly way.

Though Rehni, who was more reserved also got on board, and said, "I think that it would be nice. Even if it was this idiot's blunder that we were in that battle we still won together."

"No, the two of you who were victorious. I did not really do anything other than observe."

Naturally, Evelyn did not see why she should be celebrating any sort of victory when she was not truly a part of the battle.

"No, you did a lot by just being there. Our opponents were barely able to keep themselves together because they were so worried about you. And you also led them around for a bit and allowed me to get set up. Without you I am not sure that Rehni and I could have won." Bylur said, praising Evelyn for doing pretty much nothing.

"I agree that your presence helped us to win. However, I am certain I would have been able to beat those three on my own." Rehni said haughtily, seeming to have come out of her shell around Bylur and Evelyn. "Now all you have to do is come with us and eat. This will be our first meal to celebrate forming our team and our first victory."

Being dragged along, Evelyn decided that any further resistance would be worthless and went with her teammates to a nearby restaurant.

Once there they ordered some food and talked about their recent battle and made plans to solidify their strategies.

There were a lot of rewards to be gained by doing well in the Ranking Hall and all of them were striving to get stronger.

When the food arrived, Evelyn thought it looked a bit simple.

'Yeah, it does not taste as good as what Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina make. But it feels a bit warmer somehow.' Evelyn thought ass eh ate and talked with Bylur and Rehni.

"Do you have something in your eyes Evelyn? Your eyes seem to be watering." Rehni said, noticing the tears slowly falling down Evelyn's face.

Not having realized what was going on, Evelyn brought one of her wings up and wiped away the tears.

'What is going on? Why am I crying?'

Not understanding what was going on, Evelyn tried to figure out what was going on.

Her eyes had not been particularly dry and the amount of tears was far more than she would need to moisten them.

Yet the tears kept coming and she could not find a logical reason for why it was happening.

And after she had exhausted any rational reason, she quickly came up with an irrational one.

'No, I am just trying to use them. They are just meant to be pieces that help me out when I cannot accomplish something alone.' Evelyn thought while shaking her head.

So many times she had lost those that were close to her that she no longer wanted to form relationships, less she have to experience the pain of loss again.

Yet no matter how much she wished to close off her heart and become cold to everyone, she found it impossible to do when the others were sincere.

The first ones to worm their way into her heart after the loss of her second family were Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina.

However, she chopped this up to them being in the position of her mentors and caretakers. She could not help but rely on them.

Bylur and Rehni though were more like colleagues, but now that they had become a team, Evelyn was finding it more difficult to keep them at wing's length.

Slowly but surely, they were beginning to feel more like friends to her, and the way they invited her out reminded her of the few close relations she had when still a human.