An Owl's Rise

All three of them collapsed when they arrived at the designated safe area they had picked out beforehand.

They were exhausted from the battle with the foxes and had pushed their bodies to their limits. With Evelyn having especially forced herself to keep going through sheer force of will and magic pills and potions.

On the other hand, Anneli and Katrina had incurred serious injuries that left them unable to fully recover with the items they had on hand.

"We will rest up here until the next day. Then we will need to go back to our respective units and face whatever consequences await us." Katrina said as she set Anneli down.

Even now that they had completed their objective and Evelyn had obtained the float stone she needed. There will still other problems for them to deal with.

The three of them had abandoned their squads and duties and were likely to be reprimanded.

In Anneli and Katrina's case it was quite possible they would be taken off of the mission due to their injuries, and it was foreseeable that Evelyn would face the same punishment for going off on her own.

Still, right now, none of them had regrets, and Evelyn was incredibly thankful for the help of her two friends.

With their plans now set and exhaustion setting in the three of them drifted off to sleep after setting up the bare minimum of safety precautious

"Evelyn, wake up. Night fall has already come."

Begin shook awake Evelyn's eyes shot open and she saw Katrina standing in front of her.

She had been dead asleep and even when called out to she remained unconscious. Only after being violently shaken did she wake.

However, when she tried to get up, she suddenly felt her head spinning and fell over flat onto her face.

All of a sudden it was like she had experienced an intense bout of vertigo and she could not get her body to move as she wanted.

"Evelyn!" Katrina said in surprise and concern.

To her it looked like Evelyn had suddenly woken up and then immediately collapsed.

'I knew this was going to happen.' Evelyn thought with a sigh.

She had pushed herself to her limits and beyond. Using alchemical items like pills and potions to keep going to the end.

Now she had to pay the price for going further than what her body could handle.

"I am okay Katrina. Just feeling a bit sore and nauseous from consuming too many alchemical items yesterday and using all of my magical energy many times over. I just need a bit longer to recover a bit." Evelyn said to stop Katrina from worrying.

After that she needed nearly a half hour to feel well enough to pull her body back up and lean against a nearby tree.

Taking a few deep breaths, she focused on her body and found that not only was she sore all over, but her magical energy had yet to fully recover, and her flow was lower than normal.

Currently she felt as if she might be able to use around twenty percent of her usual strength if she pushed it. But only for a couple of minutes max before ending up as she had been just a little while ago.

Once she had gotten her bearings to a reasonable level, she turned towards Katrina and Anneli who were waiting nearby.

They both looked a lot better now, and other than her missing foot Katrina seemed fully recovered.

On the other hand, while Anneli's minor wounds were gone, her wings and beak were still broken and would need much longer to heal.

Putting one foot in front of the other, Evelyn moved forward slowly to regain her sense of balance and headed over towards Katrina and Anneli.

"I again want to thank you both for helping me out here. I promise that I will pay you back later for what you have done." Evelyn said while bowing her head deeply.

"It was no problem. I already have some things I plan on having you assist me with so look forward to it. Though that will have to wait until you have reached the awakened rank." Katrina said with a big smile on her face.

"Um I have not really thought of anything, but I am more just glad to be able to help you out. But if I ever need your help, I will make sure to ask." Anneli said.

The three of them then spent just a little longer resting and getting everything in order before going their separate ways.

"We will probably not see each other again until we return to the Roost, so good luck with the rest of your time on the expedition. When we have learned of what is going to happen to us, I will send you a message even if we are to be sent back." Katrina said as she lifted Anneli up onto her back.

After saying that she took of and slowly disappeared into the woods. :eaving Evelyn on her own.

'I suppose it is time I head back as well. I do not know if my excuse is going to really work, but hopefully I am not taken off the mission.'

Turning towards where her unit's base camp was Evelyn carefully and slowly ascend into the air and steadily began flying through the forest.

It took her many hours to return as she could not fly as fast with her body in its current condition and also had to take periodic rests.

At the very least she managed to avoid any encounters with other entities by taking a roundabout path through areas with lower quantities of magical energy.

Another boon of her winding route made it so that she appeared in the base in a completely different direction from where the float stone deposited was located. Making it not apparent that this is where she had been.

When she arrived in the camp, she turned some heads from those that were still there and watching the permitter.

And soon enough some of the owls came up to discern her identity and went wide eyed.

Naturally her squad had reported her missing, and now after having been gone for over an entire day she had turned back up again.

Quickly she was brought to the expedition's leader who was in charge of holding down the base as the highest-ranking owl in their group.

"I am glad to see that you are back and alive Evelyn." Deshal said with relief in his eyes.

Honestly when they did not find her after sending out search parties the previous night, he figured that she had died.

Certainly, they had not been on the best of terms at the start of the expedition, but after Evelyn had risked her life to save her fellow squad member during the parasitic vine tangle incident his option of her had changed for the better.

She had also proved time and time again how capable of a member she was throughout the expedition. So, Deshal thought far more highly of her now than before.

This was why he did not go off on her immediately as he would have when the expedition had first started.

"Now tell me what happened. You have been missing for over a day and it is clear that you are in rough shape."

Being asked exactly what happened to her, Evelyn relayed the fake story she had come up with.

"So let me get this straight. You got distracted chasing after a beast you had never seen or heard of before. And when she eventually caught up to it you found yourself in its home surrounded by enemies on all sides. It was at this point you realized that your squad had not kept up with you and you were on your own. Then a fierce battle ensued between you and these beasts in which you got even more turned around while fighting back and running away. Eventually you got away and after spending necessary time to recover you began making your way back here. That is the gist of it correct?

Nodding her head Evelyn confirmed everything that Deshal had just said.

Of course, it was all an elaborate lie Evelyn had made up.

She had even picked an animal from Earth she had not come across in this new world and described a ring-tailed lemur as the beast she had followed and been attacked by.

Though if anyone went out searching for these beasts, she doubted they would find them. There was a slight possibly they existed though.

'Did he buy it?' Evelyn thought as she carefully examined Deshal's face.

Luckily in it seemed that her explanation did manage to work, as Deshal sighed and told her not to let it happen again.

"Next time you spot a beast you want to go after making sure to contact your squad. If this happens again, I will have to take you off the expedition. And as punishment for this time, you will be taking the first day watch for the next week."

Hearing this, Evelyn looked devastated.

Yes, she had avoided being kicked out off of the expedition and it seemed that Deshal was fine with her explanation. But now when she was already exhausted, she was going to have to lose more sleep by taking watch duty during the day.

'I almost would rather just be sent back. I already got what I wanted, so I no longer need to be here.' Evelyn thought, lamenting her situation.

Still, she took her punishment and struggled through keeping watch during the mornings for the next week, along with keeping up with her other duties.