An Owl's Rise

*"It looks like the reports of your intelligence were not exaggerated. You really are able to make complex plans and see them through. Even though I purposefully set up the situation, it is surprising that a wild beast would be able to hold this level of intelligence. I dare say you are probably smarter than most fiend beasts."*

Smiling widely, the man who had just captured Evelyn was very happy about the results of his little test.

He had wanted to see the actual level that the supposedly abnormally intelligent young owl had.

At first, he had thought that the claims were being exaggerated, and the beast just got lucky to figure out the mechanism that worked their simple cage traps.

But now that he had tested her, it was apparent that her intelligence held up to the reports.

*"Oh, now that I take a good look into your eyes I can see it, a level of fear that just a captured beast should not have. You are absolutely terrified to your core aren't you. You know what is about to happen."*

After the man said this, he began cackling a bit like a mad man, absolutely thrilled to have a new promising subject to work on.

*"Now I have waited long enough to use you and those other owls. You all are the most promising subjects I have gotten my hands on in a while, so I will make sure to collect some very useful data."*

With Evelyn recaptured after her orchestrated escape, the man who was the lead researcher at this lab turned around and head back towards the entrance.

This was when the freezing fear that Evelyn was feeling changed back into panic, and she tied fighting back.

She struggled, attempting to wrest her body free, but the man just tightened his grip to the point that she could barely breathe.

Understanding that she was not going to get away like this, she tired to jam her claws into his arm, but found that they could not even pierce his clothing.

For all her efforts she made, she achieved no progress in escaping and the man simply chuckled at her attempt.

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He then brought her back into the base, down the corridor, and into the room where the captured beasts were stored.

Waiting for him there were four assistants dressed in similar black robes, one of which was the little man she had seen when she first arrived here.

Seeing this it was quite obvious to Evelyn that this had been their plan to begin with, and any notion of control she had thought she had was all an illusion.

*"Grab the other one and then we can begin."* The researcher said to his assistants.

The four men nodded, and one of them moved over to the cage Evelyn's brother was being kept in and retrieved him.

With all the pieces now ready, these five men headed into the depths of the lab and passed through the set of doors that had spelled death to every beast that had ever entered them.

As soon as they passed through these doors, Evelyn saw that there were all sorts of instruments within the room.

Most of them looked foreign to her, but the saws and blades were certainly easy enough for her to recognize.

However, what got her attention quickly after that was her parents who were both in this room.

The two of them were not in cages but appeared to be completely out in the open.

Yet when they saw their children being brought into this room of horrors, even thought they had been completely still before, they began thrashing around and screeching loudly.

Unfortunately, as they tried to move forward, two circles that had been carved above and below them lit up and a barrier of some kind erected around them preventing them from leaving.

*"Ah, it is good to see that they still have some spirit left in them. They had been so docile and quite for the last few hours that I was beginning to worry."* The researcher said with a devilish smile as he looked at Evelyn's parents flailing around.

He then snapped his fingers, and two of his assistants went and grabbed some metallic poles that were held on the wall like pool sticks. While the ones holding Evelyn and her brother placed them on a raised platform that prevented them from moving. With what Evelyn could only guess was some kind of magic.

With these tools in hand, they moved over to the barrier that Evelyn's mother was sealed in and pushed them through like there was nothing there.

Each of the four poles then grew what looked like a shimmering blue rope at the end and wrapped themselves around Evelyn's mother.

One secured itself around her neck, while two held her wings in place, and the final one tied up both of her feet.

Having secured their first subject, the researcher went over and placed his hand on the barrier which shimmered to life again.

A moment later it disappeared under his command and Evelyn's mother was released.

She tired struggling, wanting to fight back, but the restraints that had been attached to her prevented her from using most of her strength and kept her in place.

Watching all of this, Evelyn felt her heart ache since she knew that this was going to be the second time she had to watch her mother die.

'Why do I have to watch this? Why do I have to be here?' Evelyn thought, as the fear and crushing despair weighed down on her even heavier.

She wanted to just shut off her emotions and ride this out hoping it would be over soon, but her heart and mind simply would not listen.

Soon the researcher and his assistants had Evelyn's mom tied up to a large table that sat in the middle of the room and was no doubt where the administered their horrible experiments.

Looking at each of the assistants, Evelyn was able to see that they were all holding some type of device. Though she had no idea what they did.

Then the researcher who had left for a moment quickly came back and in his hands was a clear box that had etchings all along its borders.

Except it was not the box that was interesting, but what was stored inside which was a small dark purple sphere that had four rings rotating around it.

From where she was, she could see this item, and it felt oppressive. As if just being near it threatened to crush her into nothing.

Looking out in horror, she watched as the researcher placed the box right on her mother's chest.

*"Now, shall we begin."*