An Owl's Rise

With a look of terror plastered on his face, Burkhart began to tell Evelyn what she wanted to know.

"Uriah reached out to me to look into some merchandise that the leader of the Miris Sect and his close associates have in their possession. Apparently, his sect's leader is trying to gather all similar commodities from the lesser sects."

"Ah, so that is what they are up to. But I gather that Ellison and Vivienne aren't being particularly cooperative?"

"Yes, that's why Uriah hired me to investigate. He knew that the Miris Sect leader and his confidants were hiding the true inventory that they possess. I should have known you would've already figured that out" Burkhart said, nodding his head in agreement.

He was hoping that complying with her and complementing Evelyn would help him get out of this situation alive.

"I now understand why members of the Deamhain Sect are here, but what is this merchandise they are after?" Evelyn asked.

Yet, the answer she received was both shocking and infuriating.

Immediately Burkhart backed away in terror. The fake smile on Evelyn's face had vanished. Replaced by a raging fury that could be seen deep into her eyes.

"Guh!"

A moment later, the slightly heightened gravity that had been ever present around Burkhart to remind him of Evelyn' control over the situation increased.

Unable to resist the pull on his body, he slammed into the ground. Even the slightest movements were impossible as he slowly pushed into the earth below him.

"Where are they?! You're going to tell me who has them and where they are, or I swear I will make you regret every having been born!"

No longer was Evelyn attempting to act cordial in even the slightest manner. She was too enraged now to keep up such a façade and was resorting to pure violence to get the answers she wanted.

"Pl-please! I can't- ahhhhhh!"

An unpleasant creaking sound emitted from Burkhart's body, and he started to scream as his bones began to fracture under the pressure of Evelyn's gravity magic.

Realizing that killing her only source of information was not going to get her anywhere, Evelyn eased up on the intensity of her spell.

Burkhart coughed up some blood and wheezed heavily once the force crushing him had eased up.

However, instead of answering Evelyn's other questions after recovering enough to speak, he began pleading for his life. He was beginning to believe that Evelyn would not let him live no matter what he told her and felt no desire to continue talking if his situation was helpless.

'Should I just torture him more directly? No, that could take some time, and he might have collaborators I don't know about. If people find me here, things could get out of hand.'

Evelyn also considered using a mind control potion on him but was hoping not to. She had already used a decent number of her stock to collect information and wanted to save the rest for more difficult targets.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I lost my composure for a bit there. I did not mean to injure you. Please, take this." Evelyn said, feigning concern as she splashed a healing potion on Burkhart.

She then took a sip of another potion to prove it was not poisoned, before handing it over.

Hastily Burkhart drank the potion and let out a relieved sigh as his damaged bones and organs repaired themselves.

The look in his eyes had also changed. Before he had looked to be in the depths of despair, but now there was a bit of hope. He almost certainly believed that no one would waste two high quality healing potions on someone they already planned on killing.

"Now, please answer my questions. Once I know what I want, I'll let you go."

Attempting to act a bit more pleasant, Evelyn urged Burkhart to give her the information she was after.

Thankfully, her act seemed to work, and he began spilling all of the information he had collected for Uriah.

"And that's everyone in the Miris Sect that currently has at least one magic beast owl in their collection. I've done a very thorough investigation so I'm certain that there aren't any others."

"Thank you, this will be very useful to me. Now how about you tell me about your method of infiltrating these places and any weak points in their defenses." Evelyn said, staring intently at Burkart while writing everything down in a notebook.

Within a few minutes she had squeezed out all of the information her captive was willing to give.

"Okay, one last question, and if you answer it truthfully, you'll be on your merry way, never to see me again. Everything you told me is true, and you did not withhold anything concerning the owls being held in the Miris Sect and Uriah's objective."

"Yes, you have my word that I only gave you accurate information. That is truly everything I know about the owls and what Uriah wants." Burkhart said, nodding his head rapidly while glancing towards the exit.

Naturally he was looking to get as far away from Evelyn as quickly as possible. He had no idea who she was, but it was clear that she was unbelievably dangerous.

Yet, his hopes were quickly dashed by Evelyn's next words.

"Well, you were quite cooperative, so' I'll make this painless for you."

With her hand outstretched, she conjured a ball of crimson flame and aimed it towards Burkhart.

"Wait! That wasn't the deal! I answered all of your questions! Please, just let me go. I won't tell anyone about you. I was already planning on escaping the Tyrannis Union.

You really don't have to worry about me!" Burkart yelled in a bid to save his life.

However, Evelyn mealy shook her head in response.

"Sorry, but I need you to die. It hasn't been six hours, so Uriah won't have access to the information you collected for him yet. Since I don't want him to know what you just told me, I'm afraid that you have to die. Blame yourself for tying that magic tool to your life."

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