An Owl's Rise

Evelyn followed behind Anneli as she flew up from the foyer and to a hallway that was at the level of where a third story would be.

However, like many things Evelyn had seen so far, this hallway was designed in a way that only beings that could fly or at least cling to walls could properly use.

There were no stairs or any other way to get there from the ground floor like one might have expected.

Like the other hallways she had seen on the ground level it was around forty feet in height and a bit more than twice that wide.

This was quite different from what Evelyn knew from her human days where hallways were normally taller than they were wide, but it was the complete opposite for owls.

Though the reason was quite apparent as Anneli did not slow down at all and flew headfirst into the hallway.

It was the dimensions it was to allow for even owls as large and even slightly larger than her to continue to fly around even while inside. Otherwise, it would have taken far too long to traverse the giant mansion that sat on top of a tree that was around a mile wide.

They continued to fly through the hallway for around five minutes before Anneli took a turn to the left when they met at an intersection that continued forward and turned in both directions.

Evelyn began to wonder how far they were going as they passed by a number of rooms and other hallways, and she thought that if they went much farther, she would never be able to figure out how to get to her room from the front entrance.

Luckily it was not too much longer with only one more turn to the left and a few hundred feet down another hallway before Anneli stopped in front of one of the numerous doors that were spaced out throughout the mansion.

"This here will be your room. Karina and I have already arranged it to Lady Melisandre's specifications. She even had us leave a couple of gifts here for you" Anneli said with a big smile on her face.

She then opened the door and Evelyn peered past her to look into the room that was going to be hers.

Inside she could see a large open space and in the middle, it looked like a large tree was growing through the room.

Yet as she moved inside behind Anneli she realized that it was not a tree that was growing into her room, but one of the branches of the massive tree the mansion was built on.

It was an expertly groomed limb that was not too dense with leaves and had any number of smaller branches she could use as a perch, and a resting area that had been added to its top that had been manipulated to be flat.

Once she was all the way inside and had finished looking at the tree like branch that grew out of the center of the very large room that in itself was larger than the house she grew up in on Earth, she looked all around her in awe.

After a few minutes of her taking everything in, Anneli moved a little closer to her and said, "So what do you think? It is very nice is it not?"

With wide eyes Evelyn nodded her head in agreement and continued taking everything in.

On the ground level there was a number of empty shelves, cabinets, and closets, with one appliance being unfamiliar to her.

"Anneli, might you tell me what that is?" Evelyn said as she pointed towards the large metal box that was forty feet tall and thirty feet wide.

It went all the way up to the ceiling and was by far the largest object in the room and had naturally gotten her attention.

"Ah you have a good eye. That is probably the most important tool in this room. It is your cold storage, for preserving food and certain magical items that lose their properties if they are not kept at low temperatures." Anneli said before hopping over to it.

She then seamlessly opened it and Evelyn was blasted with cold air.

Looking inside it was similar to a walk-in fridge that Evelyn had seen a couple times on Earth.

Though as she went in, she found that each level of shelving was customizable in size and temperature which Anneli showed her how to adjust.

"Now this is something very few owls at your rank would normally get, and it would be difficult even for a peak awakened beast like me to afford something this high spec on my own. So, make sure to thank Lady Melisandre when you see her again. She has really gone out of her way to make sure that you have access to the best magic tools that you can"

When Evelyn was done messing around with the controls inside the cold storage magical tool, she exited and found Anneli standing right in front of the large branch that looked like a tree.

"Come over here Evelyn. I have something special to show you." Anneli said with a jovial expression on her face.

It looked like she was barley containing herself, like a person that was just moments away from revealing a big surprise.

Hopping on over Evelyn looked around, but the room still seemed exactly the same to her.

"Now brace yourself since I am going to show you the most important area of your room."

A few seconds after Anneli said this, Evelyn watched as the floor began glowing and a complex circle made of runes lit up under their feet.

A few moments later the floor beneath them began to shirt and they quickly started lowering down like an elevator, and soon Evelyn was able to see the second level of her room.

Unlike the top level that was mostly storage and living quarters, this second level was filled with all manner of magical tools.

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