5 Chapter 5 First Flight and the Magic Stone

After Evelyn's near-death experience falling out of the tree, she acted like a model baby owl, staying in the nest and not poking her nose into trouble.

She simply waited patiently for weeks as her body grew and matured, until it was really time for her and her siblings to be adventurous.

Once around five weeks had passed since her new life as an owl began, her mother started taking her and her siblings out of the nest and onto the branches of the tree they called home.

At this point Evelyn and her siblings had grown to be around a foot to a foot and a half tall, and their feathers were starting to come in.

For the most part they still looked like fluff balls, but the semblance of the owls they would become was now noticeable.

Going out onto the branches Evelyn was very careful. She had already taken one fall down into the forest floor, and she had no desire to do so again while she could not fly.

However, unlike Evelyn, her siblings who were still running mostly on instinct hopped around like no tomorrow, with no worry of the dangers that lurk below or above.

Of course, their bravery came mostly from their mother who was nearby and watching them, but also that they did not know of the terrors that existed in this world.

Over the next few weeks this became their daily routine. Evelyn's new mother would take them out onto the branches of the tree, and slowly but surely take them further and further away so that they would get used to moving around.

During this time, it was certain that Evelyn had the most trouble, as she was always on the lookout for anything coming to eat her.

Still, after many weeks passed and she did not see even a single creature half the size of her other than her family, she began to relax.

Then when around nine weeks had passed since her hatching, it was time for her and her siblings' first flight,

Their feathers had mostly grown in at this point and their bodies were a bit bigger, though still in line with what a normal owl's size would be.

Naturally Evelyn wondered about this since her parents were giants, but she had very little knowledge about this world right now.

Maybe it would just take some more time, or it had something to do with the magic of this world.

'Well, I can worry about that later. For now, I have to figure out how to fly.'

Looking out of her nest Evelyn saw that her brother and sister were already flapping around, slowly moving from branch to branch while they got a feel for flying.

Evelyn on the other hand was still stuck on the lip of the tree hollow, finding it difficult to take the first leap into the open air.

She still had lingering fear from her earlier foray down on the forest floor, and she was afraid to fall again.

"Hoot."

Making and encouraging and comforting sound, Evelyn's mother beckoned her to leave the nest. All the while saying that she was here for her.

Taking a deep breath, Evelyn steeled her nerves believing that even if she messed up, her mother would come and help her.

Then she leapt out into the air and spread her wings, beginning her first flight. Or at least that was her intention. Except as she flapped her wings around rapidly, she began to plummet.

She tried flapping as fast as she could but no matter how much she wanted to fly she just kept falling.

Panic began to set in, and she looked up towards her mother expecting to see her diving to her rescue. But she was still just perched up in the tree looking down at Evelyn as she fell.

'Is she not going to save me? Have I been deemed a failure?' Evelyn thought, as she counited to fall and her mother made no move to help her.

Seeing that she was not going to be receiving any help, Evelyn with renewed vigor tried to fly, but the best she could do was slow her decent by holding her wings out and gliding.

Still, this helped to take away some of the panic and her mind started to clear.

Soon, she realized that her problem was that she had been trying to fly instead of doing it.

She had been too focused on thinking of how to do it, when she should have let her instincts take over.

Her own human mind had been fighting against her owl instincts, and what she needed to do now was to let them take over.

Flapping her wings once again, Evelyn did not think but simply let her body react.

One flap, then two, then three. She slowly gained a bit of altitude and propellered herself forward onto a nearby branch.

Landing after having flown for only an instant, Evelyn began breathing heavily and catching her bearings.

For a moment what just happened seemed like a dream, but she had actually flown. It was not much, and it certainly was not impressive, but she had moved through the air under her own power.

Still, she had fallen a good three hundred feet before finally catching herself and could now see small patches of the forest floor below her.

'It is going to be a long way back up.' Evelyn thought while staring at her mother who was still perched high above.

Flapping her wings and getting down the feeling of flying she had just experienced, Evelyn prepared herself to go again.

When she was ready, she jumped from her branch and flew up to one a few feet away that was a bit higher up.

She continued this process for what felt like hours until she had made it around two hundred feet back up towards the canopy.

Unfortunately, at this point she was exhausted, and felt she could not fly another inch.

Her stomach felt empty and was rumbling saying that it was time for food, and no more movement was happening until she refueled.

Luckily it was at this point that her mother expertly and effortlessly swooped down and picked her up.

Not long after her mother had picked her up and brought her back to the nest, Evelyn saw her father return and in his talons was a massive fish that was around five feet long.

This was the first time she had ever seen a fish being brough home for dinner, but she was hoping that it might taste good.

Thankfully it did, and Evelyn being quite famished, for the first time chirped along with her siblings for more food.

Yet it was after they were done eating that her parents brought out something she had never seen.

Within the fish was some type of faintly glowing dark purple stone, that her parents ripped it out for all of them to see.

Looking at it, Evelyn wondered what it was exactly, and when her father put it down, she and her siblings approached it.

Moving over to ,it she looked at it intently and for some reason had the urge to try and eat it.

She did not know why she felt like this, but she was not alone as her brother and sister began pecking away it.

However, the stone was far too big to fit in any of their mouths and it was durable enough to not be broken by their beaks or talons.

Eventually, after they had all had a good look at it, their father picked the stone back up and swallowed it.

Seeing this, Evelyn was certain that this was some type of teaching experience her parents were giving them.

Though while the importance of that stone went over her sibling's head, and they squawked for it back. Evelyn began thinking.

'That must have something to do with the magic in this world. I do not know exactly what it is or why it was in that fish, but it must be related. Actually, it also probably as something to do with my parents enhanced size as well. Maybe eating that stone out of other beasts helps them to grow bigger?'

While Evelyn was busy speculating the importance of that stone her parents had just shown her and her siblings, she did not notice that their mother had placed out three smaller stones.

Quickly her siblings ate one each, and then tried to move onto the other one that was meant for Evelyn.

Fortunately, her parents held them back and eventually hooted at her to come over.

Looking at the much smaller stone that had been laid out, Evelyn hoped over to it and picked it up in her beak.

Immediately she felt the urge to swallow it but held off and slowly rolled it around in her mouth.

She tested its flavor and texture wanting to learn what she could about it.

Then when she had held off for as long as she could, she swallowed the stone and felt a sort of warm feeling in her stomach.

It was quite pleasant and now she knew why her instincts had been beckoning her to consume this stone.

Eating it remined her of a bit of the warm cups of hot chocolate she used to share with her first mother all those years ago.

Thinking about this tears once again flowed down Evelyn's eyes, a mix of both happiness and sadness. Longing for a life she already lost but also looking forward to the new one that would hopefully be better than the last.