An Owl's Rise

Seeing her body with cracks running all over it, Evelyn let out a panicked scream.

But no noise seemed to come out of her mouth, and when she realized that while she looked broken, it was not like she was feeling any pain.

\'This is just a dream.\' Evelyn eventually told herself to calm down.

However, a creeping feeling that this was much more than that.

She then remembered another dream she had recently where there were numerous mechanisms that she needed to fix, and afterwards the Aethersphere had unlocked a new power.

\'This place is different and for some reason I am in my human form, but it feels similar to the previous time.\'

Looking around Evelyn tried to make sense of what was going on, to see if this dream truly did have any meaning. But all around her was just empty space and dark blue swirling energy.

\'Perhaps I am meant to do something with it?\'

Reaching her hand out ever so slowly as she was afraid she would break apart, Evelyn touched the nearest mass of this energy.

As she did, she felt it start to wrap around her form and she recoiled away.

She had not expected whatever it was to try and attach itself to her and it did not feel like it was supposed to be here.

But while it felt foreign, Evelyn also noticed something when she examined the hand that had just touched it.

While it was only slight, on her left hand some of the cracks on the tips of her fingers had begun to seal.

It was not much but it was defiantly there, and Evelyn eyed the dark blue substance with curiosity.

Her instincts were telling her that it did not belong here, but even when she touched it, she did not feel and danger or aversion. Just that it was not meant to be here.

\'Is this what I am supposed to do? Can I use this stuff to fix myself?\'

Tentatively Evelyn held her hand out and allowed the swirling blue mass to begin coiling around her.

As it did so she watched in awe as it began to seep into her and the cracks all over her from slowly began to seal up.

Unfortunately, this one swirling mass of dark blue energy was not enough to fix her completely, but there were plenty of others that she somehow willed herself towards.

After the tenth one she could tell that every crack had been mended, and while she had not noticed it before, it was like a mountain had been lifted off of her shoulders.

\'So, did I do it? Did I accomplish the goal of this dream or whatever it is?\'

Evelyn having repaired her form in this dreamscape looked around waiting to see if she would wake up.

Except, even when she waited for what felt like hours nothing happened.

She was still stuck in this mostly empty place only surrounded by dark blue energy that had fixed her.

\'Great, did I actually die, and this is limbo or something. I remember feeling a sharp pain throughout my body and passing out, but since I no longer seem to be an owl maybe I really did die, and this is where I will be stuck for eternity.\'

Seeing that was nothing was happening, and no amount of speculation was going to get her anywhere, Evelyn decided to simply pick a direction and start floating.

Maybe eventually she would find something, or simply wake up.

\'Oh, another pile of nothing. This place keeps getting better and better.\' Evelyn thought as she flew along.

Everything around her looked exactly the same, and she had no measure of progress other than the blue energy around her.

An eternity seemed to go on for Evelyn as she continued. Until finally something new came into view.

What looked like a large purple moon rotating around a massive light blue planet, that had dozens of broken shards around it.

Though as soon as she laid eyes on this, Evelyn suddenly gripped her chest and felt a searing pain inside her for some reason.

\'Why? Why am I feeling pain all of a sudden?!\'

Gritting her teeth, she forced her way through the agony that had begun assaulting her and headed towards the purple moon and blue planet.

When she made it there the pian had only increased, but it was not something she could not handle.

\'I see it is broken just like I was. Then perhaps?\'

Getting and idea Evelyn tried going over to the nearest patch of the swirling dark blue energy and brought it over to the blue planet.

When she touched it against the surface it started to be absorbed, and she watched as the fractures began to seal themselves just as her form had.

Still, it seemed that she would need a lot more to fix this than what she needed to heal herself.

\'If only there were some way I could just get that dark blue energy to come straight towards me?\' Evelyn thought as she calculated how long it would take to gather enough.

Yet it seemed that her will was able to take shape here, as the nearest mass of this ever-present blue energy did start to inch closer toward her.

Seeing this happen, Evelyn was flabbergasted as this stuff had seemed to just be free floating in this strange and broken world.

With her hopes up. she closed her eyes pushed the pain out of her mind and focused on bringing the dark blue energy towards her.

This seemed to work as the harder she willed it the more gathered around her and as a torrent of it came flooding in, she directed it towards the broken planet.

Slowly the fractures in it and the shards that had broken off began to fix itsel, and the pain in her chest began to wane.

With more and more willpower she forced that which was broken to be fixed, and when all of the shards had reconnected themselves the thing lit up brightly.

A white light then shot off of it into the distance.

Following it she found that there was another mass off in the distance that was also broken, and she seemed to almost warp there when she thought about going to it.

Looking over she found that this one was different.

It was perfectly smooth unlike the first one\'s rough exterior, and instead of a purple moon it had a crimson inferno all around it.

\'I see, so these really are- oh whatever. If this is the imagine my mind needed to conjurer up, then whatever. Hopefully this gets it done.\'

Focusing once again Evelyn brought in the dark blue energy that had at one time flooded the place and began sending it towards the broken planet.

Time began to slip for her as she focused on nothing but repairing what was in front of her, until she realized the blue energy she was using was all gone.

Seeing this, she frowned as the planet she had visited first and this one had not been fully mended.

Both still had cracks in them, but she had nothing left to fix them with.

And before she could think of anything else to do, she watched as the world around her seemed to collapse and her consciousness faded.