The Evolution Chronicles

When everyone was seated in the study, Ezra asked them to go over what they had already said before, so that Caesar could understand what had happened.

By the time Han was done with his explanation, Caesar was nearly in tears. Although he had already figured out that the humans were behind what had been happening for the past month, he was still overwhelmed when he heard his thoughts being affirmed. He was also lad that his brother was back to normal, and that he could finally be himself again, now that the humans had been taken care of.

"What about Freya? Is she back to normal too?" Caesar suddenly asked.

"No, not yet. I will work on freeing the others later. I need to rest for now. Cleansing all of the others took its toll." Mian shook his head in response.

Everyone nodded in understanding. From their perspective, wielding such enormous power must have truly done a number on Mian. They agreed to let him rest enough before they gathered the children for him to purify them.

While the group of demi-humans and Beastkin were speaking amongst themselves, a squad of humans had gathered around the base of a random tree, not too far away from the spot where the bonfire had been raging several hours ago.

"Crap." A deep, male voice cursed just as a black boot kicked the dirty arm that had been dug out from the ground, along with the bodies of three men and two women.

"This is bad. His Majesty won't be happy." Another man spoke up.

These two men were Brutus and Brody. They were the leaders of the taskforce that had been sent out by the Henshaw Dynasty to investigate the Belmun Pack. Brutus was the General that was assigned to lead the mission, while Brody was his second in command. They had been unable to find Adam and his team, and had then decided to follow their secondary orders to inspect the other groups of demi-humans that were under the control of the Herder Drug. This mission had brought them all the way to the lands of the Bolvar Tribe, where they currently were.

"What do we do now?" Brody asked Brutus. His beefy arms were crossed over his chest, and he looked down upon the dead humans with disgust.

"Send a messenger bird back to the Capital. When that is done, we will continue our journey to the nearest pack that is supposed to be under the control of the drug. If they are not under its control, then we will head back and report in person. If they are, however, then we will wait and see what is causing this." Brutus grunted out. His voice was deep, and grated on the ears of those who could hear him.

He was deeply disturbed by the recent happenings. First, Adam's disappearance, and the Belmun Pack showing that they were not under humans' control, and then, fining the dead bodies of the members of the team that was supposed to be in charge of the Bolvar Tribe.

What struck his as the strangest thing was that the bodies had yet to decay, meaning that their deaths had only just been recent.

'Could someone else be behind this?' The General thought to himself as he overlooked his subordinates carrying out his orders.

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Time passed swiftly in the underground city of Delmore. A couple of days after the return of the adults' proper mentalities, they gathered up all the children in the city hall, a large building that was built for the purpose of passing on major announcements.

As soon as all the children were gathered in the hall, Mian quickly cleansed them and left them to their parents to take care of after assuring them that their kids were now alright.

After that was done, Mian was then led to the main source of water to the pack, and then he cleansed it as well as refining the source of the contamination into a purified crystal orb. It was almost the same as the one he and Daniel had discovered in the Belmun Pack, but was slightly different, as it was made in a way that was more effective against Beastkin. It had also netted him a lot more energy than before.

'What? 7,000 Evolution points?! That's a much greater haul than the last time!' Mian was ecstatic when Hana informed him about the gain in Evolution Points that he had gotten. Although he had a huge store of points already, having more of it would never be too bad.

Same as with the Belmun pack, the Bolvar Tribe got their water from a natural spring that was not too far from the underground city. Buried underneath the rocks that laid at the bottom of the spring, they were able to find the white crystal that contaminated the water source, and Mian quickly cleansed it, before replacing it with a small crystal that would dissolve over time. This crystal would act as a purifying agent to cleanse the rest of the water.

He made sure to do this when no one was looking, because someone might misunderstand, and suspect him of trying to do the same thing as the humans. Although he could take his time to explain what he was doing, he would rather not handle all of that trouble.

After that, they all retired to their assigned rooms in order to rest. The higher-ups would discuss on how to move further after this, while they would wait for their decisions.

"What do you think is going to happen from here on out? It seems the humans had thought this out quite well. They must have developed a lot of variants to this drug to deal with all the different races."

"We'll probably keep moving. Han and his advisors can handle all the brainstorming. I'll just do what they ask, as long as its reasonable." Dion replied.

The two boys from the Zelan pack, Mian and Dion, had chosen to room together. As they had known each other for much longer, Mian felt more comfortable in the dominant's presence. Daniel had chosen to stay with his father instead.

"Hmm, you are probably right. I'm only here because of my Gift. The lowest ranking person in our taskforce, aside from myself, is a high ranking demi-human." Mian puffed out an annoyed breath. He wished he could be stronger, aside from his Gift, but he was smart enough to know that he would not even have a sliver of the strength he currently wielded, if he had not gotten his hands on the Evolution System. In fact, he would have still being getting thrown around back in some hidden cave where his oppressors would make sure the Patriarch would never hear his cries.

Dion wanted to tell Mian that what he said was not true, but found himself at a loss for words. Mian's words rang true in his ears. If it weren't for Mian's Gift, the boy would most likely not be here. In fact, he doubted that they would have survived that ordeal with the human Pillar back then.

The two boys remained in silence for a while longer before Mian spoke up.

"I wasn't planning on telling you so soon, but... I decided that you should know. At least, so that you can utilize it sooner instead of groping around in the dark when it shows up."

"Hm? What are you talking about?" Dion turned over in his bed to face Mian with a confused look on his face.

During the short minutes that the two had spent in silence, Mian had decided reveal to Dion that he had passed on the Greater Strength Gift to the black furred dominant. It would be better for Dion to be aware of it, so that when the signs of the Gift awakening within him begun to show up, he would know what to expect.

"You remember that human Pillar's Gift, right?" Mian asked. Dion nodded in reply, and Mian continued with his explanation. "You know, with his death, it's only normal for his Gift to be lost, right?"

"Where are you going with this?" Dion sat up in his bed, slightly perturbed. Mian sighed and also sat up, rubbing his face. He was thinking of how to explain to Dion that he had taken the Greater Strength Gift, and passed it on to him.

"Well... Before he died, I took his Gift, with my own, and then I passed it on to you. So now, you have the Greater Strength Gift..." Mian blurted out the words.

"What?!"