The Evolution Chronicles

The sound of chirping birds woke Mian from his slumber. He rubbed his eyes and groaned as he sat up from the cloudy heaven of a bed that the higher classes of people used. He never knew how much he had been missing out on, but that didn't mean he was going to abandon his soft furs anytime soon. He would instead combine the best of both worlds - soft furs and cloudy beds.

"Don't be lazy, Mian." He muttered to himself and dug the heels of his palm into his eyes. With a sudden burst of energy, he shot up into a seating position and held himself there to prevent himself from feeling sleepy again.

After a few more minutes, Mian finally managed to drag himself out of bed and into the bathroom that was part of the large room he was given. The bathroom was just as large as the bedroom, if not even more so, but Mian thought that it might have just been his perception of things, as there were less things clustering the bathroom aside from the essentials in the first place.

Mian bumbled about for some time before finally settling on having a bath. He fiddled around with the knobs at the head of the ceramic tub, filling it partially with water, before twisting the knob that allowed for hot water. Soon enough, he had a tub full of hot water that was hot enough to relax all the bunched up knots of muscles that had settled into him over the long and grueling march that had brought them to Fressia. He really wasn't built for war and battle.

With a sigh, he settled in the hot water. The steam clouded the room, and freed up his thoughts. He had been fascinated by showers and tubs of water where you could control the water that entered the tub, back when they had first gotten to Kraetor. It had taken a while, but he eventually got the hang of it, and now, he was glad he did.

He mused about how far the level of development between the Zelan pack and Fressia was. The pack was only recently moving out of the caves in the mountain, and building houses in the surrounding areas, while Fressia was much much farther ahead of them.

In a way, Mian could push the blame onto the Henshaw Dynasty. The Zelan pack was one of the closest packs to the dynasty, so any form of expansion would have probably made the Henshaw Dynasty lash out at the, forcibly culling their plans and ambitions. It was not until just recently after the fight between the Henshaws and the Zelan pack, here the dynasty had lost their Pillar, that the pack had finally gotten some breathing space to expand, although Mian was not sure how long that window would last.

"There is too much to think about, but all that can wait until I'm done with this bath." Mian groaned before submerging himself in the hot water that filled the hot bath. The bathtub was quite large, so there was enough space for Mian to swim around in it for a while.

Half an hour later, Mian unplugged the drain at the bottom of the tub and watched the water drain out.

"My skin would probably be wrinkled like a prune by now." He commented with a wry smile while drying his fur off with a towel. While the towel would not do much, it would at last help get rid of some of the water. He would just spend some time on the balcony of the room to dry off properly.

Some minutes later, Mian walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, and another over his head. He made his way over to the doors that led out to the balcony, before opening them and pulling a chair he could lay down on outside.

A cool breeze blew over his back, as the warm sun beat over him, drying out his fur pretty quickly.

"I see you're enjoying the life of luxury?" A familiar voice spoke from the balcony that was at the right of Mian's.

"Mm, what can I do about it?" Mian asked, his words slightly muffled by the pillow that he used to support his chin.

"Ha! Mian is built for a life of luxury, Dion." Another familiar voice joined in on the conversation.

"You said it, Daniel. War and battle isn't for me. I would rather enjoy sleeping on cloudy beds, while surrounded by soft furs." Mian groaned. Just imagining the scenario was making him sleepy.

"Yup, he's lazy." Dion laughed. He too, was spread out over a chair, drying out his fur after his own bath. Daniel was in a similar position, but didn't need to dry out his fur, because he did not have all that much fur in the first place. He mostly just needed to dry out his hair, ears and tail.

A comfortable silence settled across the area as the trio basked in the warm glow of the sun, and enjoyed the occasional cool breeze that ruffled their fur. Truly, this must have been a spot that was picked for its cool breeze before the City Lord's mansion was built here.

Mian eventually got up from his seat after the early afternoon hours passed by. Luckily for them, winter had yet to properly set in, so they were able to dry out their furs in the open.

As evening was coming by, so did the cold of winter, forcing the boys to return inside their rooms. After locking their balcony doors, the three stepped into the corridor where their rooms were lined up.

"Sightseeing, or what?" Daniel asked as he looked down the corridor. The corridor was empty, but they could hear the sounds of people walking about elsewhere in the mansion.

"I vote for sightseeing." Mian raised his hand.

"I'll go for whatever you guys want. I'm not really picky with this kind of stuff." Dion shrugged.

"Sightseeing it is, then."