The Evolution Chronicles

A quick punch was thrown forward, and Mian felt him arm get grabbed. He felt a strong force pull him forward, and his legs were swiped from underneath him. Acting quickly, he twisted his body, wrapping his legs around Dion's arm, and letting gravity do the rest.

Dion stumbled forward, losing his balance, and Mian quickly kicked against his thighs. After pushing his sparring partner's legs away with great strength, he pulled his left leg over Dion's neck, and kicked his right knee into Dion's face.

He then put his weight on his left side and twisted around Dion's unbalanced body, sitting on his back, while pulling his head up and restraining his arms. With a broad grin on his face, Mian jumped up and extended an arm to help his friend get to his feet.

Dion got to his feet with a dazed expression on his face. He was struggling to believe what just happened, and his mind had yet to catch up to the fact that he lost.

"H-hold on... What just happened...?" Daniel stuttered from his position on the sidelines. He rushed over to the side of the two boys, hovering around them like a bee. Mian just smiled wryly as he focused his attention on healing up Dion's bleeding nose. Luckily, the nose wasn't broken, and was just bruised.

A few seconds later, Mian held back his hands and smiled awkwardly at Dion. He was trying his best to hold back his proud grin. He had finally managed to best Dion after over an entire month of training!

"Oww..." Dion murmured, "Just so you know, I was holding back. I wasn't expecting you to burst out with that much power all of a sudden." He chuckled. "Even still, great job! You've come a long way since back then when you couldn't even throw a proper punch." The black furred dominant laughed, prompting the others to laugh as well.

"Now that's something." Someone stepped into the room with a whistle. The boys turned to face Mohawk who was looking at them with a smile.

"Say, Mian, you seem to be very agile. You aren't as stiff as most people I know." The Wereape commented him as he took a seat on the padded floor with his legs crossed beneath him.

"Yeah, I would say agility is my forte. I'm not as strong as I'm fast." Mian nodded with a smile. "I guess all those days I would spend hunting out there helped a bit." The nineteen year old laughed.

"Oh, that's good. Well, I was just wondering if you would like to get a bit of training from me on how to use these bad boys." Mohawk grinned as he unsheathed the two shortswords that were strapped to his hips.

"Shortswords?" Mian's eyes radiated intense interest as he rushed over to Mohawk's side to examine the sharp, decorated blades. The sheaths of the blades were black, with gold patterns, while the blades themselves were just a deep black that seemed to devour the light that shone on its surface.

Mian examined the blades for a couple of minutes with great interest, making Mohawk grin with glee. He was very proud of these blades, and was happy to see that someone was deeply enthralled by them as well.

"What are they made of?" Mian asked and looked back up at the Wereape that was grinning like a mad man before him.

"It's made of Adamantine, one of the rarest metals in the world, kid. My old man's masterpiece. One of the best works he's made till date." Mohawk happily replied. He was incredibly proud of his father's work.

His father was a renowned blacksmith back in the Central Continent. He had crafted many stellar pieces over the years, in the form of armor, weapons, and other trinkets that were valuable.

"Adamantine? I don't think I've heard of that before." Mian scratched the top of his head.

"Haha, I'm not surprised. Among all the Gifted I've come to know, you're the most closed off from the rest of the world." Mohawk laughed.

"You've met with other Gifted apart from Sir Delk?" Mian tilted his head like a lost kitten, "What were they like?" He asked.

"Well, for starters, they were much more different than you. More stuck up, as if they had a twig up their behind. Well, Sir Delk wasn't too bad, although the vibe he gave off let you know that he was on a whole other level, he never pointed out the fact that we should keep out distance. He took the time to speak to us, and usually started up the conversation. I can tell you with absolute certainty that Sir Delk would probably be the nicest lizardman you could come across." Mohawk explained.

"That can't be right. I've met a lizardman, and he's really cool." Mian frowned as he thought back to Sekk'rah, the lizardman that he had helped escape from the cells back at the demi-human games arena.

"Hmm, must be a tame one, then. Most of the lizardmen are rather aggressive or stuck up in nature. They don't like mixing with others because they believe it 'taints them'." Mohawk scoffed and made air quotes as he recalled the words of a stuck up lizardman that he had met in the past.

Mian laughed as he listened to the older demi-human. Dion and Daniel had taken their seats at his side, also listening to Mohawk speak. He was talking about things that happened on an entirely different continent, so they were eager to hear more.

"You were talking about the other Gifted. What are they like?" Daniel reminded the Wereape of the topic that he had just strayed from.

"Ah, yeah. They other Gifted." Mohawk nodded and sat back. He left his shortswords in Mian's possession for now. "Where was I? Yeah, I had just finished speaking about Sir Delk... Well, the others are stuck up assholes, in my opinion. I could barely stand being in their presence, even though I met them for just like five minutes. They had that high and mighty vibe going on that just irritated the hell out of me."

"The Beast taming guy was cool though. His Kingdom had all kinds of beasts and animals guarding it. Even the rare breeds." Mohawk nodded. "The Greater Strength dude was the actual asshole. He gave me a look and called me weak. Ha! Me, weak! What a joke! I could probably trash him totally if we had met before he got his Gift." Mohawk exclaimed.

"What kinds of demi-humans were they?" Daniel asked with interest, his furry ears twitching in excitement. The fifteen year old could barely contain the grin that nearly split his face in half.

"The guy with the Beast Taming Gift is a Werewolf, while the guy with the Greater Strength Gift is a Wereape." Mohawk answered with a wry smile.

"A Wereape? So that means he's like you." Mian asked, rubbing the three pink lines between his nose and eyes.

"He is, but he's a proud bastard. I was surprised that someone with an ego more inflated than my own existed." Mohawk replied with a snort. He was obviously not impressed at all with the bearer of the Greater Strength Gift.

The three boys thought to themselves for a moment, picturing the other Gift bearers in their minds, before Mian spoke up.

"What is it like where you come from? How different is it compared to the Northern Continent?" He asked. He was curious as to how vast the gap between the two continents were.

"Err, let's see..." Mohawk placed a hand to support his chin as he thought, "Well, on the Central Continent, one thing that's easy to differentiate is the size of the powers there."

"Powers?" Mian asked.

"Yup. For example, the entire explored area on the Northern Continent is roughly the same amount of land that one kingdom has to itself. My kingdom, the Crescent Arc Kingdom, for example, is about the size of the territories of the Henshaw Dynasty, the Zelan pack, Belmun pack, Bolvar Tribe, and Fressia, altogether. It's just about that large." Mohawk explained.

The four continued to discuss for a couple hours more, going over different topics, ranging from what Mohawk did for a living, all the way to the different places that he had come across during his travels.

"Ah, we should get back to our young prodigy's training. After all, he had to perfect some hand to hand combat before I get to teaching him how to use weapons." Mohawk eventually shifted the topic back to Mian's training as he retook his weapons.

"Yeah, you're right. I can't wait!" Mian jumped up to his feet, even more enthused to get back to training than before. He hurriedly took Dion's arm before pulling him back to the training area in the room and got into stance.

"Prepare yourself, so you won't have to use the excuse of not expecting it this time!"