Along the way towards the ice cube, they stopped by the bushes on the side. Looking closer they realised it was indeed fruit growing in bountiful amounts. Simon naively grabbed a handful and threw them into his mouth.

His excitement from finally seeing fruit again made his stupid. Fortunately, they didn't appear to be poisonous. The berries on the bushes were delicious and juicy. They exploded with flavour and everyone felt their strength slightly increase.

"Do you feel stronger?" Joe wanted to confirm this feeling with the others. Although it wasn't much, just a slight increase was noticeable.

"Yeah," Lachlan and Georgia said at the same time. They were feeling the power coursing through their veins, their muscles began to compact which further increased their durability. Lachlan found it odd that his muscles would shrink with this increase of strength but also liked it. Due to his short height, he looked like a small ball of muscles, not very attractive.

"No," Simon, on the other hand, looked at them with confusion in his eyes. He felt as though he had been wronged. Since everyone felt a slight increase in their strength why didn't he? All he could do was blame his impatience.

Looking around they saw a lot more fruits. Some of which did not look tasty at all. They looked rather poisonous instead and with Simon's naive action at the way they treated these fruits with caution.

They picked and stored the berries in a piece of ripped clothing. There was a large variety of colours. There were red, blue, and yellow berries. All of which were very vibrant. Then on the other side was the darker ones, the purple and black coloured berries.

Aside from these berries, there were two other fruits growing in the trees. A bright pink fruit that was shaped like an apple and a blood red banana. It looked incredibly ominous as if someone would be cursed for eating it.

The four decided to not eat any others until they're certain it isn't poisonous. Simon risked his life just to try the red one, which the other three had a thank for.

"Now onto that," Joe said as he faced towards the ice cube. The griffon that was circling around it had stopped and was hovering high, staring at them.

"I think we should deal with the griffon first," Georgia suggested. It would be stupid for them to just focus on the cube when the griffon was obviously protecting it.

"Yeah same," Simon excitedly said while rubbing his hands. He was going to try and tame it as soon as they get it down.

Lachlan nodded silently and they began to prepare themselves. Although they had a quick confrontation with it previously, seeing as how it retreated the moment it saw them outnumbered it proved it knew how to fight.

It would likely try and separate the group to deal with them separately. However, the group wouldn't allow for that to happen. they've sparred long enough to know each other's moves like the back of their hand.

As they moved closer the griffon slowly zoned in on them more and more. Deciding who it would try to take out first, seeing as it would only have one chance to try anything like it.

The group quickly readied themselves when they saw the griffon getting ready to attack. They weren't sure how it would attack, so being cautious would be the best thing they can do currently.

The griffon pulled its head back and inhaled a large amount of air. Lachlan quickly got a bad premonition, "Quick, use the wind to block its attack!"

Pointing towards the group, the griffon spewed a massive fireball at them. It looked as though it could incinerate them instantly. Simon quickly commanded for his birds to block the attack, which they quickly did.

But just as the fire was dispersing the griffon appeared next to them. It had used to fireball to cover its next attack. With its open talons, it pinned Tempest on the ground, but before it could do anything Simon's other birds attack it. Forcing it to retreat again.

"It's a lot smarter then it looks," Simon complained. They've fought against intelligent beasts before, but even they weren't so good at fighting.

"Don't give it enough time to rest, go after it quickly!" Lachlan shouted. The Rocs shot off towards the griffon at a lightning pace. They quickly surrounded it and grabbed onto different body parts. Two of them grabbed onto the wings while one grabbed onto the head and forced it downwards.

Simon's birds quickly came over and helped restrict it. They slowly flew down and pinned it on the ground. Disaster which was on its head was forcing its mouth shut, so it can't breathe any attacks at them.

'We got it, we got it," Disaster excitedly said. The beast beneath its feet was a mythical creature, of course, it would feel proud for defeating it.

But there was one thing they didn't expect. The griffons tail quickly pointed towards Joe, shooting and beam of ice towards him. As it grazed across the ground it froze it all to its core.

Sandy who was always prepared breathed out a red hot ball of fire. Meeting with the ice beam it caused a massive amount of steam to rise. But due to the ice being higher level it managed to get through and grazed Sandy's legs and Joes right arm.

Georgia swiftly got her crocodiles to bit onto the tail and nail it into the ground. That attack was the last it could do against them and was its trump card. Lachlan and Georgia ran towards Joe who was kneeling on the ground holding his arm.

It had been completely frozen, his hand was frozen in place. He couldn't move it at all even with his high strength. Sandy came over and tried to breathe a bit of fire onto it, but because it was still attached to Joe so it couldn't go too intense.

"Is it spreading any further?" Georgia asked as she inspected the right side of his body. She had a sigh of relief when she realised it had stopped at the elbow.

"Is it bad?" Joe asked. He couldn't feel his hand at all, it was like it wasn't even there even though he could clearly see it.

"Yeah it's bad, but we might be able to reverse it if we tame the griffon," Georgia reassured Joe. Since the griffon was the one that caused it, it could also reverse it with its high level of control.

On the other side was Lachlan who quickly turned to look at the griffon when she said that. He noticed Simon had run towards the griffon excitedly. He grabbed onto the side of its head, "You're going to become my tame."

He closed his eyes and got ready to be brought to that darkness. But when he opened them he realised he wasn't there but was still holding onto the griffon, "What the hell, you should be becoming my tamed beast."

"Let me do it," Lachlan said from behind him. He walked past and grabbed onto the griffon's back, "I can get you out of here, come with me to explore the world."

The reason Lachlan said this was to get its trust, but to also make it seem as though he wasn't completely different from Simon. Simon quickly remembered that one needed to have a good bond to tame a beast, he had done it again, going in naively which benefited the others.

Of course, Lachlan knew from the beginning he wouldn't have a chance to tame it. He just didn't want to say it to his face.

Lachlan was once again brought to that darkness, he realised it was like a soul world in a sense. A place where their souls can meet and they can sign the contract. Lachlan just hoped the griffon would work with him.

He saw a silhouette floating from the distance. It began to get larger and larger until it finally reached him. Being 3 metres tall and 7 metres long with a wingspan of 10 metres. It looked exactly like the griffons one would see in movies, just slightly bigger and real.

"So, do you wish to join me on my travels?" Lachlan asked as he opened his hand and reached out.

"You mentioned some odd things, boy. What did you mean by, getting me out of here?" The griffon asked back in a deep manly voice. Lachlan was momentarily shocked as he didn't think he would be able to talk to it yet, that was how he thought it worked.

"Your home is merely a fraction of what the world holds, as you continue to waste your talent inside this prison the outside world with getting stronger until it reaches a point where you would get beat by an infant," Lachlan was targeting its prideful and curious nature. By telling it about these things it might want to really leave, which it easily could Lachlan didn't even know why it didn't. But since it didn't Lachlan would take advantage of that.

"I get beat by an infant!?" The griffon loudly questioned Lachlan's bold claim. But when he saw Lachlan's serious expression he began to think about it himself. 'Could I really get beat by an infant in the future?'

"It all depends on your answer, do you want to get stronger or stay weak?" Lachlan asked, clearly targeting its ambitious nature that probably strives to stay on top.

"As long as you can make me stronger I'll go with you, but you better choose a good name for me," The griffon arrogantly said.

Lachlan thought about it for a bit. There was only one name suitable for a mythical creature with such strength. One that has a mountain of strength for it to control at will.

"Your name will be Aaron, meaning mountain of strength," Lachlan hoped the name worked. It was a name that a beast with ambition would like.

"Mountain of strength ay, I like it," The griffon happily agreed with the name. It felt that it was perfect for describing it.

The griffon slowly lowered its hand and placed it in Lachlan's chest, "I will protect you for all of eternity for that is my purpose."

Lachlan was quickly brought back to the real world. He found what the griffon said was odd. But remembered glancing over a small description of it while he searched for beasts. The griffon was one that protects or guard its master.

He then remembered the last time he tamed a beast and quickly prepared for the pain. Grabbing onto his head. But after a few seconds, nothing came, he was still perfectly fine. He felt as though it was his lucky day.

Looking up he realised the griffon had disappeared and looking towards his arm he noticed a large tattoo of the griffon's claw. It looked as though it perfectly matched with his hand, making it looked like a griffon claw.

"Lachlan! Summon the griffon and get it to reverse the damage!" Georgia shouted from a distance. She was still with Joe. Lachlan quickly came over and summoned Aaron who managed to quickly undo the damage.

They then walked over to the giant cube and attempted to break it but almost broke their own fists in the process. Learning from his mistakes Simon waited for someone else to give it a try before he got cocky and thought his results would be any different. Smashing his hand against the ice caused him to shout in pain.

"Ah! What the fuck is this thing, no way in hell is this ice," Simon complained.

'Master, before we leave we should bring a small bit back with me since I'll need it for my evolution' Aaron informed him.

'Oh, so you need it for your evolution. Huh, wait, did you just say evolution?' Lachlan quickly realised why he felt that sentence sounded odd for a second. Turns out there was a perfectly valid reason for Lachlan to be as shocked as he was.

'Yeah, evolution. Us beasts can determine what he needs for our evolutions once we see it as we have a sort of connection with it. But aside from that, we don't know anything else' Aaron informed Lachlan of some wonderful news. He finally knew how to evolve his Rocs, now it just came to what they needed to evolve.

Lachlan quickly went over and attempted to punch the ice himself in the moment of excitement but quickly remembered what happened to everyone else. His hand smashed against the ice and he yelped in pain.

He then grabbed a corner of it and attempted to crush a bit off with his grip strength but to no avail. It was levels above the coconut's hardness.

'Can you break a bit off Aaron?' Lachlan asked with a bit of hope.

'Nope,' Lachlan's hope was quickly crushed into the ground. The group went back slightly defeated and told the others about what was in there. Lachlan summoned Aaron for proof and the group outside went mental when they saw the griffon.

They went even crazier when they saw all the fruits. They questioned how they grew and Joe happily told them that the gravity in there was similar to Earth's normal gravity. Which they were very happy about.

They then began training harder. Lachlan wanted to get the strength to crack open the ice while the ones that were left outside wanted to go in. The group goal was for everyone to be living there, as it would rather peaceful and sheltered from every element.