33 Snow Globe

"Ugh, hey turn off that fan, you know I don't like having it right on me when I sleep. Ow, shit why is my body so sore, I'm also pretty dizzy, and my body is getting colder."

Ryan slowly tried to open his eyes, but the wind that was blowing across his face didn't let him. After a few tries he was finally able to slightly open them and what he found surprised him. In front of him was a bright blue sky surrounded by clouds, he looked down and found the treetops.

"Shit, that's right I was attacked by a griffin. Man the first time that I see my favorite mythical creature I get attacked by it. To make things worse I was attacked on my first day when I was 'allowed' in the forest"

As he was talking he heard a noise that seemed to come from something flapping, he froze, "Fuck me"

He saw the giant eagle head looking forward, on its beak it had the corpse of the armadillo. When he saw the creature's head he instinctively tried to wiggle free but his failed attempt only rewarded him with a strong piercing pain on his sides.

"Damn greedy bastard, isn't that armadillo enough for you? Even if it wasn't you should have at least gone for Mud Shade; it was her whole idea to hunt it.... Wait a minute, why am I being carried away? Both lions and eagles eat their meals on the spot, I get that Mud Shade was there but I'm sure you could have taken her ..... Unless …. Oh, hells no, I might love the idea of looking at baby griffins, but the part of becoming their meal is a big deal-breaker."

Ryan began struggling again but just like earlier the griffin dug its claws deeper.

He sighed and made his body limp since the more signs of life that he gave the more he was going to suffer. After thinking things through he sighed and looked back up at the head of the griffin.

"Sorry for doing this, I would never want to take the life of such a magnificent creature especially if it's only doing its part of the cycle of life. The thing is that its either me or you and well when you put it like that the answer is pretty clear."

He sighed and looked at the long way down, there was some sort of lake that they were going to fly over soon.

[Speared Tail]

Ryan waited until they had reached the lake and he sighed. He gathered all his strength and thrust his tail at the griffin's chest area. The giant creature screeched and dropped the body of the armadillo. It stopped flying and hovered in the air, then it tilted it's head 180 degrees until it made eye contact with Ryan using its eye.

He could see its anger through that one eye and that made him repeat the tail piercing process another three times until the griffin became limp and let him go. As he was falling down he used his Wind Step skill and jumped up in the air and grabbed ahold of the griffin's body.

When they made contact with the water he was nearly winded but the effect was severely diminished since he used the griffin to cushion his fall. The body of the giant creature was slowly sinking and he had to think quickly before it was fully submerged.

He closed his eyes and concentrated.

"Oh, hey your still alive? It's been so long that I thought something must have happened to you. Wow, looks like I spoke too soon you look like you had quite the encounter"

Ryan sighed and used his snout to point at the griffin "That body there…. Could you possess it? If I remember correctly your magic could still be used when you take over a body. From what I heard the dead enemies found in the forest the other time where found killed with some Ice skill. Could you use it on my injuries and stop the bleeding?"

The body of the griffin immediately began to be covered in frost, when it's whole body had been surrounded it began flapping its wings.

"Sure that much is easy, but first."

The griffin opened its beak wide and suddenly two white lights began appearing from inside Ryan and flew into the griffin. Ryan was spooked for a bit but then he remembered "Those two lights where the souls of the wolves from that time weren't they? Did you eat them?"

The griffin shook its head and the icy voice of the demon spoke, "No I stored them away for later when I go back to my dimension. You see where I'm from, souls are power, sadly not many demons actually have the chance to get them since not many demons are summoned. That's why I'm lucky that you have the ability to summon me. Now I'm counting on you to get some more souls for me, meanwhile, I'll stay low and stay away from getting the attention of others."

Ryan's injured body started feeling numb and heavy, when he turned around he found that he was covered in a layer of ice. He gave her a small nod "As long as you help me out then you got yourself a deal. For now, we have about 9 or 8 minutes left, do you think that you could try to find a cave or something on that mountain?"

She nodded and began flying towards the mountains while carrying him using her talons. After a few minutes, they arrived but sadly there wasn't enough time to search for a cave. They slowly descended and she shook her head "Sorry pup we couldn't make it."

Ryan shook his head and tried moving but the pain was too much and he came crashing down again. "Don't worry, before you go through, is it possible you could surround me and the corpse of the griffin in a thick layer of Ice? I imagine that the body will still be safe to eat after you leave right? If I need to get out I'll simply melt through the ice with my claws."

The griffin looked around and a few seconds later a thick circular wall of ice began to surround them. "Be careful pup, if the weather stays like is today then my ice wall might last for about a week. Well, it's time to go, make sure you don't die."

He smiled and nodded "Wait before you go, may I know your name?"

The griffin's body once more became limp and the frost began to disappear, he looked at the body disappointed but then he heard a whisper "Just call me Gelida for now."

Ryan nodded and began looking around, at the moment he was in a stoney mountain without any other creature in sight. He sighed and looked at the griffin's corpse "Well, I should be keeping my strength up."

Once he was done he closed his eyes and concentrated again, in front of him there was a ball of white lighting. It suddenly dove at the ground and charred it, after a few seconds a set of dark grey hands appeared.

A goblin-like creature pulled himself up and stared at Ryan with it's orange glowing eyes, "I take it that you were the one who created me?"

Ryan nodded and pointed at the direction that he had come from "Yes I was the one, from now on you will be called Five. The first thing of need for you is to head off in that direction and find the other four that are missing. You have until tomorrow before sundown to find them then come back and wait for them to come to us."

The darkling looked at him for a bit but after that, he nodded and began walking in the direction that he was told to go.

Once Five was gone he sighed and looked through the ice and into the sky "Why did this have to happen to me?"