61 Straight to Mount Barker *

Time passed quickly on the boat. There were a lot of new things and that included a game room, filled with arcade games and pool.

After eating a good meal Lachlan spent most of his time in the game room, competing against other soldiers and after a while, the others from the group decided to join in as well.

Originally the soldiers were scared, they didn't want to piss off a monster, but after a short match, they quickly realised he was extremely friendly. So, they started up a tournament. Lachlan came fifth, but the winner of the tournament was surprisingly Phoebe. A dark horse entirely, completing crushing Simon and Joe along her path to victory.

Hours went by and before they realised it they were already at Brisbane.

Looking through the window everyone realised that Brisbane seemed to be flourishing, with people flying through the skies on birds and others riding their kangaroos in the streets. Although it looked foreign the group acknowledged that this was the new style of living.

The Warships docked at a large port, with tens of thousands of soldiers patrolling.

They departed from the boat and were greeted by plenty of soldiers. James had to explain the group's identities to the army. Then he turned around and went to the edge of the water, holding out his hand.

A large nose emerged from the water plonking itself onto James' hand, but looking down through the crystal-clear water one could see an enormous shadow in the shape of a shark.

"Analyse"

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Name: King (Dark King Shark)

Age: Elder

Attribute: Water/Darkness

Level: 24

STR: 105(+561), AGI: 125(+565), VIT: 50(+459)

INT: 18(+222), PER: 45(+234), WIL: 25(+228)

Weakness: Losing its fangs

Strengths: Special darkness domain in water. Absolute control over water and darkness.

Description: This shark evolved to have hive queen qualities, birthing loyal followers that'll do anything to protect her.

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It definitely deserved the name of King, it was extremely strong. Although Lachlan had no idea what this domain might be, seeing as he had never seen it before he determined it was probably strong.

"That's a strong beast you have there," Lachlan said.

"Indeed, something I tamed back in the Pacific Ocean," James said, he seemed to have gone in a trance thinking about the past, "That was a fun adventure, we had just survived a battle".

"Anyway, I might get going, back to South Australia. I really miss my family," Lachlan said.

"Of course you would, you're still young. So during this time making sure to spend the most amount of time as you can with your family," James said.

"Come, Temp"

"I will don't worry about that. Cya," Lachlan said, jumping on the back of temp. Temp's sudden appearance shocked the soldiers and James for that matter. Everyone knew what a griffin was, they had just never seen it.

Temp spread its wings and shot off through the air, till a reached an ideal height to not be attacked. Lachlan knew it would be faster riding one of the Rocs, but it felt much more comfortable riding on temp, like its back was made to have someone riding it.

Now that Lachlan was much stronger he could easily handle the air pressure. However, the Griffin used its absolute control over the wind to lessen it, making it a gentle breeze.

Lachlan was happy Temp care so much for him.

…

Back at the base, James was leaning on a chair, in a room all by himself. As he saw Lachlan's figure move further and further through the window, he muttered under his breathe.

"At least I don't have to be the one to tell him"

…

It took a couple of hours to reach Adelaide, but the view didn't disappoint him. It seemed Adelaide was flourishing as well, he could see at the edge of the city large farms. They had soldiers and tamed beasts patrolling the outskirts.

He didn't stop there and just continued past it, flying above the freeway. It was slightly chilly, and the ground looked soaked.

It didn't take long for Lachlan to reach Mount Barker, but the sight he was greeted with was unpleasant, to say the least.

Everything was destroyed, the buildings looked like they were razed to the ground, constantly being trampled on by larger beasts. The high schools were annihilated, but there were no corpses to be seen, which made sense, Lachlan wasn't sure when everything changed.

This scene caused Lachlan's senses to go overdrive, specifically the sense of smell. His nose was assaulted by the stench of rotting beast corpses, but amongst the stench was the faint odour of a human, multiple humans, ones that were familiar.

Lachlan got incredibly excited but calmed his nerves instantly, he still wasn't sure what their condition was.

He followed the scent, never letting it go until it led to an old house 2 kilometres away from the high school, one that was almost completely undamaged. Following around he went into the backyard, where three graves lay.

Almost having a heart attack Lachlan launched himself at the graves to read what they said.

At the top were three very familiar names, ones that caused his heart to sink. Jack Wilson, Adam Wilson, and Adam Jones. Below them was their cause of death. They sacrificed themselves protecting the weak from the beasts. The writing on the stones done look like they were machine made, rather, it seems like someone went through the effort of handmaking those. Lachlan could only think of one person that would do that.

He could still smell other humans, ones that were in the house, underground. Walking in he was greeted with the horrible stench of a rotting beast. He saw a spider's corpse in the living room, it seemed it struggled for its last bit of life, most likely from poison.

Walking to his left he opened a door and by his feet was a hatch, one that had been strongly shut. However, that was no problem with Lachlan. He reached down and easily opened it. Revealing steps leading down.

He followed those steps; the smell of his family was getting closer. Reaching the bottom of those steps he was greeted by the sight of small children huddled up by a corner with a blanket over them. He saw someone that was familiar in that corner, it was Sarah, his little sister. She had grown since they last saw each other.

Looking to his side he paused, tears streaked down his face.

The corpse of a beautiful woman laid there on what seems like a bench, with a slight smile on her face. Her long blonde hair touching the ground.

"Mum"