Bionicle G2: New Legends, New Heroes

Chapter 31: Rest and Realizations

Bits of smoke and lava rose slowly as Rhem used his mask's power to evade them. He also tried sneaking in between Ember Guards' blasting spears and the claws of attacking urdaks, the latter joined by the Jungle Region's scouts. He zigged-zagged through more in his search for Maram on the Fire Region's lava field, or battlefield to be more accurate.

"Young Rhem!"

Realizing time had resumed, Rhem ran with all he had to leave sizzling blasts and animal roars behind him. He avoided more in the storm of battle to join the shining Toa in its great eye. "Are you alright?" the same shining Toa asked after blocking a fire blast with his sword.

"I'll be... fine..." Rhem heaved in between every word or two. "How much... longer... do you think... before it ends?"

Maram put aside any answer to unleash a wave of light between an urdak and two Ember Guards about to be its prey. After regaining his breath, Rhem threw his sickle forward to catch and pull an ignited spear from an Ember Guard's grasp. Rhem jumped away to let its shot pass between himself and Maram. In the brief moment, he focused on his pounding heartbeat.

Thump-thump-thump–

A loud crack interrupted the rhythm. Then, Rhem gasped after ducking under a boulder he had spotted. Its size reminded him of the Stone Guardian, but it struck the fiery ground as a regular boulder would. "Up there!" Maram shouted and pointed, telling Rhem where it came from.

A few Fire and Jungle Okotans turned with Rhem to look at the line of Okotans on the Great Divide. Their shades of brown were similar to Protector Ferra's, and they carried drill-shaped spears. The Copper Guard, if Rhem was right. Where did they find the time to make the trip?

Rhem kept his question for another time seeing more boulders on the Great Divide. The three or four spears made each one, and those three or four let loose either sent them down or fired them into the air. A few crying urdaks dropped, their riders crushed under their weight. The rest managed to evade, unlike most of the Ember Guards. They were forced to fire at the boulders to not be flattened like the unlucky ones. Rhem had to slow down time to not face the same fate.

When time resumed, things went from back to worse. Rhem noticed it further down the shuddering lava field, a huge and metallic wagon of some kind. The noise would have made Rhem think it was an airship if not for the groaning gears for wheels on the box-shaped transport. "Uh, Maram!" he cried, hoping the Toa of Light could hear him.

Maram had after slicing a boulder coming his way. Then again, the Ember Guards' cheers made it hard to not ignore the moving machine, as two more boulders bounced off its widened front in succession. It would have rolled over an urdak and its rider if Rhem had not pulled them away. The rest would not have been so lucky. All the more reason for Rhem's trepidation seeing Maram hurry up the bottom slope of the Great Divide, right towards the path of the wagon.

"Maram?" Rhem called, but Maram marched on. "Maram, wait!"

"NO!" Maram's voice made the Toa of Time stop. "I shall handle this! Keep everyone back!"

Rhem tried to comply with Maram's seemingly crazy request. Since warping constantly tired him out, as it did in Kivoda City, he delayed time. Even then, it was hard to push an Ember Guard one way, a boulder out of another, and a Jungle Scout and their urdak towards another. Rhem saw a flicker of surprise dragging out. It may have fully formed after an hour.

Urgency kept Rhem from indulging his little curiosity. He slowed time, then ran in normal time, again and again, each time to move anyone he found from Maram. He even had to push a few Copper Guards off their path down the Divide, eager to fight the Fire and Jungle Okotans. Upon the sixth or seventh time, Rhem caught sight of an ever-growing light in normal time.