Vezon - Lava

What followed next was one of the strangest sights the Toa had ever seen. Unable to jump off the Rahi, Vezon seemed instead to be urging it into the lava. Rahi and rider toppled over, vanishing beneath the fiery crimson river without even a scream.

“Mata Nui preserve us,” Nuparu said, shocked. “He… he did that to himself!”

“And took the Mask of Life with him,” added Toa Jaller. “I have to go in there after it.”

“Jaller, no!” said Hewkii. “You won’t last more than ten seconds in that cauldron!”

“That’s ten seconds longer than any of the rest of you would,” the Toa leader answered. “With my natural resistance to heat and flame, maybe I can buy enough time to retrieve the mask and toss it to you. After that… take over as leader, Hewkii. Keep the team together and get the Mask of Life wherever it has to go.”

Jaller turned away and walked to the edge of the lava river. He could feel the intense heat coming up at him in waves. As an experienced lava surfer, he was more than familiar with the sight, the smell, even the sound of molten rock as it flowed — and he also knew all too well what it could do to someone unlucky enough to be exposed to it. He had once seen an injured Kane-Ra bull stumble into a lava pit in Ta-Wahi. It was a sight he would never forget.

If he waited any longer, the others might talk him out of doing what he knew he had to do. He braced himself and prepared to leap. Suddenly something broke the surface of the lava. Jaller couldn’t believe his eyes — it was the Mask of Life! It had floated to the surface, intact! It was close enough to touch! It was… still grafted to a very much alive Vezon.

Jaller stumbled backward in surprise. Vezon was rising out of the lava, looking as if he had just taken a refreshing swim. But the creature he was riding was not Fenrakk. No, the spider Rahi was gone — the even more massive beast emerging from the lava looked like a huge serpent. It casually swiped at Jaller with one of its claws. The force of even this glancing blow sent the Toa flying into Hewkii and almost knocked him unconscious.

“Why so startled?” Vezon asked, glancing at each Toa Inika in turn. “Did you think that I had left you for good?”

The Rahi dragon opened its mouth and exhaled a powerful blast of energy, sufficient to flatten all six Toa. Then it took two great strides forward and looked around, evidently surprised that its small foes were still breathing.

“Who is this, you wonder?” Vezon continued. “Where is Fenrakk? Well, my friends, this is Fenrakk… in a way. It is all part of the mask’s curse. Defeat us however many times you like, we will always come back more powerful than before. Should you drive my new friend here — who I have named Kardas, by the way — down to certain destruction, it will simply rise again, in some worse form. And I will be right there with it.”

***

Inferno, Chapter 7