Volcanoes go 'Ka-foom'??? I guess so. The climax of this chapter is not as well executed as what I would have hoped, and my volcano research is lacking. JUST KEEP READING it gets good, I hope.

It was a desolate wasteland that stretched before the trio, stark and naked as far as the eye could see. Ravaged and charred remains of…something lay down in the valley of the small hill they had crested; a large volcano loomed in the distance, casting its ominous shadow over them all. Such a scene could only be summed up in one word—

"Wow." Matt whistled, slipping his hands in his pockets and looking down at the devastation before them, "I mean really…just WOW!"

Hunter did not say anything in response to this, mainly because it hurt to make any movement of his jaw thanks to Mike's drop kick. His eyes had it all, though, the pools of sapphire widened in awe at the sight before them.

"Is that the village?" Mike asked curiously, his eyes taking everything.

"No, it's the Charred Forest." Matt clapped the younger boy on the back, but not so hard this time, "From the shore to the edge of the Koro was all burned down, from what we don't know. What got burned, we don't know that either. Visiting Matoran had to cross the Charred Forest to get to the village…but anyways, this should mean that Ta-Koro is not very far away!"

"Quite the doormat, this is." Mike chuckled a little nervously, "Doesn't really imply a gracious host, eh?" His eyes swept the scene over again…

"This wasn't the half of it." Matt chuckled, slipping his hands in his pockets and slouching, "They had a lake of lava deterring visitors, the only way to get across it was to fly or to have the guard raise a strange sort of bridge…"

"So they weren't big on company?"

"Well I wouldn't say that, a Ta-Matoran liked friends and a good time as much as the next, but the terrain here isn't very traversable even if they made handrails and little mocha shops every few hundred feet to help those who wanted to drop in." Matt smiled wryly, "I mean…yeah…"

A wind swept down low from the volcano, angling out in the valley before them. The breeze gamboled around their heels, blowing against them with an almost gentle, caressing force. It brought with it tidings of the terrain beyond…

"You smell sulfur?" Hunter grunted, jerking his head towards the volcano.

"Nope." Matt breathed in, tipping his head back as the wind tousles his hair.

"Well then that's good, means the volcano hasn't been active for a while. I don't smell brimstone either," Hunter looked around at Sean, wincing with every word that he spoke, "Ok then, Seer boy we're here! Now what do we do?"

Sean gave Hunter a scathing look, and hopped down off the crest of the hill. He started walking across the black and dismal plain towards the volcano, not looking back or making any motion to indicate that the others should follow—

"DAMMIT why does he always do that?" Matt cursed, leaping after the boy. His feet were nimble as he skidded down the steep incline, sending ancient ash and black embers flying, "HEY! Seer boy, get back here!"

Hunter and Mike followed without thinking.

It was an eerie feeling, walking amongst the rubble and burnt remains of a section of the jungle, like someone had taken a black marker and just colored in this part of the jungle with angry lines. Mike did not smell smoke or anything burning, which made sense if the volcano hadn't been active…but he couldn't shake the feeling that something fiery and hot was going to burst from the ground somewhere.

"Bloody hell I'm getting my shoes all frikken covered in frikken…SOOT!" Matt cried, still about twenty feet ahead of them, trying to intercept Sean while dancing around on his toes so as not to spoil his sneakers, "OY! Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"What, do you expect him to answer you?" Hunter pushed past Matt, rolling his eyes, "Our seer boy can't talk, kolhi-head. He doesn't explain, he just GOES!"

Sean paused in the middle of the Charred Forest, turning on his heel and giving them a look.

"I think he really, really wants us to follow him." Mike said quietly behind the two boys, stating what was painfully obvious.

"Alrighty!" Matt threw his hands in the air, "Let's follow seer boy then, eh? Did Timmy fall in the well, Lassie? Did Timmy fall in the well? Go on girl, go on and lead us to him then!"

A pause—
"What the hell are you talking about?" Hunter looked warily at his friend.

Matt buried his head in his hands, "It's…it's a History Major thing. Wren would get it…come on; let's just follow the kid before we're the ones that get lost. He seems to know where he's going more than we do."

The valley sunk a little lower, making Mike feel as though he were really in the pits. For some reason this didn't bother him. He felt more at home here than he had anywhere else on the island…and he wasn't sure at all why. Step by step he followed Sean's sure and confident gait, not sure where the kid was leading, but willing to follow as long as they remained in this charred and barren wasteland.

Sean was standing in the middle of all the destruction and desolation, leaning against the only thing within fifty miles that looked as though it had a purpose. Whatever it was, it stood on a slightly elevated platform about three feet from the normal ground. Mike took a look at it and was unpleasantly reminded of a gnarled old hand with fingers stretching up the sky…and Sean was leaning against the index finger.

The structure was made out of stone that was charred as black as everything else in the area. It looks ancient, as old as time itself. Matt and Hunter approached slowly, as though not believing what they were seeing.

"Oh my God…Is that..."

"Holy hell I think it is!"

Mike looked hard at Sean, and the boy met his gaze. A jolt of pain shot through Mike's heart and he quickly looked elsewhere…

Matt kneeled down next to the strange structure; looking around wildly, "Wait…if this is it, then that means Sarah was right, doesn't it? I mean…you know? Oh my God this is intense, I mean I always thought she was right but I never…I mean…"

Mike fought the urge to kick Matt in the groin, gritting his teeth, "What in the hell are you guys talking about?"

"Ta-Suva." Hunter breathed, looking over at Sean, "Our Seer boy here managed to find the Suva of Ta-Koro!"

"Just sitting here in the middle of the clearing?" Mike was cynical, mostly because he had no clue what a Suva was, "Without a village or anything else around here?"

Matt touched the center of the 'palm' almost reverently, "Wow, Toa stone, Nuva Symbols…it would be floating right there if the island were still around. This is…wow. How did Sean know about this?"

"He's a seer boy, remember?" Hunter pulled out his handheld and snapped a few frames, "Hey who wants to be the first to break the news to Sarah?"

To be completely honest, Mike wasn't all that impressed. He had been imagining maybe stumbling on an old and abandoned village with artifacts strewn about in plain sight for them all to see. Squatting there on the ground between two older boys gawking at a misshapen structure that happened to be the only thing left in the world was rather…

Feeling he might as well pretend that he was as enthused as the other boys, Mike leaned forward a little bit, and let his hand touch the charred rock.

The second his skin came in contact with the rock, there was all at once a great and terrible rumbling beneath their feet. Thoroughly shocked at these turn of events, Mike quickly withdrew his hand back into himself, looking around alarmed, "What—"

Matt and Hunter leaped back, cursing as the ground shook and trembled, as though shuddering in the throes of pain…

"WHAT THE HELL!" Hunter cursed, "MIKE WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Nothing!" Mike shouted back, staggering. The shaking grew so violent that he had to crouch down to the ground, and he glared at the older boy "A-All I did was touch the damn thing—"

"BIOQUAKE!" Matt twisted around and shot a frightened look towards the volcano overhead, "GUYS HANG ON, IT COULD BE SOMETHING WORSE—"

As if this was the cue, the ground started to shudder with even more manic energy

"Thanks for the update!" Hunter growled past gritted teeth.

Sean was already running away, sprinting back the way they had come, as though he knew what was going to come next…

Time seemed to slow down, stretching on into infinity, seconds taking minutes, minutes taking hours…the three boys looked up and turned on their heels, peering intently at the volcano above them…

KAA-FOOOM!!!

Mike gave a shout of alarm, and fell to the ground with his hands clasped tightly over his ears. The deafening roar was enough to make him wish he were dead. It filled his mind and his entire body with its ringing tones….

With the younger boy cowering at their feet, Matt and Hunter were free to look up and see the apocalyptic sight that hovered over them like some sort of omen…

A tongue of lava spurted from the volcano mouth, just barely out of sigh. It was a writhing thing, almost living in the way it remained suspended in the air while the ground still shuddered and trembled. As though God had reached into the volcano and stirred its contents with a finger, so now the volcano was spewing forth its innards.

Mike scrambled to his feet and was off in a flash, not even looking behind him as he threw this urging cry over his shoulder, "COME ON YOU FRIKKING RETARDS!!!"

Matt and Hunter didn't have to be told twice. The first burst had only been lava, there was no telling what the second or third would bring. Ashes? Rock? A devastating river of consuming flame?

Kaa-FAAM!!

"GEEZ THERE IT GOES!!" Matt grabbed Hunter's arm and started pulling him along. The pair staggered after Mike, aware that Sean was long gone and far ahead. Where had the kid gotten to anyways?

They were now far away from the volcano itself to see that indeed it was spewing lava in fine fashion, the red hot substance dribbling down its sides as though it had spilled.

And it was coming faster.

Mike stopped to wait for the other two and as they pelted towards him, he looked up and took in the awe-inspiring sight before him. The lava was coming fast and strong now, out of the volcano and trickling down the sides and starting to fill the valley to the brim.

"Y-You know what I'm starting to think?" Matt wheezed, coming abreast of Mike and grabbing his arm too, now pulling both boys along, "We had our coordinates wrong. This wasn't the Charred Forest, and we're nowhere near the village."

"Really? Not the best time, Matt."

Their footsteps were coming heavier now, and the three of them could feel heat at their backs. None dared to look back. A walk that had taken them only minutes down deeper into the valley was now taking much, much longer back uphill at a sprint, even with the added incentive of the lava…

"For whatever reason, the Mangai decided to go off…and I think that the place we're standing right now isn't any Charred Forest, if the Suva is in the center then for the sake of general historical accuracy—we have to be in the Lake of Lava!"

"The lava lake!" Hunter groaned, working his legs even harder, "Damn it—this is right where the lava break is! Where the Mask of Light was found! Damn it, damn it…WE'RE GONNA GET FRIED!!"

­KAA-FAAAM!!!

There was no denying the fact that they were slowing down, and that the volcano was spurting more and more lava. The lip of the valley—or, rather, the lakebed loomed before them. From this side it looked much steeper than it had looked when they slid down it during the initial arrival.

Hunter forced more energy out of his limbs, accessing reserves of desperation that got him the lift he needed. In one bound he had scrambled up and over the crest of the lakebed, rolling hard and springing to his feet at once, expecting his companions to be right behind him.

Matt threw himself at the outcropping to no avail—his smaller frame did not have the muscle to get him over the edge. Matt whirled—the lava was coming faster now, and he could feel the heat. It was creeping towards them now, thick and deep, fast and burning…

But Mike did not feel the heat, he stood there transfixed at the sight of the shimmering, red and gold substance that was edging towards them, faster and faster. He could smell the sulfur and see the heat waves emanating…but he felt no heat.

"MATT!!! MIKE!!!" Hunter's pretty boy features were contorted into an expression of pure fear. He threw himself down on his stomach to better reach the two, and for the sake of leverage. He lashed out his hands to either of the boys, "COME ON!!!"

Matt grabbed Hunter's hand and scrabbled furiously against the rock, gaining momentary hold but then loosing it in his panic. While the two struggled in a desperate attempt at life, Mike was still motionless, watching the molten lava head towards them, "Guys are you sure its real? I can't feel any heat…"

KAA-FOOM

As though the volcano were trying for one last desperate push, it gave a reverberating scream of agony…sending forth the largest and most continuous stream of lava down its side, rushing into the lakebed like a flood. Mike saw the molten substance flowing, and knew that this time it would fill the lake up to its edge.

Matt was still struggling to get up and over—to safety. Hunter looked up and saw the impending doom heading for both of his friends.

"DAMN IT YOU TWO IT'S GETTING TOO HOT!" His eyes were screwed shut as he held both of his hands out still, fingers outstretched in mad desperation, "GET OOOUUTT!!!"

Mike saw the lava rushing towards him, and somehow peace flooded his entire body in the same way that molten magma was about to flood the entire lakebed. He knew what he had to do, and he also knew what was going to happen.

It was as though someone had turned down the volume on life and slowed things down. Mike saw Matt's mouth opened in a silent scream, could see Hunter's face in its expression of terror…but all Mike felt was calm. While Hunter grabbed Matt's hand and attempted to haul him up and over yet again, Mike seized the boy's legs and pushed.

In those last critical seconds….Matt made it over. Hunter had not been expecting this slack on the other end, and the end result was that both boys went rolling and spinning, scrambling madly to get away from the edge of the lakebed…

Someone pressed play, and turned up the volume.

The lava crashed against the ridge, the unexpected stem to its flow. As though angered, the molten substance shot upwards in a fine spray, falling back on itself and sending ripples back to the center of the lake.

The volcano was now calm; the earth no longer shuddered. What had once been a desolate wasteland was now a lake of lava as far as the eye could see.

With a Suva in the center.

"OH MY GOD!" Hunter was up in a second, looking out at the scene, screaming so hard he thought that his soul might rip in two pieces, "MIIIIKE!!!"

There was no Mike.

Matt got as close to the hellish edge as he dared, feeling the heat bite and snort at his face. He could not stand to stare at the lava for too long, but dropped to his knees and called, "MIIIIKE!!!!"

There was no Mike.

There was only lava.

And Steam

And tears.

"MIKE? HUNTER? MATT?? What the hell just happened?" Hunter heard Sarah's voice in his earpiece, her tone tight and frightened, "Are you three alright? HEY! Guys?? Are you alright?"

Wordlessly, Hunter reached up and took out his earpiece, tossing it into the lava without giving a reply. The monumental fact of what had just happened had not yet sunk in …it could not have just happened, it did not just happen…

Matt called out again, but this time not as loud, "M-Mike?"

There was no Mike.

Hunter fell to his knees in shock—wide eyed— and threw up.