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"Wake up, Fire Child."
Arata groaned and slowly opened his eyes. As the voice registered in his head, he shot up and looked around. "Oracle?"
"No, I am not her. But I was informed by her of your arrival."
"Who are you?" Arata demanded as he looked around, not seeing anyone. "And where am I?"
"Calm down, Fire Child." A voice called out of nowhere. "All will be revealed. Did you not know that this is the hiding place of the Fire Ruby when you came here?"
"The Fire Ruby?" Arata frowned, not knowing what the person was talking about. "What is it?"
The shadows shifted as a person wearing red robes and a hood covering his face stepped out of the shadows. He tilted his head curiously at him. "The Fire Ruby is one of the ten Element Stones you seek. Tell me, when you first came here, did you not have the intention of seeking it?"
Arata stared at the person in surprise at the revelation that the Fire Ruby was one of the Element Stones. "No, I mean, we were going to look for it. But I did not know that the Fire Ruby is here."
"Ah, that explains it." The person stroked his beard. "But where are my manners? I am the guardian of the Fire Ruby." He stepped aside and flicked his wrist under his robes. Torches hanging all over the room instantly became alight. In the place where the guardian was standing is a pedestal holding the red gem with a flame inside it.
Arata gasped as the gem glowed red and the pull became too intense to resist. The guardian watched him carefully and nodded. "As I suspected, the Fire Ruby has chosen you to be its next wielder. It was the Fire Ruby that brought you to this place. With that cleared up, come with me. There is no time to be wasted."
"What do you mean?" Arata snapped out of his daze and threw the guardian a confused look.
"Your friends are in danger by the Grim Lurker in the real dimension. Alas, the only way you can save them is to prove yourself worthy to me. I cannot simply give it to you despite what the Fire Ruby has chosen. I have to abide by the rules set in place to protect it." The guardian told him. He waved his hand, creating an image, showing Arata of the battle outside.
Arata gasped when he saw the Grim Lurker and that Daimen and Muraku were barely holding up the barrier. Reika was only stirring up from being knocked out and quickly opened a portal to send Hikaru, Haruki and Mia to safety before helping Muraku and Daimen strengthen the barrier.
"I have to help them!"
"In due time Fire Child." The guardian waved his hand, opening a door to the side of the wall. "But first, prove yourself worthy."
He led a reluctant Arata through the door and Arata had to do a double take. They were on top of a volcano. There was lava flowing everywhere down the mountain and barely any place which was not covered by it.
"What are we doing here?" Arata asked in a small voice.
There was a hint of amusement in the Guardian's voice as he spoke. "I am sure that you would know about this despite not knowing the locations of the Element Stones. Each Stone represents a virtue. And with every selection of a wielder, the Stones will choose the one who is strong in that virtue. I, the Guardian of the Fire Ruby, will test your 'courage' to see if you are worthy of wielding the Fire Ruby."
Arata took in a deep breath. He had to do this. Even if he rejected the test in favor of helping his friends, he knew that he would not last against the Grim Lurker without the Fire Rube. So he nodded his head. "I'll take the test."
The guardian nodded in approval. "Very well. This is the test."
He materialized his staff out of nowhere and tapped it on the ground. Two parts of the ground lighted up in flames and were lifted out. "You will take one of the rocks and race against me down the mountain. If you can beat me, you may take the Fire Ruby with you."
Arata casted him an incredulous look. It was almost impossible for the rocks to last against the lava all the way down the mountain. But he was not going to voice this out against the Guardian. Even so, he was forming an idea of how to keep the lava from melting the rock. He stepped onto the first one and concentrated on lifting it with his telekinesis. The Guardian raised an eyebrow under his hood at that.
"Unexpected, but not forbidden." He stepped onto his rock and lifted it up with heat instead. "The path you wish to take down will not matter as long as you reach the bottom. But you can only travel through the lava."
That made things difficult, but thankfully, he has his plan ready. He took in a deep breath but centered on being calm. It would not do to let his panic and worry for his friends interfere with his concentration with the race.
"Ready…set…Go!"
The Guardian immediately took off while it took Arata a while to catch up. He let out a huff and focused on surrounding the rock with flames without actually touching it while lifting the rock with his telekinesis. It was hard at first but once he had the grasp of it, he managed to get the rock moving without letting the lava touch the rock thanks to the flames while using it to push on with his telekinesis.
"Go!" Arata pushed, slowly catching up to the Guardian.
The Guardian smirked as he watched him. It was creative and ingenious. But that was not the true test. Unexpectedly, he pushed faster and used the only lava path ahead of them to turn around a large rock. Arata was forced to follow him due to it being the only lava path around him.
But upon turning, his eyes caught something white and moving. They became wide when he realized that it was a small rabbit right in the path of a lava path!
"Oh no!" Without a second thought, he jumped off the rock and landed in front of the rabbit. Lighting up his hands on fire, he created streams of fire to push the lava back. But his power was not strong enough to stop it, only slow it down.
Arata gritted his teeth as he felt himself being drained quickly from the effort of slowing down the lava. Unbeknown to him, the rabbit was watching him closely.
When Arata's strength finally gave out and he could no longer stop the lava, he collapsed on his knees, unable to support himself anymore. He squeezed his eyes shut to brace himself for the inevitable doom. Behind him, the rabbit closed its eyes and transformed into the Guardian.
"You have passed the test, Fire Child." The Guardian said softly and snapped his fingers. Instantly, he and Arata were teleported back to the main chambers. Arata slowly opened his eyes and he whipped around to face the Guardian.
"What…You were the rabbit!" He cried out in realization.
"Indeed." The Guardian chuckled. "That was the real test to confirm that you are worthy of being selected to wield the Fire Ruby. And you have passed."
"But…"
"The moment you decided to forfeit the race in order to save an insignificant animal despite knowing that you will fail, you have shown courage. Courage which the Fire Ruby is seeking." The Guardian explained and removed the Fire Ruby from the pedestal. "Bring out your weapon."
Arata frowned in confusion but did as told, summoning out his Fire Staff. The Guardian extended his hand and the Fire Ruby flew towards the fire top of the staff. It glowed and imbedded itself inside the fire top.
"Wow." Arata lowered his staff to have a closer look at it. The Fire Ruby was like any other ruby but it had a flame dancing inside it and he felt the power coming from it.
"It's time for you to go and save your friends." The Guardian reminded him and with a wave of his hand, a hole appeared on the ground before him. "Use the power of the Fire Ruby wisely and remember why it chose you."
"I will. Thank you." Arata nodded and jumped down into the hole.
Outside Uluru, things were going badly for the trio who were trying their best to hold the barrier but it was slowly chipping away. The Grim Lurker on the other hand was barely fazed and continued throwing corrosive ooze at the barrier.
"Is that all you got?" The Grim Lurker sneered. "I was hoping for more of a fight from my meal."
The three were gasping heavily and were relying on sheer willpower to stand despite their apparent exhaustion. At this point, they could barely hold up the barrier.
"We need to get out of here." Daimen said hoarsely to his two companions. "Reika…?"
"No, I don't think I can create another portal anymore. I'm spent." She gasped out. "What we need is Arata and who knows where he is!?"
"Hah! Even if your friend was here, I'll defeat him and eat him up like the pathetic Valorite he is!" The Grim Lurker sneered with an evil laugh.
"Think again!"
The Grim Lurker's head shot up at the voice only to be met with flames raining down on it. It cried out in pain as its own ooze burst into flames and burned it from the inside out.
"Oh, now he chooses to show up." Reika muttered as she, Muraku and Daimen collapsed in relief and allowed the barrier to collapse.
"It was not easy. I had to race down a volcano and slow down lava all so that I can obtain this." Arata grunted, holding up his Fire Staff for them to see.
"The Fire Ruby!?" The Grim Lurker cried out in shock, recognizing said gem imbedded in the top of the staff.
"What…you know what? Never mind." Reika muttered, shaking her head. "It's not out of the ordinary of Arata's mysterious tendency to end up in situations like this."
"Agreed." Daimen mumbled as he fought to keep his eyes open. Creating the barrier in the first place had drained a lot of energy out of him and it was only because Muraku and Reika were helping him hold it up that it did not collapse earlier. Even Muraku and Reika could not stay conscious for long but the curiosity of how Arata will fare against the Grim Lurker with the Fire Ruby overrode that for the time being.
"You will pay for that!" The Grim Lurker roared when it managed to douse the flames.
"We shall see." Arata said in a calm yet deadly tone. Using his staff, he batted away the balls of ooze sent his way back at the Grim Lurker. He ignited a fireball and threw it at one of the ooze balls and it exploded, sending the Grim Lurker skidding back.
"I'm not done yet!"
"Funny, I was thinking the opposite." Arata let out a predatory smirk which those who knew him very well knew that it meant a very painful session for the one on the receiving end of his wrath. Arata slid on the ground to get close to the Grim Lurker while avoiding the incoming ooze. He used the staff's hidden dagger to stab the Grim Lurker's underside. It howled in pain for the dagger became ignited by the Fire Ruby. The Grim Lurker's shrieks were the last Arata heard from it as he ran back to the group to avoid the explosion that was sure to come.
"Everyone get down!"
Reika let out a tired sigh and mustered the last of her strength to create a bubble which absorbed most of the heat and impact of the explosion. When it was over, she tiredly collapsed.
"Thanks Reika." Muraku managed to get out before he and Daimen also slumped back against the mountain wall unconscious.
Arata wordlessly retrieved the dagger and Fire Ruby. He was too tired to even help them get away. He was already badly exhausted from the test and now he was positively drained. He collapsed beside Daimen, holding Reika close to him. Unable to remain awake anymore, he figured he would rest first before trying to get them back to wherever Reika sent off Hikaru, Haruki and Mia to. The last thing he remembered before allowing his tiredness to overcome him was engines roaring in the distant.