Boboiboy L/S: A Loophole in Time (BOOK 2)

Flaming River of Lava

After taking only a few steps inside, he heard the rumbling of stone and the passageway was plunged into darkness. He walked clumsily with his hand held out in front of him, hoping all the time he was going the right way. His footsteps echoed loudly in his ears and other than that, there was nothing else than his nervous, ragged breathing.

Then he collided with something hard. He felt around the thing to realise that it ran the length of everywhere he dared to reach. It must be a wall. But surely he can't be trapped in this place right? Somehow, his guts told him that this confined space is really small. And he didn't like it. At all. 

He lit his hand on fire to look about properly. Apparently, his guts was right and wrong. He was in a small space but not confined. This curved but narrow passageway seems to stretch for miles. He wondered whether this was another test. Holding the fire further, he tried looking around for ways leading off the passageway, any sign of light beyond, when he saw an opening close by, which was glowing with light from the outside. What he needed was a way out, so he straight away pelted through the doorway to burst into sunlight again. 

Her shirt torn here and there with deep gashes across her skin, Ying stood being healed by none other than Astor. Fang was the most unharmed here, and he grinned as Boboiboy approached them, feeling a wave of heat sweeping over him at the same time, as though he had just ran into a sauna. 

"I solved the puzzle just now, apparently the answer was mine." Fang said smugly, answering Boboiboy's unasked question.

"Luckily you did. I was about to be drowned alive by a wave of lava!" 

"At least you didn't get entangled in ivies." Ying sighed, as Astor ran a glowing green hand across her arm, sealing all the scratches.

"I think it was a close call." Astor nodded, turning away from Ying. 

"Yeah, well, it really was." Boboiboy agreed, not wanting to go into detail how another two seconds later that the lava would've scorched him, and he was sure he wouldn't even be standing here if it. 

"That was just test one, guys!" Fang barked. "Now, get ready for test two."

Then Boboiboy just noticed the source of the heat. Not far from him, across a large and tall gap between here and the opposite land, was a boiling river made of actual molten lava. It was curved just like the stone passageway too, the other end not to be seen, so that there was no way a person could simply walk to the other side. Which, Boboiboy tried to estimate, was half a kilometer away.

"How are we supposed to cross that?" Boboiboy asked, terrified. He had not forgotten how the lava previously were going to drown him in their scorching wake.

"Ladies first." Fang said, giving a little bow to Ying.

"Gee, thanks." Ying rolled her eyes.

She ran and hopped onto a narrow landing of a rock as tall as the pit itself. Then she proceeded to do the same with the other pillars scattered around the river until she had reached opposite land.

Fang did next. He shadow-fused with his shadow eagle and flew right across the river, landing right next to Ying. 

"Alright, Boboiboy?" Astor asked him in a motherly voice.

"I can do this." Boboiboy nodded, though he felt quite anxious. The lava did not seem friendly at all, and the heat licking his face was making him slightly sick.

"Know you can." Astor winked. He summoned his mint green shield and hopped onto it, riding it like a hoverboard to the other side.

Now it was Boboiboy's turn. His stomach churned uncomfortably as he stared down at the bubbling lava. He was afraid that his blurred mind might as well be the reason of his death. 

"We'll catch you if you fall, Boboiboy!" Ying shouted, making an impression of catching something.

They weren't going to wait for him forever, yet he had half a mind he did not want to do this and want to walk back through the maze and never come back. But taking one deep breath, Boboiboy's red stripe on his shaggy pants pulsed, and he changed into Thunderstorm form. 

"Lightning speed!"

He zapped as quickly as he can onto each of the rock pillars, touching down as light as a feather, his stomach loosing feeling for every millisecond in between each jump. Just one last one, he told himself, and it would be all over. The heat was over consuming now, sticky sweat was trickling down his face and back, and he was panting as though he had ran a marathon. Meanwhile, not much than ten meters from him, his friends were screaming support. 

He took one small step backwards, and leaped as far as he could, his hand outstretched to reach the cliff, but he was too low. His eyes widened at the sight of the bubbling lava below him, a human falling into its depths at last, when several pairs of warm hands grabbed his arm. 

"Hold on there, Boboiboy, we got you!" Astor said through gritted teeth. 

Together, Astor, Fang and Ying heaved Boboiboy up. All of them were panting heavily then, sprawled across the grassy floor.

"That was so close." Astor sighed, getting up on his feet.

Ying meanwhile was frowning as she brushed her clothes of dirt. "I guess that's as easy as this test is going to be. Prepare yourselves for the next one!" 

Fang groaned. "How many tests are there anyways."

"I guess we'll know sooner or later." Boboiboy said curtly.

And they went into a doorway that led into another long, dark and curved stone passageway, but emerged on the other side quite faster than before into a dimly lit chamber.