Once Dorin entered the square, he felt as though he was falling with nothing to grab onto.
A splash confirmed this feeling as he struggled to rise to the surface of whatever body of water he had landed in. The current pushed him straight into the bottom, slamming him into the rocks below.
As panic began to sink in, Dorin steeled himself as he hugged a large rock under the water. He felt around with his hands, trying to find a solid foothold to push off from. Putting his feet on the rock, he used as much force as he could muster and jumped off, swimming upwards as fast as he could.
Dorin felt something grab onto his arm, almost pulling it out of the socket as water came rushing past him, until he felt a frigid breeze on his skin.
"What took you so long?" Morah said, tossing Dorin onto the ground. "Time is different here, it's already been an hour since I arrived."
Dorin coughed furiously, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. "How?"
"This place is a separate world, created from the ego of the Spire to empower sparks like you. One has to be powerful enough to create a world to become a Spire." Morah looked to the dark clouds growing in the sky. "Luckily he's not so powerful that he can control it."
Dorin's brain could barely comprehend such a thing with the events of the day still on his mind. He wanted to see Rae again.
"Come with me."
Dorin wringed the water out of his clothes as he hobbled in Morah's direction. He looked back at the raging river behind him, he could still remember the feeling of its strength.
In front of them lay twisted trees, lush with red fruit. Dorin made a move to take one but Morah slapped his hand away.
Dorin clutched his hand. 'She's much stronger than she seems.'
"Feed it to your ego first."
"What do you mean?"
"How do you think I conjured that sword?" Morah looked at him, confused. "You must have never seen an ego before today."
Dorin felt like his mind was going to burst. Of course he had seen an ego turn into a weapon, but he had never heard of them needing to be fed. "Can't we just hunker down for a night, do the... uh.... feed it the fruit when I'm dry-"
Before Dorin could finish, Morah walked up to him and tore his shirt off. "Your tattered clothes are the only thing keeping you wet, and I doubt they were of much comfort to begin with. You will dry much faster if you take your pants off too, but I doubt there's anything under there so you will have to suffer if you want any more of my help."
Teeth chattering, stomach rumbling, and goosebumps aplenty, Dorin continued to follow Morah through the tangled forest. His bruises had healed faster than he thought possible, but the energy he felt at the beginning was gone. Scratches replaced them from the branches and brush he passed while shirtless.
Morah sat on a stump, scaring away a flock of small birds which were pecking at fruit that had dropped to the forest floor. "Okay, we're deep enough now."
Dorin dropped to the ground and nearly passed out before he felt the sharp pain of her foot in his side.
"I never said we'd have time to rest."
"Ugh."
"Sit if you must, but since I don't have my ego, we need to start feeding yours as soon as possible."
That word confused Dorin, he felt as though it was more important to feed himself than an inanimate object. 'Maybe I should make a getaway. With all this fruit I could survive forever.'
"Here." Morah threw a piece of fruit, hitting Dorin square in the nose. "Press your ego against the fruit and it will absorb it."
Dorin squinted at her with disbelief, before attempting to summon his ego. After a couple fruitless minutes of clenching different parts of his body, he exhaled loudly. "How am I supposed to do this if I can't even get it out of my hand?"
"You need to channel your emotions. What are you feeling?"
"Hunger."
"That's all you need."
Closing his eyes, Dorin focused on the yearning howls of his stomach. It sharpened his instincts, and all he could think of was the fruit that lay in front of him. After a few seconds, he felt the familiar edges of the die in the palm of his hand. He pressed it against the fruit and the dark manifestation of his ego overtook it quickly, leaving nothing behind.