"I can't just leave him behind."
"You've done everything you can for him, he won't be safe with us. The water will help him more than anything else ever could."
Dorin watched as Morah walked deeper into the river . "It's not as fast as before, more like a calm stream. No doubt another ploy of this world."
Dorin contemplated for a moment before leaving Rae in the shallows. He joined Morah, but his mind was still full of questions unanswered. 'Why wouldn't you look at me."
"We need to go downstream, hopefully it will take us closer to our goal." Morah turned back towards him, her head the only thing above the water.
Dorin let his mind wander as the two of them floated along the river. Various emotions touched him, but none were strong enough to summon his ego. The sight of the burns on Rae's skin kept flashing through his mind. Lonn's face was next, and he felt a pulse from his left hand.
'Found it.' He thought of everything that had happened today, and how it was twisted against him in the trial. It only took a few moments before he gripped the die in his hand once more.
Water gushed into his ego, creating shaky waves which pushed them around.
"What was that?" Morah said as she spun around to stay afloat.
Dorin held up his ego, which the river clung onto, creating a little hill of water around his arm.
"I've never seen a baby ego latch onto a natural source like this. I can only hope that this'll help you against Lonn."
Dorin didn't like the thought of facing Lonn as it had never turned out well in the past. The fact that he now had an ego that set things aflame wasn't helping.
The two of them floated into the night. Dorin thought of home, and felt a curious pull from his ego, but it slipped out of his grasp.
"I haven't done something like this in a long time." Morah's voice trailed off. They floated in silence until the sun came up.
The river quickened, and they could no longer float safely on its surface.
A wave hit Morah from behind, and it took a moment for her to resurface. "Okay, we need to figure out how to get out of here. Now."
Dorin focused on the rushing water, how it reminded him of the mouth of the lake back home and something was different. He called to his ego with this feeling in mind, and the speed of the current stabilized.
"Whatever you're doing, keep it up."
"I don't think I can do anything more than keep it at bay."
"We don't need anything more than that. The further it takes us, the better."
Trying to keep a hold of his ego was the hardest part as it followed the rush of the river. Eventually it settled, and as he moved the hand holding his ego the current seemed to follow along.
'Let me go.' Startled by the voice, Dorin looked at Morah, who was floating without any worry. It reminded him of the end of his dream.
'Let me go.' Dorin felt the words pulse through his body, originating from his mark. He decided that it must be his ego, and let it drop to the bottom of the river.
A tower of water exploded from the surface, leaving the number three in the air for a moment. The empty space that was left behind turned into a spiral, which pulled them towards its center. There was a shallow space where a bright liquid was channeling into his ego.
After a few seconds the spiral pulled them into those shallows, leaving the two of them gasping for air.
"Wow." Dorin said as the river rapidly circled around them.
Morah put her hand into the rushing water that seemed to avoid them, but quickly pulled back when it sprayed into her face. "Showoff."