Ara
"How does it feel, Ara?" The Spire sat across a long table engraved with gold and silver, opposite to Ara. They were the only two in the room.
"For me, nothing has changed." Ara put her ego in the sleeve of her shirt. "This is only the beginning."
"Good. Good." The Spire stood up, and walked towards her. "For your first task I need you join the effort to bring me the deserter, Dorin, dead or alive."
Ara bristled when she heard his name. 'I knew Dorin was an idiot, but I didn't think he'd run away from his duty.'
"Will that be a problem?"
"Of course not. That was going to be the first thing I did when I had the chance anyway."
"You're just like I imagined. Go through your initial training with Ranell first." The Spire opened the door and gestured for her to leave. "Don't come to see me again until you return with Dorin."
"Yes, Spire."
Ara left the Spire's chambers and joined the remaining members of the group under a night sky. They were just outside of the colosseum with their bidders, Ranell and Tordi. Ranell only bid on her and Kari.
"It's just you and me, Ara." Ranell walked in front of the group. "From what I hear, your friend won't be joining us for quite a while."
'She's not my friend.' Ara had known Kari since they were children, but they had never gotten along. Ara had always wanted to join the boys in their war games, but Kari just wanted to talk about them.
"This is where we part, Ranell." Tordi had been trying to get Ranell's attention as they walked, but she ignored him the entire time. "May we meet again soon."
"Hopefully not for another year, Tordi." Ranell said under her breath to Ara.
Ara grinned, she had no idea how such a fat man became a spark.
The rest of the group gave her a glance, but none of them said anything as they left with Tordi. Ara wondered if Lonn, Kari, or Dorin would have wished her good luck if they were here. 'Probably not.'
"Come along now, baby spark." Ranell's voice pulled Ara out of her head. "We have a lot to go over before you can leave Tur."
Ara felt a spark of rage flow through her body, but it passed quickly. She didn't like nicknames, or being called things that were weak.
The two of them walked passed continually nicer homes, until finally they arrived at a lake with a large house in the very center. It seemed to move with the waves, floating atop the water.
"Ara, meet my ego." Ranell put her arm in the water, and when she brought it back up, the back of an aquatic creature rose to the surface. "Its taken the form of a winged ray."
Ara had never seen such a creature, not to mention that it must've been at least the size of Ranell's house. "What do you mean, ego?"
"It's generally forbidden to manifest your ego as a beast, but since it will only ever live in this lake I felt it was safe." Ranell stepped onto the ray's back, and gestured for Ara to join her.
Ara rolled her ego out of her sleeve as they rode on the winged ray, and imagined what form it would take if it was a beast. Her five-sided ego was blindingly white, to the point of reflecting any light that touched it. It seemed very plain to her, but she had yet to test its power.
The winged ray was faster than it looked, and Ara had to rely on Ranell to hold her steady. Ara had never ridden on the back of a beast before, it felt as though she was giving up control to someone else, and that wasn't a pleasant feeling.
"Good boy." Ranell patted the head of her ego as they stepped onto the porch of her home. "There are wooden stilts underneath that keep my home above the water. I find that its easier to connect to my ego if I live as close to it as possible."
"Why would you even want such a thing?" Ara didn't understand, especially since the beast would be completely useless above water.
Ranell entered her home without responding. Ara followed after watching the ray dive down into the water.
"So far, you have probably only seen egos manifest into weapons." Ranell rolled the die she used in the competition, and a single strand of water manifested a dagger in her hand. "But there are other options, some that I probably don't even know of."
"Even though all that your ego can do right now is manifest its power through rolling a number, it is still a blank slate." Ranell allowed the dagger to turn back into a die. "For example, if that was a regular dagger and you touched it with your ego, then it would have been bound to that form and combined with your will."
"What do you mean, my will?"
"An ego is the physical embodiment of your desire, often a singular emotion that drives most of your choices."
Ara contemplated that for a moment and brought out her own ego. "I feel like my ego doesn't match anything about myself."
Ranell laughed. "Of course not, Ara. This ego was made with the desire of your ancestors. If I had to guess, they were apathetic, or maybe even had a certain mirrored empathy."
'My ancestors. . .' Ara had seen a female face in the pages of her ancestral book. It seemed to mirror Ara's reaction when she saw her face.
"As you connect with your ego, it will evolve to fit your desires." Ranell pulled her hair back from her neck, to reveal the image of two waves crashing together. "Generally your ancestral ego will be your strongest, because it holds your desires as well as those of your parents, or grandparents, maybe even both at the same time."
"As for your question about why I would want my ego to manifest as a beast, let me show you." Ranell took most of her clothes off, leaving her belongings on the front porch. She then dove into the water.
Ara dropped to her knees and stretched her head over the dark water. Ara couldn't keep track of her, the only clues she got were from the waves that were generated from her movement. The frantic movement in the water made Ara think something was wrong.
Ara felt like she needed to dive in to save her but before she could, two large shapes jumped out of the water. Ara saw a winged ray chasing a humongous fish out of the water. Suddenly another ray came from the other direction and the two of them smashed into the fish from opposite sides, tearing it in two as they dove back into deep.
A hand struck the lip of the porch, startling Ara into the wall of the house. "A little help?" Ranell's head rose above the water.
Ara rushed over, pulling her up with all her strength but she wouldn't budge. "How heavy are you?"
"W-What?" Ranell seemed hurt as her body was nudged onto the porch by the winged ray that brought them here. In her other hand was one of the halves of that huge fish. "That's why."