Ara
"Where is the deserter?"
Ara looked up at a man and two women, the new gate guardians of Tur. The morning sun shone directly in their faces.
"We've been told not to let you back in with empty hands."
"I have information."
"Tell it to us, and we'll pass it along." Ara heard the man snickering as one of the women spoke down to her.
Ara returned her weapon into its form of a die, and let it merge into her palm. A warmth spread through her body, filling her limbs with strength as she jumped onto the city walls which stood at four times her height.
"H- Hey now," The guards drew their weapons, backing away from Ara. "We're merely replacements. We're only doing what we were told."
"I know." Ara walked forwards to the inner side of the wall, and the three of them made way for her with their weapons still pointed at her.
Ara gave them each a glance before jumping down to the city. There were a few people who looked at her with shock, but they scurried away soon after.
The joy that Ara felt when she left the city before was gone, and a sense of despair had replaced it. There were people chained to walls with their faces covered. Ara didn't know if they were alive, but none of them were marked.
'I've only been gone for a day and a half . . .'
Eventually she found her way back to Ranell's lake and called for her. The lake was covered with dead sea-life, but Ara couldn't see anything similar to the Ranell's ego.
"She went to join you, child." The voice of the Spire came from behind Ara. "I'm surprised you returned so soon, and that you two didn't meet in the middle."
Ara turned around, and the Spire was in his white robe. He was looking down at her with his chin raised. "I found the deserter."
"And?"
"I was defeated, Spire."
. . .
Dorin
The morning sun felt good on Dorin's wet skin. Swimming through the ocean with Jax was a much different experience compared to when he had taken on Anya's form.
Flying was exhilarating, but in the last several hours he had become immersed in a whole new world. The variety of life under the water surprised him. Most interesting of all were shelled creatures with claws that had auras ranging all over the place, what he assumed were large crawfish.
The two of them hunted the coastline for most of the day, engorging himself on the seafood available. The feeling of his devouring everything in sight empowered Dorin, the feeling of an apex predator. They had grown much bigger in just one night, and Jax's red aura had grown brighter.
Their added size forced them to venture further into the ocean for food, for fear of beaching. The ocean life changed drastically the deeper they got, and red auras were now everywhere. Everything had the potential to kill.
There were varying types of predatory ocean life, they had maws like a shark, beaks, claws, fangs, and even sharp pointed mouths that sucked other fish dry. Part of Dorin itched to fight against such beasts, as they might be a enough for Jax to give his ego back.
Even the slow moving creatures at the ocean's floor were dangerous, as he watched what he thought was a slug rushed out to pierce through an entire fish with what looked like his tongue.
Dorin noticed something something in the distance, and him and Jax swam towards it.
'What is that?'
A dark shape grew in the distance, and Dorin immediately started turning around. A gigantic black mouth had opened and was sucking in everything around it. It had taken up an entire side of the coastline, not letting anything get past it without being devoured. It was the first black aura he had seen.
The creature was the embodiment of endless hunger. His body vibrated to that feeling, and he felt a sense of enlightenment to his own desires.
'Devour indiscriminately, until there is only prey.'
Jax was still as he was slowly pulled towards the beast. Dorin had to give him a command to wake him up, and the two of them went in the opposite direction for the rest of the day.
Dorin noticed that despite the vast amount of life in the ocean, once you got to a certain point away from the shore there was nothing. As if there was a boundary that nothing would cross.
Curious, the two of them wandered deeper into the ocean until they bumped into what seemed to be a wall. Jax sent him a sense of confusion as Dorin continued to bash his shark face into the wall.
'No way.'