Flame

The inside of Muata's home was very warm, the walls were lined with the same fur as his robe. Dorin tended the fire as Muata cooked dinner for them. 

"The competition for the spark must be going on right now." Muata placed two bowls onto the table, and gestured for him to sit down. "I've seen a couple dozen, but after a while watching kids fight gets old."

Dorin was tempted to ask him about it, but he knew that information was supposed to be a secret for when he came of age. He sat on his left hand as he ate. 

"You don't seem scared of it at all." Muata spoke with his mouth full. "Tough kid, eh."

"Fear won't help me." Dorin kept his eyes low.

"Well you would be right to be scared. I definitely was." Muata raised his arm to reveal the mark of a crescent moon. "But I was also lucky."

"You're a spark!" Dorin jumped from his seat, faking excitement.

"Yes, yes. To be more accurate, a flame. Don't be so surprised or I'll take it personally." 

"What are you doing here then?"

Muata slurped up the rest of his stew and set the bowl on the table. "Living my life, free of duty to the Spire." 

Dorin looked at him with confusion.

"Being a spark ain't everything in life, kid." Muata brought out a coin, and rolled it towards Dorin. 

For the first time since his first life, he felt a pull from his left hand. The coin wobbled, and started turning towards his left side, but Dorin quickly grabbed it with his right. 

"Is this your ego?" Dorin ran towards the fire with the coin in-hand to get a better look. 

Muata didn't answer for a moment. ". . . Yes. One of them, at least."

"Wow." Dorin put it up to the light and he saw a circle on one side, and nothing at all on the other. "It's. . . not as cool as I thought it would be."

A wheezing laughter ensued from behind Dorin. "Are you okay?" Muata had fallen to the floor. 

"Things are not always as they seem." Muata climbed back into his seat with a groan and looked him directly in the eye. "There are two ways to go as a spark. The first way is to consolidate your power so that no matter what happens you get a good outcome. This is what I chose to do. The other way is to expand outwards with no specific direction, and leave it all to luck."

Dorin contemplated that for a moment. The second way was definitely his ego. He wondered what direction the sparks during the tournament were going for. Lonn had a six-sided die, Tordi and Jerl had a five-sided die, and Ranell had a four.

"Even if you become a spark, it'll be a while before you can actually choose a path." Muata took the bowls and put them on a small pile of other dishes. "I was only able compress this one into a coin in the past decade."

"What if you chose the other direction?" Dorin hoped to gain some information of his own ego. 

"I have never met anyone who chose that direction willingly, but the pinnacle of such an ego would be a ten-sided die." 

"That sounds awesome! Just like the ones we play with." Dorin held the coin in his hand, ready to transfer it to his left if the need arose. 'Just in case.'

"It is said that an ego that reaches ten-sides gains an unfathomable power." Muata started walking towards Dorin. "Even immortality isn't out of the question."

Dorin flipped the coin and acted like he was having fun.

Muata stopped and sighed. "Hang on to it if you want, I have no need for it tonight."

. . .

Dorin continued to flip the coin as the night deepened, every so often he raised his left hand towards it to test the magnetism. Just before it would swerve to enter his left hand, he grabbed it with his right.

Knock Knock . . . Knock Knock

"What is that?" Muata groaned as he got up from his small cot.

Knock Knock

"Hello?" An unfamiliar female voice came from behind the door. 

Muata looked to Dorin before opening the door. Dorin felt a jolt go through his body, and even though he remained flipping the coin, he was preparing to run.

"It is way too late for anyone to be coming to my door." Muata tapped his foot.

"Sorry, elder." Suddenly Dorin knew who it was. Morah. "I came to tell you that we have a task for you."

"Get on with it." Dorin tiptoed towards the backdoor as Muata spoke. 

"We have a missing candidate, and we would give you what you've been asking for if you found him."

"Ah. I see." Muata went silent for a moment, Dorin was a single step from the back door. "He's here."

Dorin immediately put Muata's ego into his left hand, and an explosion went off with him at the center.