41 Army

Dorin gobbled up his ego as him and Jax rushed away from a mob of ocean creatures. Even a sharp pain from behind didn't stop him from swimming as fast as he could.

A large claw from a similar creature to what they had just devoured was pinching his tail, making it harder to swim. Jax bit down on the crustacean, and Dorin felt relief as he heard the crunch of its shell between his teeth.

Dorin had hoped that taking his ego out of sight would have stopped their chase, but they simply targeted him instead. 'What can they even do with an ego?'

As they neared the shore, Dorin knew that he only had one option. He ordered Jax to leave him behind, and prepared to beach himself. 

Most of the creatures were too large to follow him, but Dorin was sure by now that he had angered the ocean crustaceans as they were the majority that didn't quit their hunt. Claws clacked together with a horrifying glee, making Dorin quiver.

Dorin rose to the surface under a hot afternoon sun and tried to take a breath of fresh air only to feel a gentle suffocation. His body began to change back, and he quickly went from swimming with fins to his arms and legs. 

Spitting out his ego, Dorin prepared to battle the army of crustaceans. He dropped it in the water, and three dark stars twisted around his body. They formed a forked spear with two blades. 

Dorin didn't have time to study his weapon further, as the first wave converged on his position. Dorin readied his two prongs as he turned around to face the crustaceans, taking consistent steps back to shore at the same time. He didn't know if they would be able to follow him onto true land, but eventually he would be overrun if he stayed in the water.

With a solid thrust Dorin caught the first attacker, one of the blades was pincered in the creature's claw, but the other managed to pierce through its body. Just as the dying creature left his blade, two more of them started to nip at his heels. 

Dorin activated his vital sight, and the ocean turned red. 

'I can't keep fighting.'

Dorin didn't want to run away again, the urge to stand his ground took up a large part of his mind. That part of him only saw the army as a meal, but he knew that it would end up the other way if he didn't get out of the water.

Dorin swiped his spear along the water's surface, throwing the two attackers back into the deep. He abandoned his position and began to run with all his heart, occasionally striking anything that got too close. There were a few detached claws hanging onto his ego, weighing it down slightly.

Once Dorin reached the shore he broke out into a full sprint, hoping that he would be able to reach some cover before being spotted. He had no way of knowing if he was still being chased.

Eventually Dorin found a small bundle of trees, and he readied to battle against the remaining army. Less than half of them continued to chase him, but he counted at least fifty among their ranks.

A strange sensation covered Dorin's hands, and he watched as a black sludge devoured the detached claws that were clamped down on his weapon. The sludge dropped to the floor, and a black crustacean as tall as his knee stood in front of him. 

The creature skittered left and right as Dorin's mind came to terms with what just happened. 

'Never done that before.'

The trees made a small opening where Dorin and the creature made their stand. The crustaceans now covered the beach, crawling over each other to get to them. A sea of fiery red auras tumbled like waves towards the two of them. 

Dorin thought back to his fights with Ara, and the way that she wielded her own spear. He had never been able to get close unless he caught her off-guard or allowed her to pierce him first. Her stance had burned into his mind from every death, and now it may be the only way that he would be able to survive.

The wave crashed against them, and Dorin lost sight of his new friend. He was too busy beating back the army to watch out for them. 

With every thrust, every swipe of his spear, more of the crustaceans were able to grab on to his weapon. All Dorin could do was continue swinging, even when he could barely lift the spear. He was forced to build up momentum to move it at all, as there were a dozen creatures hanging off of his weapon. Dorin crushed a few of them by hitting them against a tree, but that gave a chance for the other crustaceans to close in. 

Another black minion was created from sludge devouring the corpses he had crushed, just in time to lock up the few crustaceans that were about to clamp down on Dorin's leg.

Even with the two helpers, Dorin was still being overrun. He looked up at the trees surrounded them, and there were creatures climbing up. One-by-one they began to jump down towards him.

'This is the end. Swarmed by the insects of the sea.'

Dorin batted most of them out of the sky, but one managed to get through, and he felt a claw tear through his side. The pain would have knocked him out if he hadn't felt the pain of dying nine times over. With a single stab the attacker's shell was crushed, but its claw was still stuck on his side. 

Suddenly a dark shape trampled over the sea of crustaceans, creating a path towards Dorin. The now setting sun glinted off of what Dorin assumed were horns, or antlers. The shape stopped right in front of him, before turning around and beginning to stomp on every shell in sight.

"Eki?"