Kitharsis is aware of Kalana running next to him, but part of him refuses to acknowledge her. As he lands in the midst of a group of cultists they are torn to shreds as the dark and crimson sphere grinds them to nothing. He swipes at them, jabbing and kicking, but he never reaches them as they flee or are destroyed by the sphere before he could hit them. His hands crave destruction. Watching his enemies disintegrate in front him, unable to meet the fury of his fists, only angers and frustrates him more, fueling the sphere with more dark energy. This also pumps more of the same dark energy out of his tattoos, which somehow affects his hold on reality.

Kalana shoves herself into his mind, trying to speak some words of reason to him. But his mind is mimicking the dark sphere surrounding his body. It is in turmoil. His sense of reason is clashing with a darkness that is infecting his mind. If he were to have some help fighting this darkness, what is left of his mind might be able to overpower the invading darkness.

There is also something else poking around in his mind. The shadow of another presence hides in a dark corner of his mind, you almost couldn’t find it if you weren’t an experienced psycher. The source of this other presence cannot be found...

There is a slight lull in the twisting battle of his wits, and in that split second Kitharsis pleas to Kalana’s presence for help.

Kitharsis's three remaining skeletons sprint over to where Kalana and Kitharsis are standing. Kitharsis has turned and is now facing Kalana, staring at her from behind the sphere.

He feels her enter his mind, and immediately he feels like the sun has just risen after a chilly desert night. He can almost feel the sand soak up the heat of the sun and warm the desert around him... This mental image calms what sensible parts of his mind that was left. Kalana cannot see this vision, it is kept somewhere deep and dark in his mind. And in the state that it is in now, it would be impossible to find.

The invading darkness starts to recede back... to where it is going is not apparent. The shadow in the corner, where the other presence was residing, sinks away as his mind is brought back into the light.

The sphere surrounding him starts to falter, with no more dark energy flowing from his tattoos to support it, its strength is waning.

Kitharsis closes his eyes and exhales. The horrid burning is starting to cease, the bloodlust that was clouding his vision is receding.

The vision of a sunrise that had formed in his head continues. Shadows of cacti and stray weeds shrink as the sun continues to rise. Kitharsis stands in the middle of the desert, shielding his eyes as he looks up at the sun. His shadow was the largest of all, yet it was not receding like the rest. It seemed to stand defiant of the light from the sun.

Kalana can feel Kitharsis start to push against the darkness along with her, more of him is able to regain control. The space inside his mind is so bright, the darkness that they are fighting against is like a blot of ink on a white canvas that was slowly shrinking, being overwhelmed by the white.

The sun was directly above him, high noon. No shadows were being cast by anything around him. No darkness spoiled the surface of the desert except his own...

Turning around, now facing his shadow, Kitharsis crosses his arms and stares down at it. The gray shadow mimics him, crossing its arms as well. It shakes its head at him, knowing what is coming.

Raising his right arm, Kitharsis pumps pure white energy into the tattoos sprawling all over it. They glow fiercely, strands of light scrawl out through the air behind him and into the air. Raising his arm higher, he pushes with all of his might and slams his fist down onto his shadow lying on the ground before him. An eruption of sand and scrawling white strands of light follows, engulfing the surrounding area.

As the sand falls back to the ground and the echos of the explosion begin to fade, Kitharsis looks down at the empty desert with a small grin tugging at the side of his lip. It was over...

But what he did not see, was the faint shadow standing behind him, laughing to itself.

The vision of the desert fades away, and the sphere surrounding him unravels and swirls down into the ground, leaving this plane of existence.

Kitharsis almost collapses as his adrenaline leaves him and the ravages of the experience all crash down on his body at once.

“I can damn well accomplish that on my own!” Kitharsis shouts over the noise of the chaos around him at the already running Kalana. He was kneeling down on one knee, holding his upper body up with a palm planted firmly on the asphalt below him.

His skeletons glance up at the grumpy Kitharsis, then spread out and form a small triangle around him, trying to protect him. “I said I could manage on my own!” He yells at them as he stands up on wobbly legs. It was quite the sight to see, an eight foot tall warrior that weighed at least a ton, looking like an infant testing out its legs for the first time.

With a smile on his face admitting to the ridiculousness of his condition, he starts to walk after Kalana and the mysterious gunslinger, he thought he was named Diego or something…

As his legs start to remember their strength, his walk quickens to a jog, then to a long stride. His skeletons keep the triangle formation around him, the four foot warrior running up ahead with the two mages pumping their tiny little legs as quick as they can to bring up the rear.

I’ve lost my bag of sand; I have no useable energy left in my body… None that I would dare use anyway… And my body is so exhausted that one of my mages could kick the tar out of me… Hopefully those creatures don’t set their sights on me any time soon…

He was barely sprinting, but it was as fast as he could go in his condition. He was still behind the others, but he did not want to be separated from them.