Staring back at me from within the depths of my mind was…me. But it wasn’t quite me. This version vibrated, a barely-contained storm of psychic energy that nearly blurred its shape. Its eyes glowed fiercely, almost feverishly, and its hair whipped wildly. Its arms swayed back and forth, vibrating, always in motion. Then it reached forward, a hand stretching toward me.

The moment it touched me, everything turned red. A surge of psychic energy exploded within me, roaring through every nerve, overtaking every thought. I felt my grip on my own mind slipping as the Berserker’s Mindlash consumed me, hijacking my senses. Every cell in my body pulsed with rage, amplifying my strength and feeding my telekinetic power into a whirlwind of uncontrollable fury.

The dual-sais warrior charged at me, his crystalline armor glinting as he closed in, swift and silent. I focused all my energy and sent him flying back with a violent telekinetic shove, his armored form crashing against the far wall with a thunderous impact. But he wasn’t down. He pushed himself up slowly, his body rising with eerie determination, and started toward me again.

A scream of pure fury erupted from my throat, and I charged forward, launching debris from all around the room with every step. The first projectile—a massive chunk of the wall—hurtled toward him, but he deflected it with his sais, smashing it aside in an explosion of stone and dust.

Undeterred, I seized an abandoned weapon from the floor and sent it whirling toward him like a spear. It sliced close enough to graze his helmet, but he dodged at the last second, his movements fluid and precise.

With a burst of telekinetic energy, I lifted a zombie corpse and hurled it at him. This time, it hit its mark, colliding with his chest and knocking him back several paces. The warrior stumbled, his balance broken.

I didn’t let up. I sent everything I could reach—broken stone, shattered weapons, even scraps of twisted armor—hurtling toward him in a relentless barrage. Piece after piece slammed into him, each impact driving him further back. The air around him thickened with the swirling chaos of my assault, the debris pummeling him mercilessly until he collapsed under the relentless onslaught.

When the dust settled, he lay still, the shards of his once-imposing armor scattered around him. Whether dead or merely defeated, he was out of the fight.

I turned my focus towards the crystal, that dark, pulsating core that seemed to feed the warriors, strengthening them with its vile energy. I could feel it reaching out to me, taunting me, its malevolence calling to something primal and furious inside. It had to go.

I charged forward, both weapons crackling with psychic energy as I swung them down onto the crystal. The first blows landed with a dull, unyielding thud. The crystal resisted, the surface smooth and unwavering, but beneath that immovable shell, I felt it give—a tremor, a hairline surrender under the assault of my rage. I raised my arms again and struck harder, letting the full weight of my fury pour into the blow.

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The second hit shattered that stubborn surface; fractures began to spider-web across the crystal, a sickly black light seeping through each crack, pulsing like a wounded heartbeat. Just as I raised my axe for another strike, one of the bodies on the floor surged up at me, and without thinking, I sent it flying backward with a psychic shove. A fleeting, horrible doubt surfaced in my mind—had that been Elyria? Or one of the warriors? Or just another zombie? My vision blurred with the thought, but the Berserker in me pushed it aside, driven only by the need to destroy this cursed thing.

I roared and struck the crystal again, sending another shockwave through the room. This time the surface gave way entirely, the black light exploding outward as the crystal shattered, pieces scattering like shrapnel. Maya was blown off her feet, her body flung back by the force, and I saw shards of the crystal embed themselves into her skin. She crumpled to the ground, her face blank with shock, her eyes fixed on me as though she didn’t recognize me.

I stumbled, the psychic energy within me suddenly spent, my vision clearing just in time to see the zombies shimmer with the fading dark energy of the crystal. They stilled, their aggression draining away, leaving only blank, dead-eyed stares. One by one, they turned and began retreating, shambling back into the shadows.

But they weren’t alone. They had Maya in tow.

She didn’t struggle or fight. She simply stared at me as they dragged her back, her eyes glassy, her expression vacant.

“Maya!” I screamed, lunging forward, but my voice only echoed uselessly in the hollow silence of the chamber. She disappeared with the horde, her face the last thing I saw before the darkness swallowed her whole.

Elyria appeared at my side, her hand gripping my shoulder as she helped me to my feet. My vision still swam from the aftershock of the Mindlash, but the warmth of her touch was comforting. She wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace, and I felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

We stood there for a brief moment, surrounded by the settling debris, while I struggled to absorb everything that had happened. I couldn’t shake the image of Maya’s blank stare, her vacant expression as the zombies had dragged her away. Guilt twisted in my gut, but Elyria’s presence held it at bay for now. I’d finally found her, and she was here, safe.

But there wasn’t time to linger.

The silence around us thickened, but something else was shifting too. The air lightened, as though an invisible weight had lifted. The oppressive shadows that had blanketed the city seemed to shrink back, the gloom receding inch by inch. It was subtle—faint streaks of light penetrated the cracks in the stone walls, and the deep, unnatural dark that had swallowed every corner of this place began to fade, like a fog lifting after an endless night.

“Look,” Elyria murmured, her eyes widening as she pointed to the spot where the crystal had stood only moments before.

In its place, as if born from the broken shards, a terminal had materialized. Sleek, strange, and out of place in this ancient city, it hummed faintly, its surface glowing with a soft blue light. Elyria and I exchanged a glance, the surreal moment sinking in as we stared at the console that shouldn’t exist here.

Elyria’s hand slipped into mine, and we stepped forward together. As we neared the terminal, the faint hum grew louder as if it were responding to our presence. I reached out, my fingers grazing the surface, and words flashed across the screen in crisp, digital lettering.

Welcome Mayor, you may begin.