Chapter 1: The Blackout
Blackridge was the kind of town where nothing unusual ever happened. Surrounded by towering mountains and dense pine forests, it was peaceful, quiet, and almost forgotten by the rest of the world. The people who lived there believed the mountains protected them from danger.
They were wrong.
On the night of October 17, eighteen-year-old Aarav Mehta sat by his bedroom window, trying to finish his physics homework. Rain tapped softly against the glass, and the wind whispered through the trees outside. The digital clock on his desk changed from 3:32 a.m. to 3:33 a.m.
Without warning, every light in the house went out.
The room fell into complete darkness.
Aarav reached for his phone, but it wouldn't turn on. Outside, the streetlights had also gone dark. The entire town had lost power.
Then something strange happened.
The silence was absolute.
There were no barking dogs. No humming generators. No insects. It was as if the whole world had stopped breathing.
A faint blue glow appeared beyond the mountains.
It wasn't lightning.
It rose slowly into the sky like a pillar of light before fading into the clouds.
Exactly thirty-three seconds later, the electricity returned.
The ceiling fan began spinning again. The digital clock flashed back to life. Aarav's phone vibrated with dozens of missed notifications that had all arrived at the same moment.
He hurried to the window, but the blue light was gone.
The next morning, Blackridge was buzzing with rumors. Some people blamed the storm. Others thought the power station had failed.
Then the police made an announcement.
Daniel Cross, the town's forest ranger, had disappeared during the blackout.
His jeep had been found at the edge of the forest. The engine was still running, but Daniel was nowhere to be seen.
Aarav stared toward the mountains from his classroom window.
He couldn't explain why, but deep inside, he felt the blackout and Daniel's disappearance were connected.
And somewhere beyond those mountains...
Something had awakened.
