In that terrifying vision, I completely lost consciousness. The last glimpse of reality I perceived was the storm dissipating under the gaze of that creature. Its hollow stare bore into me with an intensity that was anything but human. It was as if nature itself had bowed before it.

Everything fell silent. Then, darkness consumed all.

When I finally regained my senses, my first instinct was to look for Melissa. Anguish spread through my chest as I realized she was no longer by my side. Where was she? What had happened?

I looked around and saw that I was no longer on the beach. Where was that gray sky, that furious storm? None of it remained. In its place stretched a bleak and desolate landscape. The ruins of a city, so familiar yet unrecognizable, rose around me.

This place… I’ve been here before, I thought. But something felt strange. Ash rained from the sky, the dry earth stretched beneath my feet, and a profound emptiness filled the air. This blackened sky, the ruins surrounding me, the stench of death lingering… why does this place feel so important to me?

I walked through the deserted streets, each step echoing in the oppressive silence. The sound of my own footsteps on the broken ground amplified the feeling that I was utterly alone, lost in a labyrinth with no end.

As I gazed at the shattered buildings, the walls corroded by time, I felt something was missing. Had this absence been what reduced this place to ruin and lifelessness? It was as if the answers were hidden, waiting for me to uncover them, as if I were the key.

The winds still howled through the streets, yet something had changed. A growing force within me made my heart pound harder. It wasn’t just power—it wasn’t just the energy now coursing through my veins. It was something deeper. Something pulling me toward this place, as if it had been waiting for me to find it.

Meanwhile, in the real world, chaos was only beginning.

A nearly interrupted broadcast, barely cutting through the intensifying storm, began to report the impossible. Off the coast of the famed Ocean City, a massive, mysterious black lightning bolt struck the beach, followed by a strange red light emanating from the ground.

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The reporters were stunned, their faces pale at what they were witnessing.

— The impossible is happening! — one of them exclaimed, panic evident in his voice.

The storm that once threatened Ocean City had now become something far worse. Jagged black clouds swirled in the sky, as if being drawn by an unseen force. Red lightning slashed through the darkness, illuminating the apocalyptic scene with grotesque flashes.

The pressure in the air was immense, as if the very fabric of the world was on the verge of collapse.

But the weather wasn’t the only thing acting strangely.

On the beach where the black lightning had struck, the sand writhed. The waves crashed in unnatural rhythms, as if the ocean itself was in distress. Seagulls, usually carefree in flight, scattered wildly, their frantic cries piercing the storm-laden air.

In the heart of the city, the situation was even worse.

Streetlights flickered erratically before a sudden blackout plunged the entire city into darkness. The streets drowned in an abyss of shadows, and people began reporting that their cell phones and digital watches had all stopped working.

Videos flooded social media, showing eerie shadows stretching across the streets, moving in unnatural, erratic patterns as if they had minds of their own.

A young woman, walking through a narrow alley, felt a chill crawl up her spine. Convinced someone was following her, she turned swiftly. But to her horror, she saw her own shadow trembling—distorting in ways that defied reason.

Terror gripped her, and she screamed, sprinting toward the alley’s exit. As she fled, the streetlights behind her exploded one by one.

Scientists monitoring the storm were bewildered. Their satellite readings showed the cloud formations, but something was wrong. The swirling motion was erratic, as if something invisible was pulling them toward a single point in the city.

Sweating, one of the scientists murmured under his breath:

— This… this isn’t normal.

But nothing—nothing was as disturbing as the reports from a small fishing village near the coast.

An elderly fisherman, eyes wide with fear, claimed to have seen something emerge from the waters before the black lightning struck.

— The sea… it was wrong, the waves were moving in the wrong direction… and then I saw… eyes. So many eyes… beneath the water.

The old man trembled, unable to utter another word. Something deep and unfathomable had awakened.

Meanwhile, in the ruins, Zarte wandered aimlessly, lost in the vastness of an unfamiliar world. He had no knowledge of what was unfolding in reality, but he could feel, with increasing intensity, that something was changing within him.

A presence.

Something that was not just power.

Something deeper, something ancient.

And that presence yearned to fully awaken.

The world did not yet know it, but that night, something new had been born.

Something that could no longer be contained.

Something that was about to be revealed.

And it would change everything—forever.