📌 Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, events, and locations are purely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons or entities is purely coincidental.
1. Emergency Protocol Activated
[System Alert: Global Mission Dispatch – Tier II Threat]
[Location: Mumbai, India]
[Code Name: "BLACKOUT ZERO"]
[Status: City Grid Offline | Civilian Panic Level: High]
[Enemy Entity Class: Unknown | Anomaly Type: Psionic Disruption]
[Operational Clearance Granted: Raunak Virk (Petal-Class)]
[Objective: Investigate → Contain → Report or Neutralize]
Lotus Veil – Operations Dome
Raunak stood with his new team inside the dome's command chamber. Around them, data flickered across holo-terminals, projecting real-time maps of Mumbai. Red zones pulsed like wounds.
Guru Ishani's tone was calm but urgent.
"Mumbai is dark. Every electronic, psychic, and spiritual frequency has gone silent. We suspect it's no natural failure."
She turned to Raunak. "You've trained in crisis control. Now it's time to act."
Raunak straightened. "Understood."
He wasn't alone on this mission.
[Assigned Squad: BLOOM 4]
• Raunak Virk – Squad Leader | Adaptive Psion
• Tara Mehta – Illusion Specialist
• Pranav Rao – Telekinetic Shieldbreaker
• Yumi Kano – Empathic Support & Field Medic
• Ravi Sen – Combat Recon | Cybernetic Enhancer
Raunak glanced at them. The squad looked nervous—but determined. Even Ravi, normally cocky, was uncharacteristically quiet.
"Team," Raunak said. "Keep clear heads. Watch each other's backs. We go in as five. We leave as five."
Yumi smiled faintly. "Sounds like a plan."
2. Descent into Darkness
The team deployed via psionic transport—a spiraling vortex of compressed light that deposited them inside a shattered monorail station in South Mumbai.
Everything was dark.
No lights. No comms. No ambient energy.
[Warning: Psionic Saturation Imbalance Detected]
[Environmental Interference at 73%]
[All long-range communication blocked]
Buildings loomed like corpses. Roads were cracked. Streetlamps bent. Civilians lay unconscious in the streets—unharmed, but catatonic.
Tara knelt beside a young woman. "Pulse is stable… but her eyes are blank."
Yumi reached out psychically and gasped. "Their minds aren't asleep. They're… stuck. Dreaming without end."
Pranav muttered, "Like forced meditation. Or psychic paralysis."
Raunak scanned the area. His System highlighted faint echoes in the air.
[Psionic Residue Detected]
[Source Direction: Eastern District – Dharavi Slum Core]
"The anomaly's spreading from Dharavi," Raunak said. "Let's move."
3. A City of Shadows
As they traveled, shadows flickered unnaturally. Hallucinations bled into reality. At one point, Tara suddenly froze, staring at a wall.
"There's… a door. I swear there's a door there."
Raunak followed her gaze. Nothing.
But then—his vision twitched. Just for a second.
The wall rippled like water.
Pranav stepped up and struck the wall with a kinetic burst.
[Psionic Camouflage Dispelled]
A hidden tunnel revealed itself—narrow, winding, descending deep into the city's underbelly.
"Ravi, scout it."
Ravi activated his ocular overlay and disappeared into the darkness. Minutes passed. Then:
[Comms Interference – Live Feed Fragmented]
[Detected Entities: Unknown | Movement Type: Floating | Aggression Status: Active]
Gunfire erupted. Screams echoed through the feed.
Raunak gritted his teeth. "Tara, illusions. Pranav, front guard. Yumi, center. Let's move!"
4. The Source – Entity X
The tunnel opened into an enormous subterranean chamber beneath Dharavi. Massive, ancient-looking cables dangled like veins. In the center floated a shimmering orb, pulsing violet.
Around it hovered dozens of dreamwalkers — ghostlike beings feeding on the psychic energy of unconscious civilians.
But that wasn't the real threat.
Behind the orb stood a cloaked figure.
Its face was masked. Its aura was warped and unstable — like it didn't belong in this world.
[Analyzing Entity...]
[Designation: ENTITY-X]
[Origin: Unknown]
[Class: Psionic Aberrant – Tier III or Higher]
[Warning: System has no prior record of this entity]
Entity-X raised its hand. Reality bent around it like liquid glass.
Suddenly, all five team members were plunged into shared mental illusion.
5. Inner War
Each member found themselves in a personal nightmare.
Raunak relived his brother's death—only this time, he was the one who failed to save him.
"You're not strong enough," his brother said.
Tara saw her mother—once a powerful Ranker—begging her to abandon illusions and live a "real" life.
Pranav faced an endless battlefield, where every ally he protected still fell.
Yumi saw herself losing control, her powers breaking minds instead of healing them.
But Raunak remembered his training in the Mirror Grove.
He focused on his breath. His anchor.
[Mental Clarity Boost Engaged]
[Psionic Core Resonate]
[Skill Unlocked: Psionic Chain – Group Connection Established]
He reached out psychically to his team—breaking the illusion one by one.
"Wake up. You're stronger than this!"
6. Counterattack and Revelation
The dream shattered.
They stood, bloodied but awake. Entity-X stared at them, briefly… amused?
It spoke in a warped voice. "So… one blooms early."
It vanished in a pulse of static.
[Entity-X Escaped]
[Dreamwalkers Disintegrating]
[Psionic Core Stabilizing]
[City Awakening Process: 12% → 70% → 100%]
The orb cracked and exploded in white light.
Civilians across Mumbai began to stir—confused, alive, and safe.
7. Aftermath and Mission Debrief
The team emerged into daylight hours later. Exhausted, shaken, but victorious.
[Mission Complete: Mumbai Blackout – Status: RESOLVED]
[Entity-X Encounter Logged – Threat Level REVISED: Tier IV+]
[Squad Performance: Excellent]
[Raunak Virk – Commendation Earned: Field Commander Potential]
[Level Up: Level 8 → Level 10]
Back in the Lotus Veil Sanctum, Guru Ishani frowned at the report.
"Entity-X," she whispered. "So it begins."
Behind her, hidden in the shadows, a figure stirred.
A member of the Grand Bloom.
"He's seen too much," the figure said. "What do you plan to do with Raunak Virk?"
Ishani's eyes glinted. "I plan… to prepare him."
End of Chapter 7