Sudarshana woke in a cold sweat, her heart pounding. The darkness of her Baltimore apartment was unsettlingly still, but something gnawed at her senses. A muffled scream pierced the silence, sending a jolt of adrenaline through her veins.

She rushed to her window, pulling the curtain aside, only to freeze at the sight before her. Baltimore City, her home, was being ravaged, torn asunder by a force that defied comprehension. Buildings once proud and towering now lay in ruins, crumbling like ancient relics under a dark red sky. The air was thick, acrid with the stench of ash and something far more sinister. Flames licked the sides of the once-beautiful cityscape, now nothing but a skeletal husk of twisted metal and concrete. The moon, a bloated orange orb, hung low, casting an eerie glow over the devastation.

Monstrous figures roamed the city, each one more terrifying than the last, their presence warping reality. These weren’t simple beasts—they were Monsters, the unmanifest be-ness that transcended logic, defying description. They tore through the very fabric of existence with their mere presence, corrupting all they touched.

The largest of these creatures loomed over the cityscape, its form jagged and nebulous. Its body was an amalgamation of shadows and viscera, constantly shifting, as though the creature couldn't decide on a single form. Its eyes—if they could be called that—glowed faintly, like dying embers in a fire. From its gaping maw, black tendrils of smoke unfurled, poisoning the air with every exhalation. It spread chaos with each step, its feet sinking into the streets as if the city itself rejected it.

Other smaller monsters swarmed the city. Void-beasts with translucent skin crawled along walls and devoured anything in their path. Their bodies bent in impossible ways, bones cracking and reforming with every movement. Their mouths opened far wider than natural, splitting their heads in two as they consumed the screams of the city's inhabitants. These monsters regenerated from nothing, their bodies reforming instantly after being torn apart. The atmosphere itself seemed to welcome their destruction, as if they were feeding off the chaotic distortion they created.

Sudarshana’s hands shook. Her abilities had been sealed—crippled—by her mother’s interference. She could feel the echo of her powers thrumming beneath the surface, but they were faint, distant, locked away beyond her immediate reach. Still, she couldn’t stand idle while her city was being torn apart.

She quickly dressed, slipping into her dark, tactical attire, the remnants of her old life as an unfettered force. Stepping into the cold night air, the weight of her diminished power settled heavily on her. Her mind raced as she tried to focus, tried to tap into even a fraction of the magic she once wielded so freely.

She leapt from her window and landed gracefully on the street below, her heels making contact with the cracked pavement. The air was thick, thick with the foul stench of death, the particles of destroyed buildings, and the poison leaking from the monsters themselves. The atmosphere had changed—everything had changed.

Before she could take another breath, one of the beasts noticed her. A creature made of pulsating black flesh, its body slick with an unknown substance, rushed toward her. Its maw opened wide, revealing rows upon rows of teeth, each one dripping with venom. Its claws were twisted, elongating as it approached, slicing through the air with a high-pitched shriek.

Sudarshana raised her hand, channeling the sealed power she could access. A burst of blue magic erupted from her fingertips, searing through the creature’s body. But as soon as the magic made contact, the beast’s flesh twisted and regenerated, absorbing the impact. It snarled, surging forward again.

“Damn it!” she cursed under her breath, dodging to the side as the creature slammed into the ground where she had stood. She could feel the curses on her power like a vice around her soul—her abilities 'felt' restricted, far weaker than before. Her mother’s influence had sealed much of what she could do. She was trapped in a lesser form of herself.

Sudarshana didn’t give up. She focused her energy more precisely, aiming for the gaps between the creature’s regenerating flesh. Lightning crackled from her fingertips, targeting the exact moment the creature reformed. A well-timed blast tore through the monster, and this time it didn’t regenerate fast enough. It collapsed, its body twitching as the remaining fragments dissolved into nothingness.

But there was no time to breathe. More monsters approached, their presence warping the very fabric of Baltimore. These creatures—beings that transcended physical limitations—were endless, pouring into the city like an unsolvable nightmare. Their silence was deafening, the kind that swallowed all reason and drowned out hope.

Amidst the chaos, Sudarshana felt something... different. A presence that stilled her heart. She turned toward the skyline, and there, standing on the shattered remnants of a fallen building, was something new. The monster was unlike any of the others. It did not move, it did not scream—it simply was. Its form was a twisting paradox of shadow and light, existing in a state of impossible stillness.

As the silence pressed in from all sides, Sudarshana's heart stilled for a moment as she felt the presence of something far more sinister than the others. Emerging from the flames and crumbled remains of Baltimore, a new monster stepped forward, her form both impossibly alluring and grotesque. She had luminescent skin, glowing with an eerie light, and her eyes, one glowing a fiery red and the other a piercing violet, cut through the darkness. Her body was encased in a shimmering, dark armor, pulsating with unknown energy, adorned with ethereal symbols of power that glowed faintly.

Her movements were unnaturally fluid, almost too perfect, as though the laws of existence bent around her. She emanated an overwhelming aura, silence incarnate, as if all sound, all life, ceased to exist in her presence. Her lace-like attire, though elegant and surreal, enhanced the sense of dread and her power seemed to be beyond anything Sudarshana had felt before.

This new presence stood atop the crumbling remains of Baltimore, unapproachable, untouchable, her very being a manifestation of the void. Sudarshana knew that this monster wasn’t just a threat—it was something beyond comprehension, beyond defeat with her current strength. It was then that Sudarshana understood—this was only the beginning.

Sudarshana stood in the ruins of Baltimore, her breath coming in short gasps as the silence pressed in from all sides, suffocating her hope, her resolve. And the monsters kept coming.