At 2:00 AM, a single, wooden fishing boat slipped out of the Sassoon Docks. Its diesel engine was shut off, the boat moving silently under the power of oars manned by Rohan and Rahul.
The Mumbai harbor was a vast, black void. The Gateway of India, usually illuminated by golden floodlights, stood as a dark silhouette in the distance. The sea was choppy, the monsoon rain falling in steady sheets, washing over the wooden deck.
Vikram sat in the bow, wrapped in a dark plastic tarp. Every wave that hit the boat sent a sharp jolt of pain through his fractured ribs, but he gritted his teeth, holding the leather strap of his father's old boxing gloves.
"The Wardens have patrol boats near the harbor entrance," Rahul whispered, scanning the black water with a pair of night-vision goggles. "But the blackout has knocked out their radar systems. They are relying on searchlights."
A bright beam of white light suddenly swept across the water, missing their boat by fifty feet. Rohan stopped rowing, letting the boat drift in the dark swell until the light moved away.
"Why are the caves on Elephanta Island so special, Mr. Desai?" Vikram asked, his voice quiet.
Desai, sitting in the stern, checked a hand-drawn map of the caves. "Elephanta was built over a major geological fault line. When the cosmic ray burst of 1945 hit the earth, the ancient basalt caves acted as a natural capacitor, storing the dark-matter energy. It is one of the three primary Tenebrous Nodes in India. The energy there is raw, unrefined by corporate machinery. It is highly volatile, Vikram. If your Prana isn't stable, the node will consume you."
"I have no choice," Vikram said, looking ahead as the dark outline of Elephanta Island began to rise from the black sea. "I need to match Javed's power, or we all die."
The boat slid into a narrow, rocky cove on the southern shore of the island. The oarsmen secured the boat to a rusted iron stake, and Vikram stepped onto the wet stones. The air here felt different—thick, cold, and vibrating with an invisible energy that made the skin on his neck itch.