The air inside the ruins was still heavy with the aftermath of last night. The Clan remained scattered, each lost in their own silence.
A cold draft swept through the broken walls, the only sign that the world hadn't stopped despite everything they had lost.
Myst was the first to stir. Sleep had been fleeting, interrupted by echoes of the battle, of Blaze's last known position, of the way her feet refused to move when they were forced to leave him behind.
She exhaled quietly, her breath visible in the chilled morning air. Everyone else was still asleep or pretending to be.
Razor was near the entrance, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, his eyes closed but his fingers twitching—a telltale sign that his mind was far from resting.
Shade was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't unusual. Echo, Cipher, and Nyx were curled up in their respective corners, their exhaustion having finally won over.
Myst needed to move, to do something, anything, or she'd drown in the helplessness clawing at her chest.
Her hands clenched into fists.
Herabilities.
If she could just access them again—if she could force 'Blue Rose' awake—maybe she could find him. Maybe she could fix this. Maybe she didn't need to wait.
She sat at Cipher's makeshift terminal, the glow of the screen casting harsh shadows on her face. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, hesitation gripping her.
She exhaled sharply. Just work.
A small test first—she pressed her palm flat against the console, calling for her abilities.
The response was sluggish. Slow.
Data trickled through her thoughts like a leaking faucet, nothing close to the effortless flow she once had. She gritted her teeth and pushed harder, forcing herself to navigate the digital space.
Her hacking skills still worked, albeit rusted—she could still skim through encrypted files, override basic security layers. But it felt wrong.
Like trying to move with bound hands.
Cipher's firewalls were nothing compared to XENIS-IS, but they were enough for practice. If she could do this, maybe she could push further.
She had to push further.
Her breath hitched as she reached beyond the terminal, searching for the deeper connection. Her mind stretched—pulling, reaching—
The screen flickered.
A static hum filled the air, sending a sharp prickle down Myst's spine. Then, words materialized across the screen, glowing with unmistakable clarity:
WELCOME, BLUEROSE
Myst's pulse skipped.
Cipher, who had just opened his eyes, froze at the sight. "What the hell..." he muttered.
Myst barely registered him. If XENIS-IS still recognized her, that meant she had an opening. She shut out the ache in her skull, shut out Cipher's presence, and pushed harder.
Then resistance.
She clenched her jaw. XENIS-IS was fighting back, the system's barriers locking her out like an immune response rejecting an intruder.
No. She forced herself deeper, her mind thrumming with the pressure.
A sharp, electric pulse rushed up her spine.
The moment she pushed past the resistance, everything turned blue.
Her senses warped, the real world fading as she plunged into the digital landscape.
XENIS-IS unfolded before her. Vast, endless threads of light branching outward like veins, pulsing in an intricate web. The overwhelming data flooded into her mind, nearly disorienting, but she had no time to hesitate.
She moved through the streams, searching, scanning. The names, the locations, the encrypted walls of information—it all blurred past as she traced the one thing she needed.
Blaze's comm signal.
"There," she whispered, her voice barely audible even to herself.
She should have pulled back then. She should have stopped.
But something was wrong.
A sharp pulse of static flickered through her mind.
At first, she thought it was interference. But as she focused, her breath caught.
Purple.
Jagged purple lines wove through the blue, creeping like cracks through glass, threading through the pathways in slow, deliberate veins.
The deeper she looked, the more unsettling it became—like something had burrowed inside XENIS-IS and spread from within.
It had never been there before.
Her heart pounded. Was this an error? A system malfunction? Some new form of government interference?
Her mind reeled, trying to piece together an answer. Then, for a fleeting second, she felt something watching her.
A jolt of panic shot through her.
She gasped and tore herself out.
The physical world snapped into place with a violent rush, her body lurching forward as she staggered back. Her head pounded. Her vision swam.
Cipher caught her by the arm before she could collapse entirely. "Myst?!" His voice was sharp, all trace of his usual aloofness gone.
Myst sucked in a breath, swallowing down the nausea.
"I found him," she forced out. "Blaze isalive."
Cipher stiffened. "Where?" Myst closed her eyes for a second, steadying herself before rattling off the coordinates.
Cipher nodded, already committing it to memory. "You sure?"
"Yes." Her voice held no doubt. But she didn't mention the purple.
Didn't mention how the blue was being overwritten before she disconnected.
Because maybe it was just an error. Maybe itwasjusther.
She told herself that over and over.
But the uneasy feeling in her gut refused to settle.