Everyone else was minding their own business, all occupied by the game plan they decided on. Myst had already gone through hers. There was nothing left to do but wait.
She leaned against the cold wall, arms crossed, but her thoughts were restless. No matter how much she tried to push them aside, they curled at the edges of her mind like smoke.
She had power. More than anyone else. More than she could fully grasp.
She had Blue Rose. No one could go against her.
Myst exhaled sharply, forcing the thought down. It wasn't the power that scared her. It was the aftermath—the way it felt when she let go. When something else stirred beneath her skin, blurring the lines between herself and the virus that had made her what she was.
A hollow pit settled in her stomach.
I need to control it before it controls me.
She pushed herself off the wall. The murmurs of the others faded into background noise, their conversation no longer something she could focus on. Her own thoughts were too loud.
She needed space.
Her steps carried her toward a secluded area, away from the flickering bonfire and watchful eyes. The cool air settled against her skin as she reached an open area—just enough room to test her limits.
She rolled her shoulders, stretching out her fingers, shaking off the tension coiled deep in her muscles.
The last mission had made one thing painfully clear—she wasn't strong enough. Not yet.
Closing her eyes, she focused.
A flicker of energy pulsed beneath her skin, electric and restless, begging to be released. She reached for it—only for it to slip through her grasp like smoke. Her jaw tightened. She tried again.
Power surged through her veins, burning through every nerve, sharp and all-consuming.
The world around her vibrated. The air crackled. A faint blue glow traced along her fingertips, pulsing like a second heartbeat.
"Yes…"
The voice wasn't hers. It came from within.
Myst's breath hitched as a sudden force wrapped around her mind, cold and intoxicating. The blue glow intensified, climbing up her arms like veins of light under her skin.
"Let go."
Her muscles locked. Her pulse hammered. She clenched her fists, trying to push the voice back.
But Blue Rose wasn't retreating this time.
The ground beneath her cracked. Nearby trees splintered. The surrounding walls trembled, the weight of her presence distorting everything around her.
She felt powerful. Untethered. Unstoppable.
"Why do you resist?"
The voice was silkier now, coaxing. Persuasive.
"You are me, and I am you. This is what we were meant to be."
Myst staggered, gritting her teeth as her vision blurred at the edges. The blue energy lashed out, striking the metal pillars nearby. Sparks exploded as steel melted upon contact.
No. No, no, no—
She was losing herself. Again.
Her hands trembled. Her breathing was ragged. Her body felt both too light and too heavy.
"Stop."
The word barely left her lips, drowned by the power surging through her veins. Blue light flickered at the edges of her vision, curling around her wrists, her arms—climbing, weaving, binding.
Her body was betraying her. Or maybe… it wasn't. Maybe it was doing exactly what it was meant to do.
"You fear what you are."
The voice wasn't an external force. It wasn't a separate entity clawing for control. It was inside her. It had always been.
Blue Rose wasn't something foreign. She was her.
Myst gasped as a sudden snap echoed in her mind—like something long-caged had broken free. Her back arched, and for a moment, she couldn't breathe.
The energy she had been suppressing all her life rushed in, seeping into every cell, filling every hollow part of her. Her pulse stuttered. The world around her blurred.
Then, she rose.
A shattering pulse erupted from her core, sending more shockwaves rippling through the ground. The air around her bent, twisting as the force of her power reshaped it.
The glow in her hands was no longer wild, no longer unstable. And her entire form seemed to shift—not physically, but fundamentally.
The markings that had once appeared only in battle now bloomed across her skin, glowing like constellations. Veins of luminescent blue traced intricate patterns from her fingertips to her collarbone, wrapping around her shoulders like a crown of power.
Her hair lifted slightly, strands lightened by the aura coursing through her, moving as if weightless in the energy field she commanded.
Then her eyes—no longer flickering between herself and something else, settled into a deep, radiant blue.
Blue Rose was no longer just a presence lurking in the back of her mind. She was Myst.
And Myst was her.
A slow exhale left her lips, and with it, the storm quieted. The winds stilled. The debris that had lifted in her uncontrolled surge settled gently to the ground.
The destruction around her stilled. The wind quieted. The crackling energy that had threatened to spiral out of control became… hers.
Myst lifted her hands, staring at them, flexing her fingers as she felt the energy settle, not as an overwhelming force but as something in tune with her.
The fear that had clenched her chest before? Gone.
For the first time in her life, she wasn't afraid of what she was.
She was ready to wield it.