AURA

The air inside the wide room buzzed with an unnatural hum, the flickering lights overhead almost struggling to keep up with the energy surging within Myst's body. She stood at the center, her breathing heavy, sweat trailing down her temple.

Across from her, Cipher observed with a careful gaze, fingers hovering over his control panel.

"This isn't a good idea," he muttered, breaking the tense silence. "Your body's still unstable after what happened in Grid Maw. Pushing it too far—"

"I don't care." Myst's voice was sharp, cutting through whatever protest he had left. "I can't just sit around and pretend none of this is happening." Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"If I don't figure this out, if I don't control it… then what's the point?"

Cipher exhaled through his nose, glancing at the others standing by before shifting his attention back to Myst. "Fine," he conceded. "But if I say stop, you stop."

Myst barely acknowledged him. Instead, she turned toward the row of droids Cipher had activated. Their dull optics flared to life, scanning their target as they took formation.

"Go."

The first droid lunged. Myst dodged, her movements fueled by adrenaline rather than strategy. She raised a hand, the faint blue glow returning to her fingertips as she attempted to seize control of its systems. The droid jittered, its movements stalling—but then the feedback hit.

A sharp, painful jolt snapped through her arm, forcing her to retreat. "Damn it," she hissed.

Another droid attacked. This time, she reacted on instinct. Her power flared involuntarily, a sudden surge of blue energy rippling through the air. The machines around her stuttered, some collapsing entirely as their circuits fried under the invisible pressure.

But the backlash was immediate—her vision blurred, her body locked in place as the energy clawed its way through her veins, abnormal and uncontrollable.

Myst gasped, stumbling as her knees nearly buckled. The room spun, voices barely registering over the static filling her mind. She stood up, fists clenched, frustration radiating off her in waves.

"One more time," she muttered, jaw tight.

Cipher hesitated. "Myst—"

"Just do it."

The simulation roared to life again, mechanical constructs phasing in through the projection field. They lunged. Myst reacted on instinct, dodging and countering with a fluidity that only came from repeated trial and error. But it wasn't enough.

The droids were faster. Stronger.

She could hear her heart beating in her ears. Every failed strike, every hit she failed to evade, only fueled the fire in her chest. The files. The unanswered questions. The fear of being something she didn't understand. It scared her more than the things in front of her.

A strike landed square against her ribs, almost sending her flying back. The taste of copper filled her mouth. Not enough. She needed more—more control, more power.

"Myst—hey!" Echo tried calling her out, but the girl stood unbothered. The playful banters he was planning to give her after this 'training' were gone in his head.

And then it happened.

A pulse, deep and resonant, rippled through the chamber. Myst's vision blurred as everything fractured into static. A blue glow spread from beneath her skin, bleeding into the very air around her. The room dimmed, power flickering as a sharp, high-pitched hum filled the space.

Flux stepped forward, only for Razor to grab his arm, stopping him.

Her body had gone completely still, but the air around her was alive, crackling with something unnatural. Her irises burned electric blue, unfocused and distant, as if she wasn't entirely present.

Then the real chaos began.

The lights failed, leaving only the eerie glow radiating from Myst's form. The training chamber's systems scrambled, data spilling across the flickering holoscreens.

The constructs froze mid-attack, then twitched violently before collapsing to the ground, their systems short-circuiting. Even the walls groaned, ancient circuitry stirring to life as if responding to her presence.

Razor watched; his usual easy expression wiped clean. "This… isn't normal. Right?"

"No shit," Blaze muttered, fists clenching.

Cipher's hands flew across his interface. "Her signal, it's interfacing with the system, but not like before. She's not hacking it. She's—"

"Merging," Shade finished grimly, eyes fixed on the motionless figure at the center of the disturbance. "She's inside it."

Myst's mind was weightless, drifting between data streams that weren't supposed to exist, yet felt strangely familiar. Code twisted and reformed around her presence. She could hear the system, a pulsing hum that resonated in her bones, whispering in glitching echoes.

IDENTITY RECOGNIZED...

PROJECT BLUE ROSE...

ACCESS DENIED.

A violent jolt ripped her from the system. Her body swayed as if yanked back into reality, the glow around her snapping out like a dying flame. She hit the floor on her knees, gasping, sweat beading at her temples before her body completely fell down.

Her limbs felt heavy; her mind sluggish as the disorienting duality of existence settled back into her.

"Myst!" Echo was the first to reach her, dropping to a crouch beside her. Nyx followed immediately. "Talk to us. Are you—"

She exhaled a shaking breath, looking up at him. "I was... somewhere else."

Cipher knelt down, scanning her vitals through his Xen-Link. "Your neural activity spiked off the charts. Whatever you did—it wasn't just some surface-level shit. You were inside the code. That shouldn't be possible."

Shade stood a few steps away, hands in his pockets, but his gaze was unreadable. "It's possible if she was made for it."

Myst swallowed hard. She wasn't sure what terrified her more—the fact that he might be right, or the aching truth that, for a fleeting moment, being in that system had felt like home.