ONE DAY

The darkness pressed in like a living thing. Heavy. Suffocating. No walls. No ceiling. Just an endless abyss growing in every direction.

It was silent at first—too silent. But then, a sound. A slow, metallic clank, like gears turning within something massive.

"You cannot run from the truth, Blue Rose." A voice followed. Cold. Synthetic.

Myst's stomach twisted in a knot.

The voice didn't belong to anyone in the Clan. It was the soldier from the fight—the one who had nearly crushed the life out of her.

The darkness shifted, reshaping itself into something horrifyingly familiar. She was back there, in the ruined structure where the Ascended had cornered them. But this time, she was alone.

Her heart pounded against her ribs as she stepped backward, boots scraping against the broken concrete. The walls got taller, pressing in, swallowing what little space she had left. And then—

The soldier was there. His cybernetic veins glowing a sickly blue, his mechanical eyes locking onto her like a predator eyeing its prey.

Myst's breath hitched as she stumbled back, her limbs feeling sluggish, too heavy to move fast enough.

"You are one of us."

She clenched her teeth, hands curling into fists. "No, I'm not."

His form flickered like a glitch. And suddenly, he was closer.

His hand shot out, wrapping around her throat in a crushing grip.

Myst gasped, clawing at his arm, but her fingers met nothing but cold, unyielding metal. Her feet dangled above the ground, air ripped from her lungs as she struggled, panic stirring at her insides.

The familiar electric pulse inside her chest flared, but this time—it didn't ignite.

Nothing happened. No power. No shockwave. No escape.

"You are weak."

His grip tightened. The world blurred around them.

"Useless."

She squirmed, but her body refused to listen. The crushing weight of his hold deepened. Her lungs screamed for air.

"You do not belong with them."

The words seared into her skull, louder than the blood pounding in her ears. Spots danced in her vision. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't—

Myst now stood in the middle of Arkadia-7, but it was ruined, war-torn, and lifeless. The city she knew was reduced to crumbling buildings and scorched earth.

Smoke curled from the wreckage, the air thick with the acrid scent of fire and something metallic, something rotten. The sky, once filled with neon glow, stretched above her in an endless, hollow darkness.

Then she saw them.

The Clan. Motionless. Scattered among the rubble.

Her breath hitched as she stumbled forward. Razor lay slumped against a collapsed wall, his knife still clutched in his unmoving fingers. Blaze was half-buried beneath debris, his chest remained still. Echo's limp hand stretched toward her, frozen mid-reach, his usually sharp eyes now vacant.

Myst shook her head. No. No, this wasn't real. This couldn't be real.

A whisper curled around her ears, unintelligible but insistent, like a half-formed thought slipping through her grasp. The air grew heavier, pressing down on her lungs, the world tilting and warping at the edges.

Then, something lit above.

She tilted her head back, and there it was.

A symbol burned into the dark sky, carved into the nothingness yet searing into her vision. It was simple but intricate, a pattern of lines and curves that felt strangely familiar, as if it had been waiting for her to see it.

The whispers grew louder, an urgent hum beneath her skin. Her heartbeat quickened. The darkness pressed closer. Then—she woke up.

Myst bolted upright, chest heaving, a thin sheen of sweat clinging to her skin. Her breath was too loud in the quiet of her quarters, her heart hammering as if she had run miles.

Every image burned behind her eyelids. The soldier. The Clan. Arkadia-7. And the symbol that lit the sky.

A knock at the door made her flinch. "Myst?"

She turned, heart still racing fast. Razor stood in the doorway, watching her carefully. There was something unreadable in his gaze, a quiet understanding beneath his usual sharpness.

She swallowed and forced a cough, trying to steady herself. Then, mustering what little composure she had, she gave him a subtle smile. "I... I need to talk to you."

Razor studied her for a moment before stepping inside. "You look like hell."

Myst huffed a quiet laugh, running a hand through her hair. "Feel like it too."

He folded his arms. "Bad dream?"

"More than that." She hesitated. "I saw something. I... I don't think it was just a dream."

Razor's brow furrowed. "Describe it."

Myst closed her eyes, recalling the pattern burned into her mind. "It was... sharp lines, curved edges. Like a brand. Familiar, but I don't know why. And the whispers—there were voices, but I couldn't understand them."

Razor was quiet for a beat, then gave a curt nod. "Cipher might know something."

Minutes later, they stood outside Cipher's quarters.

Myst shifted on her feet, still piecing together how to explain it. Razor, as usual, looked unbothered, knocking twice before pushing the door open.

Cipher glanced up from his holoscreen, eyes flicking between them before exhaling. "What now?"

Myst exhaled sharply. "I saw something. In a dream. A symbol. Maybe you'd know what it is."

Cipher started to brush it off, but then—

Instead of explaining further, Myst stepped forward, eyeing the holoscreen on his desk. Something told her that words wouldn't be enough.

The moment she touched it, the screen flickered.

Lines bled into existence, forming the exact pattern from her dream—sharp edges, curved strokes, unmistakable. The same symbol from her dream, forming stroke by stroke, burning bright against the dark interface.

The room went silent.

Cipher froze. His fingers curled against the edge of the desk, the usual calm in his eyes fracturing for the first time since she'd known him.

A beat of silence passed, heavier than any words.

Myst exhaled slowly. "You recognize it, don't you?"

Cipher didn't answer immediately. He only stared at the screen, then at her, something unreadable passing through his gaze.

Finally, he spoke, voice quieter than before.

"Where the hell did you see this?"