QUEEN

The world glitched.

Myst sucked in a sharp breath, but it came out fragmented—like she was caught between two different realities. The cold of the cell pressed against her skin, yet her vision flickered beyond it.

Surveillance feeds. Static-laced images shifting too fast to grasp. Metal corridors. A room she didn't recognize. And something—someone—moving beyond her confinement.

Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. It felt like data was bleeding into her skull, rewriting itself over and over. Her fingers twitched; the sensation unnatural. When she glanced down, her veins pulsed a faint blue light threading under her skin.

It was happening faster now. The shift. The change.

Myst squeezed her eyes shut. Focus.

The feeds stuttered. A sharp pulse ran through her mind, and the world snapped back into place. Her cell. The cold. The static hum of unseen machinery. The scent of metal and sterilization fluid lingered in the air, sharp and artificial.

Her body still felt heavy, her thoughts lagging, like her mind was trying to catch up with itself.

Then the door slid open.

Nyx stepped inside; his silhouette outlined against the dim light of the corridor. He hesitated just past the threshold, hands flexing at his sides. For a moment, neither of them spoke. A silent battle waged in his eyes, one she couldn't fully decipher.

Myst forced herself to sit up, her limbs still sluggish. "You're avoiding looking at me."

Nyx exhaled through his nose, finally meeting her gaze. His eyes flicked, just for a second, toward the faint blue still pulsing in her veins. "You should rest."

She let out a dry laugh. "You think I can?"

He didn't answer. He never did when he didn't like the truth.

Myst narrowed her eyes. Her mind was still raw from the distortion, but the weight of reality settled in now. Nyx betrayed them. Betrayed her.

"Why?" she asked, voice low. "Why did you do it?"

His jaw clenched. He didn't move closer, didn't shift from that perfect soldier's posture, but something in his expression flickered—just for a second. "The Clan was never going to win. You, Liora, were never going to win."

Myst let her head tilt against the wall, watching him. "So you handed me over to them?"

Nyx swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I made a choice."

She studied him, ignoring the way her body still burned from whatever was happening to her. He wasn't lying. But he wasn't telling her everything either.

Another pulse ran under her skin, the AI flaring up again. Myst flinched, feeling another glitch on the edge of her mind. The surveillance feeds tried to pull her back in, but she pushed it down, barely holding on.

The images swam just below the surface of her thoughts—coded messages, unknown locations, fragmented voices. They weren't just surveillance feeds anymore. They were memories.

Nyx noticed. His fingers twitched again. "It's changing you," he murmured.

Myst gritted her teeth. "No thanks to you."

His lips parted, but no words came. He wanted to say something. Maybe even apologize. But how could an apology fix this? Fix any of this?

Myst leaned forward slightly, ignoring the cold press of metal against her back. "You knew what they'd do to me."

Nyx's shoulders tensed. "I—"

"Did you even hesitate?" Her voice was sharper now, anger threading through it. "Or was it easy?"

Nyx's breath came shallow. He looked away for a moment, jaw tight. "Nothing about this is easy."

Myst scoffed. "For me or for you?"

He exhaled sharply, raking a hand through his hair. "Damn it, Myst. You think I wanted this?"

"You let it happen."

Something inside her cracked. A sharp pulse shot through her veins, and suddenly, the world blurred at the edges. The cell flickered out of focus. Her breath hitched as the pressure inside her skull surged to unbearable levels.

It wasn't just happening anymore. It was taking over.

Nyx stepped forward. "Myst—"

A violent pulse of energy erupted from her body. The cell lights flickered wildly, screens across the room glitching with fractured data streams. The surveillance feeds weren't just whispering in her mind anymore—they were roaring.

Every camera, every piece of tech within range—she could see it, feel it.

Her body seized, her muscles straining under the force tearing through her veins. She gasped as pain lanced through her skull, and then...

Her reflection in the flickering glass wall shifted.

Her dark hair bled into an electric blue, strands shifting like flowing data streams. Her irises burned the same color, a neon glow cutting through the dim light of the room. The faint blue veins under her skin solidified into intricate patterns, glowing brighter with every pulse of energy.

Nyx took an instinctive step back. "No—"

Myst lifted her gaze to meet his, and for the first time, she saw everything.

The security grids layered over the facility. The pathways leading in and out. The energy sources powering the systems. The firewalls protecting their secrets. It was all laid bare in her mind, like she had been granted omniscient access to the digital world itself.

Her voice came out distorted, layered with something inhuman. "You did this to me."

Nyx's breath came unsteady. "Myst, you need to—"

The door behind him slammed open.

The Ascended had arrived.

A figure in dark tactical gear entered, but Myst barely registered them. They spoke, but the words were distant, unimportant. Because for the first time, she wasn't afraid.

Her fingers curled into fists, and when she exhaled, the cell locks around her disengaged all at once.

The real hunt was over.

And they had no idea what they had just unleashed.