Stephen was not an honest man, nor could he simply be called a liar. Stephen was a schemer who would use whatever means were at his disposal to get what he wanted, though he would be careful to always stay within ‘the rules.’ The rules were both a shield and a weapon which Stephen wielded to get what he wanted while protecting himself.
While Stephen had told Astrid he would erase her mind if she didn't agree to work for him, he would have simply used the ‘Kill’ command to eliminate her. Astrid seemed like too much of a wild card to trust, and Stephen didn't want her to mess everything up. He had other options, but this would be the quickest and cleanest, especially considering her connection to an exploitable glitch. He had chosen not to threaten her with death because he had estimated Astrid to be too unpredictable to effectively box-in with such extreme threats.
Additionally, while Stephen had claimed that getting Astrid into orientation was quite a bit of work, he could do so with an exceedingly simple and cheap command, ‘MandateReorientation.’ He did not want Astrid to know how simple it was for him, since he had no intention of doing so anytime soon…
—--
/Teleport to “My office”
Stephen blinked in the moment he teleported, something he had started doing centuries ago. The first time he teleported he had done so with his eyes open, a mistake he has never made again. Teleportation is not quite just popping out of existence and back into existence. The act of system teleportation moves someone from one point in reality to another at near infinite speeds without the negative consequences that would normally come from moving faster than the speed of light. The only human sense that is capable of noticing the movement is sight. Stephen had spawned a very powerful magical blindfold afterwards, entirely by accident. It was the one and only time he ever used a system command by accident, which was both a point of pride as well as one of his greatest disappointments since without that incident his record would be even more spotless.
Ronald had been his superior back then, and had not warned Stephen of the experience. He thought it was hilarious. This is why, when Stephen advanced beyond Ronald, he made sure Ronald would never advance through the organization again.
When Stephen opened his eyes to his office, he noticed that it was sunnier than he had ever seen it before. He looked up at the miniature sun, not a cloud in the sky. For the first time ever, tiny specks of birds could be seen migrating from his presidential-style desk to his marble fireplace that grew miniature pine trees to burn.
*This is bad. Better think some happy thoughts.*
Stephen's room could sense his emotions and would present itself inversely to them. If he was happy, it would rain. If he was excited, it would become increasingly mundane. Stephen always wanted to stay centered, to stay logical, and to never do anything by accident ever again. His mood right now? A mixture of rage and terror.
The only documented incidents which ended in the death of a high-level admin were ones which included system glitches and/or exploits. In a perfect world a level 8 or above admin should be frolicking in this deathtrap. Stephen had never before been faced with more ‘access denied’ and ‘authority not recognized’ messages. It was ridiculous that he was expected to handle this on his own. Even his direct supervisor, a level 6 admin named “Sam,” was hiding behind paperwork that they didn't have to respond to for another 5 - 7 business years, not including PTO, UTO, and sick days. He was also pretty sure that Sam would likely deny his paperwork at the last minute for some tiny technicality. Stephen never made mistakes on his paperwork, not even technicalities, but even a fake reason would be able to start the process over at least once.
That's not even considering Astrid. She was clearly the product of a system glitch that someone had exploited. While it would be easy enough to get rid of her, she was only a symptom of the larger problem he was tasked with fixing. Moreover, she was in the perfect position to speed up his investigation.
Admins were not allowed to talk to ‘normal people’ while on the clock. While Stephen could potentially work off the clock in order to get around this restriction, as he had been subtly encouraged to do, that was still breaking the rules. Even if it was encouraged, higher ups could still use it against him. He also wouldn't encourage or even allow his subordinates to do so for the same reason.
Astrid was able to speak with ‘normal people’ while working because she was technically never ‘on the clock.’ He had given her an allowance, not a wage. Level 0 admins didn't get wages because orientation was unpaid. At the end of orientation the trainee would sign their handbook and the system would automatically advance them to level 1 admin privileges, with all the rights and responsibilities it entailed. Astrid was bound by none of that, apart from some basic NDA rules, rights she didn't know about, and Stephen’s good graces.
This still made Stephen uneasy, as what he was doing could be considered exploitative, both to Astrid as well as to the system. The difference between this and gently encouraging the breaking of rules? There were no rules for this.
With a pair of thoughts Stephen began to prepare himself for a long night of work.
/ToggleImmortal…
Admin5 “Stephen” is no longer immortal
/ToggleImmortal…
Admin5 “Stephen” is now immortal
The only command that Stephen ever used more than absolutely necessary was toggling his own immortality. This was a ritual he performed when preparing to leave his office. It was as much a nervous tick as anything else. He abhorred waste, but he would never find himself unprepared or unsafe. Godmode was a similar command, though much more useful and reserved for much higher-level admins. While immortality made Stephen immune to death and damage, godmode would one day make him simultaneously immune to many more conditions while also granting him much more power for dealing with issues directly.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Stephen grabbed what looked like a pair of dowsing rods, but were magically inclined to detect interdimensional portals instead of water. He also grabbed a magnifying glass, one which could be looked through to see magical bonds. It was easier and cheaper to teleport back here to his office than it was to spawn similar magical tools. He had mixed feelings about Astrid, but her unique circumstances helped him narrow the problem down to Estuary Castle as well as narrow down the list of possible glitches that were causing the known disruptions in the area.
/ToggleFly…
Admin5 “Stephen” can now fly
/ToggleCollisions…
Admin5 “Stephen” is no longer collidable
This set of commands would allow Stephen to move unhindered. Fly allowed him to move freely in any direction as though hovering in mid-air, and toggling off his collisions made it so that Stephen would phase through any and all objects (such as walls, mountains, or even the ground). It was important to use fly first, as this would keep him in place after turning off collisions. If he did it the opposite way he would have immediately plummeted through the floor.
/ToggleDetect…
Admin5 “Stephen” is no longer detectable
‘Invisibility’ was one command that Stephen had grown out of. Too many things used too many other senses to detect his presence. When he was a level 4 Admin he had tried to layer stealth commands, even masking his body heat with a little-known cooling presence command. No matter what he did, his presence would be detected, and most deduced that they had a ghost. The cold spots did not help. Nevertheless he had received a commendation, as the addition of cold spots had provided better counter-surveillance for lower-level admins who were trying to remain unknown. His set of commands were repackaged into the ‘ghost’ command, though Stephen was disappointed that an accident had been one of his greatest achievements. He refused to use the ‘ghost’ command, and now as a level 5 admin he didn't even need it. Nothing but another admin could detect him now. Though, he wasn't sure if Astrid could, as he didn't know what commands would and wouldn't work against a level 0 admin. She was as much outside the organization as she was inside of it.
Stephen once again considered killing or reorienting Astrid immediately. There were risks and rewards to each of Stephen’s three main choices. Simply killing Astrid would eliminate almost all risks associated with her, but also all the rewards for her existence. Orienting her and welcoming her into the organization as a fully-fledged admin would allow her to help in the investigation to some small degree, but it would both handicap how she could interact with others while also providing her more rights and privileges that could make her much harder to contain due to her already unpredictable nature. This option was also likely the safest in terms of how higher-authorities could judge Stephen, though he was confident he could use ‘the rules’ as they were written to protect himself in any situation. His current path would give Astrid the ability to interact with the subjects of the investigation, and would limit her rights and privileges in the system, but he anticipated an audit for himself in the near future should he continue on this path.
*There’s always tomorrow* Stephen comforted himself. If things weren't working out, he could nip the problem early. And if Astrid performed well enough, he definitely wouldn't see a problem accepting her fully into the organization.
“Take me to Estuary Castle.”
/Teleport to “Estuary Castle”
Stephen phased through the hallways that Astrid had been escorted through less than a day ago. He flew by all manner of guards, ghosts, and ghouls while remaining completely unnoticed. He followed his dowsing rods until he found the heart of the castle.
He stared at the hole in reality in awe and terror. This was the source of his problems, but it was also quite beautiful. It shimmered with light, appearing as an amorphous crystallization of space and time, with an almost infinitesimal point of infinite darkness at its center.
/RequestInformation “What is this”
Authority not recognized…
Information Denied by ERROR…
ERROR…
Contact Support Immediately…
“I am the support!” Stephen shouted. He then took a deep breath and tried again after calming himself. “If you don’t recognize my authority, then I request authorization to know about this portal.”
/RequestAuthorization “To know about this ERROR”
Authority not Recognized…
Authorization Denied by ERROR…
ERROR…
Contact Support Immediately…
Stephen tried a few workarounds, but nothing worked. He considered using ‘delete’ but quickly dispelled that thought. ‘Delete’ was a very useful command. It was as much improved from ‘kill’ as ‘godmode’ was from ‘immortal,’ though it was more expensive and rarely justifiable. Additionally, there were things that one couldn't just delete. Trying to delete a hole in reality like this would likely end with a bigger hole.
/Restore “space in a 5 meter radius sphere centered on the anomaly”
Command Modified by ERROR…
Rerouting Command…
ERROR Restored…
The cut in the fabric of reality expanded into a spherical disaster that continued expanding rapidly.
“UNDO!”
/Undo…
Urgency Detected…
Rerouting Command…
/SetTime to “1 hour prior”
Time set to 05:34:56
The world reverted back in time to just after Stephen had begun working on the hole in space. Stephen was grateful the command had rerouted, as he wasn't sure the ‘undo’ command would have done what he intended. To an outside observer it would appear that he may be fighting against another admin, but another admin doing so would utilize different syntax regardless of how much authority they had over Stephen. Commands changed by a higher authority are considered ‘overridden’ not ‘modified.’ ‘Modified’ in this case implied that some outside factor made his command impossible, and the system itself was attempting to fulfill the command in another way.
Stephen was troubled once again by his lack of authority over this matter. He would need to continue to search for a lower-level route to fix this glitch in reality. If he didn't have authority over the glitch itself, perhaps he could at least deal with those who were exploiting it until he could force Sam to help. Dealing with those who exploited the glitch would likely be more straightforward, but it also wouldn't deal with the underlying issues. It would be akin to putting his finger in the dyke, waiting for someone who could actually fix the problem.
He turned his back and floated down the hall, pulling out his magnifying glass as he did so. Stephen was surprised to see a line on the ground signifying a magic bond. He had intended to examine those in the castle, and didn't expect to see a bond in this area. He peered around with the magnifying glass, until he stared at the portal.
Someone was bonded to the tear in space.
His magnifying glass shattered and dissipated into non-existence. In his hands the magnifying glass was replaced with the word ‘ERROR’ which had taken on the physical shape of the magnifying glass.
For the second time in his life, Stephen used a system command by accident. He was back in his office, now even sunnier than before.